The Six SuperCoach Draft Sleepers to keep eye on throughout the Marsh Community Cup

A good night’s sleep can be a crucial key to success in everyday life. Sleepers in your SuperCoach draft can be just as vital.

HAYDN KENNYThe Draft Doctors

6 min read

February 4, 2020 - 10:00AM

Ryan Burton has some impressive scores if you take away his two injury-affected games in 2019.

A good night’s sleep can be a crucial key to success in everyday life. Sleepers in your SuperCoach draft can be just as vital, writes draft expert Dos from The Draft Doctors.

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A sleeper is a player going under the radar who could provide significant value as a mid-late selection. These players can fortify your overall team structure; they cost you next to nothing on draft night yet have a chance to be major pieces in your fantasy premiership puzzle.

Sleepers tend to be players that have left a bad taste in fantasy coaches mouths. Often, because they have been down on form, popped a hammy (or worse) and, therefore, sit well out of sight on our draft boards due to their low seasonal average. But wake up! When there’s a logical reason for a low average, there’s a bargain to be had.

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Here are my top six sleepers to consider for your SuperCoach drafts in 2020:

JAYDEN SHORT | RICHMOND | DEF

A breakout year in 2018 had us excited for another stellar year for up-and-coming Tigers defender, Jayden Short. Unfortunately, a hideous elbow injury in round 3 last year forced him to miss almost three months of the season, a cruel blow coming off his first-ever 22 game season.

Short dropped from an 85.8 SuperCoach average in 2018 to just 64.3 in 2019 — with the aforementioned elbow injury limiting him to just three SuperCoach points in that game. The 24-year-old salvaged his season, making it back in time to enjoy his first AFL Premiership, having been an emergency the first time around in 2017.

Short is a kick-in specialist, leading the team in 2018 with 105 for the season. Houli only played 13 games that season, but Short’s accurate kick — a career 77.3% disposal efficiency — will ensure he still, at the very least, shares kick-in duties. Compared to his historical output, Short has upside in his disposal efficiency, time on ground (TOG), score involvements, and games played — all career-lows in 2019.

While Short has an underwhelming 64.3 SuperCoach average next to his name, he should be primed for a bounce-back season within the Tigers turnover-based, rebounding game plan and will be available in the later rounds of most draft leagues.

TOM MCDONALD | MELBOURNE | FWD

With Jesse Hogan off to Fremantle at the end of a promising, yet ultimately disappointing 2018 season, Tom McDonald struggled to find his feet in 2019 as the primary avenue to goal for the Dees. Melbourne performing poorly as a team didn’t help, particularly in their forward line delivery, tumbling down the team rankings for inside 50s and marks inside 50. Their reliably poor disposal efficiency didn’t help, nor did the injuries or form of some key players.

T-Mac comes into 2020 as undervalued in SuperCoach drafts due to his rancid, injury-interrupted 2019 campaign. After averaging 97.6 in 2019 playing alongside Hogan, he regressed in most major statistical categories to (literally) limp to a 71.3 average. The 27-year-old’s season ended with a meniscus tear in his knee in round 16 following a six-goal, 139-point SuperCoach outing against the Blues.

Coach Simon Goodwin will be hoping the Demons new off-season additions can aid in their outside run and delivery inside 50. SuperCoach drafters banking on a T-Mac resurgence will hope for more efficient forward-line entries and a healthy list. The Dees should improve in 2020 (they couldn’t get any worse, could they?), meaning McDonald should put the 2019 blip on his otherwise stellar career behind him and provide serious value as a sleeper.

Tom McDonald of the Demons should be on draft radars after an injury ravaged 2019

TOM DOEDEE | ADELAIDE | DEF

The Crows would have been much more disappointed in losing their best intercept defender in Alex Keath, had they not had another great intercept defender returning to action in 2020. Tom Doedee led the Crows for intercept marks as a 21-year-old in 2018 in his debut season at AFL level, also finishing runner-up at the club for spoils. He returns after a year on the sidelines, suffering an ACL injury just over 30 minutes into the 2019 season.

A freshly inducted member of the Crows new-look leadership group, Doedee should step straight back into the intercepting role that Keath so kindly vacated for him. The Crows’ recent game plan has been predicated on intercept possessions, finishing top five in the AFL the past two seasons on a per-game basis. New coach Matthew Nicks game plan is yet to be unleashed, but one would expect that having a player like Doedee would make life easier; attack from defence has been a major key to success in the contemporary AFL.

