Fantasy Freako names the best and worst SuperCoach picks of 2019
As the season comes to a close, Champion Data’s SuperCoach expert has crunched the numbers to find the most and least successful picks of the season. How many are in your side?
With just two rounds to go, this is the perfect time to reflect on what has been another huge year in SuperCoach.
As always, we will come away with plenty of lessons from what has been one of the most testing seasons in recent history, with the lack of genuine cash cows proving to be the biggest hurdle of all — for me anyway! I currently have just one player on my bench that is actually playing, a position that is very unfamiliar at Round 22.
If we look at the greatest success stories of the season, it has to be the emergence of Reilly O’Brien, who took over ruck duties at Adelaide from SuperCoach stalwart Sam Jacobs. One of my biggest mistakes was not picking O’Brien after his second game, largely due to thinking that Jacobs would slot straight back into the side after recovering from injury. Instead, O’Brien exceeded all expectations and kept Jacobs out of the team until Round 21. His price rise of $394,600 is by far the biggest of any player in the league.
One player I did jump on was Sydney Stack, more so out of necessity at the time. I was quite surprised after he scored 108 on debut against the Giants, a game the Tigers were belted by 49 points. He then went on to reach 100 in four other games and has had a total price rise of $296,300 – the second-biggest behind O’Brien.
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Rookies aside, Rowan Marshall has been by far the biggest surprise packet. He has thrived as the sole ruckman at St Kilda and enjoyed a breakout season, improving his points per game from 63 to 111 – ranked fourth among all ruckmen in the league – and exceeding 110 points in 10 games. Only Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn have averaged more disposals among ruckmen.
The ruck position is like no other in SuperCoach, and the biggest lesson I will take away from this season is that if a ruckman emerges in 2020 – I’ll be jumping on immediately! We may not get another O’Brien/Marshall success story, but if we do, I want to be on that bandwagon.
For every success story though, there are just as many failures, and if we look at the biggest in 2019, it has to be the demise of Toby McLean.
The writing was on the wall late last season, and McLean has spent 83 per cent of game time as a forward in 2019 – a major rise from 36 per cent last season. Essentially, he has replaced Josh Dunkley in attack and his scores have obviously suffered – dropping by 23 points per game. McLean did score a season-high 133 last weekend, but his overall price drop of $195,600 is the biggest of any player.
Similar to McLean, Angus Brayshaw is another player that has suffered from being played out of position. When he was firing on all cylinders in 2018, he attended the most centre bounces of any Melbourne midfielder from Rounds 15-23. Fast forward to this year, and he ranks a lowly fourth for his attendances at the Demons over the same period.
After starting the season with two scores of 100-plus in the opening three rounds, Brayshaw has hit triple-figures just twice thereafter – falling in value by $184,900, the fourth-biggest drop in the league. On the positive side for Brayshaw, he will be underpriced going into 2020.
SuperCoach finals are synonymous with Lance Franklin, but unfortunately, we haven’t seen him since Round 14. He has won plenty of finals for SuperCoaches over the past three seasons, scoring 161, 164, 178 and, 183 points since 2017. His year has been crippled by injury, missing 11 games already, but even when he has played, he has been well below his best – averaging a career-low 69 while his price fall of $169,100 is the seventh-biggest in the competition.
Like Brayshaw, Buddy will be way under the odds ahead of Round 1, 2020 from a price point of view.
Originally published as Fantasy Freako names the best and worst SuperCoach picks of 2019
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