The second week of the AFL Finals Series for 2020 kicks off on Friday night with a massive game between reigning premiers Richmond Tigers and the upstart St Kilda Saints. As usual we are spoiled for choice with massive daily fantasy contests on offer across the platforms:

  • AFL $75,000+ Tigers vs Saints at Draftstars
  • AFL $10,000+ Tigers vs Saints High Roller ($150 Entry) at Draftstars
  • AFL $5,000+ Tigers vs Saints Fiver at Draftstars
  • AFL $5,000+ Tigers vs Saints Mini ($2 Entry) at Draftstars
  • AFL $6K Finals Special ($2K to First) at DraftKings

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 lineups. It includes daily cheat sheets for both Draftstars and DraftKings, Player Correlation tables, Player Out tables, Scores Against tables, Tagging information, statistical breakdowns and much more!

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS OUR CHEAT SHEET FOR THIS MATCH

Richmond vs St Kilda at METRICON Stadium (RIC -20.5, Total 121.5)

 

WEATHER WATCH

 

 

Despite the high temperature forecast there is a solid chance of rain for tomorrow’s game with the possibility of a thunderstorm forecast for the afternoon and evening. Keep an eye on the weather throughout the day and focus on ruckman, inside midfielders and players who love a tackle if the conditions appear to be wet and slippery. It will also give a greater advantage to the Tigers whose game style is well suited to wet conditions.

 

WHERE TO ATTACK

 

 

All season we have see the Tigers happily give up fantasy points to defenders. They have given up the 6th most points to the position in the league this year and when you isolate this to the top 3 scorers it balloons to the second most at over 4.6 points per game above league average. If the wet weather hits it may be more difficult for backs to score given their reliance on uncontested possessions, but the Saints do love to possess the football across the back line and I will be stacking them up through this position.

 

 

The next juicy avenue to target is in the ruck. Richmond have been absolutely destroyed in this position all season (and recent years). They have even taken the lead from traditional ruckman punching bag Tim English, conceding 76 points per game to the oppositions number ruck (the most in the league). There is a double bonus here with Paddy Ryder out with a hamstring injury, which means Rowan Marshall will take over the sole rucking duties in this matchup.

 

VALUE PLAYS

 

Callum Wilkie (DS $8,680, DK $4,600)

With limited value options on this slate I will be targeting value backs to take advantage of one of the Tigers biggest fantasy weaknesses as noted in the breakdown above. Wilkie features heavily at times when the Saints chip the ball around the back line and can often be the beneficiary of the short kick out of the square. He posted 51 points in last week's match and brings an upside of 70+. Look to link him up with other Saints backs in your teams.

 

MID PRICED PLAYS

 

Hunter Clark (DS $11,980, DK $6,000)

Continuing with the trend of Saints defenders, Clark looked more than at home in his first final last week. He posted 70 fantasy points while racking up 19 possessions and at times made time stand still resembling a young Scott Pendlebury as he made his decisions. As discussed above, this is an elite matchup for Clark playing along the half back and he should also manage if the wet weather strikes.

 

Trent Cotchin (DS $11,580, DK $6,500)

Going back to the well here with Cotchin. He burnt us last week, but as did most Tigers given the Lions got the upset win. The logic was sound, however, as the Tigers went to the seasoned veteran in Cotchin through the midfield, attending 73% of the centre bounces (equal most for the Tigers). I expect this to continue in this match and it should be a totally different ball game than last week as the Tigers are favoured by over 20 points.

 

PREMIUM PLAYS

 

Rowan Marshall (DS $14,290, DK $7,000)

This is the lock and load play of the slate. Without Ryder we can expect Marshall to play essentially 100% ruck time and he draws the absolute best matchup in the league for that position. He offers 100-point upside in the short quarters and as we saw last year before the arrival of Ryder does his best work as the lead ruck. He will likely be the highest owned player on the slate, but don’t overthink it. Lock and load.

 

Dustin Martin (DS $14,410, DK $7,500)

Similar to Cotchin, Dusty was the other veteran who played the most midfield time for the Tigers who are sporting an absolute stack of inside midfield options all of a sudden. Martin exploded out of the gates in the first quarter before the Lions took control of the game and he faded out. Against the Saints we can expect a much different game script and with that time through the middle and the likelihood of kicking a few up forward in a blowout Tigers win makes him an irresistible option.

 

Game stacks - St Kilda backs

 

Have you tried “Gimme Five” on SportChamps? Australia’s Number 1 Tournament Betting platform have laid down the challenge to correctly pick 5 out of 5 selections for tonight’s game. Do you think Smatho has this one right? Play SportChamps now and look out for this contest in the AFL tab.

Dragon's Suggested Draftstars Team

 

Dragon's Suggested DraftKings Team

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