North travels to the GABBA this weekend to face the Lions. Less than two months ago the Kangaroos dominated the fantasy space when the teams met Etihad Stadium.

On that day, in Round 9, Brent Harvey was the fantasy standout, racking up 39 possessions and kicking 2 goals on his way to a 144-point fantasy performance. In the five games since, he’s gone above 100 another three times and hasn’t dropped below 94.

We can’t stress this enough – if you’re playing AFL Fantasy Classic and you don’t have Harvey in your side yet, you’ll soon regret it. He doesn’t come cheap, currently priced at $540,831, but he’s worth every cent.

In all likelihood we can book Harvey in for another big game on the weekend.

One of our fantasy stars from that Round 9 meeting won’t be playing this time around. Robin Nahas, who scored 110 points against the Lions in his best fantasy performance for North to date, is set for an extended stint on the sidelines after injuring his AC joint in last week’s win over Melbourne.

Those who were holding onto Nahas in AFL Fantasy Classic would be happy as the reborn Roo has made fantasy coaches more than $140,000 profit. However, now’s the time to trade him.

Replacing Nahas is a debutant, North’s fourth for the season. After more than two years on the rookie list, small-defender Max Warren is getting his chance at AFL level.

Warren isn’t your prototype fantasy player. As a lockdown defender, he’ll be focusing more on keeping Brisbane’s smalls out of the game than finding the ball himself. Although he’s cheap in AFL Fantasy Classic at $115,200, he’s unlikely to score enough fantasy points to be a good investment.

That said, having Warren named in the side means that one of North’s attacking defenders will likely be freed up to push up the ground a bit more, whether that be Shaun Atley, Aaron Mullett or Luke McDonald. A spike in fantasy scoring from the trio is definitely on the cards.

McDonald was great against the Lions back in Round 9, with a score of 84, the second-highest fantasy score of his career to date. We’ll be keeping an eye on North’s Rising Star nominee this week.

Around the Grounds
The biggest news in AFL circles this week has come straight from the opposition camp, with Brisbane’s legendary spearhead Jonathan Brown announcing his retirement.

Club allegiances aside, Brown deserves some respect as one of the game’s most courageous players, a quality both Brisbane and North fans prize.

He wasn’t too bad at this fantasy caper either, with no less than 18,075 career fantasy points to his name, highlighted by a career-best average of 110 points per game back in 2006.

A couple of younger players are getting their chances this weekend. Jesse Lonergan ($224,400), Sam Darley ($264,400) and Mitch Honeychurch ($135,500) will all play their first games for the year, and could all make some money over the next few weeks.

Richmond’s Dustin Martin plays his milestone 100th AFL game this weekend, and maybe we should celebrate by trading him into our fantasy teams – if he’s not there already. The $543,047 midfielder-forward has six 100+ scores from his last six games and is a serious fantasy player.