THE HANGOVER: DRAFTSTARS WEEKLY WRAP

After booming klezmer like sounds offering the claim “we will never surrender” all week, the Giants surrendered. In a big way. Leaving the Tigers to be the peerless Grand Final winners in 2019.

Was the victory ever in doubt? Not really. Was anyone expecting it to be an 89-point annihilation? Definitely not.

But here we have it. Richmond came away 114 to 25 winners after a burst of 11 unanswered goals beginning just before the end of the first quarter.

The ball, as always, remained entranced by yellow and black magic as countless 50/50 contests went the way Richmond were running and Greater Western Sydney were made to look like the Greater Western Witches Hats.

Marlion Pickett debuted in a Grand Final victory and now has the same amount of GF victories as St Kilda, Dustin Martin penned another chapter in what is becoming a truly legendary tale and the Tigers etched their name into the record books once more.

And just as incredibly, the $120K Draftstars Grand Final contest was one by Broady4_ and shane111987. It was the former’s only entry in the contest and can think themselves unlucky to not be sole the sole winner of the $11k + first prize.

Either side of that, the NRL Grand Finalists were decided after Canberra overcame the Rabbitohs and the Roosters won last year’s Grand Final rematch, taking out a Storm side that dominated the 2019 regular season like not many sides before.

Both games were low scoring slug fests with all only 14 points being the combined margin of victory.


The Raiders are playing like a team possessed and not many would have predicted they would be the first side to put their number to a Grand Final appearance throughout most of 2019.

Josh Papalii has been a star and continued his form against the Rabbits. He scored a try, ran for 179 metres and chalked up 86 DS points for his troubles.

The Roosters nullified the Storm, holding them to six points for the match. Angus Crichton had one of his best games of the year with 68 DS points from 131 metres gained, five tackle breaks and 10 hit ups.

And the match sealing try was run in by who else but James Tedesco?

The NFL was a dirt road somewhere between the nearest town and your favourite camping spot this week. Despite featuring a number of twists, turns and unpredictabilities, it still ended up exactly where you thought it would. Unless, maybe, if you are a Rams fan. Then you might have taken a wrong turn at Gannawarra and ended up in Warracknabeal.

What we can be absolutely sure of is Warracknabeal is a far sight different than New England’s home town of Foxborough or the red, white and gold stained Kansas City. The Patriots and Chiefs are the only sides sitting at 4-0 after four weeks, and they will no doubt be in a similarly dominant position after they have played 16 games.

The Patriots were made to work by an impressive Bills outfit, eventually coming away with a 16-10 victory, as were the Chiefs by a Detroit side capable of putting up points. Speaking of points, Tampa Bay exploded for 55 to overcome the 40 points the Rams mustered.

It was a week where any given game either featured defensive prowess or all-out attack. 15 sides topped the 24-point mark while nine scored 12 or under.

Outside of winning and losing, there is just being an outright beast.

One of the great gentlemen of the game Larry Fitzgerald, leapt into second spot on the all-time receptions list.

And Gardner Minshew kept up his pursuit of becoming a cult hero, MVP and GOAT with this absurd play.

AFL GRAND FINAL

Despite the one sided result in favour of Richmond, the Giants had a grasp over the DS scoring.

Heath Shaw was prolific with 130 DS points while Nick Haynes and Tim Taranto were the best two Giants players on the ground by some way. The trio combined for 366 DS points which equated to over 40 per cent of the 861 DS points required to win the contest.

Dustin Martin was awarded the Norm Smith medal, and rightfully so. He is now a dual Norm Smith medallist and his 2019 GF performance was one for the ages. He kicked four goals, had 22 touches, 91 DS points and was simply unstoppable.

The kryptonite for entrants in the big dance contest was the midfield stars of GWS (outside of Tim Taranto). Josh Kelly and Lachie Whitfield had no effect on the contest, or the game itself, combining for 116 DS points. They were both selected in 34 per cent of sides.

The most selected player was Marlion Pickett and he did not disappoint. While his DS score was somewhat underwhelming (73 points), his influence on the contest was unbelievable.

The narrative could have easily outshone the performance but it did not come close and Pickett delivered on the biggest stage. He danced around some of the competitions biggest stars, settled into the match faster than All-Australian calibre players and looked like he was born to play AFL.

NFL WEEK FOUR

As was the case last week, receivers were a hot commodity.

Cooper Kupp (26.9 DS points), Davantae Adams (28) and Robert Woods (29.4) all posted massive scores, but they paled in comparison to the 41.2 DS points scored by Chris Godwin.

Godwin was simply unstoppable with 12 catches for 172 yards and two scores.

The backs joined the party this week, too. Christian McCaffrey was back to his best and carried the Panthers to victory. His 33.9 DS points came from 179 all-purpose yards and a score.

Not bad, for a quarterback.

As good as CMC was, Nick Chubb took the mantle of best back. He scored three times as part of his 165-yard effort and took home 39.3 DS points. Have yourself a day Mr Chubb.

The quarterback position has been a raffle so far this season. Lamar Jackson and Patty Mahomes have been the most consistent but will cost you an arm and a leg, and they both had lower scoring outings in week four.

Is it worth considering an extra back or receiver, particularly if they maintain this form? How about at the defensive spot? D’s have been a source of scoring this year and in week four the Pats and Giants both put up scores of 20+.

Written by Brin Duggan

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