Eight winners, eight losers and two big question marks from 2022 KFC SuperCoach prices
The KFC SuperCoach AFL prices for 2022 are being entered into the system. And we can reveal the biggest winners of the new figures. Who are you locking in early?
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Your 2022 KFC SuperCoach AFL planning starts now.
After player positions for next season were revealed in early December, the bankers at SuperCoach HQ have been working frantically to finalise every player’s price.
They will be available within days to SuperCoach Plus subscribers, who will be able to start selecting a squad in the advance team picker, but we have got our hands on an early drop.
Get your notepads (or open the app on your phone) – here are 18 names that jumped off the page.
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Loser: Brodie Grundy (Coll) $627,100 RUCK
The Magpies big man has slipped from his $700k days, but not as far as some KFC SuperCoaches might have hoped. Grundy had a rollercoaster 2021 season but still posted an extremely healthy average of 115.2 for the season – hence the big price tag for next year. But if you were basing your selection calls on his last six rounds, when he averaged 93.7, you would say that’s overs. Grundy was one of the most popular picks in 2021, but how many will back in the fourth-most expensive ruckman in the game next season?
Winner: Lachie Neale (Bris) $543,200 MID
There are lots of important numbers in KFC SuperCoach but this is all you need to know: Neale is $178,600 cheaper than he was at the start of last season. That huge discount is of course the result of a rocky season in which the Brownlow medallists’s average dipped under 100 for the first time since 2014, but we all know what he can do. Need a reminder? Look up his performances in Round 23 (133 KFC SuperCoach points) and the qualifying final (46 disposals, 152 points).
Loser: Nat Fyfe (Frem) $456,500 MID
Based on the Neale logic, Fyfe is a massive bargain next year, but it would be a huge risk to select him in your starting midfield. Fyfe raised hopes he could be a dual-position player in 2022 with some stints in the forward line last season, but didn’t really come close to reaching Champion Data’s 35 per cent DPP threshold. And maybe it’s for the best, with another injury putting a major dent in his pre-season.
Winner: Braydon Preuss (GWS) $204,700 RUC
Long-timer KFC SuperCoach players will remember the days when we could start an on-field ruck combination featuring a premium superstar and a bargain-basement big man like Zac Smith or Jonathan Giles. That strategy could be revived in 2022 after Preuss had his price slashed by almost $100,000 after failing to play a game in his first season at the Giants. He has to get past Matt Flynn – and keep Shane Mumford in retirement – but if Preuss is leading the GWS ruck division in Round 1 the only question will be whether to pick him at R2 or R3.
Loser: Jason Horne-Francis (NM) $207,300 MID
The No.1 draft pick is going to be a very popular selection and is expected to line up for the Kangaroos in Round 1 after dominating at junior and senior level in South Australia this year. But he comes with a very high price tag (more the Preuss!) and has missed out on the DPP some were hoping for (don’t ask The Phantom about this very touchy subject). Still, you only have to look at Matt Rowell and Sam Walsh to see No.1 draft picks have justified their price before.
Winner: Nick Daicos (Coll) $193,800 MID
Tipped as a potential No.1 pick, Daicos slid to pick 4 on draft night – saving us about $14k in KFC SuperCoach. He also had an incredible junior career – averaging 36 disposals and two goals in the NAB League – and many experts said he could have played senior footy for Collingwood this year if the Pies had been allowed to pick him. The question will be, can you start both Daicos and Horne-Francis?
Loser: Jarman Impey (Haw) $494,500 DEF
Impey was one of the bargains of 2021, starting the year at just over $200,000 then playing a lucrative role across half-back. Unfortunately, the honeymoon is over and he is classified as a defender next year with a much higher price tag. The same goes for teammate Changkuoth Jiath ($495k) and Bomber Nick Hind and Bulldog Bailey Dale, who are both priced at over $500k in 2022. But the lesson is clear – if a player is slated for a new role across half-back next season, jump on!
Winner: Aaron Hall (NM) $572,900 DEF
Hall is also listed as a defender next year and has a higher price than the players mentioned above. But it could have been a lot higher. The KFC SuperCoach bankers just look at the balance sheet – a player’s average across the season – when calculating prices, and for Hall that was a very impressive 105.3 over 20 games. But his season was more complicated than that. Hall had an injury-affected score of 37 in Round 5 and a score of only six points after starting as the medical sub in Round 2. From Round 7 onwards he averaged 115.5 points per game. Over a whole season, that would put his price around the $625,000 mark – which means he is more than $50,000 underpriced if he can carry that form into 2022.
Loser: Jack Ziebell $585,800 (NM) DEF
Ziebell and Hall formed an amazing double act in 2021 and Jack was probably the pick of the season after starting at just $257,900. But he doesn’t have that upside in 2022, faded a bit at the end of the year (average 85 over his last five matches) and he’ll be 31 in February. But we’ll always have the memories.
