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Patreon Only | MJ’s first DreamTeam side revealed for 2020
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Read Time:1 Minute, 45 Second

Just days ago the AFLDreamTeam picker was released for assistant coach subscribers. As soon as it opened I spent 5 minutes making a team. As a special treat for Patreons I thought I’d share it with you.

Lloyd and Laird are easy selections, they’ve been among the top defenders the past few years and will likely be again in 2020. Sicily is value and with new recruits Frost holding down the key defensive post and Patton up forward. I anticipate with see Sicily back to his DT best.
Docherty will be among the most popular players of 2020 and a fit Robertson is way too goo a value to pass.
Hill is dirt cheap and is a safe 70, every chance though he becomes a basement price cash cow by the time lockout arrives. Gould and Ling are just place holders for now.

Spending the big bucks in the middle. Starting with who I believe will be the top 4 averaging midfielders for 2020. Titch if fit and firing is a no brainer even coming off a broken leg.
Everyone will own Pickett next year and for good reason while I think all of Hibberd, McHenry, Valentine and Robertson all should get plenty of games next year.

I see no reason for a scoring decline from Brodie Grundy, while the early fixture for Sauce makes him one I’m seriously keen on for a stepping stone.

Like in the defensive line I’m locking away who I believe are the best forward options in Whitfield and Dusty.
Jack Steven seems to be flying on the track and if he gets the midfield minutes vacated by Kelly then he’ll be an absolute certainty for me.
Bonar is pricey, but should get the midfield minutes to justify the selection, otherwise he’ll become a cheap cow later on the preseason.
Rankine and King both have awesome job security while Bergman and Mahoney are place holders currently.

What about you patreons? Got your a side yet? Share it below, I’d love to see what your up to. – MJ

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mj.want@lightmelbourne.com.au
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Patreon Only | Trade Review |Josh Bruce
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Read Time:2 Minute, 3 Second

Impact on the new club: 

Josh Bruce‘s inclusion into the Bulldogs forward structure is one of the undervalued trades off the offseason. Last year he kicked 36 goals. The seasons before this his goal tallies were 4 (he played only three games), 36, 38 & 50.

He’s a decent set shot, strong contested mark and regularly presents himself into dangerous positions as a forward. Including him, into the forward now gives the bulldogs another tall to work alongside Aaron Naughton and Josh Schache.

Sam Lloyd has shown he’s a damaging small forward who’s capable of clunking a mark while Bailey Dale and Toby McLean round out a potent forward line.

This move, as well as the trade for Alex Keath, should ensure the Bulldogs are playing deep into finals for the 2020 season.

Impact on the old club:

The departure will have a significant effect on the Saints. Last year St Kilda was the fifth-lowest scoring side, with only Gold Coast, Carlton, Melbourne and Fremantle worse off.

In 2019 Tim Membrey was the leading goalkicker with 44, but Bruce was right behind him with 36. The Next best three goal-scoring tallies were from Matthew Parker (16), Jade Gresham (15) and Ben Long. 

The positive for St Kilda is Max King will be a superstar. However, the departure of Bruce will put an even higher level of responsibility on him as well as on Tim Membrey and the resting ruckmen.

Fantasy Summary: 

Key position players at either end of the ground are rarely Fantasy football relevant. To be clear, Josh Bruce is no exception to the rule. Across his SuperCoach career at St Kilda and GWS, his personal best was 70 back in 2018. For AFLFantasy he’s never averaged over 68. 

Josh will provide a valuable forward target, but from a SuperCoach or AFLFantasy perspective, he’s not relevant for the salary cap or draft leagues. 

His inclusion to the Dogs does have potentially a positive fantasy output, just not for him. I believe if anyone benefits it’s Marcus Bontempelli who know will only be needed to rest forward rather than ‘have’ to play there to create another tall target. If a focussed midfield role does continue for ‘the bont’, then he must be considered as a genuine top 10 midfielders in SuperCoach.

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mj.want@lightmelbourne.com.au
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Patreon Only | Trade Review | Brad Hill
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Read Time:2 Minute, 2 Second

Impact on the new club: 

Ever since the retirement of Leigh Montagna, the Saints midfield has looked very one-paced. The exception to the rule was club champion, Jack Steven. With his trade to Geelong, the club needed an injection of speed and outside class. 

Brad Hill personifies these qualities, and it’s evident based on his 2019 statistics. Last year he rated elite for: metres gained, effective kicks, rebound 50’s, uncontested possessions, kicks and goal assists. 

He, along with a fit Dan Hannebery should provide St Kilda with the outside skill and running needed. This should enable their inside midfield brigade the outside support required and forward line the opportunities to create scoreboard pressure.

