Al Paton picks Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn, spends big in defence in his 2019 SuperCoach team
Abandoning early ruck plans, a totally new strategy in defence and a Richmond bolter form the heart of Al Paton’s 2019 SuperCoach squad. Who made the cut for his starting squad?
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In the end, I just couldn’t go through with it.
In the first draft of my 2019 SuperCoach team, selected straight after prices were released in December, I took a huge gamble by picking Geelong draftee Darcy Fort as my second ruckman.
My logic was the Cats’ No.1 ruck spot is up for grabs and Fort is very much in the mix — a theory confirmed by Joel Selwood last week — and picking him gave me about $500,000 more to spend in other positions.
But the reality is Fort is still only an outside chance to play in Round 1 and, if he does, he’s still a huge risk. If he’s dropped in Round 3 for Rhys Stanley or Zac Smith or Ryan Abbott, where do you go? You can only swap him to another bottom-priced ruckman or perform massive team surgery that would probably take several weeks, and lots of trades.
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And at the end of the day Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn are likely to outscore all other rucks by a fair margin, so starting without one of them is a big handicap. I’m open to changing my mind (again) if Fort dominates the JLT Series or Gawn shares the ruck at Melbourne with Braydon Preuss, but spending $1.4 million now then changing tack and distributing the money is a lot easier than the other way around.
So, with all that money gone on two spots, where does that leave me? A bit short in at least two of the other three positions, to be honest, so I’ve had to prioritise one.
DEFENCE
It’s pretty much guns and rookies all over the field and I’ve got an extra premium in defence, based on expected score increases as a result of the new kick-in rule.
Players no longer have to kick the ball to themself to play on from full-back, and any kick outside the square will be considered the same as any other kick in general play according to Champion Data. That means players who run out of the square and roost the footy 55m — the intention of the rule change — will rake in the points. Jake Lloyd (who also picks up 35 disposals a game), James Sicily (who better pull his head in, one tribunal visit and he’s out), Shannon Hurn and Tiger Jayden Short all fit this mould.
I’ll be watching the JLT games closely to gauge how big the impact of this rule change will be, and who is likely to reap the rewards.
Rookies are all placeholders to some degree at this stage of the pre-season but I like the sound of Callum Wilkie, an attacking defender from the SANFL who the Saints snared in the rookie draft.
MIDFIELD
With premium spots limited I’m just going all out for points. Jack Macrae, Patrick Cripps and Nat Fyfe are every chance to be the three topscoring mids in 2019. Fyfe is always a big injury risk but when he can average 120-plus, it’s a risk worth taking (we have 30 trades, right?).
Dustin Martin won’t be far behind and is great value at just over $560,00 — but who are we kidding, I would have picked him anyway (my team is called Don’t Argue, after all).
Anthony Miles will get a dozen clearances a week for Gold Coast, Will Setterfield is a lock and Brett Bewley is a hard-running, long-kicking midfielder out of the VFL who should play early.
FORWARDS
Patrick Dangerfield was the first picked player in my side and could be the No.1 scorer in SuperCoach this year. As a forward, he’s a must-have, effectively giving us another topscoring midfielder.
I’m expecting Isaac Heeney to take the next step this season and become an A-grade gun while Chad Wingard should make the most of more midfield minutes at the Hawks and deliver excellent value on his starting price.
Again the rookies are subject to change once we see who gets a run in the JLT Series — not all of these mature-age recruits are going to walk into their team’s best 22. But I like Gilbert Gardiner’s sneaky tip on Kangaroo Tom Wilkinson. He’s a small forward who was overlooked in four drafts but finally gets his chance after starring for the Southport Sharks last year.
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Originally published as Al Paton picks Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn, spends big in defence in his 2019 SuperCoach team
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