As you may know, I live in Canberra. Therefore I am well versed in the art of creative license; putting lipstick on a pig and calling it Babe. So you must believe me when I say this:
There is no good way to spin the term “rescue package”.
Since their initiation into the league in 2011, the Suns have never finished higher than 12th. That’s despite truckloads of draft picks, a marquee signing of possibly the greatest player to ever lace up a boot, blank cheques being thrown at them like confetti, and state-of-the-art facilities to run it all from. After winning three games in a row last April, they finished the season by losing 18 on the trot. There’s no doubting that as one of the country’s great untapped sporting populations, there is amazing potential for the Gold Coast – certainly the AFL are not prepared to give up just yet. So at the end of the season, a series of measures to assist the Suns in creating a competitive football team were announced, including yet more draft picks. Will it work? Can the Suns show something to the footy world this year? For we Supercoaches, there is a lot to talk about here!
Defenders
Feeling Lucky: There’s a host of backline premiums to choose from this season, but if you’re looking for a potential breakout then Lachie Weller ($481,100) may be your man. Again. After the Suns made a seemingly lopsided trade to acquire his services at the end of 2017, Weller has gradually improved his output to sub-premium territory. A 15 point bump to 89 ppg last year included six tons and a similar improvement in 2020 would make Lachie one of the buys of the season.
Pearce Hanley ($419,800) was a wonderful player in his prime, but spends too much time sitting down lately. Draft leagues only. Similarly, Jarrod Harbrow ($419,400) shows glimpses of scoring potential but is generally too inconsistent for serious consideration in Classic.
Money Maker: Jez McLennan ($123,900) spent most of 2019 playing as a rebounding halfback for the Suns in the NEAFL, averaging 15 possessions and four marks in 14 games. He was named as an emergency a few times at the back end of the year, and looks promising for a debut this year. McLennan won’t be a significant scorer but is worth a shout at D8 if he gets some games.
Midfielders
Feeling Lucky: Brandon Ellis ($470,800) is a dual premiership winning player at only 26 years of age, but decided he needed a change and for some reason that change involved the Gold Coast. I have no further comment on that, but if Brandon can establish himself as a key cog at his new club he is capable of scoring in the high 90’s. Not much to get excited about as a Supercoach mid, but could be very handy as a late-ish pick for draft leagues. David Swallow ($478,900) is a club stalwart and Brayden Fiorini ($477,100) is a ball magnet. Both will have their good days this season, but it’s hard to see the Suns winning enough games to make either player a viable choice in the Supercoach Classic midfield.
Money Maker: Number one draft pick Matt Rowell ($207,300) will march straight in the Suns starting 22, and probably form an intriguing on-ball trio immediately with Witts and Greenwood. Similar to top choice Sam Walsh last year, Rowell is ready to play senior level footy now and should appear in just about every Supercoach team by the middle of next month. Expect no-fuss, consistent performance, characterised by toughness at the contest and good hands.
Best mate Noah Anderson ($202,800) also finds himself at the Suns as pick 2. In terms of Supercoach I’m not as convinced by Anderson at this stage, and certainly he doesn’t have quite the same buzz around him as Rowell, but the Suns will be keen to get games into him and it is possible his ceiling will be higher than Rowell’s due to his explosiveness at the contest and ability to get forward and score. Monitor.
Finally, the Suns traded up big to get Jeremy Sharp ($117,300), giving away a future pick 11 to snag the long-kicking wingman from East Freo. Sharp is very much an outside player, and may make some people nervous with his run and carry – but hopefully not his coach! Possible mid-season downgrade option.
Rucks
Feeling Lucky: Yet another candidate for the What If Max Doesn’t Make It? party, Jarrod Witts ($541,300) is a perfectly solid ruckman who should average around the ton this year. That’s good enough to top 90% of the available ruckmen which is great, until you remember just how far ahead that remaining 10% are of the rest. Still, Witts finished 2019 in impressive fashion (111 ppg after the bye). He is an under-rated option if injury strikes one of the big guns and absolutely should be on your list for draft leagues.
Money Maker: Matthew Conroy ($102,400) is the only base priced rookie available in the ruck this year. He’s the one to get if you want to maximise cash spent on the other lines – BUT just make sure you check the draw first to assess his loopholing capability. Lack of DPP status also needs to be considered.
Forwards
Lock and Load: Since the departure of Gary Ablett, I normally skip past the non-rookie Suns but Hugh Greenwood ($463,100) is a definite exception this year. Since starting his career as a category B rookie at the Crows (hey, did you know Hugh used to play basketball?), Greenwood has established himself as a fanatical tackler with good overhead skills, equally capable of winning the hard ball or drifting forward and dobbing a goal or two. Greenwood has averaged 85+ in each of his three seasons at senior level and makes the move to the Gold Coast looking for greater opportunities, presumably in the midfield. Forward status makes Hugh extremely relevant this year and he must be considered for your starting F3.
