Round 23 of the 2023 AFL Premiership Season will wrap up with a three-game slate featuring some lopsided fixtures between flag contenders and cellar dwellers.

Melbourne, Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs will all enter their matches as heavy favourites, with the final ladder taking shape just one round before the end of the home-and-away season.

Draftstars have put up a $60,000 Guaranteed Main Contest, as well as a wide variety of other lower stakes options with big prize pools.

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

Western Bulldogs vs West Coast at Marvel Stadium (Western Bulldogs -65.5, Total 174.5)

Melbourne vs Hawthorn at the MCG (Melbourne -26.5, Total 167.5)

Fremantle vs Port Adelaide at Optus Stadium (Port Adelaide -12.5, Total 169.5)

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Weather

Melbourne – Partly cloudy. 16 degrees.

Perth – Partly cloudy. 19 degrees.

Residents of both Melbourne and Perth will be preparing for a cool Sunday, but with no rain forecast the conditions should be perfect for clean football.

Where To Attack?

West Coast have generally been more competitive over the back half of the season, but last week’s 101-point thrashing at the hands of Fremantle showed that the Eagles are still well below AFL standard. This week the Eagles travel to Melbourne to face a desperate Bulldogs side that simply must win, so I expect this to be a very one-sided affair, both on the scoreboard and from a fantasy perspective.

There are some great ruck options on this slate, leaving DFS players will a decision to make. Tim English and Luke Jackson will players as solo rucks against easy opposition, as shown by the points conceded chart, while Max Gawn will resume his role as the main man in his 200th game.

Game Script – Western Bulldogs stacks

VALUE PLAYS

Josh Rotham (DS $6,990) is hardly a sexy pick, but he could provide the value that we need to access the premium options on this slate. West Coast will see plenty of the ball down back again this weekend, and Rotham has produced four 60+ scores this campaign which would be a decent return at sub-$7k.

MID PRICED PLAYS

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (DS $11,430) should feast on the struggling Eagles this Sunday, especially as the visitors are short on key defenders. Since the start of July the young Dogs forward has managed three scores in the 90s, and his fantasy output tends to spike in line with his goal returns.  

Bailey Smith (DS $12,910) – Someone will have to fill the Tom Liberatore sized hole in the midfield, and last weekend that man was Bailey Smith. Baz attended 55% of CBAs in Liberatore’s absence against the Hawks, and whilst it didn’t translate into fantasy returns, there is usually a strong correlation between CBAs and DFS scoring. Despite averaging just 83 in 2023, Smith has still managed five tons and he could well add to that on Sunday.

PREMIUM PLAYS

Max Gawn (DS $15,040) plays game 200 on Sunday, and I expect the big man to rise to the occasion. With Grundy out of the side, Gawn will play as the sole ruck against the Hawks, who he has a great history against. In this role big Max has shown his ceiling with scores of 162 and 131 in recent weeks, so he could prove to be a slate-breaker again in Round 23. 

Marcus Bontempelli (DS $17,980) – There is a Brownlow Medal on the line, and Bontempelli will be doing everything he can to get his hands on the top individual prize. Bont has shone in 2023, averaging 115 DFS points, and this week the stars have aligned for him with Liberatore missing for a matchup against West Coast. Lock and load.

Suggested Draftstars Lineup

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