KFC SuperCoach AFL: The players to avoid in 2022

Players returning from injury with a huge price discount and lighting up pre-season are KFC SuperCoach gold. But some are too good to be true. See who to avoid in 2022.

Just like the players that fill our sides, KFC SuperCoaches endure a long, arduous pre-season to be ready for Round 1.

The countless hours, sweat and tears spent as we balance our schedule identifying premiums, breakouts and those cash generating rookies who will fill out our starting 30.

But if like me, you spend too much time thinking about KFC SuperCoach, you eventually come full circle, convincing yourself that overpriced, injured or unreliable options you had sworn off months ago could break out or be that pick you need to win it all.

With a little over a month until the 2022 season gets underway, it’s important I leave a few notes for future JD, pleading with him to avoid considering any of these ‘burn men’ for his starting side.

I suggest you do the same.

Wayne Milera is on track for Round 1. Picture: James Hetherington/AFC Media

Wayne Milera (Adelaide) $271,100 DEF

Entering his seventh year in the AFL system, the highly-talented half-back has been plagued by injuries for the past two years. At his best, Milera is able to break games open with his speed, foot skills and ability to find space in traffic. Yet, this feels like a distant memory. In 2020, he managed just two games before a stress fracture in his foot ended his season, and he missed the entirety of 2021 after rupturing his patella tendon during a pre-season outing against Port Adelaide. While there is tremendous upside at his price, since becoming a regular part of the Crows side he has yet to have a season that hasn’t been derailed by injury which makes him someone I want to avoid in my starting side.

Nic Naitanui (West Coast) $627,400 RUC

Would you be surprised to learn the 31-year-old ruckman is coming off his best KFC SuperCoach season to date, with the third highest average of 115.2 points? What makes this even more shocking is that he did it with just 68% time on ground as West Coast managed his load, an incredibly low number by today’s standards. In comparison, Max Gawn averaged 90 per cent time on ground during the 2021 regular season, further speaking to Naitanui’s incredible ability to rack up points in a short period of time. I can hear you say “Wait, I thought you were trying to convince me not to consider him” - well simply put, outside of last year, Naitanui has missed games every season back to 2011 and with options like Brodie Grundy, Sean Darcy and Gawn all priced similarly, we can avoid Naitanui in favour of picks who won’t require copious bench rotations to manage them through the season.

Is Patrick Cripps past his KFC SuperCoach best? Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Patrick Cripps (Carlton) $454,800 MID

Amnesia must be a common complaint among the KFC SuperCoach community as one of last year’s biggest traps sits around with ownership at a staggeringly high seven per cent at time of writing. While the captain of the Blues has shown us great scores in the past, averaging as much as 119.4 (2018) and 117.1 (2019), the past two years has been a departure and he has been well passed by Sam Walsh as the preferred KFC SuperCoach option. It was revealed during the 2021 season that he was playing with a fracture in his back, requiring weekly injections for him to play. Cripps has had pre-seasons of both leaning down to improve running capacity and bulking up to try and get back to those seasons where he looked his best, but it appears he is struggling to get his body into a place where he can really excel again. The arrival of George Hewett and Adam Cerra will surely help round out that midfield outfit, but, at the same time, they are a further risk to Cripps’ scoring output. Make sure he’s on your avoid list, regardless of how good he looks in the pre-season games!

Nat Fyfe (Fremantle) $546,500 MID

While the various looks of Fyfe’s hair continue to garner off-season attention - he cannot disguise himself in any way shape or form that will see him in my starting side. A legend of the modern game, the dual Brownlow medallist is starting to reach the twilight of his playing career, coming off his lowest average since 2012. All signs currently indicate he will be spending more time forward to allow Fremantle to blood additional youth alongside Andy Brayshaw and Caleb Serong. Keep an eye on him to possibly get FWD status in either round 6, 12 or 18 as part of the new dual-position player updates, which could bring him back into consideration for your sides during the year.

Don’t start Toby Greene in KFC SuperCoach. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Toby Greene (GWS) $495,000 FWD

Just like a university student filling out their word count, I’ve snuck Toby Greene into a do-not-start list. The mercurial forward proved how important he was to the Giants last year, not only in on-field performance, but taking over leadership duties in Stephen Coniglio’s absence. However, his season ended on a low as he was eventually suspended for six weeks for making contact with an umpire during their elimination final against Sydney. It goes without saying, but it’s best to avoid someone who will be sitting on the sidelines for the first five games of the year.

Will Brodie (Fremantle) $244,300 MID / FWD

Players who leave their previous team seeking new opportunities are the ones we put to the top of our list for potential breakouts in 2022. Let me make it easier when you’re scouring potential names by giving one you can put a line through right now. The ninth overall pick from the 2016 draft managed just 25 games in five seasons with the Suns, before heading out west. With Cerra leaving in the off-season, Fyfe moving forward and David Mundy coming off an interrupted pre-season you would think I would have more optimism about Brodie for the year ahead. But if we learnt anything from Jordan Clark last year, ensuring job security with these picks is paramount. Fremantle loaded up on midfield talent in the draft with Neil Erasmus and Matthew Johnson, joining 2020 second round pick Nathan O’Driscoll as potential debutants this year. Most worrying from the pre-season reports so far, it appears that Brodie hasn’t overcome some of his main weaknesses and is still finishing at the back of the pack in running drills, which falls short of what is expected for an AFL midfielder. Even if he is named Round 1, his job security concerns rule him out as an option for my side.

Dustin Martin (Richmond) $503,500 MID / FWD

Saving the most controversial for last. There is a warm, nostalgic feeling you get when including Dusty in your forward line, which nearly a third of coaches are currently experiencing. One of the most consistent KFC SuperCoach and valuable options over the past decade, he comes to us at his cheapest price since 2013 due to a combination of a lingering foot injury and a lacerated kidney that saw his season cut short early. If reports are to be believed, he is back at playing weight and is as strong as ever before – all great signs. Inevitably he will go big against Carlton in Round 1 this year (he has averaged 138 in season openers against the Blues over the past five years). But history also shows that after a blistering start, Dusty slows down, typically becoming cheaper around the time we’re looking to upgrade our forward lines before coming home strong. At the wrong side of 30, and coming off two concerning injuries, we may have finally seen the first signs of him slowing down. This gives us a great opportunity to monitor him and ensure that he is over that kidney problem before selecting him for our teams. Look, I get it, I get why you want him there, I don’t even blame you – I just urge you to take a wait-and-see approach with Dusty, lest you get burnt.

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Originally published as KFC SuperCoach AFL: The players to avoid in 2022