The Phantom’s Round 16 Review: James Sicily returns to form in a week of carnage for SuperCoaches
Some SuperCoaches are frustrated at Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson, some can’t wait to thank him. The Phantom looks at James Sicily’s return to form in a tough weekend that reminded us all how valuable trades will be moving forward.
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SuperCoach will be fun after the bye-rounds, they said.
We’ll have complete teams, all our premiums will be back and there will be no more zeros to worry about.
Ha.
It always sounds too good to be true — probably because it is.
Two rounds later and the highest-scoring player in the game, Max Gawn, is a late withdrawal on Sunday after Travis Boak, the No. 1 SuperCoach forward, was taken out even later the night before.
But at least we were ready for a Melbourne side without Gawn.
I’m still trying to work out what happened at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
When Port Adelaide’s final teamsheet was handed in 90 minutes before the bounce, Boak was on it.
He was even out on the ground for the Power’s first warm-up an hour before the start of Showdown 47.
But when Port Adelaide ran out through the banner, Boak was nowhere to be seen, after suffering a back spasm and being withdrawn from the final team.
It didn’t give SuperCoaches long to, firstly, panic in a week when a Gawn zero was already on there mind, and, secondly, make any moves to cover the loss.
I feel for the 2000 SuperCoaches who traded him in this week.
The Phantom was sitting with a colleague when the Boak news was confirmed.
That colleague had just traded the injured Caleb Daniel to Boak after the initial ‘no late changes’ message came through.
We didn’t talk much after that.
If you were in the same situation, I feel for you.
Travis Boak a very late out. #SuperCoach #AFLCrowsPort
— The Phantom (@ThePhantomSC) July 6, 2019
it happened. tough to manage this coupled with the boak late out for owners of both https://t.co/eJCKqJ4X23
— The Eradicator (@TheEradicatorSC) July 7, 2019
Two ðŸ©ðŸ© for me 🤦ðŸ½â€â™‚ï¸ #SuperCoach #carnage
— AdConAnt (@antimoiannella) July 7, 2019
PS when did this happen?!?#newlooklair #goldengirls https://t.co/dakq5zw0Ge pic.twitter.com/m3Mr080pNS
And then, just when things look as if they couldn’t get any worse from a SuperCoach point-of-view, late in the first-quarter, another heavily traded-in player, Scott Lycett, left the ground in some discomfort after copping a knock to the knee.
Thankfully, he returned after quarter-time and finished with 109 points but it was a scare for those SuperCoaches who were left scrambling 30 minutes earlier.
There is a lesson in all this, however. Situations like this can — and will — happen in the next seven weeks, treat your trades like gold.
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has also made life difficult for SuperCoaches in the past few weeks.
More specifically, James Sicily owners, with Clarkson persisting with the All-Australian defender as a forward over the past month.
Non-owners, however, given the outcome, have always loved Clarkson’s work.
Sicily played in attack for the first-half against the Bombers in Round 13 before switching to defence, finishing as the top-ranked Hawk on the ground after half-time.
But the following week against the Swans, Clarkson kept Sicily forward for the best-part of three-and-a-half quarters.
And it wasn’t good for SuperCoaches, with the 24-year-old finishing with just eight disposals and 40 points to his name.
Order was restored last week with Sicily starting — and finishing — behind the ball in the six-point loss to the Eagles.
On the back of the 40-point performance against the Swans, Sicily’s price fell to season-low of $435 after 83 points in Round 15.
Then on Friday night against the Magpies, Sicily was back to his best, tallying 28 disposals, 14 marks and a season-high 141 points.
The highly skilled right-footer recorded 10 effective disposals, four contested marks and 70 SuperCoach points in the third-quarter alone.
So, now, with seven rounds to go, Sicily, the All-Australian who averaged 105 points per game last year, is available for less than $440k with a low breakeven.
Thanks for the bargain, Clarko.
Elsewhere, returning Power veteran Justin Westhoff recorded a game-high 125 points in the Showdown — well done to those who held and used him to cover Gawn this week.
The most pleasing part of the 32-year-old’s game on Saturday night was the role.
Westhoff was back roaming up-and-down Adelaide Oval, finishing with 23 disposals and a season-high 16 marks.
$400k is a great price but I’d want to see another similar performance in Round 17 first.
Speaking of cover for Gawn, if you decided to trade him out altogether and bring in North Melbourne’s Todd Goldstein, you would’ve been very happy on Sunday afternoon with the big man finishing on 148 points.
The jury is still well and truly out on the long-term verdict, though.
Or if you found away to bring in Gawn’s real-life replacement Braydon Preuss, you would’ve been equally as pleased with the former North Melbourne ruckman recording 19 hitouts-to-advantage and 140 points against the Blues.
In Perth, Nat Fyfe’s SuperCoach-ton streak came to an end against Elliot Yeo and the Eagles with the Fremantle skipper finishing with just 76 points.
In the same game, after scores of 93, 103 and 67 in his first three games for the year, Docker defender Griffin Logue tallied 51 points in the Western Derby. How long can he last at F6?
The news didn’t get much better for defenders on Sunday with mature-age Demon recruit Marty Hore breaking his collarbone in the first-quarter and finishing with just three points to his name.
His F6 days are definitely over.
Oh, and did I mention Giant star Josh Kelly finished the game against the Lions on the bench with ice on the his calf?
Thankfully Round 16 is over now, too.
THE PHANTOM ROUND 16
Score: 2296
Studs: Brodie Grundy as C (145), Patrick Dangerfield (146), James Sicily (141), Isaac Heeney (134), Jake Lloyd (122), Scott Lycett (109), Nic Newman (107)
Duds: Luke Ryan (67), Angus Brayshaw (76), Rory Sloane (84),
Originally published as The Phantom’s Round 16 Review: James Sicily returns to form in a week of carnage for SuperCoaches
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