The Phantom’s Trade Talk: Griffin Logue’s numbers make him worthy of an on-field spot but which defender makes way?

It’s a small sample but Griffin Logue’s intercept numbers in the past two weeks make him one of the best SuperCoach downgrade options of the year. Is he worthy of an on-field spot? Recap The Phantom’s live chat now.

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After two impressive games, many SuperCoaches are considering Docker defender Griffin Logue for, not only a Round 15 downgrade, but an on-field spot.

And rightly so.

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While the 21-year-old’s first 13 games of senior footy — all which came in his debut season of 2017 — provided little to write home about in a SuperCoach sense, Logue’s numbers in the past two weeks make for impressive reading.

Following on from his 24-disposal, 93-point performance in Round 13, the former first-round draft pick tallied 17 disposals, 10 contested possessions and seven marks against the Demons on Saturday.

Griffin Logue was drafted by Ross Lyon and the Dockers at pick No. 8 in 2016.

But it was Logue’s intercept numbers which saw him produce the first SuperCoach ton of his career.

“I was there first-hand to watch him on Saturday and the one thing that stood out to me was his ability to win the ball back,” Champion Data’s Fantasy Freako told The Phantom’s Lair Podcast.

“He had a game-high 12 intercepts and he actually leads the competition for this stat in the past two rounds with 25,” Freako added.

Not only does Logue rank No. 1, he has recorded six more than any other player and his 20 contested possessions is second-only to Nat Fyfe — who leads the competition — at Fremantle.

The 193cm Logue, whose 2018 was ruined by mid-season foot surgery, has taken eight intercept marks — Jeremy McGovern’s league-leading average is 3.7 — and four contested marks.

Logue also rates elite for tackles, pressure acts, ground-ball gets and score involvements among defenders.

Sure it’s a small sample size but as Fantasy Freako said “he couldn’t have done any more in his two games”.

With fellow key defender Alex Pearce’s season-ending injury, Logue’s job security is as good as we’ve seen for a rookie-price player this year.

If he can just get close to replicating these numbers from the past two rounds, Logue will make a perfect D6 for the next few weeks, for those teams struggling to afford a final upgrade in defence.

But for many teams, the question is who makes way?

For those still holding cash cows Jordan Clark, Noah Answerth and Chris Burgess, that’s the obvious move

While the Burgess trade won’t net you much cash, it will strengthen your bench cover for the run home — something many SuperCoaches don’t have.

Still own Magpie Darcy Moore? He could be the one to make way for Logue.

While Connor Rozee, Xavier Duursma and Darcy Moore will also come in handy in the back-half of the year, given their dual-position status, with breakevens greater than their average, they aren’t making fast money anytime soon.

A move to Logue, while sacrificing the dual-position status, will give you similar scoring power and in-excess of $200k to help with your final upgrades.

And the money could be important this week with plenty of midfield value, in the form of Rory Sloane, Marcus Bontempelli, Adam Treloar and Matt Crouch, on offer.

But the decision SuperCoaches seem to be struggling with the most is whether it should be Brodie Smith or Marty Hore who makes way.

Prior to the 49-point return — the lowest of his career — post-bye, the mature-age Demon scored 86 or more in seven of the previous eight matches.

On the hand, after an impressive start which saw him average 92 points per game in the opening nine rounds — with three SuperCoach tons — Smith has posted scores of 65, 96, 48 and 74 in his past four matches.

Brodie Smith being put through his paces at Crows training.

But the dashing Crow defender was tagged by Giant Isaac Cumming in Round 12 and eight clangers against the Tigers in Round 13 severely hurt his score.

While Smith’s career-average of 55 in matches against Geelong — Adelaide’s Round 14 opponent — is the lowest against any side, the Crows play Gold Coast, Essendon, Carlton and St Kilda in a four-game stretch after the Showdown on Saturday week.

Hore should bounce back but I’m backing Smith to average more from here.

Originally published as The Phantom’s Trade Talk: Griffin Logue’s numbers make him worthy of an on-field spot but which defender makes way?