<p style='text-align: justify;]This week, Ablett plays on Saturday night against Fremantle at Metricon. Prior to the games on Saturday night, four games will be played: Collingwood v. St Kilda, Essendon v. GWS, North Melbourne v. Port Adelaide and Adelaide v. Hawthorn.
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<p style='text-align: justify;]Obvious vice captain candidates from these games would be Watson, Pendlebury and Swan. If we are content to have their scores counted as our captain&amp;rdquo; scores, we can take the captaincy off Ablett and put it onto a non-playing player whose team has yet to play during the round - a prime candidate would be Gibbs because Carlton play on Sunday afternoon.
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<p style='text-align: justify;]Let's look at the numbers and, for the first time for quite a while, we have someone other than Ablett leading the averages:
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Judd v. Melbourne

Rd 9 2012: 80 SC points, 21 disposals
Rd 20 2011: 163 SC points, 31 disposals
Rd 10 2011: 155 SC points, 31 disposals
Rd 11 2010: 109 SC points, 22 disposals
Rd 21 2009: 132 SC points, 33 disposals
Rd 5 2008: 167 SC points, 26 disposals
Rd 8 2007: 166 SC points, 23 disposals
Rd 9 2006: 91 SC points, 22 disposals
Rd 13 2006: 74 SC points, 16 disposals

Average is 126 SC points with 26 disposals.

Note: Great average against Melbourne with four scores over 150 in nine games. Averaging 139 in last seven games against them. Tagged by McKenzie in last three games. In poor form at the moment - averaging 98 for the season and coming off scores of 105 and 60.

Ablett v. Fremantle

Rd 11 2011: 185 SC points, 34 disposals
SF 2010: 119 SC points, 36 disposals
Rd 3 2010: 157 SC points, 33 disposals
Rd 22 2009: 146 SC points, 35 disposals
Rd 12 2009: 98 SC points, 29 disposals
Rd 15 2008: 81 SC points, 13 disposals
Rd 6 2008: 62 SC points, 15 disposals
Rd 17 2007: 114 SC points, 31 disposals
Rd 8 2007: 90 SC points, 25 disposals
Rd 12 2006: 148 SC points, 14 disposals

Average is 120 SC points with 27 disposals.

Note: Ablett averages a massive 152 against the Dockers in his past four games against them. He last played them in 2011 when he was tagged by Palmer but scored a huge 185 (Crowley was tagging Harbrow before being subbed off at three quarter time). Played head to head against Stephen Hill in the Semi Final in 2010 as Crowley was sent to tag Paul Chapman. Ablett was last tagged by Crowley in Round 3 2010 but still managed to score 157. Returned to form last week with 160 SC points against the Giants (to bring his season average up to 136).

Kennedy v. Brisbane

Rd 15 2012: 97 SC points, 30 disposals
Rd 24 2011: 129 SC points, 29 disposals
Rd 11 2011: 132 SC points, 25 disposals
Rd 22 2010: 128 SC points, 24 disposals
Rd 6 2010: 107 SC points, 19 disposals

Average is 119 SC points with 25 disposals.

Note: Solid average against Brisbane and has played head to head against Rockliff or Redden in most match ups. Only one score below 100 in five games. Despite averaging 116 for the season, he is coming off scores of 109 and 80.

Swan v. St. Kilda

Rd 19 2012: 97 SC points, 31 disposals
Rd 21 2011: 156 SC points, 34 disposals
Rd 11 2011: 94 SC points, 19 disposals
GF 2010: 123 SC points, 26 disposals
GF 2010: 89 SC points, 21 disposals
Rd 16 2010: 145 SC points, 36 disposals
Rd 3 2010: 98 SC points, 26 disposals
QF 2009: 83 SC points, 24 disposals
Rd 7 2009: 66 SC points, 24 disposals
SF 2008: 132 SC points, 23 disposals
Rd 19 2008: 139 SC points, 25 disposals
Rd 8 2008: 118 SC points, 28 disposals
Rd 14 2007: 145 SC points, 29 disposals

Average is 114 SC points with 27 disposals.

Note: Solid average against St Kilda with five scores over 130 but six scores under 100. Scored 97 last year playing head to head against Hayes. Was tagged by Jones when he scored his huge 156 in Rd 21 2011. Solid form this year coming off scores of 127 and 168 (averaging 125 for the season).

Watson v. Greater Western Sydney

Rd 9 2012: 108 SC points, 26 disposals

Note: Only one game against the Giants when he was tagged by McDonald. He is averaging 124 for the season despite a shocking game in Round 3 against the Dockers when he scored 67 points. Taking that score out, his average jumps to 138 for this season.

Selwood v. Richmond

Rd 4 2012: 144 SC points, 27 disposals
Rd 18 2011: 126 SC points, 27 disposals
Rd 6 2010: 140 SC points, 37 disposals
Rd 2 2009: 93 SC points, 22 disposals
Rd 18 2008: 108 SC points, 32 disposals
Rd 8 2008: 94 SC points, 22 disposals
Rd 18 2007: 78 SC points, 19 disposals
Rd 6 2007: 59 SC points, 18 disposals

Average is 105 SC points with 26 disposals.

Note: Great recent record against Richmond averaging 137 in his past three games against them. Most recently played head to head against Tuck and played head to head against Foley in the game prior to that. Poor game last week with only 87 against the Bulldogs which had followed his match winning 163 the week prior against Sydney.

