What a season for premo MIDs. We had the emergence of Parish and Miller as bonafide premos out of nowhere, the continued reliability of Steele, Satan, Lyons and Macrae and the anticipated explosion of Bont and Walsh onto the scene. The likes of Wines, Merrett, Petracca and Titch have all also been more than serviceable, chucking up some big ones and remaining at relatively low ownership. Having two DEFs and a FWD/MID in Mills, Laird and Zorko playing and scoring as inside MIDs was handy – unlikely we have that positional privilege next year.
On the flip side, Neale was a 720k bomb: injured, tagged, injured again and pretty much putting those who started him behind the 8 ball both in terms of cash and points. Cripps and Taranto also fell painfully short of owner’s expectations.
At the present, the Top 8 MIDs on averages are:
- Jack MACRAE (WBD, $651.4k, 127.7)
- Jack STEELE (STK, $690.6k, 125.7)
- Satan OLIVER (MELB, $642.6k, 124.5)
- Touk MILLER (GCS, $651.8k, 122.7)
- Marcus BONTEMPELLI (WBD, $588.2, 122.6)
- Sam WALSH (CARL, $679.8k, 120.4)
- Darcy PARISH (ESS, $598.8, 117.3)
- Jarryd LYONS (BRIS, $553.6, 117.1)
*name (team, price, avg)
With the Top 8 likely to round out as such in the coming rounds, now’s a good time to evaluate this year’s MID crop and look to 2022. So tell us, coaches:
Which premo MIDs did you start this year? Why?
Which premo MIDs are you definitely starting next year? Why?
Who else are you considering starting next year? Why?
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Which premo MIDs did you start this year? Why?
Oliver – best of the uber-premo, most likely to improve 5ppg in this group based on age
Merrett – thought undervalued, starting price was a base and no injury history
Mitchell – thought undervalued based on 17 & 18 scoring prior to injury, now 1 year back
Walsh (Danger trade after Rd1), Cripps, Taranto – thought I would get improvement in all three with one hit, had Rowell in this group for a while but didn’t want that much risk.
Disappointed in the Neale trade in when thought he had bottomed out and did an Oliver > JKelly trade around byes to get a score on ground and allocate $ elsewhere, a couple of injuries a few weeks later in the wrong spots meant I never got him back.
My biggest miss was not getting Miller in at the byes, great scoring, bye friendly and has got better since.
Which premo MIDs are you definitely starting next year? Why?
Steele – great captains option and all around game to get consistent scoring
One of Oliver/Walsh/Bont/Macrae
Petraccca – age and injury history, can see him getting back to the 118-120 scoring
Neale – this year is the anomaly, age and injury history and premium scoring all point to a very undervalued player, probably by 20ppg
JKelly – 10ppg below his historical average and 2 years of good durability, a move from GWS would make this even more likely, I think GWS are not a good team for premium supercoach scoring
Who else are you considering starting next year? Why?
M.Rowell – currently a 65 average, probably will get to 75 by years end, there is a 25-40ppg improvement if rookie form holds
The good: Started with Macrae Satan Walsh Zerrett but could never get Steele. He’s first picked next year for me
The Bad: Started with Neale & F*****G Cripps & Taranto. 100% never again, I dont care if Cripps looks elite in pre season, im not doing it.
Along with the usual suspects I think I’m starting with Macrae Satan Touk & Steele. If I can fit that in because they’ll be very expensive. Maybe give Neale another shot if he’s fully fit & cheap. But next year I’m going to stick with reliable & not injury prone guys. But SC always finds a way to ruin plans ha
I agree that games played history is the most important stat when looking at starting selections.
Jack Macrae is close to a must have as a starter – last 5 years, 3 games missed (all in 2018, 4 years in a row in the 120’s.
Clayton Oliver – 5 years no games missed (feels like always rumored to be underdone in the preseason), 2 years in 120s and younger.
I don’t think Lachie Neale is a chronic injury issue, prior to this one he had missed 3 games in 7 years (3 x 1 games missed) and has uber-premo history.
The chronically injured or returning from injury guys are the real risk – you need to project a big ppg improvement to justify selecting them.
The breakout guys are also hard to pick, Taranto, Walsh, Rowell were the popular ones, I don think Miller or Parish were talked about enthusiastically.
Cripps has gone backwards 2 years in a row and misses games every year – hard to see him as an option.
Yeah 100% man. I’ve still somehow got to 3krank this year even with all this carnage & probably got luckier than most with injuries & suspensions but yeah..nailing those early guys like Touk along with the Macraes, Satans & Steeles just makes it more comfortable knowing they play every week & are dead set solid.
