Footy Prophet will be NMFC.com.au's AFL Fantasy gurus for 2014. You can follow the team on Twitter and Facebook.

We said last week that we wanted to return from out West with two wins, and that’s exactly how the weekend played out. As North Melbourne put together an inspired interstate performance, our Fan Team took yet another scalp, beating West Coast’s fan team 2075 to 1730. 

We remain a game clear on top of the ladder at this stage, with Brisbane hot on our heels.

Due to an administrative bungle, last week’s proposed trade of Matt Crouch for Joel Selwood didn’t eventuate – Selwood played on Thursday, prior to the full lockout. We instead grabbed the bargain-priced Ryan Griffen and while he didn’t perform this week (48 due to a strong Ryan Crowley tag), he looks to be on the rise.

The choice of Scott Pendlebury as captain over Gary Ablett proved to be a good one, as the Pie scored 113 points. Other fantasy tons came from David Swallow, Kade Simpson, Leigh Montagna, Dayne Beams, Dustin Martin, Dayne Zorko and Shaun Higgins.

Dane Swan’s late withdrawal meant we had Mitch Hallahan’s 64 points count towards our total, so we’ll be looking for an improvement this week

This week’s matchup
This week we face off against the Port Adelaide fan team. Unlike their AFL counterparts, this fantasy team is middle of the road with four wins and five losses. Last time we played them, we managed a 300-point win, and we’ll be chasing our ninth consecutive victory this weekend.

As you can imagine, it’s all about the Power uniques. Kane Cornes, Travis Boak, Matthew Lobbe, Justin Westhoff and Chad Wingard are just some of the guns that we’ll have to contend with.

On the block
There are a few. Jeremy Laidler has been here for a few weeks, Dylan Buckley has stagnated, Billy Longer isn’t increasing in value (but is a reasonable backup) and we can’t have Mitch Hallahan in our starting lineup for much longer.

Jarryd Roughead has been less than impressive this year, and only managed 67 points against the Giants. 

With Brent Harvey sitting in the midfield (but a centre-forward dual-position player), we have the flexibility of trading Roughead for a midfielder. 

We still have Roughead’s partner in crime in Jack Gunston, and by trading the Hawk we can upgrade to a top-line midfielder without sacrificing our forwards.

But the exciting thing at the moment is one man who’s ripening for trading…

Trade targets
Andrew Swallow is building, and is close to being a must-buy. 102 fantasy points last week, and down to $439,402 in price, the skipper’s time is almost here. 

After averaging 95+ points from 2010-2013, Swallow is not far away from recapturing that form. He still could drop further in value, however, so we want to give him one more week to really get a solid month of football under his belt.

Our quest to build up our midfield will continue regardless, however. There are a number of quality performers that are priced in the $500-550k mark that will instantly improve our scoring power.

Meanwhile Buckley or Laidler to a rookie will be our second trade to generate some cash, after holding off on this move last week.

Trade decisions