It’s the first week of bye rounds in season 2022! And in this blog, we will be answering the age-old AFL fantasy coach's weekly question... Who should you be starting this week as your fantasy team's captain? If you feel we have left someone out let us know on our socials -twitter, facebook, instagram, discord.
Bailey Smith
I had him in this blog last week and Bailey Smith let me down as he was ruled out late with a 12- round bout with the flu. Now that he’s had a cosy week at home and is well-rested he’ll find himself lining up against a Geelong midfield worth taking on. A lot of the reasons I included him last week remain the same for my thinking this week. He’s averaging a whopping 126 fantasy GDS points in his last 5 games and is becoming a game-breaker for the doggies. And I'll include this stat again because it blows my mind - since week 3, he’s averaging 93% of time on ground - we’ll see if that remains consistent after a week off crook but 10% TOG less or so, might not even hinder him.
Tim English
The second bulldog in this article so far and it's becoming really hard to look past the dominance of 24-year-old ruckman Tim English. English missed 5 weeks out with a mix of injury and the flu but came back last week against the West Coast Eagles and was incredible! 25 touches, 28 hit-outs and a goal took him to a GDS fantasy score of 152. He didn’t miss a beat and I expect him to have a good day again against part-time ruckman Mark Blicavs.
Ben Keays
Benny Keays has hit a slight snag in fantasy production these last few weeks which could be down to a few things, his time on ground has receded slightly, the ascendance of Rory Laird, and/or the poor bloke might be crying for the bye week and a rest. I think this week 12 matchup against a contemptible West Coast Eagles midfield is a get right week for Ben Keays. We got so used to the 130+ games from Keays to the point where we weren’t sure if he was capable of missing that mark. I’m tipping a return to the 130+ areas and an outing here against West Coast will be the best recipe to help him get there.
Josh Dunkley
I could just write a blog about the Western Bulldogs at this point and be done with it but it’s hard to ignore Dunkley as a captain here in week 12 again. He has scored a goal in each of his last 6 outings in a row, a 133 GDS fantasy average, and 3 scores over 150 in that span of games. Geelong doesn’t have an army large enough to cover all of these Western Bulldogs threats and Josh Dunkley could be a big beneficiary of that fact.
Lachie Neale
Lachie Neale was here last week and only an idiot could leave him off this list again this week as he faces his old side Freo who are absolutely fired up. The Dockers snapped the Demons' unbeaten streak last week and a big reason for that happening is they managed to essentially shut down Christian Petracca. Now Petracca is awesome but it’s one thing to stop him, it’s another thing to try and stop Lachie Neale right now who is in certain Charlie form. He’ll want a big day against his old side - don’t let Petracca’s score last week scare you!
GameDay Squad is a new fantasy sports platform that uses blockchain technology. Register now to receive free starter packs to build your squad.
Listen to the GameDay Squad Footy podcast on Spotify, Apple, or on our YouTube Channel.