The Phantom’s Round 4 Review: The highs, lows, Lachie Whitfield and SuperCoach public enemy No. 1

It was another big week of SuperCoach. Lachie Whitfield starred, again, while his team-mate is now SuperCoach public enemy No. 1. The Phantom looks at the highs, lows, studs and duds of Round 4.

• All the Round 4 Scores
• Barometer: All your club’s injury news
• Did Preuss impact Gawn?

Whatever Jake Lloyd can do, Lachie Whitfield can do better.

Lloyd tallied 34 disposals to become the second Swan to record 30 or more disposals in each of the first four games of the season.

Barry Mitchell, father of Hawthorn’s Tom, achieved the feat in 1990 and 1992.

The playmaking defender’s 109 points, his fourth consecutive SuperCoach ton, has him sitting as the seventh-ranked scorer after four rounds, more than justifying his starting-price tag.

But he’s not the top-scoring player in his position.

Giant Lachie Whitfield has soared past Lloyd with scores of 137, 152 and 123 in the past three weeks.

After 42 disposals and 12 marks in Round 3 against the Tigers, the former No. 1 draft pick tallied 31 disposals — 20 of them kicks — 10 marks and eight score involvements against the Cats.

Whitfield ranks No. 1 in the competition for marks and uncontested possessions and No. 2 for disposals.

Only Lachie Neale and Patrick Cripps have more SuperCoach points after the first month of the season.

Matt de Boer during GWS Giants training at Homebush. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Whitfield’s price is sky-rocketing past $600k and his Round 5 breakeven will, again, be low.

He’s lucky he plays on the same team as the competition’s new No. 1 tagger, Matt De Boer.

But, in Round 6, surely John Longmire sends George Hewett to the influential Giant.

Non-owners will be hoping for a quieter game to halt his price rise.

He’s a must-have but the question now is when do we jump on?

Is his team-mate Zac Williams a trade option?

I might have just given myself an idea.

Let’s continue this conversation on Wednesday as part of The Phantom’s Trade Talk.

Speaking of De Boer, he’s starting to become a real pain in the-you-know-what for SuperCoaches.

The former Docker blanketed Cat Tim Kelly (Nine disposals and 39 points) on Saturday, while also spending time on Patrick Dangerfield (17 and 66) in the second-half after Kelly went forward.

In the previous three matches, De Boer has done the job on Dustin Martin (15 and 60 points), Elliot Yeo (23 and 72) and, for parts of the game, Zach Merrett (16 and 67).

De Boer’s next targets

Round 5: Nat Fyfe

Round 6: Isaac Heeney or Jake Lloyd

Round 7: Seb Ross or Jake Billings

Round 8: Jaeger O’Meara

Round 9: Patrick Cripps

Round 10: Clayton Oliver or Angus Brayshaw

Round 11: Jack Martin

Round 12: Rory Sloane

Round 13: Shaun Higgins or Ben Cunnington

Zach Merrett, left, with Andrew McGrath at Essendon training.

Speaking of Merrett, the Bomber midfielder has bounced back strongly after his disappointing Round 1 performance, posting scores of 108, 120 and 155 since.

His price has stabilised after an initial fall.

Elsewhere, plenty of low scores from popular players meant Round 5 wasn’t as high-scoring as the previous two weeks.

While we can’t blame the rookie-price players, keep an eye on the breakevens of Zak Butters (23 points), Jack Petruccelle (36) and Will Setterfield (45).

Will a new rookie-price forward please stand up!?

In the midfield, Carlton’s Michael Gibbons was better this week and his 44-point performance will see a slight price rise.

But a trade to Tiger Sydney Stack (40), who did enough to suggest there’s a spot in the side for him when the big names return, still needs to be considered this week.

Will Setterfield and Sam Walsh at Carlton training. The No.1 pick managed 123 SuperCoach points against the Suns. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

One rookie-price player we may never have to worry about is No.1 draft pick Sam Walsh. After 118 in Round 3, The 18-year-old recorded 123 points in his side’s narrow loss to the Suns.

Looking back to the start of the round, if you had Brodie Grundy (160) as VC on Friday night, you would’ve been happy.
But, if you didn’t, and had the ‘C’ on Cripps, you would’ve been even happier.

The contested-ball beast was huge against Gold Coast, tallying 30 disposals, 19 contested possessions and 169 points, to finish as the highest-scorer of the round.

More than 150 of those came in the final three quarters after a very quiet opening term.

Neale (140) and Power ball-magnet Tom Rockliff (140) weren’t far behind, with the latter showing no signs of last week’s concussion.

The Phantom Round 4

Score: 2273

Studs: Patrick Cripps (173), Brodie Grundy (160 as captain), Tom Rockliff (140), Isaac Heeney (130), Sam Walsh (123), Tim Taranto (113), Brodie Smith (104)

Duds: Zac Williams (60), Patrick Dangerfield (55), Will Setterfield (45)

Originally published as The Phantom’s Round 4 Review: The highs, lows, Lachie Whitfield and SuperCoach public enemy No. 1