Round 9 recap: Last round there were 21 scores over 125. Sadly, not one of these players received a mention in my Captain’s Log – Round 9 edition. The top scorers were Dayne Beams (175), Mitch Robinson (161), Matt Rosa (158), Matthew Broadbent (153), Todd Goldstein (153) and Shane Tuck (148). If you had them in your team and somehow put the captaincy on them, I salute you.

Round 9 regrets: For the rest of us, Ablett disappointed with a 111 against Port Adelaide despite his great record against them. My next choices were even worse: Stanton (72), Watson (108) and Judd (80). My final choice was perma-captain in waiting, Pendlebury, who was solid with 118 whilst my smoky choice of Deledio crashed back to earth after his huge game the previous round with 117.

The numbers, once again, however, point to a clear choice …
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Ablett v. Collingwood

Rd 18 2011: 126 SC points, 36 disposals
PF 2010: 161 SC points, 40 disposals
Rd 19 2010: 98 SC points, 26 disposals
Rd 9 2010: 109 SC points, 32 disposals
PF 2009: 150 SC points, 34 disposals
Rd 3 2009: 150 SC points, 37 disposals
Rd 9 2008: 127 SC points, 29 disposals
PF 2007: 176 SC points, 31 disposals
Rd 15 2007: 84 SC points, 32 disposals

Average is 131 SC points with 33 disposals.

Note: Fantastic record against Collingwood with only two scores below 100. Most recently tagged by Johnson in 2011 but has played a lot of game head to head against Swan. Since his return from injury, he has scored 125, 150 and 111.

Cox v. Brisbane

Rd 23 2011: 49 SC points, 8 disposals, 16 hitouts
Rd 19 2010: 104 SC points, 22 disposals, 9 hitouts
Rd 1 2010: 50 SC points, 7 disposals, 18 hitouts
Rd 1 2009: 128 SC points, 23 disposals, 26 hitouts
Rd 16 2008: 171 SC points, 36 disposals, 27 hitouts
Rd 1 2008: 166 SC points, 29 disposals, 22 hitouts
Rd 14 2007: 147 SC points, 26 disposals, 21 hitouts

Average is 116 SC points with 22 disposals and 20 hitouts.

Note: Great average against Brisbane which is inflated by his huge scores between 2007 and 2009. In the past two years, however, his average is only 68 against Brisbane (in three games). Shocking score last week with only 68 which had followed a great run of 139, 141 and 141.

Goddard v. Richmond

Rd 2 2011: 102 SC points, 15 disposals
Rd 21 2010: 144 SC points, 29 disposals
Rd 11 2010: 188 SC points, 38 disposals
Rd 13 2009: 121 SC points, 35 disposals
Rd 7 2008: 70 SC points, 15 disposals
Rd 17 2006: 119 SC points, 22 disposals
Rd 2 2007: 53 SC points, 10 disposals

Average is 114 SC points with 23 disposals.

Note: Great recent record against Richmond – averaging 139 in his past four games against them. Most recently played head to head against Deledio. Was tagged by Morton in the game prior to that. In the game that he scored the huge 188, he played head to head against Edwards. Is not in the best form recently with scores of 97, 115, and 113 (average of 108).

Judd v. Port Adelaide

Rd 11 2011: 83 SC points, 22 disposals
Rd 8 2010: 153 SC points, 27 disposals
Rd 20 2009: 97 SC points, 19 disposals
Rd 19 2008: 151 SC points, 24 disposals
Rd 11 2008: 150 SC points, 32 disposals
Rd 15 2007: 64 SC points, 11 disposals
Rd 10 2005: 76 SC points, 14 disposals

Average is 110 SC points with 21 disposals.

Note: Solid record against Port Adelaide with his average boosted by three scores over 150. On the other hand, he has four scores under 100. Has most recently been tagged by Thomas or Cassisi (with Kane Cornes getting the job on Marc Murphy). Struggled last week with only 80 which followed scores of 113 and 144.

Sandilands v. Adelaide

Rd 3 2011: 108 SC points, 18 disposals, 18 hitouts
Rd 11 2010: 130 SC points, 11 disposals, 37 hitouts
Rd 1 2010: 124 SC points, 21 disposals, 33 hitouts
Rd 3 2009: 76 SC points, 11 disposals, 25 hitouts
Rd 5 2008: 112 SC points, 14 disposals, 37 hitouts
Rd 5 2007: 93 SC points, 18 disposals, 30 hitouts

Average is 107 SC points with 16 disposals and 30 hitouts.

Note: Solid average against Adelaide. Was subbed off in the third quarter of the game last year but still managed a 108. Great recent record against Adelaide. Poor game last week with only 71 which had followed scores of 100 and 126.

Thompson v. Fremantle

Rd 3 2011: 152 SC points, 40 disposals
Rd 11 2010: 140 SC points, 34 disposals
Rd 1 2010: 56 SC points, 23 disposals
Rd 15 2009: 93 SC points, 27 disposals
Rd 3 2009: 98 SC points, 22 disposals
Rd 5 2008: 105 SC points, 20 disposals
Rd 16 2007: 75 SC points, 22 disposals
Rd 5 2007: 119 SC points, 29 disposals

Average is 105 SC points with 27 disposals.