Money Maker: Powerfully built attacking midfielder Sam Flanders ($162,300) comes to the Suns as pick 11. “Ned” is capable of playing in the contest but is most likely to be used in the forward half in his debut season, where he can use his natural footy smarts and speed off the mark to clear space. Not completely sure he’ll be in the 22 in round 1 but Flanders should definitely be on your shortlist for forward line rooks right now.
Speaking of the shortlist, former pick 3 Izak Rankine ($123,900) comes with a drastically reduced price tag after injury marred his rookie year. Whatever ‘x-factor’ is, this guy has it written all over him and he should be raring to go from the opening bounce. Izak won’t be a huge scorer, but his job security looks very good and he’ll be vying with Pickett for the unofficial title of Supercoach Most Popular Rookie.
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Another great team preview write up Chillo!
Definitely more relevance about the Suns this year…….Greenwood is locked into F3 at Team Schwarz providing he plays pure midfield role. Great stuff, Chillo….
I’ve been giving Greenwood some serious consideration as it won’t take much improvement to bump his average from 85 up to a premium level.
However, you don’t have to look much further than recent examples of Weller and Miles to see that opportunity, extra responsibility and ‘more midfield minutes’ don’t always count for much when you’re getting belted every week.
Also, further to Miles, I’m struggling to think of a fringe player who moved teams for more opportunity and converted that into premium status. Miles, Tyson, Caddy and Nank all spring to mind, and while there’s varying degrees of success, none are premiums. Would love to hear if there’s others?
Can’t see a lot going wrong with the greenwood pick (ie: won’t go backwards), but can also see him hovering around 85-90. Like Brodie Smith last year, he’ll do well enough to stay in your team, but you’re still losing 5-15 points a week.
Given the suns are likely to lose often, I doubt Greenwood’s price is likely to sky-rocket from a string of high scores. I’m happy to wait and see, and look at him as an upgrade.
You make several compelling points, Chips Ahoy!
As a pure MID option, Greenwood wouldn’t be under consideration……but that DPP status gives him a great chance of being a Top10 FWD for the season. Unless he completely falls in a heap up there, I’m of the opinion that Hugh will average 90 at a minimum……
I’m with you Chips.
After Witts B&F( 99.7 ) Swallow and Weller could only average low eighties. I just can’t see Greenwood coming in in his first year and putting up 90+. The Suns would have to win a fair few more games. I just can’t see it happening.
I currently have Rowell, Rankine and McLennan. Flanders is watch listed but I prefer Cockatoo at that price.
Thanks Chillo for a great review.
Sorry. Quick fact check. Weller averaged
88.6 last year.
Also Chips.
On players moving for more opportunities and jumping into Premo status…
You could argue Newman’s move to Carlton last year saw him finish Tenth for overall defenders, averaging 97.7
Tom Mitchell’s move to the Hawks is the only other one I can think of, in recent history anyway.
Great stuff Chillo. I read that Witts isn’t training at the mo’. Does that mean two-metre Peter gets 1st RUC duties in 2020?!
If Greenwood plays inside, he’ll be in my team. If not, ‘smell you later’.
Latest on Witts is he’ll be ready for round 1. If not, they have a few options of which Wright is one – although getting dropped late last season is not a good sign.
Thoughts on Will Brodie?
I’m a fan, but he constantly seems to be on the outer with the selection panel for some reason. Better options elsewhere at that price.
Not SC relevant at his price imo
Sorry guys, wil post again here. Can you have too many GC rookies? I’m currently running Rowell Anderson Flanders and Rankine and have Budarick on my bench. If the first 4 are all named round 1 can/should you take him all? Thanks
You can’t have two many rookies from any club really cos you’re not keeping them for long. But, do remember the Cow Rules. Good rookies at bad clubs don’t tend to score as well as if they would at good clubs. Even though Rowell’s junior numbers are excellent, I’d be surprised if he does nearly as well as Walsh last year. The rest? Your call. JS could also be good for three of them which does help too. Let’s see what the options look like come 6wks.
@AS, did you just accidentally call Carlton a good club? Go Saints!
Haha but yeah, I guess I did. But then again, even we’re better than Gold Coast 😉
So many players on their list, what’s js like for most. See a lot of rested players through the year to give everyone a go.
Thanks guys, greatly appreciated
As a crow boy was gutted to see them cut Hugh loose as I rate him, bit like I rated Jarryd Lyons. Reckon he does well at the suns and justifies his price tag and doubt he’ll be on traded to the Lions.!!
Great article.
One thing I learnt last year starting with Dunkley, is that if you pick a player because you think they’ll have midfield minutes then they really need to be one of the three starting inside midfielders, rather than a few rotations each quarter.
If I look at Gold Coasts list I see Swallow & Miller taken two of these spots. Where does this leave Greenwood? Or even Rowell? Probably Rowell less so because you’d he happy with a 75+ average.
Unless Greenwood takes this 3rd spot I do see him still in the 80-85 territory. There is Miles to worry about also.
I see Greenwood spending time in the forward line as he did at Adelaide. Doesn’t have the tank to be a full time mid. Not a bad pick but don’t see him as a top 6 forward so will be avoiding.