KFC SuperCoach AFL: 11 bargains to watch in 2023
Geelong dominated the trade period, securing pick 7 and a highly rated young talent in a deal with Gold Coast. And SuperCoach players could be big winners from the deal. BARGAIN WATCH
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KFC SuperCoach is a numbers game.
There is an exciting summer of practice matches, time-trials and predictions of “more midfield time” to come that will help shape our selections, but one thing that won’t change is the fact we have to squeeze 30 players into a $10 million salary cap.
And finding players who will outperform their starting price leaves more cash to splash on the high-priced superstars who generate most of our points each week.
The early team picker is now open – SuperCoach Plus subscribers can access the early team picker and start assembling a squad for 2023. Sign up for SuperCoach Plus now to gain access or use your News Corp masthead subscription or subscribe to Code Sports for the introductory offer of just $1 for six months.
Here are 11 players who could be huge bargains in 2023.
Tom Mitchell (Coll) $528,600 MID
Do we judge Mitchell on his 2022 season? He averaged 96 KFC SuperCoach points a game, his lowest return since 2014, before moving to Collingwood in a last-minute trade. And that move could change everything for the 29-year-old Brownlow winner. He was pushed out of the centre square at Hawthorn, attending just 53 per cent of centre bounces last season – down from 80 per cent in his Brownlow year (when he averaged 129.1 KFC SuperCoach points). Expect a much more prominent centre bounce role at the Magpies, who didn’t have a player rank in the top 40 in the AFL for clearances in 2022. Lachie Neale started last season at $543k before going on to average 122.8. Can Mitchell, who hasn’t started a season this cheap since 2016, be the Neale of 2023?
Tarryn Thomas (NM) $295,700 MID-FWD
The former No.8 draft pick was considered a potential bargain at the start of last season when he was priced at $459,300. That followed a hot finish to the 2021 season when he averaged 103.7 over the final seven rounds. But Thomas will want to move on quickly from a horror 2022 season, when he played just 10 matches – for a KFC SuperCoach average of 53.7 – as he struggled with injuries, motivation and the death of his grandmother. “In Tarryn’s situation, he had some things going on in his life. It is a good reminder that sometimes what goes on in life is much more important than what happens in a footy club,” new Roos coach Alastair Clarkson said in late August. Can Clarko bring out the best in Thomas? If he can that price will be an absolute steal. One thing to watch – Thomas is involved in a police investigation surrounding a dispute with his ex-girlfriend.
Jack Bowes (Geel) $277,500 DEF
A high draft pick pushed out of the Suns in a salary dump and goes on to become one of the buys of the year at his new club. We’ve seen that story once with Will Brodie, can Bowes repeat his success? Bowes will start 2023 at a similar price to Brodie last season, the question is what role will he play at the Cats? Geelong hasn’t been an easy team to break into but if the former No.10 draft pick can establish himself he has shown he can score, especially off half-back, averaging 82.8 in 2021 and 84 in 2020. In that year he burst out of the blocks and jumped in value by $100,000 over the first month, and he’ll be starting a lot cheaper next season after playing just five games in 2022 due to a shoulder injury. Watch this space.
Jacob Hopper (GWS) $332,000 MID
Richmond midfielders haven’t been high on the KFC SuperCoach shopping list for a while, but two new arrivals could change all that in 2023. Tim Taranto will be a popular pick as a MID-FWD, but Jacob Hopper could be the bargain of the pair after receiving a heavily discounted price following a “frustrating” year in which he managed just seven matches at an average of 67 KFC SuperCoach points. The previous season he averaged 97 over 21 games, his third year in a row over 90 points a game. Can be break three figures for the first time next year? He’ll get every opportunity as a centre bounce bull at Punt Rd and should definitely make early cash, but the question will be if we are happy to pay $332k for a player who likely won’t be a season keeper.