Impact on the old club:

His departure along with Ed Langdon’s move to Melbourne leaves a significant gap in the Fremantle midfield. Both players were the primary outside speed, carry and polish. Their absence will create opportunities for others.

Fremantle must now look to the upcoming draft and the players existing on the list to replace the outside midfield losses. Michael Walters could move more into the midfield. His class and speed would be a welcome addition outside of stoppages. Adam Cerra is a classy user of the ball and needs to use into the midfield, a role on the wing could be a great move.

Connor Blakey and James Aish both played in the midfield as juniors and could be given chances to evolve from the backline. Depending on what the Dockers pick up at the draft will also have an impact on who gains midfield opportunities.

Fantasy Summary: 

For the majority of his AFL career, Brad Hill has been irrelevant as a fantasy football option. The exception was his first season as a Docker back in 2017. 

That year he was forward eligible and averaged 93.6 in AFLFantasy including eight scores over 100. For the fantasy coaches that owned him that season, especially late in drafts found themselves with great late value. Since then he’s averaged 80 & 88 in AFLFantasy and 78 & 84 in SuperCoach. 

With Hill coming off a season averaging in the mid 80’s he will be selected in the majority of draft leagues. Depending on the squad depth it will be as an emergency cover selection or a final on-field spot.

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Patreon Only | Trade Review | Blake Acres
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Read Time:2 Minute, 5 Second

Impact on the new club: 

Fremantle has done the opposite of St Kilda of the Dockers. The club has allowed established players to depart and will head to the draft to top up the list. With the departures of Brad Hill and Ed Langdon, outside midfield opportunities have arisen at the club. Besides, David Mundy is a further twelve months older, and the Dockers must look to the future stars of the club. 

Andrew Brayshaw and Adam Cerra must be given large amounts of responsibility in the midfield to support skipper Nat Fyfe. Michael Walters should also move into an even more dominant midfield role too. If the damaging small forward academy selection Liam Henry is taken in the draft.

Acres could be a perfect fit inside the contest for the Dockers. If he can get his body right, he could be a genuine fantasy candidate if he maintains his forward status again.

Impact on the old club:

St Kilda has made significant changes to the squad during the trade period. The club has moved on Jack Steven, Josh Bruce along with Acres & brought in five new players. With both Brad Hill and Zak Jones running through the midfield group.

Regardless of the potential, he’s shown the trades made by the saints have offset the Acres departure. When he did play, he didn’t appear to have either the endurance or confidence of the coaching staff to get a defined midfield role. Acres was left to play minimal midfield minutes and used as a role-playing forward.

Fantasy Summary: 

At St Kilda, Blake Acres was denied opportunities to play as an inside midfielder. He’s been stuck behind the likes of Seb Ross, Jack Steele and Luke Dunstan all getting a role ahead of him. On the occasions, he was allowed to use his hulking frame through the midfield. His fantasy numbers showed plenty of promise. 

In 2018 his opening five scores in SuperCoach were 144, 90, 97, 92 & 107. In AFLFantasy it was 124, 92, 77, 83 and 100. 

Moving to Fremantle, they desperately need support for Nat Fyfe, and under a new coach, Blake could thrive if given the opportunities. Currently priced 13-15 points per game under what he achieved in 2018, so if he retains forward status, he looms as a genuine breakout candidate.

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mj.want@lightmelbourne.com.au
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Patreon Only | Trade Review | Andrew Phillips
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Read Time:1 Minute, 29 Second

Impact on the new club: 

It’s felt like an eternity since Essendon have had a dominant ruckman in the AFL. Currently, Tom Bellchambers is the Bombers #1 ruck while Sam Draper is tracking nicely and developing in the VFL. 

With the delisting of Zac Clarke, the club have identified the need for a more experienced stopgap. Enter Andrew Phillips. The former Giant, Blue and now Bomber has shown promising signs across his career but has struggled to get the most out of his failing body.

Impact on the old club:

Over the past seven seasons, Matthew Kreuzer has only played above 17 games in a season on two occasions. By letting Andrew Phillips head to Essendon Carlton needed to add some depth to the ruck stocks. Thankfully for the blues during the trade period, the inclusion of Marc Pittonet has offset any loss in this department.

Fantasy Summary: 

From a SuperCoach and AFLFantasy perspective, it was his breakout year. Before this year, he’d never averaged higher than 64. Then in 2019 from his five games, he averaged 92.8 in SuperCoach including a personal best 114 against the Crows. While in AFLFantasy he averaged 80.4

At Carlton Andrew Phillips was only relevant when injuries occurred given he was back up to Matthew Kreuzer. As an Essendon player, he finds himself in an identical situation where he’ll only get games in the absence of Tom Bellchambers. In drafts, he would be relevant in deeper leagues as he’s the ideal ruck handcuff option to Tom. 

