Round 1 of the 2023 AFL Premiership Season is nearing its end and it’s been an enthralling weekend of footy to say the least.

Three matches are scheduled for Sunday, featuring mostly bottom eight candidates as well as the ever-improving Fremantle Dockers.

Draftstars are offering a $90,000 Guaranteed Main Contest along with a wide variety of other lower stakes options with big prize pools. It's a great time to get involved with daily fantasy AFL at Draftstars!

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 FOR THIS MATCH

Betting Markets

GWS vs Adelaide at Giants Stadium (GWS -7.5, Total 172.5)

Hawthorn vs Essendon at the MCG (Essendon -5.5, Total 171.5) 

St Kilda vs Fremantle at Marvel Stadium (Fremantle -13.5, Total 157.5)

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Weather

Melbourne – Shower or two, 21 degrees

Sydney – Mostly sunny, 32 degrees

For the first time this season there is a chance of some rain impacting the outdoor match in Melbourne. However, the forecast precipitation is no minimal you should not be considering it when constructing your line-ups.

Where To Attack?

With this being the first round of the season, we don’t have a body of data to look at in 2023 as of yet. That said, we can take plenty of cues from the prior season assuming most teams don’t implement any major game plan changes in 2023.

The main trend that I will be looking to exploit on Sunday is Hawthorn’s tendency to leak points right across the park. The Hawks are at the beginning of their development cycle and are unlikely to win many games this year, so whilst the Bombers are hardly a premiership contender, their midfielders and forwards especially should still score well.

Game Script – Essendon stacks

VALUE PLAYS

Wayne Milera (DS $7,540) is back to full fitness after three injury-riddled years and he appears to be great value on this slate. The dynamic speedster will assume the role of the distributor at half-back, meaning the Crows will try to get him the ball, and this position produced averages of 75 and 76 for Milera in 2018 and 2019.

MID PRICED PLAYS

Matt Flynn (DS $10,110) – Aside from top-priced Rowan Marshall and the inconsistent Reilly O’Brien, Flynn is the only solo ruck on this slate. At over $5k cheaper than the St Kilda big man and $4k less than ROB, Flynn presents great value in this role as he produced two tons last year. The GWS ruckman will have no fear facing ROB, who is no superstar.

Will Setterfield (DS $10,670) is set to finally fulfill his potential after crossing from Carlton to Essendon in the offseason. Setterfield, a big-bodied CBA midfielder by trade, should be played in his preferred position by Brad Scott, which bodes well for his fantasy output. Despite sitting down the pecking order at the Blues, Setterfield was able to pump out three scores of 89+ at the back end of last year and he gets a great matchup today.  

Tom Green (DS $12,930) – There has been hype aplenty about Green is preseason, who fantasy coaches hope will be given the keys to the GWS midfield this season. The 22-year-old amassed 50 disposals in one of the trial games and let’s not forget his hot start to 2022, with fantasy scores of 133, 102, 114, 78 and 102. Green will garner high ownership numbers today, but I won’t be leaving him out of my side with his clear scoring upside.

PREMIUM PLAYS

Zach Merrett/Darcy Parish (DS $16,280/$16,650) – There is huge risk and reward attached to the selection of Essendon midfielders on Sunday’s slate. The Bombers draw the best midfield matchup in the league first up, and they have premiums who love to accumulate the ball… HOWEVER, notorious tagger Finn Maginness is likely to ruin the day for one of these players. My predicting is that Merrett will cop the attention on Sunday, so Parish could go large.

Suggested Draftstars Lineup

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