SuperCoach Panic Room: Round 1

The Panic Room is back for 2019, baby!

If this is your first time in the Panic Room (welcome) what is it that goes on in here? Just me talking nonsense really, and occasionally pointing you towards helpful SuperCoach tips and advice (by other people, obviously) that will hopefully make your year a bit easier. There will be team and rookie news, breakevens, and for those that like to play Draftstars daily fantasy I’ll provide a few tips for a chosen game. 

It has been hectic as ever in Jock Reynolds HQ. Some fantastic articles/analysis has hit the site this preseason. Give the website a visit, favourite it, make it your homepage, whatever you have to do because the content will be dropping thick and fast throughout the year and you don’t want to miss a moment of it.

It’s been a massive preseason, community. Good luck for the year ahead!

The News

Patch will have my head for this but I’m going to say the following – DO NOT PANIC. Yes the first bounce between Richmond and Carlton is only hours away but we’ve got a rolling lockout folks. This means that ONLY the players from those sides need to be locked away come 7:20pm. The rest of the teams will be announced tonight and Sunday squads will be finalised Friday evening before the Collingwood v Geelong game. If you have a rookie in a Sunday squad named on the bench wait until teams are confirmed before you go ripping up the side you’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears into.

For tonight… We’ve got first gamers in Sam Walsh, Mick Gibbons, and Noah Balta. The cut price Will Setterfield has also made the, uh… cut. Nic Newman will make his club debut along with Mitch McGovern and Fas. At the Tigers, Mav Weller and Tom Lynch will make their club debuts. No Kruuuuuuze for the Blues.   

***UPDATE***

The selection table was fairly kind to us last night. A lot of the rookies that we had across the JLT appeared in round 1 sides. Let’s break it down by position:

DEF: Jordan Clark, Marty Hore, Connor Rozee (FWD), Xavier Duursma (MID), Jack Scrimshaw, Callum Wilkie (Sunday), Sam Collins (Sunday), Chris Burgess (FWD, Sunday), Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (Sunday)

MID: Tom Atkins, Charlie Constable, Willem Drew (FWD), Zak Butters, Bailey Smith, Chayce Jones (MID) Nick Hind (Sunday), Jackson Hately (Sunday), Tarryn Thomas (Sunday)

RUCK: Matthew Flynn

FWD: Gryan Miers, Nick Blakey, Jack Lukosius (Sunday), Ben King (Sunday), Lachie Schultz (Sunday), Bailey Scott (Sunday)

The trick is picking the right ones! It’s a positive we have so many as it allows correctional trades in a few weeks. 

In other big selection news. Pie Jamie Elliot will play his first match in almost two years. Buddy is back and will play and so will Jack Steven. Scott Lycett has been named in the ruck for Power with Ryder at full-forward. Brad Crouch will return after injury wiped out his 2018 season. There’s been some interest in new Swan Ryan Clarke after his strong JLT, he’s been named on a wing. Stef Martin has beat out Archie Smith to lead Brissy’s ruck division. No JJK at the Eagles, but Tom Hickey will make his club debut. 

On Sunday, the Suns recruitment drive of handing out flyers at Surfers Paradise has paid off with a potential of eight new faces. North aren’t far behind with potentially six new names among their ins. No Josh Kelly at the Giants which is good news for Gonigliog and Taranto owners hoping for a fast start. Shiel makes his debut at the Bombers. At the Dockers, #fyfeislyfe and they’ve turned to *checks notes* Cam McCarthy…

If you jump on the site right now the SuperCoach Stats trial is on for all teams and will end after round 2. You’ll see a bunch of icons around, this is what they mean:

The House of Evil 

The House will be open in round 3 for all your breakeven needs! Why is it called the House of Evil? Well rookies that have a low or negative breakeven that will jump in price come with a free frogurt (that’s good!). Premiums that have a high breakeven that will see their price free falling come with Potassium Benzoate (that’s bad!)

Smooth Kevy’s Lock of the Week

The Lock makes its triumphant return this year after I managed to put the mozz on most players I recommended last year… let’s hope this year goes better! For round 1 I’m taking the easy lay-up, Patrick Dangerfield is a god damn freak and, bafflingly. is only in 69 (nice) per cent of sides. This is 135% less than it should be. He’s averaged over 112 in 6 of past 7 seasons and warmed up with 59 possessions across his two JLT games. With Gazza earmarked to be spending more time in the forward 50 this year, the long stints at full forward Patrick experienced last year look like a thing of the past. Lock. Him. In.

Hey Now, You’re a Draftstar

If you fancy a go at Draftstars they’ve got a YUGGGE 100k contest on tonight. There’s also a free tournament, so don’t go crazy. Single game slates like tonights are tough, a lot needs to go right to get over the line. I’ve had quick look and below is my take for tonight. 

RUCKS

Not much to get excited about here. It’ll be Nank (13.9k) v Phillips (10k) and honestly, neither have great records against the opposing team or at the ‘G. Nank had problems last year leaking points to opposition rucks and while Phillips won’t blow the doors off the place, 10k is affordable enough. Harry McKay (9.8k) is also there but yeah, nah.

DEF

Richmond usually leave medium defenders alone and Kade Simpson (14.6k) loves playing the Tigers. Averaging 114 in past 4 and 106 in his past 5 at the MCG. Nic Newman (11.7k) is another that loves the ‘G, averaging 97 in his past 5 there. Vlastuin and Houli are at similar price points (11.3k/12.1k) but they may not have a lot of work to do tonight. For value, Broad (7k) and Cuningham (7.9k) are options after strong preseasons.

MID

Plenty of value here. Setterfield (9k), Walsh (9.9k), and Gibbons (7.5k) are all under 10k tonight and Zac Fisher is just over 10k. Draftstars awards +4 for a tackle and for that reason Jack Graham (9.5k) makes for an interesting pivot off those guys. Dusty loves this round 1 fixture, scoring 139 and 110 in his past 2 and you can almost lock in 30 touches and two goals from Patrick Cripps (18.2k). If you want to get funky, Marc Murphy averages 114 at the MCG since 2017.

FWD

Noah Balta (6.9k) could be anything tonight. Can see Lynch being eased into it so Balta could see some R2 action. Jack Higgins will roll through the midfield at times, 10.3k seems too cheap for him. The Blues, unsurprisingly, rank in the top 3 for both conceding scoring shots to opposition forward and conceding marks inside 50. If you’re an absolute madman you could look at Tom Lynch (11.6k) who has terrorised Carlton over the years, but I reckon his inclusion means more time up the field for Jack Riewoldt (13.2k), making him a safer pick.

My side:

We’ve made it, community! No more footy-less weekends until September. Good luck to all and remember your ol’ mate Kev if you walk away 50k richer