Is he the best value of all the mid-price defender? Is he the safest option? Or do better options exist?
PLAYER PROFILE
Name: Zac Williams
Age: 24
Club: GWS Giants
Position: Defender
2017 Highest Score:
131 Vs Essendon (AFLFantasy)
145 Vs Essendon (SuperCoach)
2017 Average:
83 (AFLFantasy)
94 (SuperCoach)
SuperCoach Price: $407,800
AFLFantasy Price: $421,000
AFLDreamTeam Price: $474,100
WHY IS HE RELEVANT?
Zac’s the type of player I love to watch. At every opportunity, he looks to take the game on when he has the ball in his hands and creates multiple scoring opportunities with his speed and run and carry a skill combination the Giants desperately lacked last year.
Since debuting back in 2013 he’s always shown his fantasy footy potential. In just his 9th game of AFL against the Dockers, he scored 97 in AFLFantasy and 101 in SuperCoach. The potential became a reality in 2016 where from 20 games he averaged 82.5 in AFLFantasy and 88 in SuperCoach, across all formats in 10 matches he scored over the average including 4 tons.
The following year he went up another gear and posted a personal best AFLFantasy season average of 83, this included 9 scores over his average including 5 tons. For SuperCoach, it was an even stronger year with an average of 94 which featured just the 6 tons. If you look at his opening 6 games of the year he averaged 99 in SuperCoach and 90 in AFLFantasy/DreamTeam. Owners that do start with Zac will certainly be hoping he can recreate that start to the year.
Injury dinted the majority of his season last year suffering an Achilles injury at a preseason training in January. When he did finally make his return from injury for the finals series he played as if he hadn’t missed a beat. Returning with 23 disposals, 9 marks, 4 tackles and a 107 in AFLFantasy/DreamTeam and 117 in SuperCoach. The better news about it is that due to this coming in the finals it didn’t count towards impacting any discount he was likely to receive in 2019.
MY TAKE
How many of these midprice and stepping stone defenders do I want? Already in the past few days, we’ve discussed Dylan Roberton, Pearce Hanley, Brodie Smith and now Williams. The reason I’ve grouped them all together is that they are all so incredibly difficult to split when discussing fantasy relevancy across every format. All have different strengths over the other but all present serious value and if you’re looking at a stepping stone you, depending on the format at least one, if not maybe multiple need to be considered. The more of them the pick certainly the greater the potential risks, but as the risk variables increase so too does the potential rewards. Zac along with all these defenders offer plenty of upside given the price point and have a proven history of handy scoring.
Obviously, I’ve given Williams the higher ranking in the 50 due to the fact I feel more confident in him being someone that I could keep for the year, at least in SuperCoach. That said, you could probably put the 4 in any order based on personal preference as they’re all offering supreme value and all highly capable fantasy footy options.
A fit and firing Zac Williams based on his recent years is a safe 80 average across the formats and I believe he should do the job again. Time will tell if what he does is enough to be a hold for the year, but for mine in SuperCoach, it’s certainly within the realms of possibility.
The only reason Zac isn’t on your watchlist is that your going a pure Guns & Rookies strategy this year. For
DRAFT DECISIONS
If he were to average over 80 in all formats that’d place him inside the top 20 defenders in AFLFantasy/DreamTeam based on this seasons rankings, while for SuperCoach it would be around the top 40 mark. The thing is you won’t likely have to use a draft selection on him that high.
He may drift out to a D4 in some low-quality draft leagues, but I certainly wouldn’t be banking on landing him there. Given how much talk about him is happening in the fantasy community I think if you want to own him you’ll be parting with him in a selection as your D3.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Do you believe he is fantasy relevant?
Will you be starting with him?
Have your say at our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
WANT EARLY ACCESS?
Want access 24 hours early to the 50 Most Relevant podcasts? Join our Patreon and get ahead of the Crowd!
Become a Patron!NEXT UP…
Tune into our Facebook page at 9pmEDST for a clue
