SuperCoach AFL: Al Paton reveals his team for 2025
Jason Horne-Francis is one of the most popular picks in SuperCoach. But do the numbers stack up? Expert Al Paton reveals why he’s left out the DPP star. SEE HIS TEAM.
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There is no room for sentiment in SuperCoach.
As a one-eyed Richmond supporter, I was crushed to see a parade of premiership heroes head for the Punt Rd exit as soon as the curtain came down on a two-win 2024 season.
I won’t enjoy watching Liam Baker, Daniel Rioli, Jack Graham and Shai Bolton strut their stuff for other teams this season. But when I put my SuperCoach hat on, it’s a very different story.
There has been talk of Baker settling at half-back for West Coast – something I’ll be watching closely in pre-season. And Rioli could set People First Stadium alight in a similar role for the Suns. But Bolton is the one who could tear SuperCoach to shreds in 2025.
He’s tailor-made for Fremantle – and the all-new Flex position and best 22 scoring rules in SuperCoach, which reap the benefits of his huge upside while helping cover for occasional low scores.
But the 26-year-old’s biggest selling point is value. His price of $416,100 is based on his average of 77 last year, but I’m prepared to write off any stat from Richmond’s 2024 season, especially from a player who was fielding big offers to return home. Only two years ago Bolton averaged 97 in a season that included tallies of 158, 152, 151, 141 and 139 – spikes that become even more valuable in best 18 scoring rounds.
The Dockers wanted Bolton badly enough to give up two first-round draft picks for him, and there’s a good reason why – he’s exactly the spark they need to compliment Caleb Serong and Co on a list coming into its prime.
And here’s the kicker: Shai LOVES playing in Perth. He has played at Optus Stadium nine times over his career and averages 113 SuperCoach points there, clearly his best venue.
And we can add a final key ingredient to the mix: Fremantle’s very friendly-fantasy fixture. Geelong away is a tough assignment in round 1 but the next four rounds include three Optus Stadium games including a derby against West Coast, plus a grudge match in the Barossa Valley against a Richmond team that won the wooden spoon then lost most of its best players. Fremantle doesn’t play in opening round and shares its only bye, in round 13, with St Kilda, making players from these teams the easiest to cover with best-18 scoring.
For all that, Bolton is very much a high-risk, high-reward SuperCoach pick. I’m not a natural risk-taker, but this year I’m going to push the envelope – you don’t edge out 200,000 other fantasy coaches by playing it safe.
The forward line in 2025 is stacked with value – so much that, at the risk of angering The Phantom, I’ve left out Jason Horne-Francis. I don’t doubt he’ll be one of this year’s top forwards, but he’s not a regular 100-plus man just yet – last year his final 11 matches included just two triple-figure SuperCoach scores. With Butters, Connor Rozee, Ollie Wines and Willem Drew all ahead of him in the centre bounce pecking order, I should be able to pick him up for something similar to his starting price later in the season.
You can’t say the same for Bailey Smith, Jack Macrae and Caleb Daniel. Speaking of value, I’m happy to take a gamble on Tom Lynch, who has played eight games over the past two seasons – and is hugely discounted as a result. At just $183,200, he could be this year’s biggest money maker if Tiger medicos can keep him strapped together and he can kick a few early goals. He looked in ripping shape when I wandered down to Punt Rd before Christmas – fingers crossed.
I’ve currently got three premiums in my backline and three in the midfield, paying up for two A-plus stars in each line – Harry Sheezel and Jack Sinclair in defence, Marcus Bontempelli and Zak Butters in midfield – and looking for a bit of value with the third.
James Sicily is $100k cheaper than Sheezel but the arrival of Josh Battle and Tom Barrass at Hawthorn should free him up to return to his elite intercepting ways, while Andrew Brayshaw averaged 120 in the back end of last year and also takes advantage of that Fremantle fixture.
I’m picking Callum Mills over Keidean Coleman – both have a bye in round 3, so we might have to choose one of the two standout value options in defence – because he’s a chance to be a season-long keeper (do the right thing, Coxy), while in the middle Clayton Oliver is too cheap to pass up. Next to him is Crows recruit James Peatling, who averaged almost 100 when he got a chance in the GWS midfield last season. That’s where I expect him to play for Adelaide, but in a gift for SuperCoaches his price factors in the seven games he started as the sub for GWS.
Tristan Xerri was a revelation last year, so he’s my first-picked ruck, and I’m backing in Tom De Koning at R2 – he was pumping out 130-plus scores before injuries cut short his 2024 season. A word of advice for Michael Voss: Marc Pittonet is a great VFL ruckman.
Which leaves the Flex position. I’ve considered Eagle Matt Flynn, but another injury setback has put me off for now, which allows me to pick yet another value forward, Saint Mattaes Phillipou. Watch for him to star as a full-time midfielder in 2025.
The rookies are a bit of an early guess until we see who is part of their club’s round 1 plans, but high-end draftees Levi Ashcroft, Jagga Smith, Josh Smillie and Tobie Travaglia look safe bets. Mature-agers Saad El-Hawli and Riley Bice are great options if they get a chance, while former VFL star Sam Davidson fits the Luke Beveridge template that delivered early senior opportunities for players like Anthony Scott and Lachie McNeil. James Leake is a bit of a flyer down back. There are vacancies in the GWS line-up after the departures of Peatling, Harry Perryman and Isaac Cumming. Hopefully the No.17 pick from the 2023 draft can step into one of them.
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Originally published as SuperCoach AFL: Al Paton reveals his team for 2025
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