Heath Shaw reveals his starting KFC SuperCoach side for 2021

Heath Shaw takes some big risks — and some sage advice from former coach Mick Malthouse — to select a KFC SuperCoach team to be reckoned with.

My old coach Mick Malthouse loves to say the AFL season is a marathon, not a sprint.

The same philosophy applies to KFC SuperCoach.

Mick was worried about peaking too early and in SuperCoach it’s about understanding the long game.

You need the big dogs scoring you big points from the start - and I’ve got anchors on every line in Jake Lloyd and Brayden Maynard in defence, Jack Macrae, Travis Boak and Patrick Cripps in the midfield, Brodie Grundy in the ruck and Dustin Martin and Steele Sidebottom up forward.

Brayden Maynard is an underrated star. He’s a very high, aggressive half-back who uses the ball well and will benefit from having Jeremy Howe back in the team. He’s also not someone opposition teams are going try to lock down on, something I experienced a few times in my career.

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Brayden Maynard should be in more KFC SuperCoach teams.

Dom yson is available at a bargain price. Picture: Michael Klein

But you can’t pick all the stars right from the start.

After a few weeks I’m expecting a big price jump from players like James Harmes, Connor Budarick, Joe Daniher and Dom Tyson.

Harmes is back in the midfield, where he was a good scorer in 2019, Budarick will play every week and the Suns love the ball in his hands, and Tyson has posted very high scores in the past but comes with a fair bit of risk.

In the ruck I’m banking on making a stack of cash from Paul Hunter, who is just $102,400 and will fill in for Paddy Ryder and Rowan Marshall. And Tom Hickey will make money too as the Swans’ No.1 ruckman.

I’m not planning on having these guys in my team all season, but if they start well I can start cashing in all my bargain selections and upgrading them to get guns like Max Gawn.

Paul Hunter (left) wrestles with Paddy Ryder at St Kilda training.

I’m a bit worried about Steele Sidebottom, who has a calf issue. They call it the old man injury and he is a bit of an old man at that club now. I might try to get some inside information on how he’s travelling. If he doesn’t get up for Round 1, he’s out.

And if anyone knows someone who works at an AFL club, try to find out which rookies will play and send me a private message on Twitter.

Most of those guys can be swapped around once we start seeing the Round 1 teams.

Zach Williams’ suspension isn’t ideal but I’ll carry him for a week on the bench and bring him on to dominate from Round 2.

Remember, it’s all about the long game.

How Heath Shaw's KFC SuperCoach team is shaping up.

HEATH’S TEAM

DEFENCE

Jake Lloyd (Syd) $656,400

Brayden Maynard (Coll) $549,900

Zach Williams (Carl) $458,600

James Harmes (Melb) $344,700

Connor Budarick (GC) $256,500

Nik Cox (Ess) $175,800 DEF/FWD

Bench: Heath Chapman (Frem) $148,800, Jacob Koschitzke (Haw) $123,900

MIDFIELD

Jack Macrae (WB) $650,100

Travis Boak (Port) $590,400

Patrick Cripps (Carl) $523,700

Matt Rowell (GC) $495,100

Tim Taranto (GWS) $453,700

Tom Green (GWS) $351,400

Dom Tyson (NM) $243,900

Tom Powell (NM) $153,300

Bench: James Jordon (Melb) $123,900, Nakia Cockatoo (Bris) $123,900, Errol Gulden (Syd) $117,300

RUCK

Brodie Grundy (Coll) $648,200

Paul Hunter (StK) $102,400

Bench: Tom Hickey (Syd) $261,100

FORWARDS

Steele Sidebottom (Coll) $588,000 FWD/MID

Dustin Martin (Rich) $541,600 FWD/MID

Jeremy Cameron (Geel) $388,100

Jack Ziebell (NM) $257,900

Joe Daniher (Bris) $233,300

Paddy Dow (Carl) $202,400

Bench: Tyler Brockman (Haw) $117,300 FWD/MID, Alec Waterman $102,400

Originally published as Heath Shaw reveals his starting KFC SuperCoach side for 2021