SuperCoach AFL 2025: Ten forgotten bargains you should consider
Everyone knows Clayton Oliver is cheap, and Bailey Smith is in most early SuperCoach teams. Dig deeper and there are some amazing value picks your mates don’t know about.
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Keep these hidden SuperCoach gems between us.
This is shaping as the year of the mid-price bargain, with a long list of players who can score well above their starting price. And some names are showing up in almost every team in the early team picker, where SuperCoach Plus subscribers are already putting together their squads for 2025.
Bailey Smith is hugely discounted after missing a year with a knee injury, and is expected to walk straight into the Geelong midfield. Caleb Daniel will play across half-back for North Melbourne – a ticket to SuperCoach points. And every fantasy player knows Clayton Oliver is worth way more than $451,600.
But the obvious picks hide more great value selections that have flown under the radar early in the pre-season.
Dropping one of players listed below in your team could be the difference in a league match-up, and deliver crucial cash and points to get an early jump up the overall rankings. Put them on the watch list, and keep it somewhere safe.
Max Holmes $533,900 DEF/MID
Smith’s arrival at the Cattery has overshadowed one of the big improvers of 2024. Holmes’ SuperCoach average jumped from 80 points a game to 99, and he went to another level in the finals series – games which don’t factor into price calculations for next season. After a 121-point game in round 24, Holmes put up 152 points against Port Adelaide in the first week of September from 28 disposals, eight marks, seven rebound-50s and five inside-50s. The next week he was on track for another monster score, scoring 76 in little more than a half before being struck down by a hamstring injury that might have cruelled Geelong’s grand final ambitions. He is likely to again split his time between the midfield and half-back, but the 22-year-old can score in either position.
Jai Newcombe $529,700 MID
Speaking of fast finishers, Newcombe went into the stratosphere at the back end of 2024. Like his team, Newcombe started slowly with just one score over 100 in the first five rounds, but from round 23 to the prelim his scores read: 162, 140, 149, 131. Newcombe is the prototype SuperCoach midfielder, scoring points by winning his own ball and laying a truckload of tackles. In that whirlwind month he added scoreboard impact: three goals and nine goal assists. At 23, he ticks all the boxes to break into full-blown premium territory.
Jayden Short $442,300 DEF
One thing we can be confident about this year is the ball will spend a lot of time in the Richmond backline. Daniel Rioli was the Tigers’ No.1 rebounder last year, but he’s now at Gold Coast, leaving Short to assume more responsibility, more kick-ins and potentially more uncontested marks if Richmond adopts a more controlled style out of defence – something we often see in teams full of young players. Short averaged 98 in SuperCoach three years in a row before his average dipped to 82 last year, so there is 16 points of value built into his price – and potentially another 10 points on top of that.
Tim English (WB) $581,900
English was a dominant force in SuperCoach in 2023, clearly the No.1 ruckman with an average of 128 points per game. Last year he never really found his groove, putting up a relatively disappointing 108-point average – still very handy but well under what we know he is capable of. The good news is he’s about $150,000 cheaper than this time last year. Sam Darcy is a star on the rise but he will spend most of his time in the forward 50, robbing us of a potential RUC-FWD saviour and leaving English to own the ruck and pick up possessions around the ground like an extra midfielder.
Adam Cerra (Carl) $447,700 MID
One of the victims of Carlton’s 2024 injury curse, Cerra managed 12 appearances with two SuperCoach tons – not numbers that scream premium midfielder. But rewind 12 months and Cerra showed what he can do when his body allows it – a 108 average for the year including going at 120 over a red-hot 11-week stretch mid-season. He complements Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh perfectly and could be one of the best value picks of the year, priced at just an 82 average. The obvious red flag is five hamstring injuries since late 2023, but Elliot Yeo proved last year that injury-prone players can be worth the risk.
Darcy Parish (Ess) $481,400 MID
A genuine midfield premium from 2021 to 2023 (averaging 114, 111 and 108 in those seasons), the Bombers ball magnet endured a frustrating 2024, with a calf strain restricting him to just 12 matches and a SuperCoach average of 89. With Zach Merrett and Jye Caldwell taking the SuperCoach headlines at Essendon – plus rookie prospect Saad El-Hawli – Parish has fallen totally off the fantasy radar. But with a midfield role beckoning, even an average season by his standards would mean a big price rise and a likely keeper for a price that allows you to make a significant upgrade in another position.
Luke Parker (NM) $343,600 FWD/MID
We have been able to take Parker to the bank for years in SuperCoach, averaging 96 or more for a decade until things went off the rails in 2024 with a broken arm followed by a five-match suspension in the VFL. When Parker finally broke back into the Swans line-up, he was used as the sub three times and his centre bounce attendances dropped from 75 per cent to 33 per cent. All that led to a move to North Melbourne, and a huge price discount in SuperCoach. Parker has a point to prove and is another North Melbourne player to put on your radar. Watch his role over the pre-season – the Kangaroos have no shortage of midfield options.
James Peatling (Adel) $352,800 MID
The sub rule is not a favourite of fantasy players but it has one big upside, which Peatling personifies. He was used as the sub seven times last season, which results in a 2024 SuperCoach average, and 2025 price, way under the odds. He is priced at 65, but take out the sub games and his average jumps to 92.5. Hone in on the eight games when Peatling attended more than 50 per cent of centre bounces, and in those matches he averaged 98.3 SuperCoach points. He didn’t come to Adelaide to be the sub, with his running and defensive intent exactly what the Crows need in the centre square.
Matt Flynn (WC) $261,900 RUC
Bargain basement rucks are the best money-makers in SuperCoach, and Flynn is the best early candidate for 2025 as he tries to restart his career at West Coast after his first year at the Eagles was a virtual write-off – four games as he battled ankle and hamstring injuries. At GWS from 2021-2023 he averaged 87, 84 and 88, but is priced this year at a 48-point average. With no early bye he shapes as a great option for the new Flex position, or even a second on-field ruck if you’re feeling brave – and he can kick Bailey Williams out of the No.1 ruck role. Watch this space.
Jack Silvagni (Carl) $259,800 FWD
We’re getting into very speculative territory, but players discounted after missing an entire season with injury are always of interest to SuperCoach scouts. Add revelations from Silvagni that he is training with Carlton’s defenders and his name rockets up the watch list. The versatile tall, who suffered an ACL injury last January, has been a 70-point SuperCoach man over his AFL career, and we need more than that even at his extremely low price. Roaming half-back taking intercept marks could be the game changer. “As far as I know it is legit,” Silvagni told the Herald Sun’s Josh Barnes about the January backline experiment. “I am looking forward to it, I am looking forward to working closely with ‘Weiters’ (Jacob Weitering) ... It will be a new challenge and one I am looking forward to attacking.”
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Originally published as SuperCoach AFL 2025: Ten forgotten bargains you should consider