SuperCoach Plus: 11 things you need to know for round 14 of the 2023 AFL season
What’s up with Jordan Dawson? How did Zach Merrett and Tim English save their scores? Get the numbers behind the scores plus the inside word on trades, captains for round 14.
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If last week was the calm before the storm, we are now in the eye of the tempest.
Blue dots are back with a vengeance as six teams miss round 14 with the bye – Adelaide, Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, Melbourne and West Coast.
Some KFC SuperCoach teams will cop it worse than others, but every coach will have to get crafty to extract the best possible score in the third of four best 18 scoring rounds.
And SuperCoach Plus is here to help.
Features available to SuperCoach Plus subscribers including score and price projections, Break Evens and live trade data. Plus exclusive weekly analysis articles just like this one!
Here are 11 nuggets to lift the lid on the the KFC SuperCoach scoring system and help you make the best trade and captaincy calls for round 13.
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1. TEXAN MASSACRE
Taylor Walker became the first player to crack the 200-point barrier in KFC SuperCoach in 2023 with his masterclass against the Eagles. Walker booted 10 goals from his 18 kicks, three handballs and 11 marks (five contested). Overall, he scored more than 100 points from goals and contested marks alone. It was just his third ton for the season, but a very enjoyable one for his 1127 owners. Below are all the 200-plus KFC SuperCoach scores since 2019.
2. HOW MERRETT SAVED SCORE
Zach Merrett took his streak of 100-plus scores to four, but that looked far from a sure thing when Ed Curnow went straight to him at the first centre bounce. Brad Scott responded by sending his skipper forward in the second half – playing 76 per cent of game time in that position. He still had an impact in that role and was the No.1 ranked player on the ground in the second half. In a massive third term Merrett had five disposals, two score assists, one goal and 46 points. Merrett owners were also breathing a sigh of relief when the match review officer found he had no case to answer for a late tackle on Alex Cincotta.
3. ENGLISH BOUNCES BACK
Another player who had to recover from a slow start in round 13 was Tim English, who found himself in the negatives at quarter-time against Port Adelaide and Scott Lycett. In a first term shocker he recorded two disposals, zero marks, zero tackles, two hit-outs (none to advantage) and one free kick against for -3 KFC SuperCoach points. But English got to work after that and was the fifth-ranked player on the ground in the final three quarters, scoring 102 points in that time. A huge contested mark and goal in the final quarter gave him a 15-point boost. After his price dropped to $592k following five successive falls the No.1 ruck scorer this season is back over $600k with a break Even of 99 against the Kangaroos this week.
4. DAWSON DROP-OFF EXPLAINED
The curious case of Jordan Dawson added another chapter on Saturday night. The Crows captain had the second-most disposals on the ground against West Coast (32), but failed to crack 100 KFC SuperCoach points for the third time in his past five matches. His five-round average of 100.4 is far from disastrous, but it’s a long way off the form that led to an average of 124.5 after eight rounds. Since then his price has dropped $90,000. So what’s the story? Dawson is still playing a key centre bounce role and winning plenty of the ball, collecting 30-plus disposals in four of his past five games. He is taking on average one fewer mark per game but the big difference is his laser left boot, which was picking out targets inside 50 early in the season. Since round 9 he has hit the target by foot 55.7 per cent of the time – down from an elite 74.3 per cent.
5. CRIPPS CRASHES
The Carlton skipper is in a genuine form slump, scoring just 58 points against the Bombers. Cripps had a season-low four kicks and failed to hit the target with any of them. After a hot start to the season, Cripps was averaging 115.6 after he scored 153 against the Eagles in round 7, but he hasn’t hit three figures since as his form, and Carlton’s season, has gone pear-shaped. He isn’t winning as much of the ball in a contest – having fewer than 10 contested possessions in two of his past four games – while his impact on the scoreboard from a goalkicking point of view is non-existent, kicking one goal for the year. At the same time last season, he had 16 goals to his name. His tackling has also dropped off – applying just two in each of the last two rounds – while in Round 9 he failed to apply a tackle for the first time in his career. Cripps’ price has crashed from $604,400 in round 8 to $456,000, and he will be at an absolute bargain price after the Blues’ round 15 bye. But you would want to see evidence of a serious form turnaround to consider the Brownlow medallist this season.
