MILESTONES
100 Games
- Elliot Yeo (Roughnecks)
Just a note to say one of last week’s 50 gamers had an absolute torrid time. Bad luck for Wayne Milera!
GAME OF THE ROUND
Last week I promised the Taxmanian Devils wouldn’t always be in the Sneaky Interesting Matchup, and low and behold, I have delivered on this promise immediately.
What a cracker this should be.
One of these teams has scored more than the other so far this season, and it wouldn’t have been the one you expected.
The Devils have improved their score each week so far this season, dropping a 1912 last week against Threat Level Midnight to leave no confusion as to which of them is the stronger at this point in time.
Most ominously, this score wasn’t built on the shoulders of the few. Sure, Nic Martin had 145, and Harry McKay had 120 (talk about ripping form to start the year…), but for the most part it was simply solid scores from nearly all who took the field. Only 1 sub 50 score here – Richmond’s Nathan Broad. Avoiding those terrible scores is the easiest way to make yourself competitive every week.
The Soldiers haven’t really gotten out of first gear yet in 2024. And they haven’t had to, with a very cushy draw to open proceedings. This will be their first real test, and it will be interesting to see how they fair. Are they still the undisputed top dog?
SNEAKY INTERESTING MATCHUP
Apologies to the Chiefs and Pukekos here. Usually a spoonbowl would be a walk in for the SIM, but the Chiefs are frisky, and the Pukekos are decidedly not. Feels like an easy tip.
You could argue the other three games are very similar. Three finalists (Roughnecks, Defenestrators, Sparkles) taking on 3 less fancied teams (MaherShalalHashBaz, Vipers, Midnight). So I’ve gone with the one I think would be most likely to feature an upset.
MaherShahalHashBaz have two of the best fantasy players in the land in Merrett and Tom Green. The only thing bringing them unstuck are some terrible scores from the bottom end of the 22 (5 scores under 50 last week, 2 of them in the 20s!). If those bottom end scores improve, this team has the firepower to challenge anyone on any given weekend.
On the other side of the fence, the Roughnecks have one very strong score – a 1966 in round 2 – sandwiched between two pretty run of the mill scores in 1668 (round 1) and 1728 (round 3). If the pattern continues they should be fine this weekend, but a poor score will leave them susceptible to a team buoyed by Merrett and Green.
STRAY OBSERVATION
I mentioned in the section above that there are 3 games this week that seem similar to me. So hows this – I predict at least 1 upset here.
The game above is the one I think that’s most likely to happen in. But who knows? The Vipers and Threat Level Midnight have some stars…
Eliminator
The Pukekos dished up another average score, but alas that fact isn’t enough to save MaherShalalHashBaz, whose 1588 sees them fall this week.
Still in it:
- Defenestrators
- Lethal Vipers
- Love Sparkles
MaherShalalHashBaz (Round 3)- Puttanesca Chiefs
- Roughnecks
- Solomon’s Soldiers
- Taxmanian Devils
Te Puke Pukekos (Round 1)Threat Level Midnight (Round 2)