Titling this version of my team “A Farewell to Flanders” as it’s the first draft I’ve had without the Suns super talent. An immense 2024 averaging 119.0 across multiple positions, a brilliant age profile at just 23 and a fixture bordering on pornographic, I was absolutely froffing Flanders. Unfortunately, the latest word is he’s been battling a back issue and is racing to make R0. I’ve been strict with no limited pre-season/injured players and Flanders now comes as the ultimate test of that dictum. With that, I cleared my team and went work. Let’s get into it.
Defenders
A pretty standard 3 and 3 backline. Toyed with maintaining a four deep defence in Flanders’ absence but think the rookies are actually okay. Allan will get a spin, Buss has a spot and my man El-Hawli will be raring to go.
Inclusions
Sheezel I see as a super easy pick and now D1 if Flanders has a delayed start. 99.5 and 118.0 over his first two years is lurid. Not phased by where he plays either. Simply a pill magnet. McKercher too – finds heaps of the ball irrespective of role. 88.5 in his first year, including that notorious sub-injured 6. They’re in. Between them at D2 I’ve gone Holmes. Quite a fan of his and the Cats are really hanging their hat on him as the future of their midfield. A clean pre-season is key, which his had so far, and started to show some really nice scoring in the backend of last year at both HB and OB. Fine to eat his bye.
Omissions
No real howlers or anti-PODs but didn’t squeeze in guys like Sicily or Stewart who are both reasonably priced and can reprise their roles – i.e. Sicily gets key defensive support and plays as a third tall and Holmes OB gives Stewart the half back line again. I like both and suppose they’re more proven than Holmes but I like a bet on his imminent midfield role. The Freo boys, Ryan and Clark, I like and also toyed with but want to see how Freo settle on a playstyle and who it favours more.
Midfielders
A six deep midfield but with just one player priced above 600k. I find the midfield rookies to be a little ambiguous at the moment and think there’s strong cases for, honestly, 10-15 premium midfield options, so a six deep midfield it is.
Inclusions
Starting up top with Butters. Pretty easy one here. Among only three players who averaged 120+ last year. Port’s fixture also alright: Pies, Tigers, Dons, Saints – no OP midfields there. Behind him is Brayshaw, who stormed home in 2024 averaging 125.0 over the last five rounds. He reportedly played in 2024 with some kind of lingering issue (foot or back, I can’t quite remember) but is over it now. He’ll also never get tagged.
Anderson I don’t rate that much as a player per se; he’s a little one way, not super damaging and his trajectory is a little stunted. However, I just, personally, think the Suns’ fixture needs to be tapped into: last year’s bottom three, West Coast, North and Tigers, over the first month and a bit. Think he can punch through to 110~. A midfield reshuffle and some warranted pressure on Nicks should be a boon for Dawson. Still only 27 and Laird banished to half back and Peatling and Rankine contributing should be a much better balanced engine room for him. Crows also get 4/6 at home to start the season.
Capping off the premos are my man Ed Richards, or Edwards, as I’ve somehow started to remember him as, and Ashcroft. Pretty simple propositions here. Edwards is on a stunning trajectory and is jam packed with footballing attributes, ranking as the #1 I50 kick last year from rounds 1-11, and Ashcroft can relish that 4th MID role he reprised late last year building into a successful Lions finals campaign. From there, I can target Bont and Daicos as finishing Top 8 MIDs – now let’s get into why I don’t have either of them.
Omissions
The wheels appear to be falling off at the Dogs before the season has even started. Treloar, Jones, English, JUH all out to varying extents. I just think that’s a brutal way to head into season and that it’s going to expose their lack of depth and force them to reshuffle their 23 into sub-optimal roles (think Lobb, Darcy, etc.). I, regrettably, see them struggling early and enormous load being placed on Bont’s shoulders. Yes, he’s an absolute god and probably punches through but playing the depleted Dogs early, I fear, could just be as simple as ‘cut the head off the snake’ by shutting down Bont and it’s gg. So, yeah, no Bontempelli for me at the moment. Not trying to do any mental ju-jitsu to justify not starting him, he’s a beast and is probably M1, I’m just not sure of things at the Whitten Oval. Now, it’s a bit hypocritical that I’m still hot on Richards but if he can get Treloar’s CBAs and not have to split them from Sanders he’ll have enough economy at 500k to insulate him from the winds of win loss.
Daicos a less galling fade. No objections to starting him and he’s probably got the plantar fasciitis beat but combining it with the Pies poor fixture and early bye I’m okay to fade and grab later. I haven’t piled on with any expensive rookies besides Smith. The Tigers boys are injured/not firming for Round 1, neither is Draper apparently and the little Ashcroft has to break into the strong 22 and was on a managed load in December.
Rucks
Yeah, I know, this team is getting more and more lurid. I swear I had a gorgeous G&R team until the Flanders news lobotomized me!
Inclusions
TDK has been promoted to R1. With his ceiling and fixture that opens up, I think he’s a pretty easy selection for most? Jackson is now set to get a spin solo after the Darcy news (set to miss the “early” rounds). I started him on the same basis last year and while he didn’t capitalize on the opportunity as much as I would’ve liked, the savings and ability to ship him to either FWD or FLX are appealing. Marshall should get up just in time for R1, so it doesn’t look like Boyd will start. He was on a managed load anyway but why not whack him at R3 for when/if he gets a spin.
Omissions
Xerri and Gawn beasts but are eye-wateringly priced when you remind yourself of the pricing change and neither had a fixture that made me go ‘oh, baby!’. They also crash into each other early. Reckon I’ll go with this budget-y, potential upside ruck set up with the plan of shipping Jackson off and grabbing whoever out of Gawn or Xerri is most attainable when the time comes. There were a couple others I liked, but I’ve contained those thoughts to an analytical piece that’ll drop soon.
Forwards
Easily the most filled out forward line I’ve run in years. Feels super secure. Chopping out Bont, Xerri and Flanders in this latest draft afford me depth across the midfield and now forward line. As for rookies, I’m not that opposed to more balanced 3-3 or 4-2 structures with more rookies on field given we’ve got the flex and early B18 byes.
Inclusions
JHF was an auto-pick. I mean, you could fade but he’s so obviously Top 6 I reckon just get it done. Rankine is the most recent addition, capping off the stock I’ve placed into the Crows. Went back and looked at his numbers and really relished that CBA role when he got it. In an ideal world we’d maybe want to see him play some footy first but a clean pre-season and home leaning fixture should do him some good. Explanations for Macrae, Smith and Daniel would be trite but I will say I didn’t have Macrae until this draft. Just think he’ll be kind of flat and has no real upside – one you could go without if you had to. He’ll be OB though, so whatever.
Omissions
I liked Moore but he always floats around the same price, has the early bye and I can see the Hawks getting a little found out early. Should probably have Lynch in there.
Flex & Final Thoughts
I haven’t quite decided how to play the flex position just yet, so for now I’ve just whacked a rookie in there. The sort of pillars my team’s resting on in this draft seem to be:
- No interrupted pre-season/injured players whatsoever
- Fades on big 600k+ price tag players
- Depth extending to M6 and F5
- Heavy bets on trajectory, profile and fixture
- Target Daicos, Bont and Gawn/Xerri
All up it looks like this:
38.2k ITB, 1760 proj.