AFL

Round 9 of the 2023 AFL Premiership Season kicks off with massive double header this Friday night. Firstly we have a blockbuster at the MCG between two of the best Victorian clubs in the past few years as Richmond take on the reigning premiers Geelong. These sides are at opposite ends of the table right now with Geelong still one of the flag favourites, while Richmond are sitting 15th and looking like they will struggle to make the finals. This game will be followed by a game out west between two cellar dwellers as West Coast host Gold Coast.

Draftstars continue offering massive prize pools with another $75,000 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

Richmond ($3.10) vs Geelong ($1.38)
Line: Geelong -19.5
Points Line: 170.5 points

West Coast ($3.75) vs Gold Coast ($1.28)
Line: Geelong -22.5
Points Line: 170.5 points

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Weather

Melbourne - Partly cloudy, slight chance of a shower. 17 degrees.

Perth - Mostly sunny, 23 degrees.

Perfect weather conditions this Friday night for football in both Melbourne and Perth. We can select our AFL fantasy teams without concern.

Where To Attack?

AFL Data Tools

Look it is no surprise when you have the teams sititng 15th and 17th on the ladder on this slate, that you also get two of the best teams to target through the midfield. Richmond and West Coast have both been getting carved up through the middle all season. The Eagles have an injury-depleted and inexperienced middle that should get destroyed by the Suns, while Geelong should also easily take care of the Tigers. Both make for great game stack options.

AFL Data Tools

The Eagles have seen huge scores posted on them for the second consecutive season as they continue to struggle to get players on the ground. This year they have been giving up over 10 points per game above the league average to forwards and despite playing at home, Gold Coast are still over 20 point favourites in this matchup.

Game Script – Geelong backs / midfielders, Gold Coast midfielders / forwards

VALUE PLAYS

Ben King ($6,900) On a slate where there is not an abundance of clear-cut value options, I love going to Ben King at close to the minimum price in this matchup. As we mentioned above, the Eagles have given up the second-most points in the league to forwards this season and they continue to get blitzed by key forwards. King has shown ability to return over 10x in value at this price point in recent games with two of his last three matches scoring 70+.

Josh Rotham ($6,210) is just flat out under-priced in the $6k range. Two seasons he averaged 72 points per game and last he was impacted by games where he was the sub and/or sent forward to play a forward tag role. Playing as a half-back he should be priced a few thousand higher and I love his potential to go at least 60 fantasy points or higher. Last week he notched up 61 fantasy points.

MID PRICED PLAYS

Max Holmes ($12,280) has been getting consistent run through the inside midfield this season as expected, attending around 30-50% of the centre bounces each week. I expect this number to grow now with Dangerfield out, given he was seeing around 60-80%. Over the last five weeks, Holmes has scores of 99, 98 and 100 fantasy points, all of which would be a positive return at this price point on a two-game slate. As mentioned above, this is an elite matchup for midfielders against the Tigers.

Dom Sheed ($12,280) returned last week and provided the output that was expected in the preseason. In tandem with Tim Kelly, Sheed was the only other main stay in the midfield and with the Eagles current injury woes, they will have no choice but to continue with this setup. Sheed returned 111 fantasy points last round and has another positive matchup for midfielders this week at home against the Suns who have given up 3 points per player above league average this season to midfielders.

PREMIUM PLAYS

Jarrod Witts ($14,040) has the second-best matchup in the league this week for rucks against the Eagles. They have been giving up 96 points per game to the opponent’s number one ruckman this year, which is over 13 points per game above the league average. More importantly, Bailey Williams has been getting slaughtered in the ruck contests with the Eagles conceding the most hit outs in the league. This is Jarrod Witts' bread and butter and I expect a ceiling game from Wittsy in this matchup, which as we have already seen this year is north of 130 fantasy points.

AFL Data Tools

Suggested Draftstars Lineup

Draftstars

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