AFL SuperCoach 2020: Why Nakia Cockatoo can be your secret weapon in 2020
After years in the wilderness, Geelong’s Nakia Cockatoo is cheap and he looks to have overcome his injury lay-offs. Here’s why he could be your secret SuperCoach weapon in 2020.
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He’s cheap, he’s a dual-position player and he’s fit again after a long injury battle.
Nakia Cockatoo could be a massive difference and a cash cow for your SuperCoach side in 2020.
Priced at just $148,200 as a midfield/forward, Cockatoo offers flexibility and, if he gets his body right, an instant impact.
His teammate, Patrick Dangerfield, certainly thinks he’s going to be the difference for his side this year.
“He’s going to be one of the biggest differences that we have this year,” he said on SEN’s Garry and Tim this morning.
“He’s been criminally injured over the last few years and there’s very few athletes like him in the competition.”
Cockatoo’s last senior appearance just about sums up his SuperCoach career.
Against the Eagles in Round 3, 2018, Cockatoo tallied 15 disposals, five marks, four inside 50s, three tackles and 43 SuperCoach points in 48 per cent game-time, before succumbing to a knee injury in the third term.
His ability to stay in the game is questionable but the 22-year-old’s ability to have an impact on it is anything but.
In Round 19 the previous year, his 10th home-and-away match for the season, Cockatoo booted 3.2 from 12 disposals and four marks before hurting his hamstring late in the final quarter.
He walked off the ground with 92 SuperCoach points to his name.
Per game, Cockatoo ranks 10th at the club for scoreboard impact and when he is involved in a chain it leads to a score 43 per cent of the time – the second-highest percentage at the Cats.
But, on percentages, Cockatoo, who has missed more than 60 games due to injury since 2016, has played 70 per cent or more of game-time in just 15 of his 34 career matches.
Emphasising the main issue is, which is, obviously, his body, Cockatoo has never played more than six consecutive games since being drafted in 2014.
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Meanwhile, recruit Jack Steven leads the SuperCoach mid-price candidates in the forward line, and Dangerfield said he’s also going to be vital to the Cats.
“He’s been great,” he said.
“He’s won four best and fairest awards and you can see that in the way that he moves he’s a very good player.
“He had a hiccup a couple of weeks back, but he’s just about back in full pre-season training so it’s been great to have him.
“Obviously with the loss of Tim Kelly, he’s going to be an important player for us and we think he’s that line breaker and goal kicker that we have seen him do across his career.”
Steven is priced at $361,700 and is also a dual-position midfielder-forward.
Originally published as AFL SuperCoach 2020: Why Nakia Cockatoo can be your secret weapon in 2020