AFL SuperCoach 2020: The Phantom’s three-year analysis of the top-priced players in each position
Is there a Mr. Reliable in SuperCoach? The Phantom looks at how the top-price players in each position rate for games played, total score and average over the past three years to find out.
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They are expensive for a reason but which premium players can we really trust? The Phantom looks at how the top-price players in each position rate for games played, total score and average over the past three home-and-away seasons to help answer the question.
DEFENDERS
NOTES
Zac Williams played 20 games in 2017 and 2019 but missed the entire 2018 season with an achilles injury.
Luke Ryan has played 49 of a possible 56 games since his debut in Round 11, 2017.
Caleb Daniel was dropped for two games in 2017.
Nic Newman made just 11 appearances for the Swans at the top-level in 2018, spending the middle-part of the season in the NEAFL.
Before he cemented his spot in the senior side, Dan Houston played four SANFL games in 2017.
Shannon Hurn missed three matches, with two separate injuries, in 2019. Prior to last season, however, he played all-but one game in the previous four years.
FULL ANALYSIS: The best premiums to pick in defence
MIDFIELDERS
NOTES
Clayton Oliver is the only one to have played every game in the past three years.
Tom Mitchell missed the entire 2019 season with a broken leg.
Lachie Neale sat Fremantle’s Round 22 clash with Richmond in 2017 on the sidelines with a minor knee injury and it’s the only game he’s missed since Round 2, 2014.
Nat Fyfe missed six weeks with a serious hamstring injury in 2018.
Josh Kelly played 21 games in 2017 but missed seven and eight matches in the past two seasons respectively as he battled hip, knee and groin issues.
Adam Treloar injured both hamstrings at the same time in 2018, missing the final nine home-and-away matches.
FULL ANALYSIS: The best premiums to pick in the midfield
RUCKMEN
NOTES
Out of every player in this analysis, Stefan Martin and Oliver are the only two to have played every home-and-away match since 2017.
Reilly O’Brien made his debut in 2016 but had to wait to 2019 to play his third AFL game.
Rowan Marshall played 21 matches in the VFL in 2017 and 2018 before a breakout season at the top-lever last year.
FULL ANALYSIS: The premium alternative to Grundy and Gawn
FORWARDS
NOTES
In 2019, Lachie Whitfield missed four weeks with a broken collarbone and two after a corked thigh. He also sat on the sidelines for the first seven rounds of 2017 as he served an AFL-imposed six-month ban.
Gary Ablett’s 21 home-and-away matches last year is the most he’s played since 2013.
Hugh Greenwood played six matches for Adelaide’s reserves side last year after battling for a regular spot in the senior side.
He was dropped for the Round 2 clash with Carlton but Jordan Dawson played 20 of his 25 career matches last year.
Toby Greene was suspended for four matches, from two separate incidents, in 2017 and has missed 23 games, at four different times, since then.
Jordan De Goey missed the first six rounds of 2017 with a broken hand and a club-imposed suspension for lying about the injury.
FULL ANALYSIS: The best forward premiums in 2020
Originally published as AFL SuperCoach 2020: The Phantom’s three-year analysis of the top-priced players in each position