Eight winners, eight losers and two big question marks from 2021 KFC SuperCoach prices
We’ve got our hands on some of the early KFC SuperCoach prices for 2021. And there is good news and bad news. See the big changes.
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Before state and federal budgets, reporters enter a lockup to give them time to read all the documents — and the penalties for leaks are severe.
Fortunately the same does not apply to KFC SuperCoach — at least we hope not!
The prices for Australia’s biggest and best fantasy game are in the process of being locked in to prepare for the imminent release of the 2021 team picker tomorrow.
We’ve got our hands on some of them a day early - here are 18 names that jumped off the page.
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Loser: Jake Lloyd $656,400 DEF
The Swans’ best-and-fairest winner has been the most expensive defender in KFC SuperCoach for the past two seasons, but this is ridiculous. His price tag is nearly $100k higher than the next most expensive backman — and $65k up from his R1 price last year — after a phenomenal season in which he averaged 122 points a game. But if you want a scorer you can take to the bank, he’s your man — after Round 1 last year he only scored below 110 once.
BEST BUYS: 11 BIGGEST BARGAINS OF SUPERCOACH 2021
SC PLUS: HOW TO SUPER CHARGE YOUR SUPERCOACH TEAM
Winner: Brodie Grundy $648,200 RUCK
This time last year Grundy topped the KFC SuperCoach rich list — he was the most expensive player in the game at $705,900. After a modest season by his standards you can get him more than $50k cheaper next season. And by “modest’ we mean he averaged 120.6 points per game, the sixth-best return in the comp. Lift, Brodie!
Loser: Christian Petracca $631,400 MID
You could get Petracca before Round 1, 2020 for $441k, and as a forward. Fast-forward 12 months and the explosive Demon is one of the top-priced midfielders in the game. That’s what happens when you boost your SuperCoach average from 81.3 to 117.5 in one season.
Winner: Patrick Dangerfield (Geel) $611,900 FWD/MID
Dangerfield has been a KFC SuperCoach premium for almost a decade — in the past nine season his worst year was 2014, when he averaged 105.6. His 2020 season (average 113.9) was a bit of a rollercoaster, but he ended on a huge high with scores of 139 and 170 in the final three rounds when he played out of the goalsquare, a role we are likely to see a lot more of in 2021. It also means he is a dual-position player in KFC SuperCoach.
Loser: Matt Rowell (GC) $495,100 MID
Playing fewer than seven games in a season usually means a price discount in SuperCoach. Rowell played five and is nearly $300,000 more expensive than at the star of last year. They were a handy five games, scoring 80, 171, 141, 114 and an injury-impacted 6. The footy world is hoping he can return to that form, or even improve.
Winner: Dustin Martin (Rich) $541,600 FWD/MID
Fortunately, the KFC SuperCoach bankers don’t take finals form into account when calculating prices. Dusty averaged 134 in his three finals compared to 100.8 in the home-and-away season, and is about $2000 cheaper in 2021 as a result. But it does raise an interesting question since the H&A season is when KFC SuperCoach is played - with averages of 104, 100 and 101 in his past three seasons, is Dusty a must-have? Given his ability go large (he scored 184 in a game last year) and his habit of returning huge numbers against the Blues in Round 1, it would be a bold call to start without him.
Loser: Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (WB) $207,300 FWD
The KFC SuperCoach banker keeps a close eye on the draft, handing the highest picks a premium. As a result Ugle-Hagan, who was selected at No.1 last week, is worth $100k more than some draftees and more than some players who have been in the system for years, despite not having played an AFL game. But then the same applied to Rowell last year and nobody who picked him regretted it.
Winner: Jack Ziebell (NM) $257,900 FWD
The North Melbourne captain never got going in 2020, playing eight games for a career-low KFC SuperCoach average of just 48. He is confident a new training regime will have him fit and firing next year when he could be deployed across half-back by new coach David Noble. That’s a very positive sign he can get his average back to the 91 he managed in 2019, which would make him one of the bargains of the year.