Winner: Matthew Johnson (Frem) $117,300 MID
Being passed over in the first round of the draft was a blow to the talented WA midfielder but it was great news for KFC SuperCoaches. Touted as a possible top-10 pick – which would have attracted a big price premium – Johnson averaged 115 KFC SuperCoach points across the past two years at WA Colts (under-18 level), gained senior experience for Subiaco and dominated a WAFL reserves final with 27 disposals (18 contested), nine clearances and three tackles. Put him on your rookie watch list.
Winner: Jarrod Berry (Bris) $268,500 MID
The big-bodied midfielder was tracking nicely towards an AFL breakout, averaging 62, 80, 85 and 97 in his first four seasons. Then everything went off the rails in 2021 as he battled nagging groin injuries, playing just nine games and his KFC SuperCoach average crashing to just 49.3 – resulting in a monster $253,000 discount from his starting 2021 price. There were some promising signs at the back end of the season, scoring 80-plus in Round 23 and he qualifying final, and he can almost be classed as an expensive rookie in 2022.
Loser: Zac Williams (Carl) $461,100 DEF
This time last year many (possibly including me) were talking up Williams as a potential bargain after crossing from GWS to the Blues with the prospect of lining up next to Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh in the centre square. History shows that didn’t work out for Carlton or KFC SuperCoach, with Williams posting just three 100-plus scores on his way to a season average of 84.7 – slightly less than his 2020 numbers. Despite that he will start next year about $3k more expensive than he was 12 months ago. That’s still good value if he turns into a premium, but I won’t be taking the risk.
Winner: Stephen Coniglio (GWS) $261,300 MID/FWD
What, what? Yes, that is not a typo – Coniglio will start next year at almost rookie price. Who really knows what happened after the GWS skipper signed a mega seven-year contract extension at the end of 2019. In that season he averaged 26.6 disposals and 101.2 KFC SuperCoach points a game. The next year his average dipped slightly to 98.4, in 2021 it was 60.0 – a crazy number for a player of his talent. Add a discount for managing just five appearances due to a syndesmosis injury and you have what is known in KFC SuperCoach circles as a no-brainer selection.
Loser: Callum Mills (Syd) $612,100 MID
Hats off if you jumped on Mills in 2021 when he finally made the long-awaited transition from half-back to the Swans engine room. That resulted in a jump in his KFC SuperCoach output from 101.4 points a game to 112.4, but probably shut the door on him as a value selection. Next year he’ll start as the 14th-most expensive midfielder in the game. The same probably applies to Adelaide gun Rory Laird, who is even more expensive at $632,600 and also a MID-only.
Winner: Charlie Curnow (Carl) $224,300 FWD
Remember Joe Daniher? Not the Daniher who had his owners tearing their hair out with a run of sub-60 scores after the bye, the Daniher who beat his injury demons to play all 22 home-and-away games and add more than $200,000 to his KFC SuperCoach price by Round 11. Curnow will start 2022 exactly $9000 cheaper than Daniher was last season, and could deliver similar value – if he can get his body right. In 2017 and 2018, when he managed 21 and 20 matches, he averaged 74.2 and 77.5, including cracking the KFC SuperCoach ton nine times. The talent is clearly there and the early signs are positive – keep an eye on Carlton’s medical reports.
Loser: Samson Ryan (Rich) $123,900 RUC/FWD
The young beanpole could be a player of the future for the Tigers but he had the unenviable 2021 record of one game for a score of -1 – also his season average. Yet he will start 2022 $6000 more expensive than he was at the start of last season. Stiff.
Winner: Charlie Dean (Coll) $102,400 DEF
Mature-age recruit comes in at the lowest possible price after being snapped up by the Pies in the rookie draft. He could have a role at the top level, too, after starring as an intercept defender for Williamstown in the VFL, averaging 15 disposals, seven marks and 8.3 intercept possessions. The Tom Highmore of 2022?
... and two big question marks
Patrick Dangerfield (Geel) $567,800 MID
This is the cheapest Dangerfield has started a season since 2012, after a year interrupted by injuries and suspensions that ended with a season average of 104.3 – his 10th season in a row in triple figures. This could be a sliding doors moment in KFC SuperCoach. Is Dangerfield ready to bounce back to his best and, therefore, terrific value? Chris Scott’s remarks about him playing more as a full-time midfielder are promising. Or is the champ’s best behind him? He will be 32 early in the season and his average has dropped slightly in each of the past four seasons. It will take a brave SuperCoach to write him off.
Patrick Cripps (Carl) $454,800 MID
I included Cripps in this section last year and now the question mark is even bigger. At face value that is a ridiculous price for a player who has averaged over 115 in a season twice, but any coach who selected Cripps last year will be justifiably wary. Make him an early-season watch.
* prices subject to late changes
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