Murphy v. Melbourne

Rd 20 2011: 110 SC points, 30 disposals
Rd 10 2011: 147 SC points, 31 disposals
Rd 11 2010: 94 SC points, 21 disposals
Rd 21 2009: 115 SC points, 37 disposals
Rd 5 2008: 73 SC points, 21 disposals
Rd 22 2007: 84 SC points, 23 disposals
Rd 14 2007: 122 SC points, 23 disposals
Rd 1 2006: 82 SC points, 17 disposals

Average is 103 SC points with 25 disposals.

Note: Four scores over 100 and four scores under. One big score in Round 11 last year. Most recently played head to head against Trengove. Is coming off scores of 99 and 98 (averaging 101 for the season).

Cox v. Western Bulldogs

Rd 1 2012: 110 SC points, 16 disposals, 22 hitouts
Rd 19 2011: 213 SC points, 27 disposals, 37 hitouts
Rd 9 2011: 149 SC points, 23 disposals, 33 hitouts
Rd 13 2010: 78 SC points, 18 disposals, 11 hitouts
Rd 4 2009: 102 SC points, 25 disposals, 31 hitouts
Rd 6 2008: 95 SC points, 20 disposals, 21 hitouts
Rd 17 2007: 83 SC points, 18 disposals, 23 hitouts
Rd 6 2007: 76 SC points, 16 disposals, 10 hitouts
SF 2006: 62 SC points, 11 disposals, 18 hitouts
Rd 13 2006: 63 SC points, 12 disposals, 16 hitouts
Rd 19 2005: 115 SC points, 17 disposals, 20 hitouts
Rd 4 2005: 89 SC points, 20 disposals, 29 hitouts

Average is 103 SC points with 19 disposals and 23 hitouts.

Note: Great recent record against the Bulldogs averaging 157 over the past three games against them. Will be matched up against the in form Will Minson. Naitanui is also returning this round. Coming off scores of 105, 96 and 171 (averaging 117 for the season).

Pendlebury v. St. Kilda

Rd 19 2012: 126 SC points, 30 disposals
Rd 21 2011: 102 SC points, 26 disposals
Rd 11 2011: 149 SC points, 32 disposals
GF 2010: 123 SC points, 29 disposals
GF 2010: 87 SC points, 19 disposals
Rd 16 2010: 106 SC points, 27 disposals
Rd 3 2010: 73 SC points, 16 disposals
QF 2009: 22 SC points, 4 disposals
Rd 7 2009: 128 SC points, 28 disposals
SF 2008: 92 SC points, 23 disposals
Rd 19 2008: 74 SC points, 23 disposals
Rd 8 2008: 123 SC points, 25 disposals
Rd 14 2007: 72 SC points, 16 disposals

Average is 98 SC points with 23 disposals.

Note: Poor record against St Kilda. Averages 121 in his past four games against them. Most recently played head to head against Goddard and was tagged by Dempster in the game prior to that. His average is brought down by his 22 SC points in 2009 when he was injured in the first quarter. Taking that score out, his average jumps to 105. He is averaging 129 for the season and is coming off scores of 136, 105 and 124.

Franklin v. Adelaide

PF 2012: 128 SC points, 20 disposals, 3 goals
Rd 3 2012: 118 SC points, 24 disposals, 3 goals
Rd 1 2011: 72 SC points, 15 disposals, 2 goals
Rd 12 2010: 111 SC points, 18 disposals, 3 goals
Rd 20 2009: 107 SC points, 14 disposals, 4 goals
Rd 10 2009: 28 SC points, 12 disposals, 3 goals
Rd 12 2008: 66 SC points, 21 disposals, 1 goal
Rd 4 2008: 137 SC points, 18 disposals, 6 goals
EF 2007: 109 SC points, 12 disposals, 7 goals
Rd 14 2007: 37 SC points, 5 disposals, 1 goal
Rd 15 2006: 53 SC points, 11 disposals, 3 goals

Average is 88 SC points with 15 disposals with 3 goals.

Note: Poor record against Adelaide and coming off a shocking game last week where he scored 57 against Scott Thompson and North Melbourne (not helped by kicking five behinds). He is only averaging 94 for the season with a top score of 121. Most recently marked by Rutten but was manned by Talia in the game prior.

My opinion: Ablett rewarded many with his 160 SC points last week. Many tried to use the captain's loophole and decided to keep Pendlebury's 136 SC points rather than punting on Ablett playing the Giants. Last week highlighted the dilemma: how many points is enough for your vice-captain? I still don't know the answer to this question. Interestingly, Pendlebury's score was the 11th highest for the round last week.

Ablett's recent record against Fremantle is hard to ignore - averaging 152 over his past four games against them. He will probably be tagged by Crowley. The last time he was tagged by Crowley, he still managed 33 touches and 157 SC points.

This week, the other clear choice besides Ablett is Watson. Essendon are playing the Giants and Watson should get plenty of the ball. He has had one bad game this year but otherwise is in Brownlow Medal form. Watson is a fantastic candidate for vice captaincy this week.

Following Ablett and Watson, I would pick Swan, then Pendlebury and then Josh Kennedy (who is playing against Brisbane at the SCG).

Good luck all!