SuperCoach AFL: The first 11 players every team should pick for 2024
Pre-season matches have revealed more about the must-haves in SuperCoach this year, which have received a huge shake-up after a key injury at Fremantle.
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The building blocks to SuperCoach success start here.
Every one of your 30-man squad is important, but it takes a strong starting core of cash cows and premiums to put yourself in the running for league and rankings glory.
Finding that balance between boosting your budget and scoring big in the early rounds is what separates the best from the rest.
This year’s must-haves list features players from both ends of the SuperCoach price scale, including several of the top draftees from 2023.
If you’re just signing up for SuperCoach, these are the first 11 players you should pick.
After that, it’s up to you.
1. Alex Sexton (Gold Coast)
$133,400 FWD
Pre-season score: 125
A player who averaged 23.9 in eight matches last year as the must-have player of 2024? SuperCoach is a funny game sometimes. Sexton was never going to be SuperCoach relevant as a small forward but has rocketed up the ownership table after his switch to half-back was confirmed. He’s doing all the things SuperCoaches want to see – taking kick-outs, intercepting and using the ball well. Moving to half-back has become the new “extra midfield minutes” in SuperCoach and Sexton has huge money-making potential at a bargain price. The hope, of course, is that he doesn’t turn into another Charlie Constable. But that appears unlikely as he has the faith of new coach Damien Hardwick.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 47.3% (ranked #13)
2. Harley Reid
(West Coast) $207,300 FWD-MID
Pre-season score: 88
The No.1 draft pick from a long way out, Reid is destined to step straight into senior football with West Coast. He got a taste of VFL football in 2023, scoring 58, 117 and 131 SuperCoach points playing against men. Reid was prolific against his own age group, averaging 135 ranking points in the Coates League and 112 in the national championships. Reid being listed as a FWD has come as a huge bonus after so many of the top forward picks from 2023 became MID only. Thousands of SuperCoaches gravitated away from Reid after he was quiet in the first of West Coast’s practice matches and even spent time as a small defender. But after 20 disposals and 88 points against Adelaide, most have come crawling back.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 74.2% (ranked #1)
NM INTRA-CLUB:
— SuperCoach Edge (@SuperCoach_Edge) February 14, 2024
McKercher pigging it up at HB, a couple of small turnovers, but expected to happen. Impressed most with his run and overlap.
Lazzaro showing some nice composure in the engine room too. #SuperCoach
3. Colby McKercher
(North Melbourne) $202,800 MID
Pre-season score: 55
The huge wraps on the No.2 pick from last year’s draft appear justified if his first pre-season at North Melbourne is anything to go by. There was probably some hesitancy from most SuperCoaches about paying more than $200k for Reid and McKercher to start 2024. But forget about that. McKercher is destined to debut in round 1 and will feature in the half-back role vacated by the retirements of Aaron Hall and Jack Ziebell, likely alongside Harry Sheezel and Zac Fisher. No SuperCoach needs to be reminded of how profitable that role was for Sheezel last season, and McKercher was even more prolific than his North teammate as a junior. He should gain DPP status by round 7 as a DEF-MID and could even be a season keeper if he averages anything close to what Sheezel did. “You don’t see too many first-year draftees come into a club and actually you sit back and watch training and go ‘holy crap, he is dominating out there’,” Jy Simpkin said earlier in pre-season. Don’t let a quiet pre-season outing against St Kilda deter you.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 61.9% (ranked #4)
4. Ryley Sanders
(Western Bulldogs) $184,800 MID
Pre-season score: 86
The Western Bulldogs midfield is one of the toughest to crack in the AFL – just ask SuperCoaches who watched Jack Macrae get shunted to a wing or half-forward last year. Yet Sanders, the No.6 pick in last year’s draft, has been touted as a potential starter alongside Marcus Bontempelli and Tom Liberatore early in the season. That’s a strong indication of just how impressive he has been in his first pre-season at Whitten Oval.
👀 Ryley Sanders (AF $285k SC $184k MID)@westernbulldogs teammate Jason Johannisen on SEN: “There’s been a lot of hype around Ryley but it’s merited with the way he’s been training – he’s been unbelievable. If he stays healthy, I assume he’ll play a lot of games this year.â€
— Honeyball AFL 🯠(@HoneyballAFL) January 23, 2024
“The way he has been training has been unbelievable. Personally he sort of reminds me of a young Libba (Tom Liberatore), he is so clean in stoppages but then also he has the time and poise of (Scott) Pendlebury,” teammate Jason Johannisen told RSN earlier in pre-season.
Sanders averaged 143 ranking points in the Coates League last year and is the perfect M6 or M7, depending on how deep your SuperCoach midfield is.