Note: Fantastic last two games against Fremantle. Avoided a tag in the game last year (De Boer went to Dangerfield and Crowley went to Johncock) but still managed a huge score in Rd 11 2010 when he was tagged by Crowley. Poor score last week with only 93 which had followed huge scores of 139 and 161.

Watson v. Melbourne

Rd 15 2010: 135 SC points, 32 disposals
Rd 12 2009: 126 SC points, 28 disposals
Rd 18 2008: 63 SC points, 18 disposals
Rd 13 2007: 62 SC points, 16 disposals

Average is 97 SC points with 24 disposals.

Note: Great recent record against Melbourne. Tagged by Dunn in the 2010 game and played head to head against McLean in the 2009 game. Poor record prior to those games. Quiet last week with 108 which had followed scores of 111, 149 and 134 (average of 126).

Franklin v. North Melbourne

Rd 20 2011: 96 SC points, 13 disposals, 3 goals, 2 behinds
Rd 5 2010: 115 SC points, 13 disposals, 5 goals, 2 behinds
Rd 15 2009: 177 SC points, 24 disposals, 4 goals, 4 behinds
Rd 3 2009: 72 SC points, 13 disposals, 4 goals, 3 behinds
Rd 13 2008: 18 SC points, 10 disposals, 1 goal, 3 behinds
Rd 3 2008: 83 SC points, 14 disposals, 5 goals, 4 behinds
SF 2007: 66 SC points, 12 disposals, 3 goals, 3 behinds
Rd 3 2006: 128 SC points, 15 disposals, 3 goals, 3 behinds

Average is 94 SC points with 14 disposals with 3.5 goals.

Note: Not a good record against North Melbourne. One huge score in Rd 15 2009, but if you take out that score, his average dips to 83. In the past two years has been matched up against Scott Thompson (who is in great form this season). From 2009 and before that, he had been matched up against (now team mate) Josh Gibson. Has had two quiet weeks in a row with 73 and 99 in his most recent games.

Deledio v. St Kilda

Rd 2 2011: 136 SC points, 29 disposals
Rd 21 2010: 140 SC points, 25 disposals
Rd 11 2010: 86 SC points, 20 disposals
Rd 13 2009: 79 SC points, 21 disposals
Rd 7 2008: 94 SC points, 22 disposals
Rd 22 2007: 79 SC points, 16 disposals
Rd 13 2007: 39 SC points, 18 disposals
Rd 17 2006: 106 SC points, 24 disposals
Rd 2 2007: 80 SC points, 18 disposals

Average is 93 SC points with 21 disposals.

Note: Great recent record against St Kilda last year (when he played head to head against Goddard) and in Rd 21 2010 (when he was tagged by Dempster). Poor record prior to those games. Coming off scores of 117, 157, 100 and 143 (average of 129).

Kennedy v. Western Bulldogs

Rd 18 2011: 55 SC points, 16 disposals
Rd 7 2011: 67 SC points, 17 disposals
SF 2010: 121 SC points, 32 disposals
Rd 21 2010: 109 SC points, 19 disposals
Rd 8 2010: 89 SC points, 21 disposals
Rd 14 2009: 67 SC points, 19 disposals

Average is 85 SC points with 21 disposals.

Note: Small sample size. Good scores in 2010 but terrible scores last year. Coming off scores of 122, 132, 101, 118 and 173.

Stanton v. Melbourne

Rd 11 2011: 77 SC points, 21 disposals
Rd 15 2010: 76 SC points, 17 disposals
Rd 12 2009: 81 SC points, 26 disposals
Rd 18 2008: 55 SC points, 14 disposals
Rd 13 2007: 47 SC points, 15 disposals

Average is 67 SC points with 19 disposals.

Note: Shocking record against Melbourne. Played across half forward matched up with Morton in 2011. In the games prior to that was effectively tagged out of the game by Jones (2010), Bartram (2009) and McDonald (2008). Shocker last week with 72 which had followed huge scores of 142, 164 and 154.

My opinion: Really tough decision this week. The numbers point clearly to Ablett. It is clear, however, that he has only played one game against Collingwood as a Gold Coast player. In that game he scored 126 with 36 disposals.

The numbers above don’t really point to any other player – especially after the poor performances from the majority in last week’s games.

This week Collingwood is matched up against Gold Coast at the MCG whilst Geelong is facing Greater Western Sydney down in Geelong. I am expecting most Collingwood and Geelong players to have a field day in their respective games. Collingwood met Gold Coast in Round 18 last year and Collingwood’s top scorers were Leon Davis (137), Luke Ball (135) and Pendlebury (123). Six Collingwood players scored over 100 whilst Ablett (126) was the only Suns player to break the ton. Collingwood, as a team scored 1879 (57%) of the SC pie, whilst Gold Coast scored 1425 (43%).

In my opinion, I am a little worried about Ablett against Collingwood so I am leaning towards either Pendlebury (coming off scores of 118, 147, 107, 145) or Selwood (coming off scores of 110, 140, 114). In order, I would pick Pendlebury, Selwood and then Ablett. Following them, I would pick Watson who should pick up a heap of possessions against Melbourne.

My smoky pick this week is Stanton who, despite his terrible record against Melbourne, should bounce back and find plenty of the ball.

Good luck to all!!