AFL

Round 13 of the 2023 AFL Premiership Season kicks off this week on Thursday night as we shift back to the longer rounds spread from Thursday right through to Monday. We get the round underway with a critical match between Sydney and St Kilda at the SCG. The Swans trail 8th place by just a single win and will be desperate to defend their home ground and keep their finals chances alive, while the Saints will be keen to return to their early season form and re-establish themselves as a top four team.

Draftstars continue offering massive prize pools with another $60,000 main contest this Friday, along with a wide variety of other lower stakes options, including even more opportunities to qualify for the $750,000 AFL Star Final!

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

Sydney ($1.62) vs St Kilda ($2.26)

Line: Sydney -7.5
Points Line: 158.5 points

If you’re looking to bet on the AFL this season, we highly recommend BoomBet. They are an exciting Australian-owned sportsbook with an excellent range of AFL betting markets. Click the banner below to join today!

Weather

Sydney - High chance of showers, 21 degrees.

There is a solid chance of rain at the SCG for this game, although at a max of 4mm the forecast is far from a flood. Keep an eye on conditions as the game approaches and lean more to inside midfielders given the ground and conditions if the rain is coming in.

Where To Attack?

AFL Data Tools

All season St Kilda have been conceding a huge amount of points to defenders. This has slowed for their early season mark over the last five rounds, however as we can see above, it is still at one of the highest marks in the league over this period. It is just a given on this slate to stack up Swans defenders and attack advantage of this point of attack in your daily fantasy lineups.

AFL Data Tools

In addition to the backs, St Kilda have also given up the most fantasy points to midfielders in 2023. This is in the form of disposals and uncontested marks in particular. As a result, I lean towards Swans midfielders that accumulate marks and uncontested possessions as well as playing inside given the ground and potential rain during the game.

Game Script – Swans backs and midfielders

VALUE PLAYS

Aaron Francis ($6,930) will play a crucial role in the back line for the Swans in this matchup as they continue with a relatively small lineup in defense. Francis has shown he can return value at this price point in this role up back already this year with a 75 point game. This week he draws the best matchup in the league for key backs as the Saints have been giving up almost 13 points per game above league average to defenders as we noted above. Stacking Francis up with other Swans back will be a great play on this slate.

Marcus Windhager ($7,350) returns to the Saints lineup after a decent run in the VFL. Windhager has been absolutely destroying the VFL averaging 110 fantasy points per game from 7 matches this season. He's been named in the middle for the Saints this week and should get plenty of opportunity with the Saints relatively light on for inside players with Hunter Clark out who had been taking approxiamately 30-40% of the centre bounces this season.

MID PRICED PLAYS

Lance Franklin ($8,140) has done nothing to warrant selection this season averaging just 49 fantasy points per game on the year. However, he is playing his 350th game this round and that is enough for me to roster him at this price point. Just two games ago he showed he can still return value at this price range returning a 93 point game against North Melbourne, and while this is a much more difficult opponent, the Swans will be looking for Franklin especially if they get on top at home, so I love him particularly in Swans forward stacks.

PREMIUM PLAYS

Jake Lloyd ($14,880) is the spend up option for me in targeting the Saints with backs. Consistent with the approach against St Kilda in daily fantasy all year, stacking up their opposition defenders has paid dividends. Lloyd has had another stellar fantasy season averaging 95 points per game and is fresh off a 123 point game last week. 

Rowan Marshall ($16,110) is having a monster season as the sole ruck for the Saints this year averaging 108 fantasy points per game. He's extremely expensive but as mentioned in the plays above, there is plenty of value options for a single game slate that can allow you to spend up on the ruck position. Marshall draws an above average matchup in this game with the Swans giving up 87 points per game to their opponent's number one ruckman this year, which is almost 3 points above the league average.

AFL Data Tools

Suggested Draftstars Lineup

Draftstars

THINK. IS THIS A BET YOU REALLY WANT TO PLACE?
For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit Gambling Help Online at www.gamblinghelponline.org.au.