MCG Saturday

The first Super Saturday slate of the 2023 AFL Premiership Season is upon us and let's all salivate as we get to dive into a massive four-game slate. This set of games kicks off slowly with a rare opening round wooden spoon battle between West Coast and North Melbourne, before being night-capped beautifully with a big opening round matchup between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.

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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 AFL DATA TOOLS

Betting Markets

North Melbourne vs West Coast at MARVEL Stadium (NM -2.5, Total 174.5)

Port Adelaide vs Brisbane at ADELAIDE Oval (BRI -2.5, Total 169.5) 

Gold Cost vs Sydney at METRICON Stadium (SYD -7.5, Total 165.5)

Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs at the MCG (MEL -6.5, Total 168.5)

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Weather

Melbourne - Hot, 37 degrees
Adelaide - Sunny, 28 degrees
Gold Coast - Sunny, 30 degrees
 
We are still well and truly in the summer weather with an absolute heat wave across the game locations this Saturday. This means we can forget about the possibility of any wet weather impacting the fantasty scores and pick our daily fantasy teams freely! Let's play!
 

Where To Attack?

AFL Team Totals

Given this is round one we are yet to have a meaningful set of data from the 2023 season, so we look back to last year to get an indication of where to attack. We have potentially one of the better matchups of the year for fantasy, with two of the top three teams for fantasy points conceded in 2022 matching up against each other in West Coast and the Kangaroos. While the football will likely be terrible we could see a run up of fantasy scores if they any of the players in this game are capable enough.

As usual with the teams ending last and second last, forwards feasted on them last year as both sides gave up the most and second most points to the position. The midfield didn’t miss out either, and really it was only the backs who didn’t score well against North or West Coast, largely because the ball was rarely down that end!

Backs
If we want backs to roster, look no further than the Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs contest as these two sides gave up the first and second most points to the position last year. Both sides look to setup play behind the ball and we can expect this to continue in 2023.
 

Game Script – Western Bulldogs/Melbourne backs, North Melbourne midfielders

VALUE PLAYS

Will Ashcroft (DS $8,550) will be the absolute lock of the slate. He already looks like a superstar and one that is well beyond a first gamer. He was hyped up as much as any rookie in recent memory and his performances through the preseason did not disappoint. He posted 26 disposals and 97 fantasy points in the only official practice match against the reigning premiers Geelong and is giving off Nic Daicos and Sam Walsh season one fantasy type vibes. The only concern really was role, but so far he has appeared to lock down a relatively regular role in the midfield. Ashcroft will be a $12-$13k player in no time in daily fantasy to take advantage right now.

Rueben Gibney (DS $7,440) is one of the only positives within the Eagles camp right now. He was head turning during the preseason posting 68 fantasy points in their official practice match against the Adelaide Crows in just 56% game time. He has an elite role for fantasy playing a combination of inside midfielder and across half back where he should find plenty of the football for this Eagles team.

MID PRICED PLAYS

Errol Gulden (DS $13,890) is being unleashed on the inside this year and we got a taste what this absolute superstar will look like in their only official practice match against Carlton. Gulden was everywhere posting 45 disposals, kicking 3 goals and racking up a ridiculous 177 fantasy points. It will not be like that every round obviously, but the Swans have an elite matchup in round one against the Suns and I expect Gulden to be 100+ point player this season.

Dom Sheed (DS $12,230) looks nicely priced here considering he should be receiving the majority of the Eagles centre bounces this season for team that is devoid of midfielders. Sheed has shown the ability to rack up massive fantasy scores, averaging 95 points per game in 2019 and I think we will likely see a return to this type of form in 2023. He has the best matchup you could find in found one against North as we addressed above.

Tristan Xerri (DS $10,200) has been given the keys to the number one ruck role in 2023 as North finally begin to put Todd Goldstein out to pasture. Last year Xerri showed glimpses of what he can do in this role posting two 90+ point games and this year should be another stage in his development. The other reason I love this play on the slate is because he is facing arguably the worst ruck setup in the league with Nic Naitaniu out for the Eagles. The Eagles gave up 89 points per game last year to the opponent’s number one ruckman, which was over 10 points per game above league average and the second highest number in the league.

PREMIUM PLAYS

Luke Davies-Uniacke (DS $16,050)… let's take a nice point of difference with our premium play here. Davies-Uniacke is set for an absolute monster season and in round one draws arguably the weakest midfield opposition the league has to offer in West Coast. There is so much value on this slate you can take your pick of premium players around him, but I love this as low-owned contrarian play.

Suggested Draftstars Lineup

Draftstars

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