Deck of Dream Team 2012: Nathan Van Berlo

Name: Nathan Van Berlo
Club: Adelaide
Assistant Coach 2012 Price: $462,700
Position: Midfield
Bye Round: 11
2011 Average: 93
2011 Games Played: 22
Predicted Average: 106

Why should I pick him? There were two Nathan Van Berlo’s last season.  There was the Craigy version and the Bickley version.  The Craigy version of VB averaged 83 whilst the Bickley version averaged a touch under 122!  Those last 6 games read:

• 120 vs Port Adelade
• 137 vs Brisbane
• 102 vs Geelong
• 126 vs Gold Coast
• 143 vs Richmond
• 102 vs West Coast

This shows that when let off the leash and allowed to run he can rack up some massive scores.  Also, he smashes the weaker teams and with the Crows draw of 2 x Port, 2 x GC and 2 x GWS he should have 6 games of over 120pts.  During that run of 6 games he had a possession average in the 25+ range whereas the previous 6 were in the mid teens. 

These are the scores and possession counts of the elite midfielders, the big question is what is the game style of Brenton Sanderson?  Well if he plans to bring the game plan of the Cats over where the midfield racked up  high possession numbers then this should help boost Van Berlo right up there to that 106 that I think he can average without the Craigy schackles.

As with teammate and other Deck inductee Scotty Thompson, his bye is a fairly nice one, the only issue is if you have teammate Scott Thompson or the Red Rock combo from Brisbane.  Other than that he is in the clear from the key guys from Collingwood, Geelong and Hawthorn.

The other thing he has is durability, he hasn’t played any less than 19 games over the last 6 years.  So you know that he will be there week in week out.

Why shouldn’t I pick him?  The biggest variable here is the new coach.  Whilst we can only hope (from a DT points perspective) that Sando lets VB run loose through the midfield we don’t know exactly what will happen so this is one of the bigger risks.  All we can do is look at the preseason and get our best guage from that.

He is very awkwardly priced.  His price is in the same league as proven scorers such as ROK, Pav and Barlow.  Whilst he presents value based on those last 6 games, we don’t know if this is a true indication of his form as by that stage of the season they had lost their coach and it was fairly clear that they were not going to make the finals.  Once again, the preseason will be the thing to check.

Deck of DT Rating: Queen.  Van Berlo appears to be a guy on the rise.  He certainly proved that lifting his average by 12 points last season.  If he is left to run through the midfield with any tag going to Thompson, he should be a big accumulator of touches through that Adelaide midfield.  Just keep an eye on him during the preseason and see what his role is.  I think that he will bring that form of the end of last season to the start of 2012 and he could start his climb to be one of the top midfielders in the DT competition.

Thoughts?  Find me on twitter @pkd73