Expert trade verdict on three SuperCoach mid-price guns

Dom Sheed, Tom Rockliff and Nic Newman flew out of the gates with massive Round 1 scores. Are they huge SuperCoach bargains or a trade trap? The experts at Doctor SuperCoach say each case is different.

Carlton’s Nic Newman. Picture: Ian Currie

Round 1 may have come to a close, but the work of the SuperCoaches never rests!

With some massive scores from various tantalising mid-price options, the expert team at Doctor SuperCoach break down the reasonably-priced players with big scores and discuss if they are worth looking at to bring into your side.

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TOM ROCKLIFF (PORT) $405,900 MID — 138 POINTS

The pig of fantasy football has returned! As was the case in JLT2, Rockliff played in the midfield all day in Round 1, working hard to win the ball and applying defensive pressure. He finished the game with a whopping 44 touches, 10 marks and eight tackles.

The talk of the town will be whether or not Rockliff is “back” and most will tell you to wait another week to make a decision. However, as Port Adelaide plays Carlton this week, waiting for more information may just result in missing one of the kindest fixtures of the season for Port.

Carlton is a team that Rocky has scored over 180 TWICE against, plus two more scores of 145 or above. The fear of course is that Rockliff’s output may drop off when Ollie Wines returns, however, it would make more sense to think that Wines’ return to the side would have a greater effect on Willem Drew’s centre bounce attendances or those of Brad Ebert, who was slated for more of a forward role in 2019.

There aren’t many players with a high scoring history like Tom Rockliff, who is one of the few players in the AFL to eclipse a 130 season average (2014). In 2019 though, he’s definitely cheap enough to take a punt on if you want to have a crack at a hot start, and waiting another week won’t give any more clues.

Doctor’s Verdict: One more week won’t give you any extra information in this specific case. If you’re going to get him, do it before the match against Carlton.

Tom Rockliff looked back to his best against Melbourne. Picture: Sarah Reed

Nic Newman is enjoying life at Carlton. Picture: Ian Currie

NIC NEWMAN (CARL) $394,100 DEF – 134 POINTS

Newman also started the season with a bang, scoring 134 points from his 26 possessions against Richmond.

Newman tallied a very SuperCoach-friendly 21 kicks from the halfback flank, as he helped repel the ball out of the Blues’ backline time and time again, clocking up 12 rebound-50s.

This was the type of role we had hoped to see from Newman coming into the season, where the Blues would like to get the ball into his hands. We saw this in the first week of the JLT Series but it was quickly forgotten after a very poor JLT2, when Carlton played the ball through veteran Kade Simpson instead.

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A huge positive for Newman in his first home-and-away match for Carlton was the fact that he spent a whopping 104 minutes on the ground – up from his average of 88 minutes per match last season.

Newman has typically had a very good points per minute scoring ratio for a defender, so staying longer on the ground with the Blues compared to his previous club in the Sydney Swans only bodes well for Newman’s chances of continuing his fine start. But it is too early to tell if Newman will keep up this fantasy-friendly role and watching him closely for another week would be the ideal play.

Doctor’s Verdict: Wait and see how Newman performs this weekend.

Dom Sheed is in incredible form.

DOM SHEED (WC) $394,100 MID – 144 Points

If you thought Dom Sheed’s JLT series was good, he only looked better in Round 1.

After tallying monster numbers in JLT1 and 2, collecting 39 and 40 disposals respectively, Sheed managed to accumulate 38 touches against the Lions including a whopping 21 contested possessions and 10 clearances.

It is extremely difficult to judge Sheed’s situation at West Coast, as Dom has averaged over nine more disposals without Andrew Gaff in the side since the beginning of 2018. Gaff returns from suspension in Round 3 so waiting to take a look at Sheed with Gaff in the team will cause you to miss Dom’s first and largest price rise for the season — at this rate he may increase his price by over $60,000.

Adam Simpson would be a brave man to move Sheed further away from the ball in his current form, so expect him to continue scoring well throughout the season, perhaps slightly hampered by the return of Gaff.

While we expect Sheed to continue to score well, it is unclear if he will finish within the top 10 midfielders of season 2019 and thus trading him in early would be a big gamble.

Doctor’s Verdict: Sheed should score well again this weekend, but he will only be worth the purchase if he ends up as a top midfielder – buyer beware of the risks involved!

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