Defenders
Lachie Ash – 524.7k, (-58.3k), 106 AVG, 70 BE
Lachie Whitfield – 520.3k, (-78.9k), 105 AVG, 127 BE
Chucking these 2 blokes in here together because the message has been the same pretty much all year. They’re gonna be top 6 defenders, Ash is back in defence and the pair of them remain fairly discounted from their starting price. Get whichever you don’t have, if you”re one of the few that lacks both, I’d go Ash because of his recent hot form.
James Sicily – 495k, (+11.8k), 106 AVG, 70 BE
Coming in slightly cheaper is Sicily who I mentioned a few times before his bye. Gunston continues to be a question mark with lingering injury issues, and swinging Hardwick forward has worked wonders for them in the last few weeks. Sicily only stands to benefit from this on Hawthorn’s push to finals. Just be mindful that he’s liable to a mediocre score if he doesn’t get enough ball, or to whacking someone and getting himself suspended. Otherwise, should be solid
Incoming Price Drops
Jack Sinclair – 569.5k, 145 BE
Bailey Dale – 543.7k, 141 BE
Midfielders
Nick Daicos – 535k, (-93.4k), 112 AVG, 101 BE
All the talk out of Collingwood is that they’re still confident in attacking the rest of this season with the belief they can do some damage, whether or not that’s a pipe dream is up for debate, but I’m pretty sure Nick is ripe to go off to finish the year. Sounds weird to say that a guy averaging 112 has had a kinda down year but his disposal has let him down at times. If he can get that right, he might shoot that up closer to 120 by the end of the year, all for $535k. If you don’t have him then grab him while you can.
Finn Callaghan – 512.5k, (-93k), 101 AVG, 74 BE
Callaghan was solid without being amazing against St Kilda. Didn’t watch most of the game in lieu of the Socceroos match, but don’t think he copped a hard tag as such. Still think he should be a good pick on the run home and he remains cheap, but who knows this year. Pull the trigger if you believe and need a cheap mid.
Incoming Price Drops
Isaac Heeney – 628.6k, 159 BE
Luke Davies-Uniacke – 544.2k, 150 BE
Bailey Smith – 598.3k, 148 BE
Rucks
Luke Jackson – 564.5k, (-46.7k), 121 AVG, 126 BE
In a pretty rare occurrence, the ruck section is getting a lot of love this week. We start with Jackson who looks like a no-brainer to bring in. Averaging 121, with a solid role and form line (outside of the bizarre Essendon game) for well under $600k. Darcy doesn’t look like coming back for a while and even if he did, he’s gonna be a clear second fiddle while Jackson is in All-Australian level form. Just for a cherry on top, he gets the Cats and Mitch Edwards on his home deck later tonight. No disrespect to the young ruckman, but I’d pencil in a VC worthy score to start the round off right.
Tristan Xerri – 554.2k, (-133.1k), 123 AVG, 141 BE
Here’s the high risk, high reward alternative to Jackson in Xerri. He had an absolute shocker and got towelled up by the former, only to pull out a 150 the next week. He’s done similar things this year and has been pretty volatile, but when he goes big, not many can match his SuperCoach output. Goad seemed to be used as a centre-bounce ruck over the weekend, but he does the bulk of his scoring in contests and tackles around the ground anyway. I’m bringing him back as an attempt to fire up my team that’s pretty mediocre right now. If you already have Jackson and not him, I’d do it.
Darcy Cameron – 462.3k, (-140k), 86 AVG, 89 BE
Spoken about DC at length in the last few segments. He’s still pretty good value as I don’t expect the mid-season guys to play a huge role just yet and he’s a great around the ground Ruckman, making him pretty matchup proof. I’d back him to average 105-110 from here on out, with his history of finishing seasons strong. That’s not quite at the level of the top rucks, but if you need the extra $100k elsewhere, he’s a solid choice.
Incoming Price Drops
Brodie Grundy – 623.1k, 169 BE
Tim English – 492.7k, 140 BE
Forwards
Jason Horne-Francis – 495.8k, (-15.4k), 96 AVG, 70 BE
The Horney one hasn’t shown his floor in the past 4 weeks and thus keeps popping up here as an option each week. In a rich vein of form at the moment and will be over $500k next week. With all the forward options looking iffy, he looks the pick of the bunch that aren’t super highly owned at the moment. Just beware this week as he has a putrid history against Collingwood, but these aren’t the Pies of old, I reckon he’ll be right.
Jordan De Goey – 473.6k, (+152.6k), 83 AVG, 99 BE
Can’t believe I’m even sort of recommending this guy as a pick and he’s definitely not a fallen premium, but just thought I’d throw it in for lack of other options. He’s put together a solid month of footy and finally looks more stable. The teams midfield and goal-kicking hopes rely almost solely on him and Daics at this point of the year and he’s delivered recently. Of course if he kept this up he’d be ahead of the rest of the forward pack, but there are so many risks. Injury, being swung forward out of necessity and the fact that he’s never put together a premo level season just to start. Only if you’re desperate for the higher ceiling.
Incoming Price Drops
Jeremy Cameron – 387.5k, 163 BE
Ryley Sanders – 497.6k, 146 BE
Christian Petracca – 506.1k, 142 BE
Drop some more names in the comments, thanks to anyone reading this late post and good luck all.