This week we get a rare Friday night double header for round 3 of the 2022 AFL Premiership Season. The night kicks off at the MCG with a matchup between Melbourne and Essendon and will conclude in South Australia where we will be treated by the ever-explosive showdown between Adelaide and Port Adelaide. 

Draftstars have us covered as always with a $90k main and a wide variety of other contests for us daily fantasy lovers to get into:

 


In addition to previews for each and every slate this season, Daily Fantasy Rankings will continue with our AFL Resources page. This section provides you all the data you need to build your best line-ups. It includes daily cheat sheets for Draftstars, Player Correlation tables, Player Out tables, Scores Against tables, Tagging information, statistical breakdowns and much more!

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS OUR CHEAT SHEET

 


Melbourne vs Essendon at the MCG (MEL -27.5, 165.5)

Adelaide vs Port Adelaide at ADELAIDE Oval (PTA -20.5, 160.5)

 
Weather

Melbourne

Adelaide

Absolutely perfect conditions for football in both locations this Friday night. Let’s play some daily fantasy!


Where to Attack?

This is the definition of small sample size, but if you can draw trends back to last year or spot something that is happening early it is a route to gaining an edge.



As mentioned last week, surprisingly Melbourne are a great team to target through the midfield. This was the case last year and the trend has continued early in the 2022 season. They structure up behind the ball defensively and are comfortable with the opposition racking up possessions through the midfield knowing that they will turn the ball over when they go forward.
 

Port Adelaide and Essendon have both been top four for points conceded the forward this season. On this slate I particularly like targeting Essendon in this area as Melbourne are 27 point favourites in this matchup and should win quite comfortably creating even more opportunities for their forwards.

Game Script – Essendon midfielders, Melbourne forwards
 

VALUE PLAYS

Tom McDonald ($8,450)

Has had an absolute horror start to the season with back to back scores in the 40s, but he will be itching to break out and makes for a great high upside value play on this slate. It is an ideal matchup for forwards as mentioned above, and Essendon have the ability to typically make pedestrian key forwards look like John Coleman.


MID-PRICE PLAY

Jake Bowey ($9,200)

Has taken over the Christian Salem role off half back. Last week this was a bonanza for Bowey from a fantasy perspective as he racked up a massive 34 touches en-route to 125 fantasy points. I don’t expect that level again but somewhere in the 80-100 point region would be a great return at this price point.

Zak Butters ($12,910)

Is playing a consistent role through the midfield and he is going to a lock in play until his price point gets up to the $14-15k mark, which is only a week or so away. We saw his upside last week with a 137 point fill up in a loss to the Hawks. This week Port Adelaide should get back on track if they have any hope this season and secure a strong win against the Crows, which will provide plenty of opportunity for another ceiling game from Butters.

 

PREMIUM PLAY

Darcy Parish ($14,840)

Despite their poor start to the year the midfield has become quite crowded for the Bombers. With Merrett out, it should allow Parish great fantasy opportunities in the pivot and we all saw last year the level of scoring his capable off. Still priced under $15k he is a great premium play in this matchup with Melbourne giving up the second most points in the league to midfielders this year.

 

Suggested Draftstars Team

 

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