6. BOLTON RUNNING HOT
The art of fantasy is spying a trend and reacting before the pack, and 161 coaches took that to the next level after spotting a turnaround in Shai Bolton’s form when he scored 97 against Gold Coast in round 7. The All-Australian forward had lost almost $79,000 in value after averaging 74.8 in the first six rounds. Since then it has been a very different story. The week after the Gold Coast game Bolton scored 152 against West Coast, and it was a sign of things to come. He has averaged 26 disposals, 1.5 goals and 121.8 KFC SuperCoach points in his past six matches, capped with another 150-plus score against the Dockers on Saturday night. He remains a major POD, featuring in just 6 per cent of teams.
7. SLAM DUNKS
Speaking of hot streaks, two of the most popular players in the game are also on a run of great scores – which should put them at the cop of captaincy discussions every week. Josh Dunkley, the third-most selected player in KFC SuperCoach, is now the most expensive player in the game. His price jumped to $680,700 after three scores in a row of 146 or more. The Lions’ recruit now has eight straight 100-plus scores after a 148 against the Hawks on the back of 28 disposals (15 contested), 11 tackles and a goal. Meanwhile, Tim Taranto – who sits just behind Dunkley in the popularity stakes – has only two sub-100 scores for the season (90 and 95) and a five-round average of 120.4. Dunkley faces Sydney on Saturday and Taranto tackles the Saints on Saturday night in round 14, and both could be great captain choices.
8. MR CONSISTENT
If you want a captain you can trust every single week, you can’t go past Marcus Bontempelli. The Bulldogs’ skipper’s superb season is no secret – he’s the No.1 scorer in KFC SuperCoach and one of the favourites for the Brownlow – but his elite reliability shouldn’t be overlooked. Bontempelli has fallen under 100 once (89 v Brisbane in round 3) and three of his scores are over 140. Of his other games he has logged 112 twice (plus a 113), and has five scores between 122 and 125. He ranks No.11 in the consistency rating awarded to every player in SuperCoach Plus. Cam Fleeton has the lowest consistency score in the comp (1.5) after scoring 44 and 47 in his two games, while of players to feature every week the title goes to Tiger Noah Balta. he earns a score of 4.5 after five scores in a row between 77 and 90. Carlton rookie Lachie Cowan is another to rank highly in the consistency stakes after scoring 51 three matches in a row from rounds 2-4. His three other scores were all between 35 and 42.
9. CAPTAINS CORNER
How much does history matter when assessing who to trust with the C and VC this week? Dunkley scored 62 the last time he faced the Swans and Taranto scored 63 against St Kilda last year – but both were playing for different clubs. If you do factor history into your calculations, it’s hard to overlook Lachie Neale – he scored 187 against the Swans last year. Tom Stewart has an average of 118 in his past three against Port Adelaide while Connor Rozee scored 106 and 118 in two games against Geelong in 2022. Zak Butters scored 91 and 46 in those matches. Marcus Bontempelli doesn’t have the best record against North Melbourne – scoring 102, 83 and 82 in his past three against them – but it’s a different story for Jack Macrae, who averages 133 in his past three against the Roos. Errol Gulden was disappointing last weekend but he has the highest projected score of round 14 – 138 against Brisbane.
10. REMEMBER ME?
When he was traded to Collingwood at the end of last season Tom Mitchell was the talk of the fantasy world. Surely, a return to the centre square beckoned and the long-time favourite was pencilled into many starting KFC SuperCoach teams for 2023. By round 1 the hype had dissipated off and the Brownlow medallist started in about 17,000 teams. And they have picked up a very low-key bargain. Mitchell hasn’t hit the incredible heights of past years but he still ranks as the 14th-best scorer in the game this season, and his past two weeks have been more like the Mitchell of old. He has recorded 30 disposals in both games and KFC SuperCoach scores of 132 and 127 – even more valuable in bye rounds. Overall he has scored 107 more points this season than next big thing Tom Green, who started the season $6k more expensive than the Magpies recruit – and in 41,000 more teams.
11. TACKLE MACHINE
Bulldog Arthur Jones produced one of the more unusual stat lines of recent times against the Power on Friday night. he failed to win a disposal but ended the match with six tackles – scoring 21 points from them. He lost three points for giving away one free kick to finish the night on 18 KFC SuperCoach points. He lost more than $21,000 in value and has a Break Even of 82 against North Melbourne this week.
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