Round 2 of the 2023 AFL Premiership Season continues to heat up on Friday night with a huge clash between two premiership contenders. Brisbane will host Melbourne at the Gabba, with the visitors looking to go 2-0 as the Lions fight to bounce back after being trounced last weekend.

Draftstars have backed up their massive opening week prize pools with another $100,000 Guaranteed Main Event this Friday, along with a wide variety of other lower stakes options with big prize pools.

  • AFL $100,000+ Lions vs Demons at Draftstars
  • AFL $10,000+ Lions vs Demons High Roller ($150 Entry) at Draftstars
  • AFL $5,000+ Lions vs Demons Fiver at Draftstars 
  • AFL $5,000+ Lions vs Demons Mini ($2 Entry) 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

Brisbane ($2.08) vs Melbourne ($1.74)

Line: Melbourne -2.5

Points Line: 171.5 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

Brisbane - Partly cloudy, 31 degrees

It’s going to be hot at the Gabba on Friday night, with a high of 31 degrees expected during the day. With no rain forecast, pick your line-ups freely.

 

Where To Attack?

With just one dataset to work with so far, it’s important that we look for long-term game style cues rather than just assume the numbers from Round 1 will repeat themselves. Brisbane shipped bulk points to the Power across nearly all positions, but I expect them to bounce back this week and be harder to score DFS points against.

One interesting data point from Round 1 was Melbourne’s leakiness to midfielders. The Bulldogs mids racked it up against Melbourne’s elite unit despite the lopsided scoreline, so I’m comfortable with backing in the likes of Lachie Neale and Josh Dunkley regardless of the game script.

Game Script – Brisbane midfielders

VALUE PLAYS

Kade Chandler (DS $6,000) was huge last week against the Bulldogs, notching up 104 points from a bargain basement price. The small forward is available at minimum price again this week, so he will be chalky, but he should still be on your radar. While Chandler’s role isn’t the most fantasy-friendly, he will be desperate to cement a spot in Melbourne’s best 22 this year, and he will need to fill the void left by Pickett’s absence this week.

Conor McKenna (DS $6,300) is just as affordable as last week, despite recording a 10x value score in his comeback game. Playing in a fantasy-friendly rebounding defender role, McKenna should thrive against the Demons, who conceded boatloads of points to defenders last year.

MID PRICED PLAYS

Daniel Rich (DS $11,930) was Brisbane’s best last week, scoring 89 points in the embarrassing loss to Port Adelaide. Rich has hit 100 in three of the last four games between these teams, and he’s still the most trusted Lions back with the ball, having taken 11 kick-ins in Round 1.

Zac Bailey (DS $11,510) put up 78 points last week in a losing team, and I expect him to outdo that effort on Friday. Bailey is a massive talent with a variety of DFS scoring avenues, as he has demonstrated against Melbourne in the past – he averaged over 75 against the Demons with three 80+ scores in recent years.

PREMIUM PLAYS

Lachie Neale (DS $13,500) – when was the last time we saw Neale at $13.5k is DFS? Sure, he was disappointing last week against the Power (72 points), but so was the rest of the team, and Neale is a certified fantasy stud. The Brownlow Medallist averages over 103 against the Demons, the most of any Brisbane player, so he’s well worth playing at this price.

Clayton Oliver (DS $17,320) was fantastic in Round 1, producing 124 points. Despite the tough matchup, ‘Clarry’ has hit 100+ in three consecutive games against Brisbane, and he boasts the best average of any Demons player against the Lions. While the price isn’t quite right on this slate, there is enough value around for us to pay up for Oliver’s ceiling here.

Suggested Draftstars Lineup

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