Beware the hype in SuperCoach Classic — where Doedee receives a significant price discount — as it may inflate his ADP (Average Draft Position). Doedee might more of a nanna nap than a sleeper, but he will still be hiding down your draft boards with his 56 SuperCoach average from just 27% TOG in round 1, 2019. While coming off a serious injury, it might be wishful thinking to believe that he can immediately return to his 82.2 SuperCoach average from his sensational breakout campaign. But it’s not impossible either.

STEPHEN HILL | FREMANTLE | DEF/FWD

Fremantle had a very active off-season, with their most notable loss being that of elite wingman, Brad Hill. A slew of fresh draftees and a few younger veterans headed west via trade to ease the pain. But an underrated ‘new’ recruit heading into this season, is the elder brother that stuck around, Stephen Hill.

The 29-year-old had a year to forget, soft tissue ailments limiting him to just three games in 2019 after a mere 13 in 2018. Before his recent injury woes, Hill had been a consistent SuperCoach performer, averaging over 80 points in the six seasons preceding 2018, scoring in excess of 95 in 2014 and 2015. Due to his putrid 39 average last year, he comes in dirt cheap in SuperCoach Classic, yet the likelihood of someone reaching on Hill in most drafts is dubious.

Not only does Hill provide much-needed experience on the field — only David Mundy has played more games than Hill on Fremantle’s list — he has even been pegged for an upgrade in role by teammate Alex Pearce; tipping Stephen to take the wing mantle from Brad. In the midst of a healthy preseason and holding dual FWD and DEF status in 2020, Hill has every chance to provide value at the tail-end of your drafts with a bounce-back season.

Stephen Hill of the Dockers projects to be a strong pickup in the later rounds of SuperCoach Draft

GRANT BIRCHALL | BRISBANE | DEF

A recurring theme on our sleepers, Grant Birchall was another player to miss significant time due to injury in 2019. At the Lions after a long and successful stint with the Hawks, Birchall has seemingly had a solid preseason thus far heading into his 15th season. He looks perfectly poised to slot straight into his former skipper, Luke Hodge’s halfback role in 2020.

In his limited sample size last season, Birchall illustrated that he still could produce at AFL level, averaging 20.7 disposals, 5.3 marks and 77 SuperCoach points in just 61% TOG. When healthy, his value in SuperCoach has been as a player who reliably gets 20-plus disposals, 5-plus marks and doesn’t waste possessions, exceeding 80 per cent disposal efficiency in every season bar one in the last ten years.

Birchall has been a reliable SuperCoach scorer in the past, a virtual guarantee for an 80-plus average across his career. Unfortunately, he has only played eight games in the past three seasons and at 32-years-old it will be hard to trust his body for a full season. Birchall is a sleeper for a reason — his age and injury risk likely to scare off plenty of drafters — and that is where he can provide us with value. Should he manage to stay on the park for most of the year, you may pick up an 80-plus defender for very little cost.

RYAN BURTON | PORT ADELAIDE | DEF

A revelation in his sophomore season for the Hawks, Ryan Burton has failed to recapture the form that saw him finish runner-up in the rising star award in 2017. But beneath the surface, he edged closer to his line-breaking best last year.

His first season at the Power in 2019 was arguably better than it appeared on paper, considering the 23-year-old had two injury-affected games. In round 8, Burton played just seven per cent gametime, succumbing to a hamstring injury for six SuperCoach points. In round 17 he managed just 41% TOG and 41 SuperCoach with another hamstring injury.

Clearly, we cannot simply ignore that the soft tissue injuries happened, but if we do cheekily take these scores out of his 2019 resumé, Burton averaged 81.2 SuperCoach points. A significant upgrade on the 74 average next to his name on your draft boards. Some coaches may have a bad taste in their mouth following his 2018 regression and his 2019 injury-woes; this is when you can pounce late and reap the rewards!

Port desperately needs Burton’s ability to rebound off halfback, finishing dead last as a team for rebound 50s in 2019. Burton finished fourth at the Power for total rebound 50s — just behind midfield-bound Dan Houston — despite only playing 16 games for the season. RB3 plays a fantasy-friendly role in a high-disposal, fantasy-friendly team, and should be considered in the mid-late rounds as a potential 80-plus scorer.

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