Deck of Dream Team 2012: Scott Thompson

Name: Scott Thompson
Club: Adelaide Crows
Position: Centre
Bye Round: 11
2011 Average: 109
2011 Games Played: 22
Predicted Average: 115

Why should I pick him? With Riccutio, Goodwin and Edwards gone from the Adelaide midfield, this pretty much left Thompson to be the main clearance man for the Crows for 2011.  He scored 15 tons in his 22 games and twice cracked 150pts.  He is also their number one link up guy when coming out of defence and often picks up some cheap marks and kicks across the half back line.  Durability certainly isn’t an issue for him, he didn’t miss a beat and his lowest score for the year was a 61 in rd 7 in that shocking game against the Dees where no Crows scored a ton.

He had 160 more disposals than any other Crow in 2011 and has about a 1:1 kick to handball ratio, not only that he led the team with 119 valuable tackles.  This more than makes up for the fact he isn’t a heavy goal scorer.

In 2012 he also has one of the softest draws, he gets to play Gold Coast, GWS and Port Adelaide all twice!  The Crows play all of these teams once in the first 5 rounds of the season along with the Dogs at home, he should score 120+ in most of them.  Based on that alone he is worth a pick in your midfield.

His bye week is shared by Brisbane, GWS, North, West Coast and the Bulldogs.  So when you are missing Hawthorn, Collingwood and Geelong players, Scotty will be there racking up the big numbers for you.

Why shouldn’t I pick him?  The one big variable in the mix here is new coach Brenton Sanderson.  We are yet to see what his style will bring to the table for the Crows.  I can’t see his role changing much, but you just never know with a new coach what may happen.  The other factor to consider is that Thompson is the Crows only key midfielder that does any damage and as such should draw the tag on most occasions.

Deck of DT Rating: King.  This guy has the ability to lift his DT game to another level and become an out and out DT superstar.  If he kicks a few more times than handballing in 2012 we could see his averages go past the 115 mark by the end of the season.  As mentioned above, he has a soft draw over the first 5 weeks (apart from the Hawks in Rd 3) and should be a gun scorer from the start.