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

In the lead-up to this week’s game against Melbourne, Brad Scott indicated he would mostly stick with the North Melbourne line-up that was defeated by Adelaide last week. That’s good news for fantasy coaches, as it gives us a chance to see exactly where players are at form-wise.

True to his word Scott has elected for minimal change, with Brad McKenzie, Trent Dumont, Ben Brown coming in to fill out the extended bench.

It would be great to see either of Dumont or Brown breakthrough for their debut, but in all likelihood they will be emergencies.

Levi Greenwood has been a fantasy gem this year, and has four solid scores in succession above 100.

Consistency was the main reason not to pick him earlier, but now that Greenwood is stringing performances together then he has to be considered.  

Unfortunately, he isn’t cheap at $538,568, but he could be a worthy point of difference from your opponent’s midfielders. He hasn’t played a lot of games against Melbourne, but keep in mind the last time he did (back in 2010) he scored 139 fantasy points.

Jack Ziebell will be one to watch closely. At $448,260, his price is set to come down as the 51 he scored last week begins to hold.

If Ziebell can start to produce good scores more often, then think about pouncing. We all know he can be a damaging player, but in my mind he needs to bring his A-game more often before you can trust him on the fantasy field.

As predicted in previous weeks, captain Andrew Swallow has risen in price and now sits at $446,950 – still a bargain price for what we know he can produce.

The game against Melbourne is important for the number 9, as it was against Melbourne last year that he ruptured his achilles tendon. Aside from his low score that game, Swallow doesn’t mind playing the Demons, and he will be keen to make amends with a big score.

Finally, if you’re in the market for a ruckman then Todd Goldstein represents some good value, if at a little risk.

Goldstein has begun to find his fantasy legs (as big as they are) and at $417,217 is cheaper than most of his counterparts.  North Melbourne’s opponents over the next few weeks (like Brisbane, Hawthorn, St Kilda and Carlton) all have ruck concerns of some sort, meaning the big man should be able to accumulate a healthy stack of hit-outs and fantasy points.

Around the Grounds
For me, this week is all about how much Fremantle will run over the Brisbane Lions. The Dockers are at home and key midfielders Michael Barlow ($546,026) and Nathan Fyfe ($509,188) are in top-notch form. The Lions will try their best but it’s hard to see them stopping Fremantle from having a field day.

It will be intriguing to see how Tom Rockliff, Pearce Hanley, Jack Redden and the other key Lions react to the Fremantle squeeze.

If you need a midfielder, I would watch Rockliff closely and consider bringing him in down the line, as he is most likely to suffer from a tag by one Ryan Crowley.

Rockliff already has one meagre score in the pipeline and another would send his hefty $609,019 price tag spiralling.

Also watch Hanley, who is a bucket-load cheaper than Rockliff at $475,474.

Of course, he hasn’t been scoring as strongly as his team-mate, but for a defender he’s been consistent and now has a brace of high 100+ scores in the bank.

Much will depend on his role on the day, but if the ball spends a heap of time in Brisbane’s defence, then Hanley could collect a large number of easy disposals trying to get the ball out and forward.

Lastly, Stefan Martin has done amazingly well in the ruck over the last two weeks, but now has to face up to all 211 centimetres of Aaron Sandilands.

Martin is a bit pricey at $258,121, but he has scores of 99 and 100 from his first two games, meaning he will earn some handy cash over the next few weeks.

If you can spare the spot and trust that he can at least break even against Sandilands this week, then it may be worth bringing Martin in for cash reasons alone.