SuperCoach AFL 2025: 11 huge early bargains

Next season could be the year of the SuperCoach value pick. With the team picker open exclusively for subscribers, we reveal 11 eye-catching names for 2025 to start building your squad around.

Everyone loves a bargain – especially just before Christmas.

Fantasy success relies on finding the players who will perform above their starting price, and SuperCoach offers no shortage of potential steals in 2025.

Players heavily discounted after losing all or most of the 2024 season to injury are a great starting point, while others are ready to rebound from form slumps or finding opportunities at new clubs.

Here are 11 players to put on your Christmas shopping list in the early team picker – available exclusively to SuperCoach Plus subscribers.

Hopefully for SuperCoaches, Keidean Coleman is ready for the opening round.

Many smart SuperCoaches had Coleman in their starting teams last year before being forced into a late change of plans when he suffered a season-ending knee injury in opening round. The value looked very appealing then, when he was priced at $398,800. Now it’s almost too good to be true. Coleman leapt to fantasy relevance in the 2023 finals series, when he averaged 106 SuperCoach points including 127 in the grand final (compared to 71 over the home-and-away season). The spike was the result of a move to half-back, where his sliced opponents apart with his precise left boot. The Lions aren’t rushing him, but hopefully he’s ready for round 1 – and Dayne Zorko hasn’t stolen his spot.

AL’S VERDICT: Have to pick him at that price. Fingers crossed he gets through opening round this time.

Bailey Smith should be top of the SuperCoach list after switching to the Cattery.

The first of a trio of ex-Bulldogs who could form the core of SuperCoach forward lines next season. Geelong’s star recruit is already turning heads as he ramps up his return from an ACL injury, and he should start round 1 in the centre square for a top-four contender. Smith has never cracked a 100-point average for a season, going closes in 2022 (98.6), but in that year he showcased his fantasy potential with three scores over 135 including a 43-possession effort against the Kangaroos.

AL’S VERDICT: Geelong’s elite recruiting team does it again. One of the biggest locks of 2025.

SuperCoaches will be grinning of Caleb Daniel can follow in the scoring footsteps of fellow Roos running defenders.

After Daniel’s trade from the Bulldogs to North Melbourne was signed off, his manager Marty Pask described the new partnership as “the perfect marriage”. “He’s spoken to Alastair Clarkson about the role that he wants to play, and I think that was pivotal – when you move you want to know clearly what the role might be,” Pask told AFL Trade Radio. “He’ll go there as a half-back. That was something that was really important to him, to feel the ball again and use his weapons ... He wants to play free and happy and this is a good opportunity to do it.” Daniel won’t be the only happy one if he can follow in the SuperCoach scoring footsteps of recent Kangaroos running defenders including Jack Ziebell, Aaron Hall, Harry Sheezel and Zac Fisher.

AL’S VERDICT: LOCK LOCK LOCK.

Jack Macrae has not been priced under $400k for a decade.

It’s been a decade since we have been able to buy Macrae in pre-season for under $400k, but that’s exactly what’s on offer after the triple All-Australian recorded his lowest SuperCoach average in 2024 (72.8) since his debut season. Pushed out of the centre square – where he was one of the most reliable top-end premiums in SuperCoach, averaging 115-plus five years running – Macrae languished at half-forward to the point he didn’t even earn dual-position status for 2025. He was also dropped mid-season (gathering 46, 43 and 37 disposals in his three VFL matches). St Kilda identified its midfield as an area that needed improvement but didn’t bring in any other notable recruits, even using its two top-10 draft picks on defenders. So the opportunity is there for Macrae – can the 30-year-old take it? “I told Ross pretty early on that I wouldn’t make this move if I didn’t believe that I wasn’t coming to just pad the super,” Macrae told Channel 7. “I really felt like I could get back to my best football. It’s really exciting.”

AL’S VERDICT: Has Jack still got it? It’s one of the biggest questions of 2025. Pre-season should give us some hints, but can’t really go wrong when he’s this cheap.

Caleb Daniel will have a great role at North Melbourne. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Keidean Coleman has received a big injury discount. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Is it worth taking a risk on Clayton Oliver, a former SuperCoach must-have?

