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

After a strong win against Sydney in Round 4, North Melbourne has made only one change to the side to face Collingwood on Saturday.

The decision is purely tactical, with the selectors opting to return to the three-tall set up that has proven so effective at the ground in the past, bringing back ruck-forward Daniel Currie and omitting small forward Robin Nahas.

This is good news for fantasy coaches, as many of us have Currie sitting on the bench in our AFL Fantasy Classic teams.

While Currie hasn’t been a particularly prolific scorer, he was at bargain-basement price to start the year and just playing at all is making his value rise. He has gained $26,600 so far and this will only continue to go up the more he plays.

Despite being omitted, Nahas remains one to watch – he is still a cheap buy this year at $191,354 in AFL Fantasy Classic, and showed his ability to score against Sydney with a total of 79 points across three quarters, including 52 in the first term. Keep him on the watchlist.

The unfortunate news coming out of team selection is that vice-captain Jack Ziebell will miss another week of footy with the troublesome shoulder niggle he sustained in Round 2 against the Bulldogs.

He’ll be sorely missed – Ziebell was the top fantasy scorer the last time North met Collingwood. He was best on ground in the 11-point win, garnering 27 disposals and kicking four goals on his way to 141 fantasy points.

Much was said in the media during the week about the tactics used by Collingwood tagger Brent Macaffer against Trent Cotchin, and he is sure to make his presence known against North this week.

North might have better luck against the Mapgie than the Tigers did, however. With the trio of Daniel Wells, Nick Dal Santo and Brent Harvey all potential tag-targets, the North midfield is like the mythical hydra – cut off one head and two will take its place. You can’t tag all three.

Four weeks into the year we’re starting to get a feel for North’s fantasy fortunes in 2014. The Roos currently have two players averaging north of 100 points per game in Nick Dal Santo and Sam Gibson – both have gone 100-plus in their last three games running and are in great form.

Ben Cunnington has found a new level in the absence of Andrew Swallow and Jack Ziebell, averaging 98 points per game so far this year and posting big scores of 120 and 127 in the last two weeks. He has really stepped up as a leader in North’s midfield; expect this good form to continue.

Brent Harvey and Leigh Adams round out North’s top five fantasy players, with the two midfielder-forwards both averaging 95-plus in their four games so far.

This is especially impressive for Adams, who played one of those games as the sub and has lifted his average by 24 points from last year. He is in career-best form.

Father-son draftee Luke McDonald continues to impress us in his debut year, capping off a great month of footy with the Round 4 Rising Star nomination. He has averaged 74 points per game so far and has increased in value by nearly $90,000 in AFL Fantasy Classic.

One who hasn’t been as impressive so far in fantasy stakes is big Drew Petrie, who is averaging just 42 points after four games. However, with the Pies still suffering from injuries to key defenders Ben Reid and Nathan Brown, this might be the week Petrie gets off the leash.

Around the Grounds

There’s a number of popular fantasy players that AFL Fantasy Classic coaches will be looking to trade out this week. The likes of Dale Thomas, Brett Deledio, Brendon Goddard, Shane Mumford, Gary Rohan and Josh Caddy are all on the chopping block.

Mumford in particular is a painful one with the Giants' ruckman expected to miss a couple of weeks. He has a history of injuries lasting longer than the prognosis and definitely ought to be traded out.

Luckily, a perfect solution presents itself. Crows' ruckman Sam Jacobs is averaging 102 points after the first four rounds and those swapping him in for Mumford will make a $37,891 profit.

For fantasy coaches looking to make money off cheap players, two of the best bets to trade in ahead of this week if you’ve not already gotten them are Matthew Crouch ($238,749) and Alex Fasolo ($241,565) who will both increase in value over the weeks to come.