Round 20 SuperCoach Panic Room

We’re here folks, week 1 of SuperCoach finals action!

Now has never been a better time to appease the SuperCoach Gods. An early injury to a premium can derail your week completely, if it happens this week and you’re in an elimination final it’s curtains for you in 2018. So do whatever it takes; goat sacrifice, rum can pyramid, anything!

Patch making his offer to the SuperCoach Gods during the week

Round 20 is shaping up to be pretty special before the ball has even been bounced. We’ll be seeing Swan Alex Johnson against the Pies on Saturday night after 2,136 days on the sidelines. Nathan Freeman will make his debut 1,718 days after being drafted, and after returns of 25 and 32 possessions in Adelaide’s SANFL side, Brodie Smith makes his return just 11 months after rupturing his ACL.

SuperCoach finals fever has hit Jock Reynolds HQ this week. Patch returns from his hiatus with no explanation on his whereabouts over the past few weeks, joining Lek for some shouty shenanigans and more finals advice than you can poke a SuperCoach sized stick at. Barron went a bit hard at 3am kebab during the week and is sick as a dog, so Damo has stepped up to provide us with an Around the Grounds and his usual cheat sheet. Captains this week are crucial, get the lowdown with Patch right here.

  THE NEWS

Connor Menadue gets another chance to impress tonight as the Tigers take on Geelong at G. Dion Prestia is out with a busted rib. At Geelong, man mountain Ryan Abbott (RUC – 123.9k) will make his debut and Jamaine Jones has been recalled. Tom Stewart and Quinton Narkle miss out.

Essendon have made no changes for their clash against Hawthorn on Saturday. The Hawks are swapping Jono O’Rourke with Harry Morrison. Brandon Starcevich (MID / FWD – 126.3k) will debut in one of two changes at the Lions. Jarrad Waite replaces the injured Shaun ‘Once a burnman, always a burnman’ Higgins for North. Port Adelaide are another not to make any changes, while Adelaide have gone BANG for the Showdown, making four changes. Tom Doedee may still be floating around on your SuperCoach bench, he’s amongst the ins. Mitch McGovern and Paul Seedsman have succumbed to injury. Some good and bad news at the Saints this week, Jimmy Webster and Hunter Clark are big SuperCoach ins. David Armitage returns after mysteriously being dropped. On the flip side, Shane Savage has hurt himself. The Dogs have made three changes themselves, but they are fringe players that aren’t going to hurt you. The Swans have lost Colin O’Riordan and Heath Grundy, amongst others, for the game, but have recalled Kieran Jack and Jarrad McVeigh for their do or die clash against the Pies. At Collingwood, Jack Madgen (MID – 102.4k) will debut and Brayden Sier returns, replacing the injured Matt Scharenberg and Jeremy Howe.

On Sunday, there’s your usual musical chairs galore. Carlton have added some fringe players without any confirmed outs as yet. The Giants have lost Tim Taranto and Dylan Shiel to injury. Jezza Cameron and Matt de Boer are two of the seven inclusions to be named on the field. Aiden Bonar (FWD / MID – 157.8k) has been named on an extended bench again. The Eagles have named Luke Shuey in one of four additions to their squad without a confirmed out as yet. Of Fremantle’s five ins, only Matt Taberner has been named on field. Cam Sutcliffe is out with injury. For the final game of the week, Aaron vandenBerg will make his season debut (not rookie priced, sorry) the the Dees. Jake Melksham is their only out at this stage. Gold Coast have the unenviable task of trying to replace the injured trio of David Swallow, Rory Thompson, and Steven May this week. They’ve added a bunch of new names, will Michael Barlow finally get a chance to show his worth?

THE HOUSE OF EVIL

We would’ve been wetting ourselves if Jarrod Lienert arrived as a downgrade option two months ago. As has been the case for the last few weeks, the loose trade rule of waiting until rookies are on the bubble are thrown out the window. Same with high breakevens, if you want someone then get them in.

These guys come with a free frogurt (that’s good!)

