SuperCoach All-Australian: We name the SuperCoach team of the year
FORGET the All-Australian announcement tomorrow. The SuperCoach All-Australian team is the one we’ve all been waiting for. Who made the cut and who missed out? Cue the controversy. WHERE TO START IN 2019
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FORGET the All-Australian announcement tomorrow.
The SuperCoach All-Australian team is the one we’ve all been waiting for.
As with the AFL team, there will be plenty of controversy.
SUPERCOACH: 2018’S BEST AND WORST PICKS
BIG CHANGE: HOW GAWN BECAME THE BEST
We’ve picked the topscoring players to start on the field and then chosen the men who made SuperCoaches’ seasons for bench positions.
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DEFENDERS
Jake Lloyd $582,500, Games: 22, Total points: 2,465, Average: 112.0, Percentage owned: 35.5%, No. of owners: 70,712 — Five round avg. 124.4
Elliot Yeo $582,500, 22, 2,373, 107.9, 46.0%, 91,511 — Five round avg. 110.4
Kade Simpson $503,700, 21, 2,206, 105.0, 39.9%, 79,479
Rory Laird $492,800, 20, 2,165, 108.3, 57.1%, 113,632
Shannon Hurn $440,100, 22, 2,121, 96.4, 11.9%, 23,740
Jack Crisp $465,400, 22, 2,107, 95.8, 9.1%, 16,065
BENCH
Tom McDonald (FWD) $447,900, 17, 1,659, 97.6, 22.8%, 45,379
Angus Brayshaw (MID) $521,800, 19, 1,844, 97.1, 21.5%, 42,871 — Five round avg. 108.4
STIFF
Jason Johannisen $456,800, 22, 1,887, 85.8, 4.8%, 9,466
Jayden Short $429,800, 22, 1,887, 85.8, 1.8%, 3,508
Luke Ryan $384,100, 20, 1,805, 90.3, 5.7%, 11,327
One of the revelations of SuperCoach 2018, Swan Jake Lloyd put together one of the great seasons for a defender. Churned out some mammoth scores and upped his average to almost 125 in the SuperCoach finals. First picked defender next season.
Eagle Elliot Yeo picked up where he left off last season, providing consistency and stability at the pointy end of the defensive line-up.
If you didn’t start with Kade Simpson, you were left kicking yourself after the evergreen Blue churned out 150 in the opening round and carried on from there.
Crow Rory Laird was most SuperCoaches’ first-picked for defender and he did not disappoint, a preliminary final 144 the highlight.
Ten tons in 2018 made Eagles’ captain Shannon Hurn a very solid left-field pick, while there weren’t too many who picked Collingwood’s Jack Crisp to be the club’s best SuperCoach defender.
The bench gets interesting. While Bulldog Jason Johannisen and emerging Richmond star Jayden Short scored more points, a pair of Demons gave more bang for their buck and they landed reserve spots. Both Tom McDonald and Angus Brayshaw both missed time but offer dual-position versatility.
McDonald kept some teams afloat in the middle of the season, registering four tons in five matches from rounds 8-12, including a big 164, while Brayshaw was a SuperCoach finals darling, providing a five-round average of 108.4, good enough to be the third-best defender in that stretch.
MIDFIELDERS
Tom Mitchell $633,800, 22, 2,840, 129.1, 65.3%, 130,004
Patrick Cripps $595,300, 22, 2,627, 119.4, 49.7%, 99,038
Patrick Dangerfield $646,800, 21, 2,555, 121.7, 45.5%, 90,676
Clayton Oliver $571,100, 22, 2,523, 114.7, 31.5%, 62,659
Lachie Neale $598,300, 22, 2,461, 111.9, 11.5%, 22,827
Jack Macrae $621,400, 19, 2,414, 127.1, 18.9%, 37,586
Joel Selwood $510,000, 22, 2,312, 105.1, 10.2%, 20,226
Callan Ward $544,700, 22, 2,302, 104.6, 2.8%, 5,547
BENCH
Stephen Coniglio $535,100, 21, 2,277, 110.0, 37.8%, 75,335
Steele Sidebottom $503,900, 22, 2,236, 101.6, 6.9%, 13,723
Dyson Heppell $521,100, 22, 2,235, 101.6, 3.5%, 6,885
STIFF
Josh Kelly $613,200, 15, 1,707, 113.8, 20.9%, 41,650 — Five round avg. 125.8
Nat Fyfe $504,300, 15, 1,708, 113.9, 16.3%, 32,501
The starting eight midfielders pick themselves. Hawk ball magnet Tom Mitchell was the second-highest scoring player in the game and only went below the ton four times, his 192 against the Blues in Round 18 the best of a brilliant season.
