AFL Fantasy is back for another season, and the team at Footy Prophet will again be supplying NMFC.com.au with premium fantasy analysis and tips for the 2015 season.
Fantasy fans are taking a hit this week with Jack Ziebell out of the team following a one-week suspension for striking St Kilda’s Jack Newnes.
Of course, longterm North fans will probably feel like a one-week suspension is a breath of fresh air after the multi-week bans Ziebell has copped in the past.
With Ziebell missing the key question is who comes into the side to replace him and Thursday night’s team announcement seems to leave us with two likely options – Ryan Bastinac or Trent Dumont.
Both play a similar mould of footy to Ziebell but with both named on the extended interchange, we won’t know for sure who’s in the side until Friday evening.
Neither Bastinac or Dumont is a reliable fantasy option at the moment if they come in, but both could be worth looking at as a one-week proposition in a draft game like AFL Fantasy Elite.
With just three weeks left in the fantasy season, a one-week performer is worth chasing – Bastinac or Dumont could both give a fantasy team a significant boost.
Keep an eye out for the final team announcement and consider picking up whoever makes the cut, be it one or both.
Jamie Macmillan, Brad McKenzie and Aaron Mullett have all also been named as possible inclusions, with Macmillan the most likely to make the cut in a return from injury.
Macmillan was in hot fantasy form before his injury, with an average of 86 points per game from his last four, so keep an eye on him if he does make the final squad.
Of course the other big news coming out of Arden St this week is that veterans Brent Harvey and Drew Petrie have both signed one-year contracts to continue on in 2016.
A one-year deal for Boomer has become something of an annual tradition in recent times and I daresay it’s become more anticipated than Christmas for dedicated North fans.
Fantasy coaches should be happy too as Boomer is set to continue a career that has given us so much over the years.
Not only does he boast the most recorded fantasy points in the history of the game, but Harvey is currently in his eleventh consecutive year of averaging at least 80 fantasy points per game – simply incredible.
Petrie has long been a handy fantasy player too, still pumping out a reliable average of 80 points per game in 2015, the fifteenth year of his career.
Congrats to them both.
Around the Grounds
Adam Treloar, Stephen Coniglio, Michael Hurley, Mark LeCras and Nic Naitanui all return to AFL action this week and will have an impact on fantasy teams.
A lot of fantasy coaches will feel a double-blow to their backlines this week with Bulldogs Matthew Boyd and Liam Picken both set to miss their game against West Coast on Sunday.
Chris Masten, David Armitage, Tom Mitchell, Luke Parker and Devon Smith are also set to miss and will be big outs for their fantasy owners.
