KFC SuperCoach Plus Article: 11 things you need to know for Round 13

Key Collingwood rookie intel, a Lachie Whitfield warning, captaincy tips and more — 11 key SuperCoach Plus stats you need to know for Round 13.

Caleb Poulter has been a great find for Collingwood.

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From price and score projections to key Collingwood rookie intel, captaincy tips, a Lachie Whitfield warning and an explanation of Anthony Scott’s surprising score, here are the 11 key stats you need to know ahead of Round 12:

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1. Collingwood has produced six debutants this season, the equal-most of any team (with Essendon) and two of them showed their value as KFC SuperCoach picks in the win against Adelaide. Caleb Poulter produced a career-best 89 points — his third score above 80 in six matches — with his efficiency a highlight. He recorded 32 points from effective kicks and also showed an ability to find space, scoring 20 points from contested possessions and 17 from uncontested marks, including one intercept. He also kicked a goal in the third quarter, worth eight points. Poulter increased in value by $34,900 and is projected to rise again by almost $24,000 if he scores 76 against the Demons. Then his 71,000 owners will face a dilemma. Collingwood has a bye in Round 14 and we have to decide whether to cash in Poulter’s $200k profit for a fresh player who can help get 18 scorers on the field, or keep him as solid bench cover for the rest of the season, or at least to make some more money. If he maintains his current average he will reach $350k in Round 16.

Trent Bianco has made a flying start to his AFL career.

2. Another popular Collingwood rookie — and the third-most popular Magpie in KFC SuperCoach behind Brodie Grundy and Poulter — is Trent Bianco. About 44,000 coaches ignored the traditional advice about waiting until a player has played two games before trading them in to grab Bianco before Round 12 — and it was a smart play. The young midfielder scored 75 points, backing up his 83 on debut and leaving him with a break even of -84 heading into his third game this week, when SuperCoach Plus projects a score of 79 and a price rise of almost $72,000 on Monday night. His score against the Crows could have been higher after he lost 12 points from negative acts — one free kick against, one clanger kick and two handball clangers. On the positive side, he scored 26 points from effective kicks and 11 from tackles, with another 10 coming from a goal and score assist.

3. The most traded in player so far this week is Richmond’s dual-position big man Callum Coleman-Jones, who also has the lowest break even in the competition of -102. Coleman-Jones has scored 112 and 86 in his first two games and SuperCoach Plus is projecting an 86 — which would be an outstanding result — against the Eagles and a price jump of more than $80,000 before CCJ and the Tigers sit out Round 14 with the bye (an issue in itself — more here). One curious question is whether to add Coleman-Jones to the ruck or forward line. Almost 2000 coaches have swapped James Rowe to CCJ as a forward, while 1700 have downgraded Matt Flynn in the ruck to the Tigers talent. Another cheap ruck option is Hawk Ned Reeves, who missed last round with the bye but is set to jump in price after his third game this weekend. His break even is -98 — if you pick Coleman-Jones up forward and Reeves in the ruck you could add $160k to your team value in one week.

Callum Coleman-Jones has impressed in his two games in 2021. Picture: Michael Klein

4. Coleman-Jones’ teammate Riley Collier-Dawkins is the second-most traded out player this week so far, behind Rowe, after scoring a season-low 29 points against Essendon that resulted in a $5200 price drop. There was one clear reason for his low return of nine disposals, one tackle and two clearances — he played just 58 per cent of the game, and much of his time on the field was spent at half-forward. In his first five matches Collier-Dawkins attended an average of 17 centre bounces. On Saturday night he attended three. Just over 1200 coaches have swapped RCD for CCJ, while popular upgrades include Lachie Whitfield, Aaron Hall and Josh Kelly.

5. Players changing roles or moving to different parts of the field can boost their KFC SuperCoach output (Jack Ziebell is exhibit A) but it can also have an impact in the other direction, or just leave us scratching our heads. The 10,000 players who took a punt on Hunter Clark this season would have been hoping for a move into the midfield, or at least an improvement at half-back, where he has shown signs of being a premium scorer. From Rounds 1-6 Clark played 67 per cent in defence, 31 per cent in the midfield and 1 per cent each on the wing and forward line. Since then he has been thrown all over the field — 34 per cent defence, 30 per cent wing, 14 per cent midfield and 22 per cent forward. It hasn’t helped in KFC SuperCoach scores — in the first six rounds he averaged 88 points per game; in the five rounds since his average is 70.6, with his 24 against Sydney last round the lowest score of his 58-game career. In that time he has also lost more than $60k in value and he has a break even of 148 against the Crows this week.