Ben King (Gold Coast) $176,300 FWD
King’s KFC SuperCoach scoring history – averages of 53.4 and 55.6 in his past two completed seasons – says hard pass. But his price says tell me more! King is reportedly progressing well after suffering an ACL injury in February. “He’s looking fantastic,” coach Stuart Dew told SEN. “He’s put on a fair bit of weight, he’s been able to put a lot of time into his physical preparation ... He’s almost in full training, that’s fantastic for the group to see him out there.” King will return to a much stronger Gold Coast team and while the Suns’ early fixture is mixed – they face Sydney, Essendon, Geelong, St Kilda, Fremantle and North Melbourne in the opening six rounds – he will only have to kick one or two bags to shoot up in value. At that price, you can pick him on the bench anyway.
Oscar Allen (West Coast) $210,200 FWD
The signs on the track are also positive for the 23-year-old forward, who sat out the entire 2022 season with foot injury. “Oscar has been fantastic,” Eagles football manager Gavin Bell told SEN WA last week. “He’s out there, he’s doing everything he needs to do, he’s making some really great progress. He’s going to be really important for us going forward.” Allen also isn’t a noted KFC SuperCoach scorer – his best season was 2020 when he averaged 78.6 – but we don’t need to think back far to know the value of forwards in the low $200k price bracket who have extra opportunity, as Allen will following the retirement of Josh Kennedy.
Nat Fyfe $313,600 (Frem) MID-FWD
It’s almost pointless including the champ on this list – the temptation if Fyfe is named for Fremantle’s round 1 game next season will be impossible to resist. After all, this is a guy who has averaged 120-plus three times in his career and 100-plus 10 times, including in nine of the past 10 seasons. And we can pick him as a forward! But we do need to discuss his injury history. Fyfe has always been injury-prone and last year he managed just seven matches as he battled repeated back and hamstring problems, spending a lot of time forward on his way to an average of 63.3, the lowest of his career. That is likely a sign of his role in the emerging Dockers side, and 31-year-olds with dodgy hamstrings are a proven recipe for KFC SuperCoach disaster. But imagine Nat Fyfe at F4 ...
Nick Coffield (StK) $208,800 DEF
Coffield is something of a forgotten man, at least outside Moorabbin, after missing the season following a knee reconstruction. But he’s looking forward to hitting the ground running in the new year. “It is coming along pretty well. I’m not doing contact yet, but it is all on track and on time so far,” Coffield told the AFL website. “If all goes to plan, January is when I’ll be back with the group completely. By the time we start match sim, I should be good to go.” A former top-10 draft pick, Coffield could play a friendly role across half-back, and we saw what that did for Jack Sinclair’s output. On the watch list to see if he’s part of Ross Lyon’s plans.
Toby McLean (WB) $178,900 MID-FWD
The hard-tackling forward reminded the footy world what he can do when he returned to the Bulldogs line-up for this year’s elimination final. After two ACL injuries in as many years, McLean was one of the Dogs’ best on a disappointing night in Perth with 21 disposals, nine tackles and 100 KFC SuperCoach points. McLean then hit the ground running, winning the endurance test on day one of pre-season training, but then broke his hand, requiring surgery. He’ll return to full training in January, but can he keep the injury curse at bay? If he’s named in round 1 he’ll be almost impossible to pass up.
Dom Sheed (WC) $332,000 MID
Sheed epitomised the Eagles’ cursed 2022 season, suffering an ankle injury in the first practice match in February then going down again in his comeback game with a stress-related lower leg injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season. The result was one game for the year for a KFC SuperCoach score of 67. His extremely limited game time has delivered a big price discount – he’ll start 2023 with the exact same price tag as Jacob Hopper. Could you pick both? Sheed hasn’t been a premium scorer in the past, but he has consistently averaged 80-plus with a career-best of 95 in West Coast’s premiership season.
Darcy Wilmot (Bris) $123,900 DEF
One thing is certain, Wilmot will feature in close to 100 per cent of teams in the early team picker. With rookie stocks largely unknown, we can pencil in Wilmot for D7 or D8 after he made his AFL debut in the Lions’ qualifying final win against Richmond – fortunately, finals don’t count in KFC SuperCoach price calculations. He went on to play in all three of Brisbane’s finals, picking up 11, 15 and 12 disposals and averaging 62 KFC SuperCoach points. Pick 16 in last year’s draft, Wilmot has a year in the system and will be hoping to add to his AFL games tally early in 2023.
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