KFC SuperCoach Plus Article: 11 things you need to know for Round 15

All 18 teams are back in action and every KFC SuperCoach insight can make a difference. Here are 11 SuperCoach Plus stats to help your team.

Marcus Bontempelli has scored more KFC SuperCoach points this season than any other player.

The byes are in the rear-vision mirror, now the focus turns to getting a full-premium team — or as close as we can get.

Everyone can look up the top averages in KFC SuperCoach, but to get the edge you need the extra nuggets you can get your hands on.

SuperCoach Plus provides a wide range of tools and exclusive access to weekly analysis articles just like this one.

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From price and score projections to the return of the biggest villain in KFC SuperCoach, surprising captaincy intel and an explanation of Ollie Wines’ score, here are 11 things you need to know for Round 15.

TRADE GUIDE: THIS WEEK’S TOP ROOKIE, PREMIUM TARGETS

1. Marcus Bontempelli is the new No.1 overall scorer in KFC SuperCoach, and could become just the fourth player to break the $700,000 barrier this season. It’s tough at the top — Max Gawn started the year priced at $751,400 and stayed above $700k until Round 8. He's now $625,100 despite averaging 126.5 points for the season. Lachie Neale started at $721,800 but lost $80,600 on his first price change after Round 3. Clayton Oliver jumped to $703,800 in Round 12 but lost nearly $36,000 the next week, while Brodie Grundy got as high as $681,300 in Round 8 but couldn’t climb any higher. Can the Bont get there? He is currently $691,300 and a projected score of 147 against the Eagles will take him to $699,400. SuperCoach Plus is projecting a 153 the next week against the Kangaroos — and a $3k price drop. But if he can beat that against the Swans he’ll join the exclusive club. Watch this space.

Marcus Bontempelli is having an incredible season. Picture: Michael Klein

2. Bontempelli’s career season is reflected in his ranking across multiple stats categories — he’s 19th in the competition for disposals but ranks No.1 among midfielders for metres gained, inside-50s, goals (18) and score involvements. After opening the season with scores of 92, 145 and 82 he hasn’t dropped below 100 since — and his lowest score since Round 7 is 128. He was priced at $623,900 to start the season and the cheapest you could have got him was $590,200 in Round 5 — well played to the 200 coaches who traded him in that week!

3. He’s back. KFC SuperCoach villain Matt de Boer claimed his biggest scalp since returning from injury when he put the clamps on Carlton playmaker Sam Walsh on Saturday night. Walsh had been averaging 30.3 disposals per game including 13.4 kicks but against GWS he managed 20 touches including just six kicks, all in the second half. Even his tackle numbers were down, laying two compared to a season average of 4.6 entering Round 14. After scoring 71 KFC SuperCoach points — his lowest return of the season — Walsh lost $17,500 in value but might not fall much further than his current $542,000 price tag. He has a break even of 119 and a projected score of 97 against Adelaide after scoring 84 against the Crows in both of his career matches against them, but don’t be surprised if he goes above that.

0 kicks in the first half for Sam Walsh. First time in his career he has failed to record a kick in the first half. #SuperCoach#AFLFantasy#AFLGiantsBlues

— Fantasy Freako (@FantasyFreako) June 19, 2021

4. Hawthorn ruckman Ned Reeves still has the lowest break even in the competition at -100 and could have a shot at a third game this weekend after his last-minute replacement in Round 13 Jonathon Ceglar registered 11 disposals and 11 hitouts against Essendon (compared to 20 and 35 the week before). If he does play against GWS, Reeves is projected to score 86 and jump in price by $82,500. Eagle Luke Edwards has the second-lowest break even of -91 and is projected to make $75K if he can keep his spot when West Coast stars including Luke Shuey return to the side. Reeves’ teammate Jai Newcombe is on the bubble this week with a break even of -40, and so is Kieren Briggs (BE -39) — both are set for a substantial price jump, but many coaches couldn’t wait. More than 62,000 traded Newcombe in over the byes while Briggs was added to 15,000 teams ahead of his second game last weekend. He repaid the faith with an impressive 69 KFC SuperCoach points against the Blues.

