AFL SuperCoach: studs and duds from Round 14, 2017

IT’S time to trade one of the best picks of the year. But that’s just one issue facing SuperCoaches after a weekend from hell. Who starred and who flopped?

Marcus Bontempelli pushes of North Melbourne’s Todd Goldstein. Picture: Michael Klein

WE THOUGHT the byes were bad.

Some players were wishing they could go back to the best 18 scoring system on the SuperCoach weekend from hell.

Nat Fyfe, Gary Ablett and Josh Kelly all pulled out on Friday, and then it got worse — at least if you had one or both of Dayne Beams or Joel Selwood, who both suffered game-ending injuries in the opening minutes (or seconds, in Selwood’s case).

Add poor scores from the likes of Heath Shaw, Tom Lynch and Toby Nankervis and any private league win was one to savour.

I have a claim for unluckiest SuperCoach player. Midfield of Kelly, Ablett, Fyfe, Beams and J.Selwood. @FantasyFreako @SC_Specialist

— Al Murray (@AlastairJMurray) June 25, 2017

It wasn’t all bad, with Patrick Dangerfield doing what he does best and Marcus Bontempelli returning to form.

Who starred and who flopped for your SuperCoach side? Here are our studs and duds from every game.

HAWTHORN 96 d ADELAIDE 82

HAWKS STUDS: Shaun Burgoyne stood up yet again and there were some unfamiliar names topping the ton in brown and gold, led by former Crow Ricky Henderson. Tom Mitchell’s 101 makes it nine hundreds in a row.

HAWK DUDS: More than 37,000 coaches are holding Jarryd Roughead but it is probably time to cut ties with the big Rough after he scored 57, fourth-lowest for the Hawks. What’s happened to Luke Breust (24)?

CROWS STUDS: Matt Crouch boosted his season average into three figures with a game-high 131 but Hugh Greenwood was the big story of the night, finishing with 127 at a bargain basement price. Daniel Talia was the third Crow over 100.

CROWS DUDS: Rory Sloane was hobbled by a tagger yet again, this time Dan Howe restricting him to 80 points. What do we do with the Crows superstar who can score 170 on his day? Hopefully you’ve traded out Andy Otten (47) by now.

SYDNEY 86 d ESSENDON 85

SWANS STUDS: The Bombers had no answer for Josh Kennedy, who scored 127 and is averaging 110 over his past five games — and is still $65k down on his Round 1 price. Heath Grundy scored a surprise 117 and all the coaches who picked Callum Mills at the start of the year will be shaking their heads after his 104. Jake Lloyd (99) proved a smart pick-up and Nic Newman jumped to 90 with a late goal.

SWANS DUDS: Not many popular picks failed to deliver. Dean Towers, Will Hayward and Nick Smith couldn’t crack 50.

BOMBERS STUDS: Zach Merrett is nearly the form midfielder of the competition. His 141 points was a season-high and his sixth big score in seven weeks. Michael Hurley was great down back (112) and just quietly Tom Bellchambers had been very good since returning to the team.

BOMBERS DUDS: A few Essendon players will be regretting their final minute or two at the SCG but from a SuperCoach perspective the biggest flops were Dyson Heppell (54) and Jobe Watson (44), who were well down on their season averages. That final smother didn’t help Brendon Goddard (77).

Josh Kennedy kicks the Swans into attack. Picture: Phil Hillyard

PORT ADELAIDE 93 d COLLINGWOOD 62

POWER STUDS: One super stud - Robbie Gray. Anyone bring him in $428k last week? He jumped $48k after a massive 146 on the back of five goals that broke the Pies. If you want to jump on he’s still $111k down on his starting price (with a breakeven of 5). Remarkably, he was the only Port player over 100.

POWER DUDS: Brad Ebert had a rare stinker, scoring just 58 after averaging 105 for the year. Chad Wingard had a few flashes of brilliance but finished with 64.

PIES STUDS: Superb game from Jeremy Howe, who shared top billing for the Pies with Steele Sidebottom on 125. Serviceable games from Scott Pendlebury (109) and Taylor Adams (99) and Will Hoskin-Elliott (91) rewarded owners who held him for another week.

PIES DUDS: Callum Brown kicked a goal but we were hoping for mor than 43 points in his second game (he’s on the bubble this week with a breakeven of -26). At least it was seven more than James Aish.

GWS GIANTS 146 d BRISBANE LIONS 86

GIANTS STUDS: Jon Patton dominated the inexperienced Lions defence, booting four goals from 23 disposals, 13 marks and 12 contested possessions to deliver 156 SuperCoach points. Dylan Shiel had 38 touches and 143 points and another five Giants topped 100 including Toby Greene and Steve Johnson, for the second time this year.

GIANTS DUDS: Heath Shaw joked on Twitter after the game that his milestone boots were “hardly used” which was pretty funny but little consolation for his 68,000 owners. His 60 points was his second-lowest score of the year and his seventh in a row under 100. He is averaging 86 points, his lowest since 2005.

Here endth Heath Shaw's #SuperCoach career. It's been fun, Heater. Farewell.

— Ben Higgins (@ben_higgins84) June 24, 2017

LIONS STUDS: Who said Archie Smith stops Stef Martin from scoring? We may have mentioned it in this column but it wasn’t a factor on Saturday with Martin roaring to 128 points. Rhys Mathieson (122) was the only other Lion above 100.

