Now for the all important captain choice for those going into the Grand Final this weekend…or even those that didn’t make it, but are vainly clinging to the hope that they have one last chance of pulling off the weekly prize.

Some might want to go safe this week, some might not like their match-up and will be looking for a point of difference in captaincy this week. Either way, I’ve tried to cover the best few conventional options and a few sneaky sleepers you could have a look at.

Thanks for reading during 2010 and I hope you enjoyed my columns a little better than Toby and Tuney’s (I know my Mum does)!

Gary Ablett

2010 avg: 118.7

Last five avg: 119.8

Last five vs. WC: 125

For the first time since I’ve started on these articles I’m going to honour someone other than Swan with top billing. GAJ is an irresistible option this week, despite being somewhat disappointing last week vs. Carlton (only his second sub 100 this year). I know a lot of people (myself and Toby included) turned to him when we heard Aaron Joseph was a late out for Carlton. Luckily Swan didn’t go much better.

Anyway, Ablett LOVES playing West Coast with five straight tons against them, including scores of 147 and 155 in that stretch. Just note, that those epic scores were actually both at Subiaco. It doesn’t really detract from the fact that Ablett likes to have a crack (that word was just to keep the mad rhyme going) against the Eagles. I wish the Eagles wore black in their strip, so I could’ve kept the rhyme going even longer.

Dane Swan

2010 avg: 122.6

Last five avg: 118.6

Last five vs. Haw: 111.8

It still wouldn’t be a silly move to stick with Swanny. The one with the waddle has been head and shoulders above every other DT’er this year having scored 202 points more than his nearest rival. His durability and consistently high scoring makes it a no contest.

His last two scores against Hawthorn have been 141 and 119, so he doesn’t do too shabbily on that front. Last week was the first time he’s scored below 110 since Round 9, and I know I’ve said the stat before but he’s only scored below 120 four times since then! If you own Ablett and Swan it’s a genuine 50/50 call this week if you’re looking for safety in your Grand Final (or just in achieving your final ranking if you’re out of the race).

Nick Riewoldt

2010 avg: 96.7

Last five avg: 110.6

Last five vs. Adel: 103.6

St.Nick is definitely back to his old ways, and I must admit I didn’t think he’d get there this year. With such a major injury it’s amazing that he’s bounced back so quickly from it.

His last five against Adelaide is hurt by a 60 five games ago (back in 2006 – Bock smashed him that night). Bock has been a worthy adversary of his over the years, but with the Chicken Man kicking off his flip flops and soaking up a little sun on the Gold Coast (before an arduous pre-season, of course) then it looks like Rooey will get free reign against the Crows this week. He’s too fast and agile for Rutten, who is very much a straight line player that likes to play close to goal. I expect young Phil Davis will get first crack this week.

The Crows are in development mode and Neil Craig will enjoy giving him the challenge. I will also enjoy Neil Craig giving Davis that challenge, because I expect Riewoldt to develop Davis similar to the way Rocca developed Zac Dawson a few years ago. Viciously.

Lenny Hayes

2010 avg: 107.9

Last five avg: 118.4

Last five vs. Adel: 117.8

After having a week off Hayes should be fit and firing to face a team that he has a belting record against. Within his last five against Adelaide he has a 146 and 134 and one score below 100. One thing to consider is that a lot of his more enjoyable record against the Crows is at the Docklands. He still goes very well at Football Park, but he tends to dominate them a bit more at home.

He looks like the best midfield option outside of Ablett and Swan to me this week.

Jimmy Bartel

2010 avg: 105.6

Last five avg: 90.2

Last five vs. WC: 114.6

I debated with myself whether or not I should include Bartel. His recent form makes it hard to recommend him, but I just can’t go past the fact he’s scored seven straight tons against West Coast, with a low score of 107 and a high of 144 in that streak.

His form at Kardinia Park this year isn’t anywhere near as good as normal though. He’s only got past the ton twice (and only just). He’s scored four sub 100s at the Cattery this year, with his previous four sub 100s down there spread over the previous three seasons. You would approach him with some sort of uncertainty this week, but he just seems to really love playing the Eagles, so it could snap him back into form.

Daniel Giansiracusa

2010 avg: 92.8

Last five avg: 107.6

Last five vs. Ess: 97.2

OK, so the numbers don’t scream out captain choice this week, but I wanted to look a little bit deeper into how Gia performs when the Bulldogs are down a gun. Now there are some anomalies with the numbers, but I have always found that Gia does better when he has to move into a permanent midfield role.

A look at the numbers shows that when Boyd was out for two games earlier this year Gia scored 125 and 154. Even in Boyd’s first game back (when it didn’t look like he was quite 100%) Gia scored a 142. In Round 20 when Cooney missed with the flu against Geelong Gia scored 133 and was one of the few Dogs who could be happy with his personal perfomance.

Even when Higgins (who plays a similar role to Gia) misses he scores pretty well. This year with Higgins out he has scored 79, 108, 110, 140 and 35. The 35 was last weekend against Sydney and Cooney pretty much missed the whole game too, so the worry is if that puts a hole in the theory. What I’m more chalking his poor score on the weekend down to is that Sydney is his second worst DT match up.

I look at last week as the rarity, and that I expect Gia to go well with Cooney and Higgins out this week. The only thing to be wary of is that Johnson is out too, so this might make his forward role more valuable, but if the Bulldogs bring Hill or Stack back, then they might soak up the forward time to release Gia to the midfield. It would be a risky one, but he has a solid record against Essendon, but it just seems his best games are when the Dogs need him to take on more work.

Other notes

-       I apologise profusely for canning Montagna last week and saying that he has been looking lame. He looks good again FWIW…

-       Joel Selwood has only scored one ton against West Coast in his career.

-       Goddard does pretty well against Adelaide in general, but he seems to really struggle at Football Park. He only has one ton in seven games at the ground, with his next highest score being 82.

-       Jonathan Brown struggles a bit against Sydney. I know his form from last weekend would be really tempting. I suppose you could roll the dice if you felt daring, considering Craig Bolton usually gets him.

-       Boyd is really up and down against Essendon. For a man who’s so consistent, he doesn’t have a readable form line against them!

-       Bryce Gibbs could be another interesting smokey. His last three against Freo have been 142, 140 and 108.