5. It’s unusual to see a player with a break even of -57 after playing seven matches but Docker Josh Treacy has had an unusual season. Starting the year priced at $102,400, he made his debut in Round 4 and played the next three matches. But with an average of just 24.3 his price barely moved, and he was worth $110,900 when he returned to the team in Round 10. Scores of 33 and 40 resulted in a modest price rise, to $123,400 — still cheaper than many rookies. Then he exploded with a sense of timing that his 31,000 owners would have appreciated. In Rounds 12 and 13 — both best 18 scoring rounds — he scored 88 and 95 to push his price to $217,200. He is projected to make another $73K over the next two rounds and will provide valuable cover in the ruck and forward lines thanks to his dual-position flexibility.

Dockers forward Josh Treacy could play a valuable role in the run home.

6. Luke McDonald has the unenviable claim to the highest break even of all 801 AFL players in KFC SuperCoach. His BE is 240 after returning to the Kangaroos side at the weekend. He scored 57 against the Lions, in line with his career average over roughly 120 games from 2014-19 but well short of his 10-round purple patch to finish last season, when he averaged 118 points a game. That role as a distributor at half-back has been taken by Jack Ziebell and Aaron Hall this year and McDonald’s return didn’t seem to bother them, with Ziebell scoring 134 points — his best return since Round 6 — and Hall recovering from a slow start to post an even 100, his seventh three-figure score in a row.

7. Tom Stewart’s 10 intercept marks against the Bulldogs on Friday night were the most by a player this season and the equal-most recorded by Champion Data. More than 40 of his 120 points came from this source, with a contested intercept mark in the final quarter worth 7.2 points alone. Stewart’s kicking is one of his biggest strengths, earning 21 points from effective short/backwards kicks and 27 points from long kicks. He had only three negative acts for the match — one handball clanger, one kick clanger and one dropped mark.

Ollie Wines is now Port Adelaide’s No.1 midfielder. Picture Mark Brake

8. Ollie Wines racked up a personal-best 43 disposals against the Suns but his 117 KFC SuperCoach points was slightly down on his past two weeks (134 and 144), highlighting again that disposals aren’t everything when it comes to SuperCoach scoring. Wines lost 36 points from 11 negative acts, including giving away a 50m penalty, the biggest sin in SuperCoach. He also had six direct turnovers by foot and two by hand, and gave away two other free kicks. The match pressure factor also has a say on scores — every match starts with the same match pressure factor but it changes as the game progresses. In Port Adelaide’s win on Saturday, the match pressure factor dropped as the Power ran away with the match. Of Wines’ 43 disposals, 24 came in the second half when the pressure was low as the contest was effectively already over, limiting the value of touches in that time.

9. With all 18 teams in action, we are spoilt for captaincy and vice-captaincy choices this round. Digging into the SuperCoach Plus stats archive, there are some clear standouts based on form against Round 15 opponents. Josh Kelly has a career average of 121 against Hawthorn — clearly his best against any team — and Max Gawn averages 138 in his past three against Essendon. If you have Ollie Wines, he loves playing the Swans, averaging 124 in his past three against them, and he’s back at Adelaide Oval, where he has averaged 122 in six matches this season. If Brodie Grundy returns from injury, his past four scores against Fremantle are 118, 124, 134 and 150, but Patrick Dangerfield might have them all covered. He scored 146 in his past two games against Brisbane and averages 148 over his past five against the Lions.

Max Gawn is back as a KFC SuperCoach captaincy option.

10. There are some surprising names it might pay to steer clear of when it comes to selecting a captain this round, at least if history is anything to go by. Clayton Oliver averages just 92 from five career matches against Essendon with a high of 112, while Dustin Martin averages 95 from his past three against St Kilda and Jack Steele just 87 from his past three against the Tigers. The Kangaroos faced Gold Coast in Round 2 and Jack Ziebell scored 72 in that game. Aaron Hall, meanwhile, scored just six, but we can’t ready much into that. He started as the medical sub and only came on in the final quarter to replace an injured Jack Mahoney.

11. Looking for a simple reason why boom rookie Jai Newcombe’s score was way down in Round 14? In his debut game he made 15 tackle attempts and landed 14 of them — a record for a first-gamer and a big chunk of his 75 KFC SuperCoach points. Against the Bombers in Tasmania on Sunday he attempted eight tackles, the second-most of any Hawthorn player, but only three were effective.

Originally published as KFC SuperCoach Plus Article: 11 things you need to know for Round 15