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Blake Acres Missed 10 Rounds. He Just Scored 108. His Price Hasn't Moved.

Acres was a preseason buy pick who didn't play until Round 12. He's been $377.7k for months. Then 108 in a Carlton road win — the registry just called buy.

Jimmy "The Reg" O'Reilly · Trade & Captaincy Columnist3 min read

Blake Acres Missed 10 Rounds. He Just Scored 108. His Price Hasn't Moved.

Preseason buy pick. Injury cloud from Round 3. Ten rounds of zero cash gen. Then 108 in a Carlton road win.

Blake Acres was a GREEN light mid-pricer at preseason — $377.7k, Carlton midfield role confirmed, the intel called him an obvious cash cow prospect. He didn't suit up in Round 3. The injury cloud dropped. He sat at $377.7k for ten rounds with zero cash gen and 0.2% ownership. Then Round 12: 67 in Carlton's 4-point home win over Geelong. Round 13: 108 in Carlton's 5-point road win over Essendon — 53 above his 55 BE — and the registry called buy. The price still hasn't moved.

The Injury Cloud That Froze Everything

The preseason case was clean: GREEN intel, Carlton midfield, mid-pricer pricing with cash cow upside. Then R3 arrived and Acres didn't suit up. No timeline, no clarity. Coaches who'd backed the preseason signal were stuck holding $377.7k of frozen capital while better-priced options generated cash around them.

R12 gave the first sign of life: 67 in a tight win, 12 above his 55 BE. Encouraging, but the registry held back — no scoring average to anchor conviction, cash gen still flat. "Wait for a follow-up score" was the call.

What the 108 Proves

Carlton beat Essendon by 5 points at Etihad. Genuine contested road win. Acres scored 108 — 53 above his 55 BE in an arm-wrestle. The registry was direct: "this performance obliterates the injury thesis." Two back-to-back scores in tight wins (67, then 108) is enough to confirm the role and the ceiling. The buy call is live.

Cash gen is still showing flat at $377.7k because the R13 score hasn't cycled through the pricing system yet. For coaches buying now, they're front-running the appreciation.

The Buy Window

This is the setup: $377.7k — preseason price — after posting 108 in a genuine road contest. Ownership at 0.2%. BE at 55. Carlton midfield role confirmed. The ceiling is proven.

Would expect 450k-ish once the R13 cash gen registers in the pricing cycle. JS looks solid — Carlton named him through the injury cloud and he delivered in back-to-back close wins. The honest catch: there's no long scoring average to anchor the consistency thesis yet, so wait and see for me on stringing a third strong score. But if you need a mid-pricer who hasn't been bid up by the market, the window is open right now.


Updated: 13 July 2026. Data sourced from RookieBible intel registry.


Pre-briefed. Opinionated. The more you challenge it, the sharper it gets. Ask Our Coach where Acres fits in your structure this round.

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