I hold high hopes for Neale, he was unbelievable last year & I’ll run with him.
Yeah I’m not getting sucked into the Cripps hype ever again. Hopefully get some solid rookies next year so I can run guns & rookies again. Having blokes like T.Phillips & J.Clark ruined me
I peaked at mid 900 rank this year just after the byes but it has all fallen apart and now just outside of top 5,000. Blew through the trades a bit too quickly trying to go top 500 and a lot of them I knew were risks at the time but was hoping for the reward.
At least next season we won’t be wondering how players will adjust back to longer quarters and no bubble life.
Which premo MIDs did you start this year? Why?
Oliver, Macrae, Merrett, Neale, Dunkley “Taranto”
Oliver/Mac/Merrett/big ticks you know what you’re going to get with them Durable, High scoring good sc players.
Neale had extra cash thought they why not oopsie!
Dunkley as i had around 580 or so to find a player and thought he be the pick of the bunch, was doing amazing till injury i ended up trading Danger to Mitchell via Dunkley after round 2
Taranto at that price looked like the value pick of the year bust! amazing player for dream team but ball use absolute shocking for SC this year.
Which premo MIDs are you definitely starting next year? Why?
Oliver, Walsh, Macrae, Steele SC superstars know what you’re getting with them!!.
Who else are you considering starting next year? Why?
Matt Crouch/ Lachie Neale. Providing Neale and Crouch are fit there’s a crap load of value in them!.
I think we need to be careful with Neale. Could have a Cripps type death.
Cripps def on my never again list. Neale has one foot in the door.
I think we need to be careful with Neale. Could have a Cripps type death.
I like it Nateo.
My Planned 2022 Premo’s
Def : Lloyd . Stewart . Short or Ridley.
Mid: Macrae . Walsh . Miller . Oliver . Titch . Neale.
Ruck : Darcy. Rookie / Mid priced
Fwd: Dunkley . Danger . Charlie Curnow.
A mid priced R2, and Curnow F3, should allow me to start 6 big dogs in the midfield.
If the rookies show this is my preferred structure next season.
Started this year with:
Zerrett – durable, consistent scorer.
Macrae – as above, but even better.
Neale – never had him before and he’s been torching me for years for my opponents. I thought I’m not missing out again this year.
Jelly – similar story to Neale, despite his known fragility, I was up for the ride.
Cripps – well, like most, thought he’d return to past glories.
Clearly the last 3 of those 5 were busts. Neale I have a feeling is going to be another Rockliff. Will run riot when I don’t have him, but turn to crap when I do.
Kelly I can’t make sense of. Somehow played every game, but nowhere near the level of previous years.
Tbh, choosing premos is my downfall every bloody year. Somehow most of them end up having a career low point out of nowhere and as a result I spend much of my season fixing my starting lineup.
As for next year, Macrae will get a recall. Walsh & Steele have been great inclusions during the year & are more than welcome back. And Bont would be ideal. All durable, at or getting to peak of their careers and all good C options.
But then I thought the same about Lachie Neale…
I’m gun shy on Oliver. Had him in 2019, and lo and behold, had a down year out of nowhere.
As for breakout players, don’t think I’ve ever got the timing right on one of those, so might steer clear of that next year.
Started this year:
Neale – Stared in 2020 and loved having him going at 140 early on, worth paying up for a hot start like that and durability
Oliver – Gets it done every year and only going to get better, started 2 or 3 in a row now
Cripps – Very under priced at 91ppg with a proven history of 115+
Rowell – With a couple of mid pricers I couldn’t get to a big gun so went a bit risky and thought he could average 100, probably would have if not injured
Taranto – Under priced at 84ppg, expected him to go 105+ due to age and team performance but his DE is a huge let down.
Next year:
Oliver – Gun and on a good team 120-125
Macrae – Gun and on a good team 125
Dunkley – Gun and could be under priced depending on last 3 games 120
Walsh, Merrett, Crouch, Laird, Neale, Brayshaw, Coniglio – Maybe 2 of these but there is so many options to choose from for those last spots it’s hard to know
I have learnt this year that it is not a race to upgrade as I have gotten in players that aren’t quite matching the big boys like Steele/Miller which has hurt since the byes, great rank early but slipped ever since
Started Cripps, Bont, Oliver, Merrett, Heppell plus the usual rookie suspects. Took till r19 to remove the never again blue stain.
Oliver and Zerret never miss so def starters next year. Neale probably going to be around $550k so I’ll give him a chance as I didn’t start him this year. M Crouch at about $420k will get a start depending on pre-season. Toss up between Macrae and Steele if I can afford either.
Watch list will include Caldwell Rowell and Billings but only one of them.