Is Dusty back to his damaging best form? A Kangaroos MID who can relieve some of the injury pressure? We now know how low this Demons star can go... There are so many questions coming out of round 9. But let's turn our attention back to fantasy footy for a second and identify some risers in form and others who should be falling out of favour with all fantasy coaches. Let us know your thoughts on who we have down below on all of our social channels twitter, facebook, instagram, discord.
RISERS
Ben Hobbs – FWD, Essendon Bombers (101 points)
All the chatter will be about the insane game Zach Merrett had but what a game from young star and rookie Ben Hobbs when they needed him most on Saturday night! Hobbs was called upon to see an increased role inside for the Bombers with approximately 23 blokes out, but Hobbs stepped up in huge way for fantasy coaches and helped Essendon pull off a dramatic 1 point victory against rivals Richmond. With an increase to 79% centre-bounce-attendance percentage, Hobbs took the opportunity with both hands and put up a stat line or 7 kicks, 16 handballs, 7 marks and 6 tackles which took him to 101 GDS fantasy points on the night. It might just be a glimpse of things to come from Hobbs and look for him to fall back down the midfield depth chart as the Bombers become healthy, but as a dynasty fantasy sports platform, owners must feel really good about Hobbs’ prospects!
Jy Simpkin – MID, North Melbourne Kangaroos (146 points)
t’s no secret that Jy Simpkin is a gun. He can be somewhat of a forgotten man in the fantasy community when all the hype is around the likes of Harry Sheezel, Luke Davies-Uniake and Jack Ziebell and probably rightfully so to a degree, but maybe while Simpkin is the only healthy A-Grader midfielder left in the Roo’s engine room, it would pay to give him the respect he deserves. With a GDS points per game average of 100 on the dot and an ever growing injury list for the Kangaroos, it sounds silly to request respect for the man but the fact of the matter is, he’s a point-of-difference midfielder who is averaging 88% centre-bounce-attendances per game in North Melbourne’s last three games and has been a proven fantasy scorer in the past. Make sure to consider him for selection over these next few rounds leading into the bye as stand in head coach Brett Ratten looks to lean on his captain to steer the ship in side.
Dustin Martin – FWD, Richmond Tigers (117 points)
t’s 2023 and Dustin Martin is very low-key starting to put his name in the hat when it comes selection time! It’s hard, because forwards have gone from a desolate wasteland of a position to arguably the most stacked position in the game with the likes of Harry Sheezel, Tim Taranto, Jack Ziebell, Stephen Coniglio all killing it this year so it might be hard to justify slotting Dusty in over some of the most inform players in the league but he’s got to be making some people think! Coming out of round 10 Dusty owns a last three game average of 126 GDS fantasy points and is back to playing some of his most damaging footy. As I said, most coaches out there will have a fairly stacked forward line already but if you want a POD who can go big at any given moment, you can do a lot worse than Dusty Martin.
FALLERS
Jason Johannisen – FWD, Western Bulldogs (50 points)
I mean it was written in the stars and for those who took a punt on Jason Johannisen (myself included) you can only blame yourselves because it’s all part of the Jason Jo experience. A few weeks ago I had Johannisen as a riser in this very blog and a buy in my buy, sell and hold blog, but in those write ups I also stated that Jason Johannisen ticks all the wrong boxes, injury, was one of those boxes. To many coaches surprise he was actually a really good play! Averaging 112 GDS fantasy points in his last three games before round 10 but all the fun came to an abrupt halt when Johannisen was removed from the game with a hamstring injury sustained early in the third quarter. For those who played him, we’ll just have to cop the 50 on the chin and lick our wounds. Hopefully it didn’t hurt us to much on the leaderboards!
Isaac Heeney – FWD, Sydney Swans (80 points)
There is deadset every chance Isaac Heeney has made his way onto my never again list. They guy might be the biggest tease in fantasy history, his play style suits that of a fantasy jet but instead it feels like goes missing for literally quarters at a time. After seasons of promised increased midfield time, it seems that with the likes of young superstars Chad Warner, James Rowbottom and Errol Gulden, the midfield train has left the station for Heeney and he’ll be stuck deep forward for an extended period of time. In 2023, Heeney is only averaging 87 GDS fantasy points per game and with his boom or bust scoring nature, it would have to be a very tasty matchup to consider starting him, at least for the rest of the season.
Kyasiah Pickett – FWD, Melbourne Demons (33 points)
I mean, it does not get much worse than this for Melbourne Demons live wire Kysaiah Pickett in round 10, coming out of the Port Adelaide loss in torrential rain with just 33 GDS fantasy points on the night. Coaches who have persisted with Pickett had their rounds coming to a screeching end on Friday night where missing persons posters were scattered across Adelaide searching for Kozzy. Pickett became an exciting pick earlier in the season, scoring 147 GDS fantasy points in round one and working into Simon Goodwin’s midfield rotation, there were a good amount coached sucked into to the idea of his added opportunity further up the field. Sucked in indeed and now with his sickening score of 33 points you have to wonder how trustworthy he can be.