I'll have the Brown-Clarke combo, thanks

There'd be a fair bit of saliva on keyboards across the country this week as DT coaches drool over the addition of Richmond's messiah, Nathan G. Brown ($235,600, fwd), and Collingwood's quick-learning kid Marty Clarke ($69,600, ctr) to their teams.

Both are set for big price rises (Brown up almost $40k and Clarke a mighty $60k) if they maintain the impressive form shown thus far. In fact, Clarke's breakeven score of -101 is the second lowest after Melbourne cash cow Ricky Petterd's -105 in round 8.

Brown looms as a juciy option for those who, like the Carlton Football Club, have lost patience with must-have-a-spear-in-his-head forward Brendan Fevola, while Clarke will provide back-up to those midfields with doubts over Chris Judd and Jimmy Bartel.

You'd have thought Clarke would have been pushing his case for the best Irishman in the AFL tag again this week, but Sydney defender Tadhg Kennelly looks set to snatch back that mantle after another speedy recovery.

Merv Gray.