The Phantom’s Round 15 Review: The good, the bad, Nat Fyfe’s hammy and a slice of good luck
EVERY SuperCoach knows you need a little bit of luck to succeed in this game and Round 15 showed us both sides of the story. The Phantom looks at the good and the bad from the weekend’s action. PLUS LISTEN TO THE PHANTOM’S LAIR PODCAST.
SUPERCOACH is a game of skill, knowledge, statistics and judgment, among other things.
While the focused, well-planned and forward-thinking SuperCoaches are usually the ones at the top of the rankings, we all know you need a bit of luck.
And Round 15 highlighted this even further.
On a personal note, The Phantom got lucky over the weekend.
And that’s not a regular occurrence.
On Sunday, I had finally come around to deciding on Nat Fyfe over Max Gawn as captain, after not being satisfied with Patrick Dangerfield’s Friday night VC score.
After thinking I had switched the C to Fyfe, I settled in to watch the lunchtime fixture at the MCG.
But I soon realised, for a reason I am not entirely sure of, the C was still on Gawn.
The mistake was initially met with frustration but as the Melbourne big man’s points began rolling in at a rapid pace — Gawn almost cracked the SuperCoach ton in the first half — I breathed a big sigh of relief.
With Gawn’s 145 points as captain in the bank, I was then left counting my lucky stars after Fyfe limped off Optus Stadium with a hamstring injury later that afternoon, finishing with just 43 points to his name.
Then there’s the other side of the story.
The Phantom is aware of a number of SuperCoaches who were caught out by the late inclusion of Kangaroo Paul Ahern, who was dropped on Thursday night.
After making a great VC selection — some Tom Mitchell — Ahern was the player being used as a non-playing loophole.
But he took the field, at the expense of Ben Jacobs who was a late withdrawal, meaning his 80 points as captain counted. Oops.
Enough about luck.
There has been no official word but the Fremantle skipper is expected to miss a number of weeks so, if you have the trades, it’s time to move him on.
A three-week injury with eight rounds to go means trade time in my book.
Eagle Andrew Gaff, who posted a season-high 136 points against the Crows, is the fifth-ranked midfielder in 2018. However, he is the 21st-most expensive ahead of Round 16.
And he’s still in less than seven per cent of teams.
If you want to make some money off the trade, consider All-Australian Crow Matt Crouch, who also posted a season-high in Round 15. Crouch tallied 32 disposals and nine tackles in arguably his best performance since returning from a hamstring injury in Round 6. The returning Rory Sloane helped deflect any opposition attention off him.
More options in Trade Talk on Wednesday.
THE GOOD
Jake Lloyd. During the pre-season, given the outside nature of his game, I questioned whether the Sydney ball magnet could score big enough, often enough to finish as a top-six defender. But he’s well-and-truly proved The Phantom wrong, posting six SuperCoach tons in his past seven games, four of them in excess of 120.
I won’t spend too long on Tom Mitchell’s 50 disposals and round-high 181 SuperCoach points because you all should have him. If you are one of the few who don’t, make it a priority.
St Kilda’s Jack Billings followed up his 99 points in Round 13 with a 96-point performance against the Demons. Surprise, surprise, he was again running through the midfield. At $355k, two decent scores might be enough for those SuperCoaches who haven’t already been scarred by the talented Saint in 2018.
After breaking the 80-point barrier just once between Rounds 3 and 8, Todd Goldstein’s 111 points against the Bombers marked the Kangaroo big man’s sixth consecutive SuperCoach ton. Well done to those who kept him.
THE BAD
It wasn’t a great start to Round 15 for SuperCoach teams with popular forward Isaac Heeney suffering a head knock against the Tigers. The highest-scoring forward in the competition prior the match could only manage 18 points after spending the entire second half on the bench. In good news for those who don’t have the young star, his price is projected to fall to around $430k after his next two matches. At this stage, Heeney is touch-and-go for Thursday night’s clash with the Cats.
It wasn’t a good day for Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday and two of their best SuperCoach scorers highlighted this. Clayton Oliver and Tom McDonald, who were averaging more than 110 points per game prior to Round 15, combined for just 89 points against the Saints. Again, the only positive is the price fall for non-owners.
THE PHANTOM’S MENACE
Brad Scott
Firstly, Brad, after you made us wait so long for a debut, The Phantom isn’t happy you dropped Paul Ahern from the team sheet on Thursday night. But, if you’re going to make the call — and I understand you have to — at least follow through with it! His late inclusion ruined the plans of thousands of SuperCoach teams across the country.
Lucky, I wasn’t one of them.
THE PHANTOM ROUND 15
Score: 2312
Overall ranking: 17,071