Patrick Cripps is having back, neck and shoulder surgery in the off-season after carrying the Blues — and plenty of SuperCoach teams — this season.
Patrick Dangerfield was the most consistent midfielder in the game, cracking the ton in 20 of 22, with his other two 94, capping things off in the Grand Final with a massive 187.
Demon Clayton Oliver cracked the ton in seven of the last eight, propelling Melbourne into the finals and helping SuperCoaches win their leagues.
Owned in just 11.5 per cent of teams, Docker Lachie Neale flew under the radar, but ended as the fifth best midfielder in the game.
Bulldog Jack Macrae missed three games with leather poisoning, but was still good enough for sixth highest-scoring midfielder, courtesy of his average of nearly 130. Came back with a bang, churning out five straight tons, including two 150-plus in the finals.
Joel Selwood might not be the high-scoring machine he once was, but the Cats’ captain provided plenty of consistency, while Callan Ward narrowly edged out Stephen Coniglio as the Giants’ highest-scoring midfielder.
Coniglio makes the bench along with Pie Steele Sidebottom, who provided consistency, before finishing with a bang in the finals, recording a three-round average of 121.7, including a Grand Final 129 and Bomber Dyson Heppell.
Both Josh Kelly and Nat Fyfe had some super scores — Kelly’s 205 against the Blues especially — but both missed seven games and neither set the world on fire in the SuperCoach finals, so they just missed out.
RUCKS
Brodie Grundy $684,900, 22, 2,870, 130.5, 25.5%, 50,728 — Five round avg. 151.4
Max Gawn $592,800, 22, 2,805, 127.5, 66.8%, 132,964 — Five round avg. 127.2
BENCH
Stefan Martin $506,600, 22, 2,325, 105.7, 15.8%
Pretty self explanatory. Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn are the No.1 and No.3 ranked players in SuperCoach. One’s the Herald Sun Player of the Year, the other is the AFL Coaches’ Association Player of the Year. Brisbane’s Stefan Martin gets in on account of being the third-highest scoring ruckman.
FORWARDS
Justin Westhoff (MID) $466,700, 22, 2,227, 101.2, 28.9%, 57,485
Sam Menegola (MID) $543,700, 22, 2,201, 100.0, 14.3%, 28,451
Devon Smith $543,300, 22, 2,153, 97.9, 35.6%, 70,917
David Mundy (MID) $504,700, 22, 2,111, 96.0, 6.2%, 12,408
Luke Breust $448,300, 22, 2,093, 95.1, 5.3%, 10,504
Toby McLean (MID) $419,100, 22, 2,083, 94.7, 34.7%, 69,135
BENCH
Josh Dunkley $576,700, 19, 1,807, 95.1, 2.3%, 4,647 — Five round avg. 131.6
Lance Franklin $521,000, 18, 1,802, 100.1, 26.3%, 52,308
STIFF
Isaac Heeney (MID) $440,600, 21, 2,047, 97.5, 50%, 99,542
James Sicily (DEF) $508,800, 14, 1,471, 105.1, 12.5%, 24,820
Tom Hawkins $538,200, 20, 2,037, 101.8, 3.4%, 6,702
Jack Riewoldt $578,000, 22, 2,043, 3.8%, 7,482 — Five round avg. 119.6
The toughest line to pick. But 12 doesn’t fit into eight, so we had to make some tough calls. We’ve picked the top overall scoring players to start on the field across every line and that means Bulldog Toby McLean makes it in ahead of Sydney star Isaac Heeney.
Both had very similar seasons, with big bursts of production mixed in with mediocrity, but McLean was the beneficiary of an extra game, so he gets the nod. Hawk All-Australian lock Luke Breust also fell short of Heeney’s average, but managed more points across the season.
Port’s Justin Westhoff and Geelong Sam Menegola pick themselves as the only two forwards to play every game and average 100 or better. Devon Smith is also a lock for his consistency.
Like teammate Lachie Neale in the midfield, SuperCoaches forgot about David Mundy, with just 6.2 per cent selecting the fourth-highest scoring forward in the game.
The bench has a new star and an old favourite, with Josh Dunkley’s move into the Bulldogs’ engine room reaping remarkable rewards for SuperCoaches — 131.6 across his last five games — and Lance Franklin narrowly getting the nod for his average of 100 and his blinding run home, where he scored 178, 96 and 161 (even if he did miss the Grand Final — keep those trades, SuperCoaches).
James Sicily missed too many games, even if he did produce the highest average of any forward in the game, while big forwards Tom Hawkins and Jack Riewoldt could consider themselves very stiff — Hawkins for his century average across 20 games and Riewoldt for four tons in his last six, including a double century against the Suns.
Originally published as SuperCoach All-Australian: We name the SuperCoach team of the year
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