On the numbers this is one of the easiest picks of the year. Oliver averaged at least 120 points per game from 2020-2023 before that figure plummeted to 83.8 last season, resulting in his lowest starting price since 2017 – more than $200,000 cheaper than round 1 this year. Of course, with Clarry there is more to this decision that statistics. He managed 21 matches last season despite an almost non-existent pre-season dealing with personal issues, then battled injury during the season and flirted with a trade at the end of the year. But the Dees say he’s committed and he’s on the track already, which is a good sign. Has he beaten his demons? Let’s face it, he couldn’t go any worse.

AL’S VERDICT: The risk is real but the reward could be enormous. Likely to be in my starting midfield.

Callum Mills could be a steal at this price.

Over to you, Dean Cox. Mills was John Longmire’s Mr Fixit for years, which led to some very high SuperCoach numbers (average 116 in 2022), and some very low ones – depending on his role. And you just never knew what you were going to get. Then he managed to miss two-thirds of last season after suffering a shoulder injury on Mad Monday, and never really got going late in the year. Hugely discounted and if we see signs of him settling in defence or in the centre square, he’ll be a steal.

AL’S VERDICT: Might be too cheap to pass up in defence despite being yet another player on the round 3 bye.

The big forward Tom Lynch is hard to ignore at this price.

123, 104, 177, 132. Those were Lynch’s last four SuperCoach scores in 2022. Unfortunately, we’ve only seen him in action eight times since then, playing four games in each of the past two injury-ruined seasons. Can we trust his body to hold together in 2025? Probably not, although the latest word out of Punt Rd is he’s on track for round 1. At that price if he’s named in the season opener, why not throw him on the bench, nominate him as an emergency and see what happens?

AL’S VERDICT: Sign me up. I was down at Punt Rd last week and he looks in great shape three months out from the season. Hopefully he makes it to the start line.

Harry Perryman is priced well below his potential SuperCoach output.

Eyebrows were raised when Collingwood signed Perryman on a six-year contract worth a reported $900,000 per season, but fantasy coaches took note. Surely you don’t bring in a player on that kind of coin to play at half-back! There are spots up for grabs in the Magpies midfield, especially after another injury to Tom Mitchell, and the former Giant is clearly eyeing off playing shotgun to Nick Daicos – not a bad role for SuperCoach scoring. He averaged 90-plus three years in a row from 2020-2022 before two years in the 70s – which should mean he’s priced at 20 points under his potential output.

AL’S VERDICT: Not convinced he’ll be a premium scorer but being listed as a defender is huge. On the watch list.

New Magpie Harry Perryman. Picture: Michael Klein

Forward bench players are hard to find; Sam Powell-Pepper fits the bill perfectly.

The forgotten man – literally. “Oh yeah, I forgot about Pep!” teammate Mitch Georgiades said when asked last week about the bull-at-a-gate forward, who ruptured his ACL in April. “Obviously, we know what he brings. He’s probably one of the most important key roles in our team, so to have him back bashing around out there, yeah, it’ll be handy. That’s for sure.”

Powell-Pepper is tracking towards a round 1 return and the Power showed how much they value him by signing him to a four-year contract extension in August. Not a noted SuperCoach scorer but the 26-year-old has averaged 70-plus four times over his career, and we know how hard forward bench players are to find.

AL’S VERDICT: Let’s see how the forward rookie stocks look closer to round 1 but right now, he’s an option.

Riley Bice was taken by the Swans at Pick 41.

The latest mature-age draftee off the Werribee VFL production line that produced SuperCoach rookie star Sam Clohesy last season. Bice was picked up by the Swans with pick 41 on draft night at age 24, ready to step straight into the AFL. After playing around the country and in different roles, he settled at half-back in the VFL in 2024 and thrived, averaging 101 SuperCoach points.

AL’S VERDICT: Stick him on your bench for now and barrack hard for him to crack the Swans’ best 23.

Will Day averaged 114.2 in a 10-game streak.

Day endured a frustrating 2024, with his start delayed until round 7 by a foot problem then missing both of Hawthorn’s finals after hurting his collarbone in round 23 – an injury that resulted in a score of 10 SuperCoach points, and a nice discount for 2025. In a 10-week stretch mid-season, Day averaged 114.2 with just one score below 100 (92). We expect the Hawks to keep improving and the former No.13 draft pick has only shown glimpses of his potential at age 23. Unfortunately, he has also battled a string of seemingly unrelated injuries. Are they bad luck or something we need to factor into our SuperCoach selection decisions?

AL’S VERDICT: Will deliver a 115-average season one day. Will it be in 2025? I’m very interested.

Originally published as SuperCoach AFL 2025: 11 huge early bargains