-99 – Jarrod Lienert* (DEF)

Will Walker (52 last week – MID)

Jordan Dawson (53 last week – MID / FWD)

Liam Baker (45 last week – FWD)

Kane Farrell (48 last week (DEF / MID)

These premiums contain potassium benzoate (that’s bad!)

198 – Harris Andrews

159 – The Bearded One

158 – Jack Redden

155 – Cal Ward

152 – Jelwood

149 – Luke Ryan

147 – Stiffy Martin

147 – Jack Crisp

143 – Sloanedawg

140 – Andrew Gaff

SMOOTH KEVY’S LOCK OF THE WEEK

Well our forward line is collectively all a bit shit at the moment. In my studies of the French language, a collective group of shit is called a ~le Michael Walters~.

In the latest episode of “Chris Scott doing weird shit”, he has not been content with using the best mid in game up forward, so he sent his other midfield bull and renowned ducking enthusiast, Joel Selwood, back to defence.

This leads me to Sam Menegola. He has had a bit of dry patch over the past fortnight, but has carved himself a nice little reputation as a fast finisher (in a good way…). He averaged 105.5 over the last 4 games of his debut season and topped that in 2017 with an average of 116.3. He faces Freo and Gold Coast, both at GMHBASLFJHGLSHQI+ stadium in the final two rounds.

HEY NOW, YOU’RE A DRAFTSTAR

Showdown time! Adelaide square off against Port in showdown XLV (45 guys. I know, I know, they didn’t even try tp teach us roman numerals in school!). The gurus at Fantasy Insider, who are not only bottomless pool of knowledge but extremely lovely people, have given us this ideal lineup for tomorrow night.

My take:

MIDS

Starting with the mids this week. Adelaide give up the second most points to opposition midfielders this year. Riley Knight has tagged Joel Selwood and Dayne Beams in recent weeks with little success, Selwood had 29 and Beams 26, in both cases their scores were kept low by giving away free kicks.

With that in mind, I’m all over Tom Rockliff tonight. He dominated his first Showdown, helping himself to 31 possessions and 9 tackles (127DS). He also liked playing against Adelaide while at Brisbane, averaging a lazy 149DS in his previous 3 games. Ollie WInes has 4 tons from his past 5 against the Crows. Travis Boak has been extremely consistent of late, scoring between 84-94 since round 12.

At the Crows, Rory Sloane has scores of 124 and 139 in his last two Showdown’s, he looks a tasty prospect at 12.2k. Matt Crouch has 3 scores over 120 in his past 5 games and 3 over 110 in his past 4 against Port. Hugh Greenwood may go overlooked with so many midfield studs available, he backed up his 104 two weeks ago with a 109 last week, his first two Showdown’s have seen scores of 105 and 97.   

RUCK

Port have given up 95.4DS to rucks this year. Sam Jacobs has had a few down weeks and was limited to 53DS in the Showdown earlier in the year where he struggled with back soreness, but still had 32 hitouts in that match. In the 5 Showdown’s prior to this year, he was averaging 101.8. At 10.7k we could see a 9-10x value game from Sauce

FWD

Robbie Gray’s last 5 Showdown’s? 104, 112, 90, 112, 127. Also available as a mid, he’s priced at 11.3k. Tom Lynch is another one who likes this matchup, averaging 103.6 over over the same 5 game span. Wayne Milera has been on a bit of a tear lately, also available as a mid but plays as a defender, he scored his first Draftstars 100 since round 5 and has a a 3 game average of 91. Kane Farrell was just short of a 10x value game last week. Still available at 5k and also with defender status on Draftstars, he’s a good way to get some salary relief on a slate that doesn’t have many reliable cheapies.

DEF

All eyes will be on Brodie Smith in this game. Draftstars have finally come to their senses and are not pricing experienced returning players at 5k. That said, you can be fairly confident in Brodie exceeding value at 8.6k. Jarrod Lienert is priced at 8.4k has had a #blessed start to fantasy life with returns of 72 and 79.

A word of caution on Rory Laird (that will probably blow up in my face). Port are the number 1 team in restricting medium defenders this year (84.2DS a game).

My lineup:

Finals! Woo! It’s a big week in SuperCoach land. May all our premo’s refrain from shitting the bed this week. Good luck, Community!