LIONS DUDS: Some pain here, starting with Dayne Beams’ shoulder injury courtesy of a Shane Mumford bump after just two disposals and 12 points. Jake Barrett played the whole game and scored 32, Dayne Zorko was held to just five disposals (none after halftime) and 51 points (thank goodness for his nine tackles) and Tom Rockliff battled to 83.

Dayne Beams’ day ended early courtesy of a Shane Mumford hip and shoulder.

WESTERN BULLDOGS 107 d NORTH MELBOURNE 106

BULLDOGS STUDS: Welcome back, Marcus Bontempelli. The Bont posted his highest score since Round 6 — 139 from 38 disposals and 10 tackles. Jack Macrae bounced back with 122 and Tom Campbell’s 120 was one out of the box. In all, seven Dogs over 100.

BULLDOGS DUDS: It’s just not happening for Tom Liberatore who scored just 40 points.

KANGAROOS STUDS: Ben Cunnington was huge in the final quarter picking up 12 disposals and kicking two goals to rocket to 126 points. Jarrad Waite scored an even 100 and Shaun Higgins’ 99 would have been more if he paid attention to the countdown clock. Todd Goldstein started brilliantly but faded to finish with 91.

KANGAROOS DUDS: Giving away a crucial free kick in the dying minutes didn’t help Mason Wood (40). Just 46 for bubble boy Declan Mountford.

MELBOURNE 99 d WEST COAST 96

DEMONS STUDS: Five goals including the matchwinner with 20 seconds left equals big SuperCoach numbers and Tom McDonald delivered 139 of them. Jack Viney was huge with 127 and welcome back Max Gawn - 113 points will make a trade tempting but wait one more week, his breakeven is still 184 and he’ll be just over $500k next week.

DEMONS DUDS: It wasn’t Jeff Garlett’s night — three kicks, no score and 14 SuperCoach points. No Instagram antics from Tom Bugg this week and just 37 points. Maybe he should bring them back?

EAGLES STUDS: Jeremy McGovern took five contested marks and top-scored for the Eagles with 119. Drew Petrie wound back the clock with four goals and 113 points and Dom Sheed hit 100 for the third week in a row. Elliot Yeo’s 94 was around the mark.

EAGLES DUDS: Just 24 for Shannon Hurn, who was seeing stars after running into Viney. Jack Darling (51) disappointed again and Matt Priddis’s 68 was his lowest score since Round 4, 2014.

GEELONG 74 d FREMANTLE 72

CATS STUDS: You know who goes here every week. Patrick Dangerfield lifted when he was needed to score 145 and has now scored 151, 163, 149 and 145 from his four Simonds Stadium games this year. Mark Blicavs and Sam Menagola both went scored 120-plus.

CATS DUDS: It’s not fair to call him a dud but Joel Selwood’s 3 after a first-minute knockout hit more than 25,000 coaches, knocked $54k off his price and pushed his breakeven to 240 next week.

DOCKERS STUDS: Bradley Hill has been a super pick-up for the Dockers, highlighted by his brilliant running goal and 130 points yesterday. Some unfamiliar names in Joel Hamling, Connor Blakely and Lachie Weller in three figures. Lachie Neale (94) couldn’t keep pace with Dangerfield.

DOCKERS DUDS: Shane Kersten had just four kicks, two behinds and 21 SuperCoach points. Debutant Josh Deluca scored 33 and bubble boy Luke Ryan 49.

You know who wins another contested possession.

RICHMOND 84 d CARLTON 58

TIGER STUDS: Dustin Martin rose above the drudgery of a Sunday afternoon slog to score 121, edging Bachar Houli and Brandon Ellis (119) — Ellis is averaging 110 over his past five games. Kane Lambert, Alex Rance and Shaun Grigg were all above 100.

TIGER DUDS: None of last week’s highlight reel stuff from Shai Bolton, with a snapped goal helping him scrounge 39 points. Toby Nankervis battled all day and kicked a late goal, but his 62 is well off the tons we were getting early in the year. Is it time to pull the trade trigger?

BLUES STUDS: Nank to Kreuzer? The Blues big man is firing on all cylinders, with his 135 a fifth score in a row north of 120. You’ll need a bit of cash — he’s now $630,600 — and a spare trade in case his injury curse returns. Patrick Cripps (134) was huge late and Sam Docherty (120) did his usual thing. No double ton for Bryce Gibbs this week but 101 isn’t to shabby.

BLUES DUDS: Jed Lamb posted a donut after an untimely elbow from Bachar Houli ended his day. Jack Silvagni, Billie Smieds and Sam Petrevski-Seton couldn’t break out of the 30s and just 77 from Marc Murphy.

ST KILDA 103 d GOLD COAST 72

SAINTS STUDS: Is it time to get on the Jack Billings train? He has now tonned up in six of his past seven games including 130 against the Suns. Surprisingly only two players scored over 100 in this game, one from each team. Leigh Montagna was the next best Saint on 98.

SAINTS DUDS: Sam Gilbert, Blake Acres and Nathan Brown were all under 40 but no one has them in their team, do they?

SUNS STUDS: Jarrod Harbrow was the only Sun in three figures, returning to his early-season form with 119. Jarrod Witts and Jack Martin both scored 99.

SUDS DUDS: What is wrong with Tom Lynch? The Suns skipper was a premium trade target a few weeks ago but has fallen off a cliff with scores of 37 and 39 in his past two games. Remarkably he is now under $400k and set to drop further with a 158 breakeven.

Tom J Lynch 🚮

— Al Paton (@al_superfooty) June 25, 2017