The SuperCoach team you should have picked from the start: Lachie Neale, Travis Boak, Tom Stewart and more undervalued guns

No Jake Lloyd, only two premium midfielders and no rookies up forward. Here’s a SuperCoach team you could have picked which would be sitting third overall — without naming a captain!

Patrick Cripps was a popular starting pick and has delivered as the second-best ranked midfielder. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images.

We all think we have the perfect SuperCoach team when we lock our sides in before Round 1.

Whether you’ve gone with the popular guns and rookies strategy or backed a bunch of mid-pricers to prosper, seldom does any coach enter the season without optimism.

After a month, most coaches will have more certainty about how their season is going to pan out and how close they actually came to nailing their starting side.

This year has been one of the more unique seasons in recent memory, where a host of mid-priced options have fired and some of the most reliable premiums have flopped.

Of course, that could change quickly, but it’s hard to make up ground if you already find yourself hundreds of points behind the leaders.

If you’re regretting several of your starting selections, you’re certainly not alone.

Here’s a team you could have picked which would be sitting third overall, without naming a captain in any of the opening four rounds.

If you’d gone with the C on Lachie Neale each week, you’d be more than 500 points ahead of the pack.

As they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

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Tom Stewart was the greatest defensive value pick of the year. Picture: Peter Ristevski.

DEFENCE

Shannon Hurn (West Coast) Starting price: $523,400 445 points

Lachie Whitfield (GWS) $542,100 517 points

Tom Stewart (Geelong) $463,000 447 points

Connor Rozee (Port Adelaide) $189,300 321 points

Jack Scrimshaw $149,800 297 points

Xavier Duursma $130,800 284 points

Marty Hore (Melbourne) $117,300 144

Callum Wilkie (St Kilda) $124,900 275

With a salary cap of $10 million, you need to sacrifice on one line if you’re going to be able to load up on premiums in others. Rozee, Scrimshaw and Duursma have not only provided cash generation but have more than held their own as on-field options in defence. Jake Lloyd is the obvious omission but his absence is offset by spending top dollar on two gun midfielders, a host of elite-scoring mid-pricers and the standout ruck duo.

Lachie Neale was a POD pick at the start of the season. Now he’s the must-have midfielder. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images.

MIDFIELD

Patrick Cripps (Carlton) $648,200 568 points

Lachie Neale (Brisbane Lions) $607,300 584 points

Dom Sheed $394,100 (West Coast) 420 points

Tom Liberatore (Western Bulldogs) $300,400 459 points

Tom Rockliff (Port Adelaide) $405,900 430 points

Jack Bowes (Gold Coast) $348,100 424 points

Sam Walsh (Carlton) $207,300 386 points

Charlie Constable (Geelong) $123,900 328 points

Tom Atkins (Geelong) $112,900 213 points

Bailey Scott (North Melbourne) $117,300 175 points

Sydney Stack (Richmond) $102,400 148 points

You would have been laughed out of your league if you’d thought seriously about starting this many mid-priced on-ballers. The obvious question mark is how sustainable their scoring will be, but at the very least Dom Sheed, Tom Rockliff, Tom Liberatore and Jack Bowes will provide quick stepping stones to proven picks. Sam Walsh and Charlie Constable are far and away the top midfield rookies with strong job security, while Lachie Neale and Patrick Cripps are jostling for the mantle of the No. 1 SuperCoach scorer.

Brodie Grundy is on track to end the Cox curse this year. Picture: David Crosling.

RUCK

Brodie Grundy (Collingwood) $708,200 510 points

Max Gawn (Melbourne) $692,100 442

Patrick Bines (West Coast) $102,400 0

They were called the ‘set and forget’ combination for a reason and while Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy had those who spent big worried in Round 1, they have rebounded spectacularly. They are averaging a combined 228 points per week, with Ben McEvoy (102) and Shane Mumford (101) the only other ruckmen in triple figures. Those who traded Gawn or Grundy after their slow starts will still be kicking themselves. Bines makes the cut for his loophole ability and Fwd-Ruc swing.

Travis Boak will be hard to catch as the No. 1 forward this season. Picture Sarah Reed

FORWARDS

Travis Boak (Port Adelaide) $478,000 512 points

Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong) $660,500 445 points

Jeremy Cameron (GWS) $441,100 423 points

Caleb Daniel (Western Bulldogs) $418,500 413 points

James Worpel (Hawthorn) $395,700 374 points

Darcy Moore (Collingwood) $239,400 314 points

Willem Drew (Port Adelaide) $123,900 290

Matt Parker (St Kilda) $117,300 255

Many coaches flirted with the idea of spending more money to dodge this year’s forward rookies and that plan has proven a masterstroke. If you have somehow got Darcy Moore sitting at F6, then you have dodged the carnage and low scores thousands of other coaches are dealing with weekly. Caleb Daniel has been one of the breakout players of the opening four rounds in a halfback role, while Travis Boak and Patrick Dangerfield appear safe bets to finish 1-2 in the forward points rankings. Boak was arguably the starting pick of the year, drastically undervalued with a four-round average of 128.

Bank: $14,5 00

Total points: 9343 (equivalent of third overall without naming a C in any round)