Beyond that, he’s a daily fantasy-relevant option only; he should not be considered for salary cap formats of the game.

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Patreon Only | Trade Review | Aiden Bonar
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Read Time:1 Minute, 58 Second

Impact on the new club: 

I like what the Kangaroos are doing with the addition of Aiden Bonar. In his draft year, he was viewed as one of the best athletic prospects in the pool. The Roos will be hoping he can continue his development from a powerful forward role player to a genuine inside bull.

The Kangaroos need to bring some fresh faces with Shaun Higgins (31) Ben Cunnington (28) and Jack Ziebell (28) the current midfield leaders. 

Bonar (20) along with Luke Davies-Uniake (20), Tarryn Thomas (19) and Jy Simpkin (21) are the future of North Melbourne. 2020 and 2021 are crucial years for the Roos, and a successful transition of responsibility in the midfield is critical.

Impact on the old club:

None, absolutely none! GWS are stacked to the ceiling with players capable of running through the midfield. Once injuries stuck this year to Callan Ward, Josh Kelly and even Stephen Coniglio players like Toby Greene and Zac Williams stepped up taking multiple rotations. 

However, the depth is even higher than this. Last years draft crop in Jackson Hately and Jye Caldwell will have developed over another preseason and deserve time through the guts. Then to top it off they’ll likely pick up the best inside midfielder in the draft Tom Green as an academy selection in the draft. 

In short, as talented as Bonar is, the Giants won’t miss him at all.

Fantasy Summary: 

He moves from fantasy footy irrelevance at GWS into the conversation at North Melbourne. From his two games this season he averaged just over 40 across the formats. The key questions will be first, is he worth the premium cash cow price tag in our starting squads? Fantasy coaches have plenty of strong cash cows already entering 2020, so for him to be a good selection, he’ll need to outscore them.

Can he force his way into the Roos engine room which already boasts Cunnington, Ziebell, Davies-Uniake, Higgins, Anderson, Simpkin, Dumont and Thomas? This will be something fantasy coaches need to watch with great interest? If he can, based on his likely price point, he needs to be on your preseason watchlist.

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mj.want@lightmelbourne.com.au
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Patreon Only | Trade Review | Josh Jenkins
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Read Time:1 Minute, 23 Second

Impact on the new club: 

The suspension of Tom Hawkins in Geelong’s Preliminary Final loss to Richmond highlighted the clubs lack of tall forward options. 

With the recruitment of Josh Jenkins provides ready-made depth to a side who are pushing to add another premiership to the cabinet. 

Tom Hawkins‘ spot in the side is safe, while Esava Ratugoela showed enough late last year. Geelong’s key stocks in Geelong’s forward line are stitched up at least for now. So the Jenkins’ trades looks like his move to the club is to bring depth to the club.

Impact on the old club:

The Adelaide Football Club has been very clear about the team’s long term direction. The Crows are looking to the next generation as the side begins its rejuvenation after another failed season. 

Even before the clubs significant changes in the offseason during last year we saw that Josh Jenkins got ignored by the Crows for Darcy Fogarty and Elliott Himmelberg.

His departure from the side is cancelled out with the clubs inclusion of Billy Frampton as a trade from Port Adelaide.

Fantasy Summary: 

Key position players are rarely SuperCoach or AFLFantasy relevant, and when we discuss Geelong’s latest recruit, it’s no exception. The best of Josh Jenkins from a fantasy footy perspective was the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In AFLFantasy he averaged 80 and 81, and for SuperCoach he averaged 85 and 79.

The trade to Geelong won’t increase Josh’s fantasy footy relevance. The variable is if he has a radical role change and becomes the new #1 ruckman. That’s probably not going to happen.

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mj.want@lightmelbourne.com.au
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Patreon Only | Trade Review | Marc Pittonet
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Read Time:1 Minute, 21 Second

Impact on the new club: 

With Andrew Phillips moving over to Essendon, Marc’s move to Carlton places him clearly as the back up to Matthew Kreuzer. Over the past seven seasons, Kreuzer has only played above 17 games in a season on two occasions. The potential upside for fantasy coaches is that should that trend continue we could have relatively cheap R3 candidate.

Impact on the old club:

The Frenchmen was third in line for the ruck spot behind Jon Ceglar and Ben McEvoy at Hawthorn. In the past four seasons as a Hawk, he managed just seven games. With three games the most played in a single season. 

The move does thin the Hawks ruck stocks marginally, but barring some horrible injury luck it should have minimal disruption to the clubs finals hopes.

Fantasy Summary: 

He’s had limited opportunities at the elite level, however, when he has his scoring hasn’t set the world alight. A personal best score of 75 in SuperCoach, 59 in AFLFantasy doesn’t lend itself to a high fantasy output.

