The Fallen Premiums – Rd 4, 2020

Those of you who know me – and even if you don’t, you will – know that I’m a movie geek. Specifically, a comic book movie geek. And since we’ve had no footy (Belarussian soccer doesn’t count) to keep me occupied in recent times, I’ve spent some hours catching up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it got me thinking….

Of all Marvel’s Avengers, Hawkeye is the guy who cops the most grief. He has no superhuman powers, uses an absurd weapon that dates back to prehistoric times, has weird hair, and generally has no place being counted amongst Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Yet the dude turns up again and again and does his job, fighting off the bad guys next to gods and wizards and freaks of nature. He saves the day and then goes home to the wife and kids…but if you passed him in the street, you probably wouldn’t recognise him.

Defenders are the Hawkeye of the Supercoach Universe. Everyone spends so much time discussing, deliberating and dithering over their elite rucks and premium midfielders and enigmatic forwards, and the six blokes at the back just get completely ignored. And yet they form an undeniably important part of every team, quietly racking up intercept marks and spoils and rebounding the ball out of the defensive 50. Defence is such a vital part of the game, and deserves more attention. So this week, I decided to give the Defenders some love (and threw in a few other random sorts too, because no comic has ever had too many characters).

Here are the Fallen Premiums!

DEFENDERS

Lachie WELLER (GCS), $ 471 400 (-$9.7K), avg 90, BE 61 – Once upon a time, Gold Coast gave away pick 2 for Lachie Weller. I know, right?! But with every day that passes, Lachie is gradually improving that deal for the Suns to the point where you can now hear the whispers: did the Coasters actually win that one? Selectable as a defender, Weller spends more time on the wing these days and back-to-back tons in the past fortnight have sent a message to coaches everywhere. This follows an 89 ppg average last season, and it’s that exciting rate of improvement that should have you considering Lachie as a backline POD.

James SICILY (HAW), $501 700 (-$7.8K), avg 98, BE 63 –  When Sic is good, he’s very, very good. But when he’s bad…he’ll drive you nuts! One of the few benefits of the absence of crowd noise in the past two weekends has been the ability to hear the players’ voices on the field, and there are few more authoritative than the Hawks’ defensive general. 128 points against the defending premiers last Thursday night was an outstanding display of positional savvy and pure footy nous. All he has to do is keep his head in line!

Caleb DANIEL (WBD), $ 528 900 (-$9.0K), avg 103, BE 85 – The little bloke in the game’s most famous helmet is playing that halfback distributor role that all Supercoaches love, and Caleb does it better than most. 23 disposals at an exceptional 91% efficiency gave Daniel a career-high 134 points at his previous start against the Giants, including 6 rebound 50s and 4 intercept possessions. Some defenders can get lumped with a key defensive post which can hinder their scoring, but clearly that’s not going to be a problem here, and in my humble opinion he’s one of the most reliable kicks in the comp. Only 5% ownership!

Jake LLOYD (SYD), $584 000 (-$7.4K), avg 108, BE 88 – Yeah, he’s here again. 18 uncontested possessions last week against the Roos. 1 tackle. Lots of Supercoach points. You know the drill by now!

Backing it up….
Shannon Hurn, $563K, BE 160
Zac Williams, $517K, BE 158

MIDFIELDERS

Hugh MCCLUGGAGE (BRL), $502 800 (-$7.9K), avg 102, BE 66 – There was big hype about the Baggage Man in the pre-season. A former number 3 draft pick whose movement around the field is pure silk, Hugh probably disappointed a few coaches in the first two rounds, but showed everything he was capable of in week 3 against a curiously struggling Eagles side. 26 possessions, 5 tackles and 155 sparkling points should have you sitting up and taking notice of this special talent. Now in his fourth year in the league, McCluggage is in prime breakout territory and this week comes up against a desperately struggling Crows side. Start the car!

Limbo land….
Josh Kelly, $615K, BE 160
Tom Mitchell, $600K, BE 152
Patrick Dangerfield, $564K, BE 146
Jack Macrae, $626K, BE 131
Marcus Bontempelli, $561K, BE 129

RUCKS

Nothing much to say here, other than that there is a ruckman out there who has registered scores of 136, 164 and 151 so far this year, and he’s only in 4.5% of teams! Are you watching closely?

Timberrr…..
Brodie Grundy, $712K, BE 189

FORWARDS

Jack ZIEBELL (NTH), $433 300 (-$60.1K), avg 69, BE 60 – Z-Ball busted his knee up pretty bad in round 1 and could only manage 19 points for the game. Then COVID happened, and Jack went away and got himself right and didn’t have to miss a single game while he was doing it. Now he’s back, his beloved Roos are playing good footy, and Ziebell is once again a tempting cheap-ish option for your forward line. Jay-Z might be just below that elite group of fancied frontmen, but he misses far fewer games (just four in the past 5 years) and you couldn’t knock him out with a sledgehammer.

Forward thinking….
Lachie Whitfield, $537K, BE 202
Isaac Heeney, $536K, BE 123

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