HAWTHORN’s Tom Mitchell’s lead at the top of the AFL fantasy leaderboard has narrowed to just 46 points after Collingwood’s Brodie Grundy put in another impressive performance to close the gap.
Mitchell scored 96 AFL fantasy points, remarkably 99 points less than last week and 24.7 points under his season average.
The Brownlow Medal fancy had 27 disposals and seven marks, a serviceable game by anyone’s standards.
Because of that, he lost $2,000 in value to make it a $57,000 drop since the start of the season despite being the most expensive and highest scoring player in the competition.
Grundy scored 122 points, just higher than his season average, after having 24 touches, 34 hit-outs, two marks, six tackles and a goal.
At Port Adelaide, Justin Westhoff continued his impressive season with another score over 100 points.
He extended his lead over his teammates with 111 points – one of six players to top 100.
Justin Westhoff (mid/fwd - $680,000)
Port Adelaide’s most expensive player is now ranked eleventh in the league, up two positions on last week, after passing his 102.5-point season average again.
The evergreen utility gained another $10,000 in value, taking his season value increase to $95,000.
33,437 AFL fantasy coaches have realised his abilities, and at $6,634 per point scored he represents better value than league-leader Tom Mitchell and eight of the ten players ranked above him.
Chad Wingard (mid/fwd - $593,000)
Averaging a handy 105.2 points in his last four games, Wingard beat that with 106 against the Blues.
Playing more on the ball, he had a season-high 32 disposals including another season-high 18 handballs.
He also had two marks and five tackles but failed to add to his 14 goals this season.
After a slow start to the season, Wingard’s overall value has dropped by $56,000 since the start of the year, but he has slowly recouped value, including $26,000 with his performance against the Saints.
Wingard’s ability to play on the ball or up forward has resonated recently with AFL fantasy coaches with more than 16,000 including him in their squads.
Sam Powell-Pepper (mid - $558,000)
Another $9,000 increase in value for the hard-nosed 20-year-old sees him up amongst the most expensive at Port Adelaide, despite his slow start to the season.
Port Adelaide’s tackling machine added another seven against the Saints to go with 24 touches and two marks.
His 94 AFL fantasy points
Steven Motlop (mid/fwd - $485,000)
While he’s only averaging 69.1 points this season, Motlop scored 112 against St Kilda to take his overall points for the season past 1000.
The Geelong recruit had his best scoring game of the season, surpassing the 96 he scored in Round 13 against the Western Bulldogs.
Against the Saints, he had season highs for kicks (17), disposals (28) and marks (7) in a destructive role through the midfield in which he also had six tackles.
The performance saw his overall value rise by $29,000, leaving him down just $4,000 since the start of the season.
Tom Rockliff (mid - $606,000)
In his last eight
Averaging 82 points for the year, the Brisbane recruit’s value is down by $119,000 despite a $20,000 increase after Saturday night’s performance.
Rockliff had 30 touches to go with eight marks and three tackles.
AFL fantasy coaches are back on board with him after his slow start to the season, with 36,471 including him in their squads.
Port Adelaide’s best for Round 16
114 - Tom Rockliff
112 - Steven Motlop
111 - Justin Westhoff
107 - Jared Polec
106 - Chad Wingard
Port Adelaide top 5 for 2018
1538 - Justin Westhoff
1404 - Ollie Wines
1388 - Jared Polec
1367 - Brad Ebert
1298 - Travis Boak
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