It was a disappointing end to last season for the boys from Punt Road. They are five-goal favourites to kick off season 2016 with a victory over Carlton on Thursday night.
The list is unquestionable full of talent. In fact, the top tier of the Tigers has been pretty close to elite level for a few years now. This year is perhaps the first year when you can say they have the depth across the board to win a premiership.
As the Tigers are favoured by the bookmakers to handle Carlton on Thursday night their players become vitally important to nail in your Moneyball DFS contests.
Star utility Brett Deledio is under an injury cloud for Thursday’s clash and appears set to join off-season acquisition Chris Yarran on the sidelines.
Moneyball Round 1 AFL contests
We have analysed the Supercoach scores for all of the Richmond players during the 2016 NAB Challenge.
These stats don’t directly translate to Moneyball’s AFL scoring system but give you an idea of how the players have performed.
Jack Riewoldt ($6,700)
Jumping Jack Flash dropped the baby weight last year and become a better team player. He is one player our numbers have identified as flying along in the preseason games. He also had two solid games against the Blues last season kicking 7 goals in two games.
Bachar Houli ($7,200)
Bachar is rock hard fit and a genuine confidence player who is integral to the Tigers rebound across half back. If Deledio doesn’t play his value goes up even further.
Brandon Ellis ($8,400)
Ellis is about to commence his fourth season in the AFL and has a sound base of preseasons and AFL games (88 matches) under his belt and has looked very sharp in the preseason. Once again, if Deledio is to miss Ellis value increases slightly. Ellis had 26 disposals on both occasions against Carlton last season.
Connor Menadue ($3,500)
Youngster Menadue had a taste of senior footy last season and showed glimpses of becoming a solid player. He desperately needed a full AFL preseason to put on some muscle. He looks to have developed nicely and we think he is a big chance to play Thursday night. If he does, at just $3,500 looks to be a great value play in Moneyball contests.
The Tigers are a far superior team to the Blues on paper and the handicap of -30.5 looks to be justified.
They were a high fantasy points scoring team in 2016 and the Blues lack of firepower made it awfully hard for them to score.
These are solid signs that our DFS lineups need to be Tiger heavy.
Keep an eye out for full preview of the Richmond v Carlton clash later in the week.
