AFL Blues vs Cats

It is time to keep things rolling as Round 2 of the 2023 AFL Premiership Season kicks off this Thursday night with another massive matchup between two Victorian titans. Carlton will host Geelong at the MCG and both teams will be surprisingly looking for their first win of the season.

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

  • AFL $100,000+ Blues vs Cats at Draftstars
  • AFL $10,000+ Blues vs Cats High Roller ($150 Entry) at Draftstars
  • AFL $5,000+ Blues vs Cats Fiver at Draftstars 
  • AFL $5,000+ Blues vs Cats 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

Carlton ($2.32) vs Geelong ($1.59)

Line: Geelong -11.5

Points Line: 167.5 points

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Weather

Melbourne - Cloudy, shower or two. 24 degrees

Another warm Thursday night expected at the MCG this week, with chances of thunderstorms in the afternoon but overall very little rain expected. It should be humid, possibly a tad slippery but nothing that would give concern when selecting our fantasty teams.

Where To Attack?

AFL Data Tools

We are talking a ridiculously small sample size with just one round in the books, but the Cats midfield got carved up fantasy wise in round one giving up an average of 91 fantasy points per player. Just to clarify how much of an outlier this probably is, the Cats were one of the toughest teams to score against in 2022.

AFL Data Tools

On the flip side, this result does not surprise me. With the Blues rolling out youngster Tom De Koning as their sole ruckman, I completely expect him to give a significant amount of fantasy points this season. Things started off with that trend as Toby Nankervis piled on a massive 116 points. This week will not be as obvious with the Cats struggling to field a clear and established ruckman attack as well.

Game Script – Carlton midfielders, Geelong forwards

 

VALUE PLAYS

Oliver Henry (DS $6,900) has a sensational debut for his new club in round one, kicking 2 goals and scoring 77 fantasy points. His price has not moved a great deal and I love stacking up the Cats forwards in this matchup with them favoured by just under two goals and the added motivation to avoid an 0-2 start.

MID PRICED PLAYS

Max Holmes (DS $10,990) was one of the most hyped up players in the league this off season as the Cats started to retool their midfield, which included adding Holmes to the centre square setups, along with his usual wing role. His round one game did not quite live up to the off season hype, but I will be going right back to the well this week. He attended 8 centre bounces in round one, but it was his marks tally of just 1 that let his score down. That should return to normal this week and we should see a score in the 90+ range, which is more than enough value on a single game slate at this price.

Jack Bowes (DS $10,210) gets the call up and may play across half back, especially with Tom Stewart now out with injury. We have seen Bowes excel from a fantasy perspective in that role in the past and he should fit right at home in the Cats back line when they get the possession game going. Through the preseason he was a stand out during match sims.

PREMIUM PLAYS

Patrick Cripps (DS $14,720) started the season off relatively slowly from a fantasy scoring perspective with just an 84 point game against the Tigers in round one. I fully expect the reigning Brownlow medallist to bounce right back against what is now either an aging or inexperienced Cats midfield. We outlined last year how the MCG is Cripps' favourite ground to play at and that has not changed after one down performance. For a player who was averaging over 120 fantasy points through the first half of the season in 2022 before injury struck, I love being able to roster him in the $14k range.

Jeremy Cameron (DS $12,950) has opened the season living up to all the preseason hype, looking like one the league’s best and most important players. In the first game of the year he racked up 85 points while kicking just 2 goals 1 behind in a loss. This week the Cats are favoured by almost 2 goals and I expect them to come out all guns blazing to avoid slipping to 0-2 as they start they campaign to go back to back.

 

Suggested Draftstars Lineup

Draftstars

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