Loser: Marlion Pickett (Rich) $386,500 MID
The easiest decision in KFC SuperCoach at the start of 2020 was picking Richmond’s one-game premiership hero. Pickett now has two flags from just 20 games but the job of picking our rookies has gotten a little bit harder.
Winner: Alex Davies (GC) $102,400 MID
Some clubs aren’t happy about the AFL’s generous draft concessions to Gold Coast, but they could deliver a huge gift to KFC SuperCoach players. Davies was tipped as a top-20 draft talent but the Suns got him for free as a pre-draft selection, resulting in a bargain basement price. The clearance specialist from Cairns is ready to play right away, the issue might be breaking into a suddenly strong Gold Coast midfield.
Loser: Izak Rankine (GC) $371,600 FWD
The only thing more fun than watching Rankine play last season was having him in your SuperCoach team. We’ll just have to enjoy him as an independent observer in 2021 after his price was listed at almost $250k more than we got him before Round 1.
Winner: Mark Hutchings (WC) $157,600 MID
Hutchings is a tagger — normally the sort of player that KFC SuperCoach players hate. But when you see a price like that ($50k cheaper than Jamarra Ugle-Hagan!), you have to change your thinking about the Eagles veteran. Hutchings battled injury through 2020, playing just three games, but has signed a one-year rookie contract for next season. Don’t expect big scores but if he’s shaping as a senior regular he could be a surprise bench option.
Loser: Sam Naismith (Syd) $376,100 RUCK
The Sydney ruckman shaped as one of the buys of 2020 after scoring 121 in Round 1, his first game back from a long-term knee injury, off a starting price of just $251k. Unfortunately, things went pear-shaped from there as he ruptured his ACL again. Even if he is back for the start of 2021, he managed to add $125k to his price tag which puts him out of our KFC SuperCoach plans.
Winner: Josh Dunkley (WB) $560,200 FWD/MID
Dunkley didn’t get his trade wish to move to Essendon but he could find himself in plenty of KFC SuperCoach teams after being priced $75k cheaper than he was before last season. He battled injuries in 2020 but still produced scores of 151, 131 and 128 to remind us what he is capable of. Hopefully the trade scare — and the arrival of Stefan Martin — ends the Dunkley ruck experiment, and the fact we can now pick him in the forward line makes him a very attractive option.
Loser: Tim English (WB) $551,200 RUCK
Dunkley’s Bulldogs teammate joined the elite club of payers to have scored 200 KFC SuperCoach points in a game in Round 7 so it’s no surprise his price tag is more than $100k up from last year. He had a form slump after the double-ton including three scores in the 50s before finishing strongly with 132, 103 and 143 in the final three rounds. Stef Martin will help his development but it’s not good for his SuperCoach prospects if he’s spending more time resting in the forward line.
Winner: Dylan Roberton (StK) $139,700 DEF
Roberton was a bargain last season when he started at $260,400. That didn’t work out - playing just one game for 26 points. But look at that 2021 price! We are paying only a few bucks more than most first-year draftees for a guy who has been in the system for a decade and averaged over 90 in a season twice. We didn’t need another reason to barrack for Robbo to get his health and career back on track, but we really got one. Give him a go, Ratts!
... and two big question marks
Patrick Cripps (Carl) $523,700 MID
Cripps established himself as a genuine KFC SuperCoach premium scorer in 2018-19, averaging 118 over those 42 games. But after a strong start - averaging 110 over the first five rounds - his 2020 season went off the rails a bit, producing just four more 100-plus scores for the year. That means he has a very attractive price tag given his scoring potential - a $112k discount from last year - but his owners this year will be wary. The Blues should improve but does that mean Cripps actually does less of the heavy-lifting?
Jy Simpkin (NM) $499,700 MID
We saw Simpkin’s scoring potential early last year when h went on a scoring tear, averaging 119.6 to Round 6. Then he rolled his ankle against Richmond and didn’t really recover until late in the year, finishing with a bang - 144 in Round 18. He caused lots of headaches, but if you think that represents his true scoring ability, he’s a great buy at the price.
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Originally published as Eight winners, eight losers and two big question marks from 2021 KFC SuperCoach prices
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