Hunter Clark has played everywhere.

8. It has been a frustrating ride this season for Clark’s teammate Tom Highmore and his almost 80,000 owners. After being recalled in Round 11 and scoring 36 points, he was dropped then named as the medical sub against Sydney in Round 12. An early injury to Mason Wood allowed Highmore to take the field but not in the position we are used to seeing him. He spent the entire second and third quarters playing as a forward before splitting his time between the ruck (35 per cent), wing (43 per cent) and forward line (22 per cent) in the final term. He finished with just 17 KFC SuperCoach points and a break even of 58 — a long way off the -60 of just a few weeks ago.

7. One player who could benefit from an unexpected role change is Bulldog Caleb Daniel. We know Luke Beveridge loves to spin the magnets, and his latest move has been to shift Daniel — who started his career as a forward before making a name for himself as a playmaking defender — into the guts. Daniel spent 82 per cent of game time in defence from Rounds 1-10 and didn’t attend a centre bounce in the first 11 rounds, but against the Dockers last round he was at 10 centre bounces, ranked fifth at the Dogs. The result: 23 disposals, six tackles and 99 KFC SuperCoach points — but no kick-ins. Will Bevo persist with the move? Who can tell!

8. Speaking of frustrating role changes, Jordan Ridley owners won’t have failed to notice a major shift from the opening rounds, when he was the top-scoring player in KFC SuperCoach. From Rounds 1-4 Ridley took 40 kick-ins from opposition behinds (including 13 in Round 3 alone) and played on from 35 of them — and it’s no coincidence he averaged 21 kicks and 133 KFC SuperCoach points per game. From Round 5 it has been a very different story, with Ridley taking 20 kickins over seven rounds, including just one against the Tigers on Saturday night — the only other game his tally was that low was when he was concussed early in Round 5 against Brisbane. Mason Redman (26 kick-ins since Round 5) and Dyson Heppell (20) have been the main culprits after Heppell took just four in the opening four rounds. At least Ridley has played on from 19 of those 20 kick-ins, but it hasn’t stopped his price falling $152,700 from its high point in Round 4 — when 10,000 coaches traded him in.

Jordan Ridley has a three-round average of 83. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

9. Lachie Whitfield is the most sought-after premium this week, and it’s obvious why. A proven premium scorer in the past — Whitfield averaged 111 and 104 the past two seasons — he has returned to form in his past two matches (110, 120), is coming off a bye and available at a discounted price after a slow start following a pre-season liver injury. But there is one red flag for those bringing him in hoping for a mammoth score against North Melbourne. In five career games against the Kangaroos, Whitfield averages 70.2 — his lowest return against any team. He scored a respectable 97 against the Roos last year but his three previous scores against them were 81, 72 and 60. Surprisingly, teammate Josh Kelly’s record isn’t a whole lot better — the Kangas are his third-worst opponent (career average of 86.2).

10. Max Gawn will be a popular captain choice this round as he takes on inexperienced Magpie Max Lynch on Monday, but a bye round opens up the opportunity to take a shot at a vice-captain who could score even bigger this weekend. If we are using history against Round 13 opponents as a guide there are several great options. Jack Steele scored 162 against Adelaide last year and Jake Lloyd put up 157 against Hawthorn in 2020. In fact, Lloyd has scored above 130 in three of his past four against the Hawks. Dustin Martin has a career average of 106 against West Coast including scores of 132, 155 and 148 since 2017. Clayton Oliver is another safe bet — averaging 116 in his past five against Collingwood — but he plays in the same game as Gawn. The bearded giant’s history is hard to assess because he’s usually going head-to-head with Brodie Grundy, but he scored 153 the last time he faced the Pies (in 2019) and he has played twice at the SCG for an average of 114.5.

Anthony Scott and the Bulldogs have a bye this week.

11. Bulldog Anthony Scott failed to meet his break even against Fremantle in Round 12, but he gave it his best shot, scoring 75 points — his second-best score of the season. He did his best work in the third quarter, scoring 44 points including 29 from contested possessions. He failed to record a kick in that term, scoring three points from handballs, while he also added four points from a score assist. His most profitable act in the match was his first-quarter goal, worth seven points. There was some confusion over Scott’s output in the third term regarding his disposal and contested possession counts. Remember, disposals and contested possessions don’t need to match up, as they’re two entirely different statistics. Champion Data defines a disposal as legally getting rid of the ball, via a handball or a kick. A contested possession is won when the ball is in dispute. This includes looseball-gets, hardball-gets, contested marks, gathers from a hitout, contested knock-ons and frees for.