He hasn’t been a Bulldog for long but might even be ahead of Macrae in the pecking order already.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 68.8% (ranked #3)
5. Luke Jackson
(Fremantle) $547,000 RUC-FWD
Pre-season score: DNP
Just when SuperCoaches had accepted there would be no forward premiums to start 2024, Fremantle dropped a bombshell that Sean Darcy would miss the early rounds after a knee clean out. While it’s still up in the air how many games Darcy will miss, Jackson has rocketed into must-have territory after blitzing the last month of the 2023 season when he was the Dockers’ No.1 ruckman. Jackson averaged 119 without Darcy in the team last year and was the difference in many SuperCoach finals, scoring 173, 124, 123 and 101 in the last four rounds. Even if Darcy was to return in round 3, Jackson becomes the ultimate trade bargaining chip. You could flip him and a rookie to Keidean Coleman and Zac Williams coming off the bye. Or you could trade him and a failed mid-pricer to Tom Green in round 4 after the Giants’ bye. Darcy’s setback has given SuperCoaches a huge opportunity to adapt their strategy and nail the early bye rounds.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 23.4% (ranked #33)
6. Zac Williams
(Carlton) $216,100 DEF
Pre-season score: DNP
The injury-plagued Blues defender will return to the Carlton side in round 0, giving SuperCoaches a chance to confirm what most have thought since prices were released – that Williams is one of the bargains of the year. It has been a wretched few years for Williams, who has played only 34 games since the start of 2020. In the past two seasons, he has been restricted to nine games by a serious calf injury and a pre-season ACL blow. But SuperCoaches will fondly remember the year prior to his injury troubles when Williams played 20 matches and averaged 101.6 points. The Blues will be desperate to get him back to those levels, but SuperCoaches don’t need him to get into premium territory to justify starting Williams. If you aren’t going to start him, have a plan to bring Williams in ahead of round 3 after Carlton’s early bye.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 39.6% (ranked #21)
7. Brodie Grundy
(Sydney) $481,900 RUC
Pre-season score: 65
SuperCoaches everywhere rejoiced when Grundy’s trade to Sydney went through. Grundy’s decision to leave Collingwood for Melbourne had a significant impact on his SuperCoach relevance, as well as Max Gawn’s. But the key numbers now Grundy has gone to a club where he is top dog were in rounds 3-5 last season. With Max Gawn out injured, Grundy averaged 138 SuperCoach points, scoring 143, 144 and 128 in successive matches. He might not get to the heights of 2018 or 2019 when he averaged 130, but Grundy is severely underpriced and the perfect R2 next to Gawn, Tim English or another ruck star. Having two byes in the first 12 rounds is an issue, but best 18 scoring – and Grundy’s immense value – should outweigh any risk involved with starting him.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 55% (ranked #8)
8. Marcus Bontempelli
(Western Bulldogs) $724,600 MID
Pre-season score: 135
It would have come as a surprise to many coaches that the top scorer from last year did not feature on the initial must-haves list. Christian Petracca, Nick Daicos and Touk Miller were the premium midfielders, but have all been dropped since. Why would Bontempelli take precedence over that trio? Yes, you have to pay an absolute premium to start with Bontempelli after he averaged an insane 129.7 last year. You will probably even have to accept that other coaches are going to get him $50-$100k cheaper at some stage. But the Bulldogs don’t have a bye until round 15, so for the first 14 rounds of the season, you’ve got a permanent captain or vice-captain option that many other coaches won’t be able to call on. One of the Bulldogs’ early games is against West Coast too, who Bontempelli scored 162 against last year. That sort of score would give you a significant advantage over other coaches juggling the absence of Gold Coast and GWS players in round 3.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 42.9% (ranked #16)
9. Nic Martin (Essendon)
$492,800 MID
Pre-season score: 109
Martin’s switch to half-back already looks like paying huge dividends for the Bombers and SuperCoach. Against Geelong he had 28 disposals, took 11 marks, kicked two goals and went at a disposal efficiency of 75 per cent by foot. When choosing a mid-pricer, you want a player guaranteed to make $150k or that could be a contender to be top-six or top-eight on their line come the end of the season. With DEF status likely to be added come round 7, Martin looms as a serious contender to be one of the leading SuperCoach defenders of 2024.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 20.8% (ranked #41)
10. Jhye Clark (Geelong)
$123,900 MID
Pre-season score: 86
Just when the No.7 draftee appeared to be on the outer and an unlikely round 1 starter at Geelong, a standout performance in the last practice match against Essendon has flipped the script. Clark tallied 17 disposals, four tackles and had four clearances against the Bombers, also logging 10 contested possessions and attending 16 centre bounces. With Cam Guthrie set to miss the first two months of the season due to injury, his job security looks sound. Lock him in on your midfield bench.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 49.9% (ranked #11)
11. Darcy Wilson
(St Kilda) $130,800 FWD-MID
Pre-season score: 106
SuperCoaches looking for the last tick of approval to pick St Kilda’s pick 18 from last year’s draft got one when he starred in the final practice match against North Melbourne. The running machine had 24 disposals and took 10 marks in that match, all but locking himself in for a round 1 debut on a wing. His DPP is a bonus, either opening up a FWD-MID swing if you pick Wilson on your midfield bench or potential trade flexibility if you start him as a forward. Wilson averaged 125 ranking points in 11 Coates League matches last year.
Biggest #supercoach âœ…ï¸ of the practice games?
— Tim Michell (@tim_michell) March 3, 2024
Darcy Wilson for me.
Confirmed himself as a 🔒 in a stacked rookie pool.
OWNERSHIP (as of March 6): 57% (ranked #7)
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