SuperCoach expert Al Paton reveals his 2019 starting squad

It says a lot about the uncertainty surrounding SuperCoach this year that in the end I decided the safest option was to trust Ross Lyon. See which left-field Docker joins my risk-filled team.

It says a lot about the uncertainty surrounding SuperCoach this year that in the end I decided the safest option was to trust Ross Lyon.

The Fremantle coach has caused headaches for SuperCoach players for years, but one of his most reliable soldiers is the answer to my forward line riddle.

Patrick Dangerfield and Isaac Heeney have been locked into my team since the day SuperCoach opened but the “F3” spot has been a revolving door, with the following players sitting there at one time or another — Josh Dunkley, Sam Menegola, Tim Kelly, Jack Billings, Tom Lynch, Jack Higgins and Josh Kennedy. Even Sydney’s Tom Papley made a brief appearance after a tip-off he’ll run through the midfield more this year.

BEST TO WORST: EVERY MID-PRICE PLAYER RANKED

STATS: CHAMPION DATA’S PRE-SEASON FORMGUIDE

ROOKIE BIBLE: MORE THAN 50 CHEAP PLAYER PROFILES

WATCH LIST: FINAL JLT SERIES SUPERCOACH REVIEW

After not being satisfied with any of them, I’ve opted for 33-year-old Docker David Mundy. A perennially underrated SuperCoach star, Mundy has averaged at least 89 points a game every season since 2010 including a 96-point season in 2018. I’m expecting that to get back to three figures this season as he returns to the midfield to help fill a Lachie Neale-sized hole but the main advantage he has over the others is that whatever happens, I can’t see him going backwards. He’s also remarkably durable, missing just one game in the past two years and playing at least 21 games in eight of the past 13 seasons.

Nat Fyfe is in 22 per cent of SuperCoach teams.

David Mundy is an ultra-reliable performer.

He’ll partner Nat Fyfe in the Fremantle midfield, and in my SuperCoach team. Fyfe has fallen out of favour in SuperCoach circles after missing the JLT Series with a minor elbow injury while the likes of Clayton Oliver and Stephen Coniglio steal the headlines.

But the fact Fyfe played with it in AFLX tells me that elbow injury is nothing serious, and although his durability is miles off Mundy levels, he can score like few others — lots of SuperCoaches seem to have forgotten he averaged 123.8 to the byes last year.

I published versions of my team in December and February, and there have been a lot of changes even since that pre-JLT Series version — 17 of them, in fact.

Two things that haven’t changed (or maybe changed then changed back) are my “fab four” midfield of Jack Macrae, Patrick Cripps, Fyfe and Dustin Martin — and starting with Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn in the ruck.

The defence and forward line have been completely overhauled. A few weeks ago my theory was to stack the backline with players who could boost their scores under the new kick-in rules — I had three premiums and Jayden Short. At the other end I had three forward rookies on the field.

Al Paton's SuperCoach team at March 18, 2019

There is a danger in reading too much into JLT Series performances, but what did take shape over the pre-season is a picture of where the stocks of rookie-priced players are strongest and weakest — and in the end that’s what my team structure is always based around.

It turns out that we have a number of good rookies in defence who we can start on the field with a decent degree of confidence. Up forward, it’s a totally different story; there aren’t nearly as many rookies who we think will get early games, and even those likely to play probably won’t score much. The logical conclusion is to protect the forward line by fielding fewer rookies, and banking on cheapies to do the job in the backline.

UNMASKED: THE PHANTOM’S SUPERCOACH TEAM

EXPERT SURVEY: HUNT FOR A FORWARD LINE SAVIOUR

RESEARCH: EVERY JLT SERIES SUPERCOACH SCORE

This has coincided with the realisation the scoring spike from kick-ins probably won’t be as pronounced as we thought — or at least it’s hard to predict who will benefit.

So James Sicily, Shannon Hurn and Short are out. Zac Williams and Brodie Smith present excellent value and Sam Collins, Jordan Clark, Xavier Duursma and Jack Scrimshaw should all score OK and make us plenty of money.

Zac Williams copped a minor injury in the first JLT game. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Darcy Moore has looked great this pre-season.

Up forward I feel safe with Will Setterfield and Port Adelaide’s Willem Drew as my only on-field rookies, plus Darcy Moore who you could call an expensive rookie or cheap mid-pricer. Or you could just call him a crazy risk given his cursed run with injuries last year. But I like his scoring potential as an intercepting defender and he only has to get to Round 7 to make enough money for a trade.

The biggest risk with this squad is the high number of risks. Brodie Smith is a classic mid-pricer but I’ve become used to seeing him sitting in my backline and talked myself out of the real chance he gets injured again or produces scores closer to 80 than 100. Tom Liberatore, Williams (who missed JLT2) and Brad Crouch are all tempting the SuperCoach gods. But at least I can trust in Ross. Oh boy.

Note: Team subject to last-minute changes before Thursday’s lockout!

Originally published as SuperCoach expert Al Paton reveals his 2019 starting squad