Two essential things will make Marc Pittonet relevant in 2020. Firstly, his starting price. If he can find himself priced near-cash cow territory (more likely for AFLFantasy than SuperCoach), then he enters into calculations second, if Matthew Kreuzer is injured and missed multiple games in a row. 

If a combination of those two scenarios takes flight, then Marc is someone to consider. However, if one or none eventuate, then he is nothing more than a handcuff option for draft leagues.

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mj.want@lightmelbourne.com.au
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Patreon Only | Trade Review | Lewis Taylor
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Read Time:1 Minute, 51 Second

Impact on the new club: 

Had the Tom Papley trade to Carlton eventuated a more defined role in the Swans would be apparent. However, with the Blues and Swans failing to see eye to eye on a value the position in the side for Lewis Taylor is less clear. 

One thing is clear, and that is whatever role he plays (whether small forward or wing) he’ll add good ball use and speed on the outside of the contest.

Impact on the old club:

Before the 2019 season, Lewis Taylor was a staple in the Lions side. In his first five seasons at Brisbane, he missed just the three games. However last year he was surpassed by players such as Noah Answerth and Lincoln McCarthy.

For Brisbane, the departure of Taylor has a small impact on the depth of the squad. However, the Lions are well placed with Rhys Mathieson, Cedric Cox, Mitchell Hinge and Ely Smith are all looking to put themselves into the side.

Fantasy Summary: 

As a cash cow, he played 22 games and ended up winning the AFL’s rising star award. In 2014, he played every game averaged 65 in AFLFantasy and 63 in SuperCoach. 

After a strong debut season, Lewis Taylor has done very little to keep himself on fantasy coaches radars. His best season was back in 2017. That year his SuperCoach average was 79.6 and posted three tons. For AFLFantasy he averaged 77.7 and reached triple figures in two matches. 

Having forward eligibility over much of his career has meant that in drafts he still gets himself selected in squads. However, none of his averages at Brisbane have indicated he could become a regularly fielded option in drafts, let alone considered in salary cap formats.

The trade to Sydney will help the Swans with the addition of another crafty small inside 50. Lewy is also capable of playing higher up the ground across the wings.

From a fantasy perspective, I don’t forecast a dramatic spike in his output to make him relevant for the salary cap formats of the game.

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mj.want@lightmelbourne.com.au
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Patreon Only | Trade Review |Jack Steven
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Read Time:2 Minute, 27 Second

Impact on the new club: 

During the Trade period, Geelong had the most significant single-player loss with the moving of Tim Kelly to West Coast. No one player move has offset this loss for the cats, but rather a combination of players traded in, and incoming draft picks should help minimize the impact.

The loss of Tim Kelly is significant, but the addition of Steven plus the development of a raft of youngsters should help. Brandon Parfitt, Quinton Narkle, Charlie Constable and Nakia Cockatoo all will be required to step up for the Cats.

At his peak, Jack Steven is a running machine who possess the ability to break the lines. Jack ranks elite in the AFL for his clearance work; meters gained and inside ’50s. If he can get himself physically and mentally back towards his best, then his addition will be a huge step forward in the Cats premiership aspirations.

Impact on the old club:

For multiple years Jack Steven was the leader and it many cases loan hand in the St Kilda midfield. However, after a bunch of inclusions during the trade period, the club is looking to rejig the midfield makeup under Brett Ratten.

Jack Steele, Seb Ross, Dan Hannebery and the recently recruited Brad Hill will be the experienced leaders in the midfield. Jack Billings started to fulfil his potential on the wing. We saw the emergence of Hunter Clark while Zak Jones will play a role. The Saints have a plethora of small forwards who are capable of running through the midfield and adding some dash and XFactor.

It lacks a star ball winner, but it’s not a bad midfield that will service Max King & co nicely.

Fantasy Summary: 

If you’ve played any format of fantasy footy for multiple seasons, you’ll be fully aware of the scoring potential he owns. Before this season where he battled his mental health his AFLFantasy/DreamTeam averages have been 96, 93, 104 and 111. While for SuperCoach he was going at 94, 90, 102 and 103 and only missed two games during those four seasons. 

However, three vital determining factors will impact just how many select him. Firstly, with him playing only seven games will the formats award him a discount for games missed due to battling with his mental health? Secondly, can he get back to full health and fitness? One of Jack’s key weapons is his elite endurance and aerobic capacity. Something we failed to see much during the season.

Finally, does he gain forward eligibility? In his three games, he played almost exclusively forward including one where he kicked three goals. 

If the answer is yes to all those, then he could be a highly popular starting squad option.

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mj.want@lightmelbourne.com.au
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