Fallen Premiums – Round 2, 2024

Just like that, all our pre-season research and fiddling with our teams to be left wanting a re-do. The joys of SuperCoach hey, glad we’re back…

The first iteration of Fallen Premiums will be a lot different than the usual programming. Today we’ll look at some of the value options that have emerged the last two rounds. And you bet we’ll also be looking at the poor scorers from Round 1 and what we can potentially do with them.

Defenders

Massimo D’Ambrosio (HAW, $224.9k, 122 AVG) a very popular trade-in following his monster performance against his former club. The first pre-season game against the Dogs, Massimo had 26 disposals, 17 of which were kicks with 4 I50’s. The second pre-season game saw D’Ambrosio have 18 disposals, 11 kicks, 94% efficiency, with a Supercoach score of 77 points. And then of course, this past weekend Massimo had 29 touches, 13 contested possessions going at 72% efficiency and scoring a massive 122 SC points. The big question is how sustainable is Massimo’s role and scoring? Considering the Hawks injury list, I personally can’t see anything changing in the short-term, and while I don’t think a 120+ scoring stream is going to be consistent, I’d definitely expect around a 70-75 average as being quite feasible, which will see D’Ambrosio make at least 130-140k. Verdict? The sensible thing to do is wait another week before hopping on. But I also completely understand if you have Gibcus or Z. Reid and like myself need/want to jump on a week early.

Midfielders

Nic Martin (ESS, $492.8k, 63 AVG) The Supercoach community  seems to be pretty divided on what to do with Nic Martin. Firstly, he played the exact role we were hoping, his poor use has been well documented over the weekend, and it mainly stemmed from the Hawks forward pressure. Usually when the opposition cuts off those short options, players elect to bomb it long, instead we had Martin trying to get fancy and go for the short option regardless, which resulted in his 56% disposals efficiency and 9 turnovers. The obvious and logical decision would be to hold, we selected him for the role he played, and we need to cut some slack as this was his first proper game playing in a different  position. No Mason Redman is also a big bonus this week against Sydney. I’m personally weighing a trade as it unlocks my trade-plans and rookie corrections for the next fortnight, but for those not looking to fix up some structural concerns, I’d suggest to back him in for another week.

Jack Steele (STK, $529.5k, 119 AVG) the man of Steele definitely looked the goods in the pre-season, and rewarded believers with a nice 119 SC points. 6 tackles, 25 disposals, 12 contested @80% efficiency is exactly what you wanted to see from the Saints skipper. For those that are hellbent on flicking a pseudo premium and can’t quite afford the Serong’s of the world, Steele definitely presents as a great choice at a cut-price. I’ll also quickly discuss Riley Bonner while we’re here, one to closely monitor this Thursday night, there’s whispers that Sinclair is expected to play more up the ground in the midfield, and Bonner to retain his halfback role. Definitely one to monitor this week!

Ruck

Tristan Xerri (NTH, $407.4k, 107 AVG) what an impressive hit-out from North’s #1 ruckman. GWS away from home, and Xerri had 19 hit-outs, 9 tackles, a goal, 5 marks, 18 disposals, with 14 contested and he went at 83% efficiency. While he only had 107 SC points, he was actually on-track for a mediocre score before a 41 point final term got him up to the magical ton. I’ve seen a few people float a Grundy to Xerri trade, and all I can do is to advise against such shenanigans. For those of you that started Xerri, I hope he continues doing well.

Forwards

Isaac Heeney (SYD, $483.7k, 140 AVG) I’ll quickly just touch on Heeney. I think for non-owners, he’s one to heavily consider this week. A 91 will see the burn-man of past years rise 47k, and with such a barren forward-line, I think the Swans #5 is on the path to finishing as a top six forward, even with the likes of Mills, Parker & Adams to return. John Longmire also had this to say about Heeney “The plan was to play him a fair bit midfield this year and certainly in the first part of the year.” I wouldn’t sideways to get Heeney, but for those that have a trigger finger and are looking to move Zac Fisher, I think kicking up to the Heen is as viable as trading down to Jack Billings who we’ll discuss next.

Jack Billings (MEL, $243.9k, 65 AVG) firstly let’s look at the former Sainters stats in the small sample size we’ve been given. In the first of the pre-season games, Billings had 21 disposals and 7 marks which is a great showing. In the second pre-season game, Billings had 17 disposals, 5 marks and 4 tackles, which resulted in a SC score of 91 points. Then in Round 0, we saw Jack Billings start the game as the sub before coming on and playing over 50 minutes (36% TOG). What did Billings do in that time coming into the game with fresh legs? He had 2 touches at 0% efficiency, 2 tackles, and 11 SC points. However, the game against the Dogs this past weekend saw Billings amass 23 touches, with 20 of those being kicks, 74 efficiency is about what you’d like to see, but the potentially concerning stat comes from his 15 marks. It’s completely unrealistic to expect opposition coaches to let someone like Jack Billings continue to rack up the pill in that sort of manner, and most of his uncontested marks seemed to have come from the Dees switching the ball. 119 SC points, a very low breakeven and proven SC history having averaged over 90 points in 3 previous seasons may have you believing Billings is a must-have. And while I agree he’s definitely one to heavily consider, and bring in if you’re able too, I’d also say by no means is he a must-have.

Zac Fisher (NTH, $378.6k, 50 AVG) all it took was one pre-season game, and I can happily admit I was sucked into the Fish like many other coaches. What was there to like and dislike about Fisher’s game from the weekend? Well even though he was forced to play accountable at times, Bailey Scott was also playing out of defence and led the kick-ins (which I personally didn’t expect), and mainly seemed to be stuck to a wing and was neglected on the switch. The Fish did have 21 touches, 17 of which were kicks. Surprisingly the former Blue actually went at 76% efficiency, but boy did he have some shocking clangers. 4 kick-ins may also seem decent enough until you realise GWS has 19 behinds for the game. Playing away against GWS is not what I’d consider an ideal match-up, this week against Fremantle under the Marvel roof will see Fisher bounce back, but to what degree? At the time of writing over 14,000 people have traded out Fisher, and again, while downgrading and using his funds is something I completely understand and will probably look to do myself, there’s a case to hold and back his role. I’m personally on the camp that he can be moved, and if you’re tossing up between trading one of Martin or Fisher, I’d recommend moving the Fish.

So that’s it for this week’s Fallen Premiums, let me know in the comments who you’re looking to both bring in, and trade out this week.

---

Leave a comment / Scroll to bottom