daily fantasy sports articles

Grand final day is here for the 2021 AFL Premiership season and we get the marquee matchup that everyone wanted to see, as the Melbourne Demons try to win their first cup in almost 60 years  against the dangerous Western Bulldogs. Draftstars is capping off the season with the biggest prize pool all year, a $200,000 main event! But for those who like their variety they continue to stuff the slate options with the usual array of options:

• AFL $200,000+ Demons vs Bulldogs at Draftstars
• AFL $20,000+ Demons vs Bulldogs High Roller ($150 Entry) at Draftstars
• AFL $10,000+ Demons vs Bulldogs Stakes ($50 Entry) at Draftstars 
• AFL $10,000+ Demons vs Bulldogs Fiver at Draftstars
• AFL $10,000+ Demons vs Bulldogs Mini ($2 Entry) at Draftstars
• AFL $10,000 USD Grand Final Special 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

You can watch a replay of the DFS Down Under Show with Smatho and Hef with special guest Roody! As they breakdown this Draftstars contest for the Grand Final! Not to be missed if you are making lineups for this contest!

Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs at OPTUS Stadium (MEL -7.5, 155.5)

Weather

While the Melbourne freezes over Perth is turning on the weather for its first every AFL Grand Final with a clear 25 degree expected and absolutely no sign of rain. This should make for perfect conditions during the twilight and means that we can all pick our fantasty teams without fear of weather playing a role! For the final time this season lets PLAY BALL!

Where to Attack?

All year the Bulldogs have been an ideal target for defenders with the way they have structured up. They block up the middle of the ground at all costs and allow teams to transfer play across the half back line with the only access forward being via the wings. This has led to a successful season but fantasy wise, this allows (or forces) the opposition to rack up fantasy points in the backline. They have conceded the second most points in the league to defenders and even in the drubbing they just gave Port Adelaide it was the Power’s defenders who were among some of the top scorers.

This lines up perfectly for the Western Bulldogs who love to have their midfield dominate the football. With arguably the best middle in the game they should take advantage of the fact that Melbourne like start their play from the backline and allow their opposition to win more contests in the centre of the gorund than you would expect from a premiership contender. In the Bulldogs win against the Demons this year their midfield went ballistic with Jackson Macrae, Caleb Daniel (playing inside midfield in that game), Marcus Bontempelli and Bailey Smith all posting 120+ fantasty points.

This feels like an absolute layup to target the Western Bulldogs in the ruck. Conceding the most points in the league at 92 per game to the oppositions number one ruck and in this matchup going up against arugably the top ruckman in the league. Giddy up!

Game Script – Melbourne backs, Western Bulldogs midfielders, Melbourne ruck

VALUE PLAYS

Tom Sparrow (DS $7,690 DK $4,000) continues to be my must have value play for the Demons during the finals series. His price has increased a touch but in a grand final whereas always finding value is like pulling teeth we can roll out Sparrow in the $7k range as a player who is consistently seeing time through the midfield. He has been attending anywhere up to 40% of centre bounces in recent weeks and before a 56 point performance vs Geelong had ran off three straight games of 64+ (including 2 games over 74).

Kysaiah Picket (DS $9,310 DK $5,000) Melbourne are the favourite for this matchup and I agree with that perspective and think they have a chance to get right on top in this game. I will be leaning heavily to Demon forwards and I love Picket in this game. Earlier in the year he posted a 74 fantasy point performance in a loss to the Western Bulldogs who looked to have no real solid matchup for him.

MID PRICED PLAYS

Alex Neal-Bullen (DS $11,250 DK $7,200) is one of my favourite point of differences on this slate. The chalk will be to spend up in the midfield, especially with the likes of Bontempelli and Dunkley (who is the same price range) at their price points. It will be very rare on this single game slate to use $11k of salary on a player like Neal-Bullen, but typically in these finals it is that unique play that pulls one out of the box and gets you the win. Neal-Bullen brings upside of 100+ points and his game style will suit a contested game style that are typical of grand finals. In their last matchup he posted 100 fantasy points in the loss to the Bulldogs.

PREMIUM PLAYS

Marcus Bontempelli (DS $13,630 DK $8,800) is almost a free square here. One of the top players in the league in the $13k range I expect him to be the highest owned player on the slate. That said, he is just hard to ignore on slate where you need every dollar. He has had a low scoring finals series from a fantasy perspective with no games over 100 points. However 95-100 at this price point in a single game slate is likely not going to kill your team. He continues to be a mainstay in the midfield attending over 80% of the centre bounces, however he has drifted forward at time which is impacting his scoring. His game style will suit a contested grand final and I will be happy to follow the masses on him here.

Max Gawn (DS $16,340 DK $10,200) is a no brainer in the ruck. As noted above the Western Bulldogs are best matchup in the league for ruckman this year. Yes I realise that Stefan Martin is playing, who will temper that somewhat, however he is pretty much running on fumes by now and it will only be his second game back from injury. Last game Scott Lycett posted 90+ fantasy points in a loss against Martin and English, and this time they are going up against the form ruckman of the competition and arguably the form player in the finals series. He is fresh off back-to-back finals of 135 and 145 points, and he posted a 139 point game in the last game of the season just to round a monster three game patch.

Suggested Draftstars Team

Suggested DraftKings Team

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