Round 17 is here and it brings us 1 really interesting matchup, 1 potentially interesting matchup, and 3 games the tipsters will feel pretty confident on.
GAME OF THE ROUND
Threat Level Midnight bared their teeth in round 16 and reminded everybody of their ceiling. They’ll welcome back Wilkie, Bontempelli and Sparrow (!) to an outfit that topped 1900 against Te Puke Pukekos.
The timing of their return will warm coach Rowan’s heart, as they’ll almost certainly be invaluable contributors if this team is to dethrone the ladder leaders.
It’s a testament to their strength and depth that MaherShalalHashBaz have barely stumbled while missing several surefire members of the best 22. Sinclair is the latest star to go down, and in a cruel blow it seems he’ll miss the rest of the season. Zorko seems to be one week away every week, and there are question marks over Impey and Gunston. Yet the wins keep on coming.
This should be a fascinating contest, which promises to ebb and flow across the weekend. MSHB will likely field four players in the Thursday night clash, while Midnight may have a lone hand in Zac Bailey. Callaghan and Serong will go head-to-head alone in Saturday afternoon’s GWS v Fremantle encounter.
The Gold Coast v Collingwood twilight game on Saturday will be more crowded. MSHB will likely have 5 – all of them big names. Midnight will have 6. Can Ed Allan hang with the big boys?
Midnight will end the round with their bestest boy Harry Sheezel taking the field against a Port Adelaide outfit that can be quite restrictive. He’ll be joined by the severely underrated Joe Richards and the “hey this guy might be good” small defender Josh Lai. MSHB will have Georgiades and Evans to defend whatever lead they’ve established. Should be a good one!
(!) Sparrow is a good fantasy player now, and as someone who has had some Sparrow shares in my time, good for him.
Key Outs
MSHB: Sinclair, Zorko, Impey, Gunston
Midnight: Farrell
Last time these two met
Was a high scoring affair in round 8. Midnight scored a very competitive 1890. It was just a smidge unfortunate for them that the reigning premiers scored 2041.
MSHB dropped that whopper despite a 30 from Angus Anderson and a 36 from Charlie Curnow. Having 11 players tonne up will compensate for that, and having another 4 score in the 90s is a cherry on top.
DangerGawn votes
| Darcy Wilmot |  | 134 |
| Dayne Zorko | | 123 |
| Nic Newman |  | 122 |
SNEAKY INTERESTING MATCHUP
There perhaps isn’t a clear and natural fit for this matchup, just a series of games you could talk yourself into just as easily as you could talk yourself out of.
In that murkiness, I’ve settled on backing in Pukekos and their ability to stack wins despite perhaps not reaching the scoring heights of their ladder peers.
The Roughnecks should be confident given the names coming into the side. Pukekos have also scored below 1700 in 3 of the past 4 rounds.
But how much of that is a product of the byes? With lists no longer compromised by that particular hurdle, teams will be able to place their best foot forward for the first time in a while.
Assuming it’s a tight contest, Sunday’s action will prove interesting. Pukekos have just two players scheduled to take the field on Sunday – Parish and Phillipou. The Roughnecks have 5, including the only player in the entire matchup taking the field in the round’s final game, in Luke Parker. So Parker will either be chasing down a Pukekos target on his own, or running up the score.
Key Outs
Roughnecks: Flanders, McInerney
Pukekos: English?
Last time these two met
A comfortable 312-point victory for the Roughnecks in their round 8 clash. Sam Berry tackled his way to a Showdown Medal, and the 3 DangerGawn votes.
DangerGawn votes
| Sam Berry |  | 156 |
| John Noble |  | 144 |
| Brodie Grundy | | 128 |
STRAY OBSERVATION
Boy howdy do I feel good about my little P.S last week…
The downside though is it’s forced me to scramble. I was all prepared for the Vipers v Soldiers spoonbowl to be the sneaky interesting matchup, but the Soldiers’ victory has deflated the stakes. Perhaps we need to start considering what expectations are for those Soldiers in 2027.
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