The Phantom’s SuperCoach Pre-Season: Anthony Miles v Dan Hannebery v Tom Liberatore

In the fourth week of his SuperCoach Pre-season, The Phantom gives his verdict on your head-to-head dilemmas. Today, it’s the battle of the mid-priced midfields featuring Anthony Miles, Dan Hannebery and Tom Liberatore.

• The Phantom’s Face-offs: Menegola v Dunkley | Laird v Whitfield

• The Phantom’s pre-season guide to: Premium smokies | Premium forwards | Premium defenders | Premium midfielders | Mid-price defenders| Mid-price midfielders | Mid-price ruckmen | Mid-price forwards | Mid price smokies | Cash cows in defence | Midfield cash cows | Cash cow defenders | Cash cow ruckmen | Cash cow forwards | Cash Cow smokies

In the fourth week of his SuperCoach Pre-season, The Phantom gives his verdict on your head-to-head dilemmas. Today, it’s the battle of the midfield mid-pricer featuring Anthony Miles, Dan Hannebery and Tom Liberatore.

The Phantom's SuperCoach Face-off:The Mid-Pricer

Anthony Miles (GC $342,000) v Dan Hannebery (StK $326,100) v Tom Liberatore (WB $300,400)

The risky mid-pricer – every SuperCoach has been tempted by one at some stage over the years.

And, again, in 2019 there are a number of options which present enormous value.

In the midfield, Liberatore, Hannebery and Miles are at the top of the list.

Firstly, no, you should not pick all of them.

All three are returning to the SuperCoach fold for very different reasons.

Liberatore will be back in the Bulldogs midfield after suffering the second ACL injury of his career last summer.

Hannebery has a new home at the Saints after recording his lowest season average since his debut season in his last year at the Swans.

St Kilda this week allayed fears surrounding the fitness of the star recruit after he reported hamstring tightness and the club is adamant the midfielder remains on track to feature in the upcoming JLT Community Series.

And Miles is finally set to get real opportunity at the Gold Coast after a number of years of dominating in the VFL.

The 26-year-old former Tiger, who has averaged an impressive 29 disposals and 121 SuperCoach points per game in the VFL since 2014, should start in the Suns’ midfield and will score considerably more than his price suggests.

At $342k, Miles is priced at an average of 62.

In 71 senior games at the Tigers, Miles scored 80 points or more on 46 occasions after tallying at least 20 disposals in 51 matches.

In his career-best season in 2015, the inside-midfielder ranked first at Richmond for clearances, second for contested possessions, tackles and inside 50s and third for disposals.

Miles played 22 games and averaged 97 SuperCoach points per game.

While it may be closer to three figures, they are the sort of numbers we can expect again in 2019.

That’s great buying at $342k but it won’t be enough to make him a keeper.

Liberatore and Hannebery have averaged 107 points or more in two consecutive seasons.

And that is the type of average you expect from a season-long keeper.

While there is no guarantee they will reach the mark again, their career-best numbers are brilliant.

In 2013, his third season in the game, Liberatore recorded 13 SuperCoach tons — eight of them in excess of 120 — to post a season average of 107.

The following year, he was even better, adding a further three points to his average after 14 SuperCoach tons, including a career-high 171-point performance against the Demons.

Liberatore recorded more tackles and clearances than any other player in the competition and his 14 contested possessions per match ranked him seventh in the game.

Hannebery averaged 114 and 113 in 2015 and 2016, posting SuperCoach tons in 32 of his 44 home-and-away matches during this time with 12 of them in excess of 130.

In 2016, the hard-running midfielder tallied more disposals than any other player in the game, on his way to earning his third All-Australian jacket in four years.

The Phantom’s Verdict:

On scoring history, despite the big risks associated with both – Hannebery’s injury-affected 2018 disaster and Liberatore’s two knee reconstructions and application – I’ve got the proven stars ahead of Miles.

And with Hannebery’s running power seemingly not what it once was – and that’s what made him so dominant – it’s Liberatore who gets the nod.

While he’s arguably the riskiest selection of the three, given he’s only played 36 out of a possible 88 home-and-away matches in the past four seasons, the 26-year-old has the most upside at the lowest price.