Revealed: KFC SuperCoach expert Dan Batten reveals his 2020 team

He’s known as the office rookie expert who loves a point-of-difference pick. Has Dan Batten gone against the flow or followed the pack with his KFC SuperCoach team?

How about those rookies, hey?

KFC SuperCoaches are screaming out for high quality, low priced rookies and much like toilet paper and pasta, they just aren’t there on the shelves.

It has meant we have to source our cash generation from alternate – and more expensive – avenues, which has impacted team structures, including my own.

Team Batten for Glory is coming at season 2020 with a point to prove. After three years of top 5,000 finishes – including a top 1,000 finish way back in 2016 – 2019 was my worst SuperCoach ranking since I started playing the game in Grade 5.

This season I have to rectify my poor performance – even if it takes me until Christmas.

After chatting to 2019 SuperCoach winner Dwayne Delmenico a month ago, I have learnt his secrets and had his number on speed dial all pre-season. I am expecting to be blocked any day now …

Have your say on my side in the comments below, and good luck to your side for the long and drawn out season ahead!

DEFENDERS

James Sicily (Hawthorn) $509,500

Dan Houston (Port Adelaide) $484,800

Sam Docherty (Carlton) $436,100

John Noble (Collingwood) $215,400

Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (Essendon) $189,000

Jarrod Brander (West Coast) $133,000

Bench: Tobe Watson (Fremantle) $123,900, Bailey Williams (West Coast) $123,900

Saving cash in defence is the theme to most SuperCoach sides and I have opted to go with one premium and a pseudo-premium. James Sicily had a chequered season in 2019 but the arrival of Sam Frost will allow him to play as the prime interceptor in the Hawthorn defence.

Dan Houston’s move to the midfield has been well documented this pre-season and I feel his multiple scoring avenues will propel him to a 95-plus average.

Next is returning Blue Sam Docherty cannot be overlooked at a bargain basement price-tag of $436,100, and is arguably the lock of the season.

With low-priced rookies in defence rare as hens teeth, Bomber interceptor Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Pies mature-age defender John Noble and Eagles forward-turned-wingman Jarrod Brander fill the three on-field spots. I’m feeling uneasy about starting Jarrod Brander on the field, but his DEF/FWD status is valuable.

Docker mature-age defender Tobe Watson and Eagles ruckman Bailey Williams are on the pine – hopefully Sydney’s Will Gould or young Lion Brandon Starcevich are named for Round 1.

Player I still want: Returning Saint Dylan Roberton had been a mainstay over the pre-season but has found his way out of my side. I have some doubts on whether he can replicate his form of previous seasons, and whether he can make enough cash to justify a place in Batten for Glory. Roberton for Houston could be the move I make to free up cash for cash cow Lachie Ash is he is named for their season-opener.

Dan Houston has been one of the big pre-season buzz players. Sarah Reed

MIDFIELDERS

Nat Fyfe (Fremantle) $651,600

Patrick Cripps (Carlton) $636,900

Josh Dunkley (Western Bulldogs) $632,400

Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong) $625,500

Stephen Coniglio (GWS) $549,500

Matthew Rowell (Gold Coast) $207,300

Tom Green (GWS Giants) $166,800

Marlion Pickett (Richmond) $123,900

Bench: Deven Robertson (Brisbane) $117,300, Jeremy Sharp (Gold Coast) $117,300, Jack Mahony ($117,300)

SuperCoaches have no choice to fill their sides with five non-rookies in the midfield due to the dearth of cash cows presenting themselves.

Nat Fyfe and Patrick Cripps have been non-negotiables in my side in recent years and 2020 is no different. Cripps should elevate above the 120-average which has just alluded him over the past two seasons, while Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield will return to the midfield in the absence of Tim Kelly and finish around the Cripps mark.

There are very few point-of-difference picks in my side and Josh Dunkley (11 per cent ownership) is as close as it gets to unique. I started with him last season, traded him out after four rounds and watched him dominate as I stubbornly stuck to my guns. I’m not making the same mistake this year.

Stephen Coniglio’s priced average of 100 is unders for what he can produce and expect him to stay in the midfield with Tim Taranto out of the side, while Matt Rowell, Tom Green and Marlion Pickett pick themselves as rookies.

It is the bench rookies that are subject to change for mine and potentially everyone’s teams. All three of Robertson, Sharp and Mahony could miss Round 1, with Mahony the most likely to play.

Player I still want:

Clayton Oliver was in my first instalment and hadn’t left my side until a couple of weeks ago, with Stephen Coniglio replacing him. I can see Oliver averaging 115 in an uplifted Demons side and make me pay. Some shuffling will be done over the next few days but it looks unlikely that I’ll be able to afford him. Josh Kelly is another who I think will have a massive season, but Kelly and Coniglio in the same midfield turned me off the idea.

Josh Dunkley is in just 11 per cent of SuperCoach teams.

RUCK

Brodie Grundy (Collingwood) $705,900

Max Gawn (Melbourne) $607,100

Bench: Matt Conroy (Gold Coast) $102,400

Contrary to Gilbert Gardiner’s Grundy-Goldy ‘set and forget’ strategy, I’ll be going with the pack and picking like Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn. The bearded giant is somehow in just 26 per cent of SuperCoach teams. Get real, SuperCoaches!

Cash constraints has meant I have the sole $102,400 ruck loophole, Matt Conroy.

FORWARDS:

Lachie Whitfield (GWS Giants) $604,100

Dustin Martin (Richmond) $543,000

Jack Steven (Geelong) $361,700

Devon Smith (Essendon) $335,800

Izak Rankine (Gold Coast) $123,900

Connor Budarick (Gold Coast) $106,900

Bench: Max King (St Kilda) $123,900, Curtis Taylor (North Melbourne) $123,900

Call me a cookie cutter if you wish, but I just can’t go past the two premiums and pair of mid-pricers in my forward line. Lachie Whitfield is a SuperCoach gift and I can see the elite kicking Giant pushing a 115 average this season – potentially 10 or 15 more than the next best forward.

As a Tigers fan it is difficult to resist Dustin Martin as a forward and a 100-point average looks like the worst-case scenario for the dual Norm Smith medallist.

Following an injury interrupted 2019 campaign, it showed in the Marsh Series how much the Bombers missed tackling machine Devon Smith and the dynamic mid-forward is a SuperCoach steal in 2020.

Devon Smith is priced at a bargain.

I was swayed by Jack Steven’s scintillating Geelong debut, spending enough time in the midfield for me to take a punt on the ageing star.

Suns rookies Izak Rankine and Connor Budarick are likely to line up in Gold Coast’s Round 1 team, and both should be reliable on-field options.

Slow-burn Max King and Roos youngster Curtis Taylor make up the bench.

Players I still want:

I’m pretty happy with how my forward line is looking at this stage, but Dees breakout contender Christian Petracca has floated in at stages. His second Marsh Series game scared me off, but a move to the midfield could see him become a SuperCoach gun.

FULL TEAM

Dan Batten's 2020 SuperCoach team.

Originally published as Revealed: KFC SuperCoach expert Dan Batten reveals his 2020 team