Fallen Premiums – Round 11, 2025

Welcome to Fallen Premiums – Round 10 Injury Edition. Sitting inside the top 200 yet my team currently looks like The Royal Melbourne Hospital. Lots of value on offer, lots of risky options to consider, let’s get right into it.

Defenders

Rory Laird (ADE, $495.2k, (-$65.9k), 96.9 AVG, 86 BE) the obvious selections this week in the likes of Jack Sinclair, Jordan Clark, Max Holmes all make for great buys. Lachie Whitfield is still available at a discount, albeit not quite fallen, and then there’s the likes of John Noble and Jake Bowey which have both garnered attention as POD’s worth considering. So, going completely left field, Rory Laird is the one we’ll be discussing today. The fixture run home for the Crows see them play North, Dees, Tigers, and the Eagles twice (one of which will be this week). The fixtures soft and the price is great. Two scores below 90 for the season, (an 89 against the Dons and a 58 against the Suns), are the two blights on Laird’s name this season, otherwise he’s been a consistent 90-120, which as a D6 is quite sufficient. I’d be targeting the popular selections in Holmes, Clark and Sinclair, but Laird as a left field option isn’t a bad shout. 

Backing it up…
Harry Sheezel, $557k, 153 BE
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, 525k, 146 BE
Sam Flanders, $420k, 135 BE

Midfielders

Isaac Heeney (SYD, $517.3k, (-$111.9k), 101.6 AVG, 79 BE) I was pretty bullish that Heeney would make for a good selection around this time after a tough fixture with tags to start the year (let alone the early bye), and the prophecy seems to have been fulfilled. I was also skeptical about recommending Heeney due to not having seen enough from both the Swans and the 2024 All Australian up until this point, but I saw everything I wanted to against the Swans to pencil his name down for the week. The imminent return of Callum Mills in theory should help, and while the immediate fixture isn’t fantastic, (facing both the Dees and Crows who could put time into the 29 year old), I’m confident he’d be able to battle through and make for a strong long-term selection for new owners. Tom Green who was discussed last week along with Josh Dunkley also make for great buys, but if you’re shopping in the slightly cheaper range, I think Heeney and/or Caleb Serong (who at this point I’ll wait til after his bye to discuss) is your man. 

Matt Rowell (GCS, $464.8k, (-$85.5k), 103.2 AVG, 72 BE) while few are assessing Rowell as a trade-in target, there’s a lot of salty owners that have either traded him out or are heavily considering doing so during the byes. Noah Anderson and Touk Miller would make the most logical selections if you wanted a Suns midfielder, both offering larger levels of consistency, however the former number one draft pick has a significant discount on both of them (and our other two mids were discussing this week). Tagged by Dunkley against the Lions, tagged by Peatling against the Crows, guarded by Rowbottom against the Swans, resulting in a 65.3 average in games this season resulting in attention, yikes. On the contrary Rowell has given 5 scores of 120+ points, albeit against Eagles, Roos. Tigers, a weakened Hawks midfield and the Demons (before Viney and Oliver made them a nightmare matchup). If you’re interested in the Rowell pick, the end goal would ideally be to have him as a loop at M9, in which case the pick is a solid one.

Limbo land…
Zak Butters, 633k, 206 BE
Zach Merrett, 573k, 200 BE
Nick Daicos, 561k, 162 BE
Marcus Bontempelli, 666k, 157 BE
Lachie Neale, 572k, 143 BE
Jai Newcombe, 535k, 140 BE

Rucks

Toby Nankervis (RIC, $496.4k, (-$97.6k), 100.2 AVG, 83 BE) against Tristan Xerri of all players, Toby Nankervis just dropped his season high of 129 points (of course in classic SC fashion the week SCT royalty in Gunboat Diplomacy finally bit the bullet and traded him out). While the midfield has remained healthy this season, there seems to be some form of disconnect with the midfield, let alone the discrimination from Champion Data, both have which have hurt his SC production this season. Nank battles Goldstein this week, Briggs next week and Grundy the week after before heading into his bye, and I’ll be pretty surprised if he wasn’t averaging at least 115 over the next three games. A POD play, but one that could definitely work for those looking for a cheap ruckman.

Timberrr…
Lloyd Meek, 546k, 208 BE
Max Gawn, 745k, 182 BE
Tom De Koning, 558k, 148 BE

Forwards

Shai Bolton (FRE, $430.2k, ($14.1k), 90.3 AVG, -8 BE) lots of interest in the former Tiger and for good reason, massive spike score, strong scoring when he’s averaged 40%+ CBA’s this season (averaging 102 points), and a more midfield orientated role since the unfortunate injury to Hayden Young. The immediate fixture is nice (Port, Suns, bye, North, Essendon), the bye should be good for most SC’ers, there’s a lot to like here. There’s also merit to trading a JHF or Macrae down to Bolton, banking the immediate cash gen, and then trading him back out if required, this manoeuvre could net you some serious coin.

Forward thinking…
Jason Horne-Francis, 500k, 157 BE*
Jack Macrae, 517k, 151 BE*
Izak Rankine, 543k, 136 BE
Christian Petracca, 544k, 130 BE