We kick off Round 2 of the 2022 AFL Premiership Season this Thursday night with an exciting contest between the Western Bulldogs and Carlton. The Dogs will be keen to get their first win after losing the grand final rematch last week, while the Blues will come in with a full head of steam after beating the Tigers in Round 1. Draftstars have delivered with a monster $120k main and a wide variety of other contests for us daily fantasy lovers to get into:

  • AFL $120,000+ Bulldogs vs Blues at Draftstars
  • AFL $10,000+ Bulldogs vs Blues High Roller ($150 Entry) at Draftstars
  • AFL $5,000+ Bulldogs vs Blues Fiver at Draftstars 
  • AFL $7,000+ Bulldogs vs Blues 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

 

 

You can watch a replay of the Draftstars AFL Show with Smatho and Roody as they breakdown this Draftstars contest on Thursday night. Not to be missed if you are making lineups for these contests! 

 

 

Western Bulldogs vs Carlton at MARVEL Stadium (WB -8.5, 172.5)

Weather

There is no need to worry about the weather inside the friendly confines of Marvel Stadium. Let’s play ball!

Where to Attack?

Obviously each season is a new year and trends from 2021 aren’t typically going to remain the same, that said with just the one round under the belt so far it is still a great starting point to gauge what we can expect heading into this day of games.

 

The Bulldogs structure in 2021 was to cut off the middle, which forced the opposition to chip across the back line all year. This resulted in conceding the second most points in the league to backs as we mentioned last week. I think the Blues will love to setup their game off half back through Sam Docherty and Adam Saad who both had big fantasty games in round 1.

 

 

In 2021, Carlton gave up the most points in the league to forwards. This trend continued to a degree in Round 1 of 2022 despite winning they still gave up 3 goals and 78 fantasy points to Shai Bolton, and 70 points to Jason Castagna. There could be value plays to some of the Bulldogs small forwards in this contest.

 

 

Once again in 2021 the Bulldogs ended the season conceding the most points in the league to rucks. Tim English and the Bulldogs gave up 92 points per game to the oppositions number one ruckman, which was 3 points per game higher than the next closest team. In Round 1, however, it was English who got the best of the best ruck duo in the league. While he was still dominated in the ruck contests, he owned the play around the ground and should have a solid matchup again this week against Marc Pittonet and Tom De Koning.

 

Game Script - Carlton backs, Western Bulldogs forwards

 

VALUE PLAYS

Aaron Naughton ($8,880) had his full talent on display for patches last week against one of the best defensive line-ups in the league. He managed 4 goals and 88 fantasy points and now comes into a game where the Bulldogs are favourites and as noted above the Blues have given up the most points in the league to forwards last year. While he will likely draw a tough individual matchup in Jacob Weitering, Naughton is priced too cheaply for his upside.

Taylor Duryea ($8,670) comes in for the dropped Bailey Williams who was one of the worst on the ground for the Bulldogs last week. He will play in the Bulldogs half back line and hasn’t averaged under 71 fantasy points in the least three years, which makes him priced too cheaply on this slate.

MID PRICED PLAYS

Patrick Cripps ($11,770)… not really sure what Draftstars pricing model has done here. After posting 112 points in week one, Cripps has had a price drop down to $11k. He will likely be the highest owned player on this slate and it could be a bit of a trap play given Cripps had to kick 3 goals last week to notch up the big score.

Adam Saad ($10,250) was everywhere in Round 1 against the Tigers posting 101 fantasy points. This week he draws a better matchup and I love pairing him up with other Blues backs on this slate.

Sneaky play – Tom Liberatore ($13,280) in Round 1, Liber was remarkably moved out of the centre and to the forward line. As a result he should likely have very little ownership this week but may be required to cover for the injured Bailey Smith in the centre this week.

PREMIUM PLAYS

Jackson Macrae (DS $16,960) remains well priced again this week for a player who averaged 116 points per game in 2021. He delivered for us last week with a 120 point game and I will be going right back to the well this week against the Blues. 

 

Dragon's Suggested Draftstars Team

 

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