Punching above their weight – Round 5

Which players are playing better than their average?

Who are those that are outperforming their price?

Who is punching above their weight?

It is that time of the week again, when we look at the past weeks performance and discussed who smashed it? Who went berko? Who clearly punched above their weight?

Now just to clarify a few questions that I have had via Twitter is how is the Hampson awarded? Is it based on the weekly scores or year to date?

Well it has previously been just about year to date, but based on the no names that smashed out 100s this week, I have decided to include both.

The year to date will still be the Hampson, and the weekly prize which shall be known as the Kallis (After the South African Mr Potato Head resembling all rounder…. if you need clarification that he was punching above his weight… refer below and Miss Cindy Nell)

Seriously you cannot tell me that he doesn’t look like …

So… on to the inaugural winner of the Kallis…..no surprises.. ..

Yep Good old Paddy Dangerfield

Paddy absolutely smashed it in the Showdown, 39 Disp, 8 Marks, 3 Tackles, 4 FF and 2 FA.. 140 glorious DT points…. a nice way to bring you home in a close league on a Sunday arvo if you had him.

Congrats Paddy… wear the Kallis with honour!!

The Hampson Medal

Now on to the Hampson… Swan Craig Bird was last week’s winner and blew the theory of the Hampson being cursed by backing up against the Hawks for 113 points… proving that the Hampson curse is a myth.
infact Bird’s performance was so good he is up on the dais again this week sharing the medal with ever reliable and perennial Hampson runner up Brad Ebert…

Seriously, owners of Ebert must be bloody chuffed.. They took a punt on him at a smidge over $300k and is not only averaging 105, but has pocketed them a cool 106k and with a BE of 72, that should rise again.

As for Bird, (Look how stoked he is that he has won again!) he has a low of 82 but has pumped out 2 100s and is averaging 101. He is a tackling machine averaging 8.2 tackles per game with twice being over 10 tackles in a match already this year

On twitter today I asked for nominations for underpriced upgrade targets for me to focus on. So I thought that I would run some numbers and see if we can determine if these guys are actually the real deal and could be a Premo.

So overwhelmingly 3 players were mentioned, that all interestingly share a round 12 Bye, so provided they fit your structure, here they are.

Clancee Pearce  – Mid/Fwd – $391,500 Ave 85.8

I guess when you are named Clancee you are used to copping a bit of abuse, but seriously this Clancee looks like a Bad ass dude (Just ask Armfield in the above pic)

Considering that Clancee pulled on the red vest in round 1 for a platry 16 points, if you take that out he is actually averaging a whopping 103 and punching at a very healthy +25.  His last 4 games read 95, 115, 109, 94… they are very nice numbers for someone to have in your forward line and is second only to Mitch Robinson and ahead of Steele Sidebottom.

I watched him very closely against my beloved blues on Friday night and was just around it all the time… he only had 20 disposals but also laid 10 tackles..and let’s face it , he looks like the kind of guy that would mind crunching the opposition in a tackle (I was gonna say the kind of player that loves a tackle…snigger… but thought I better not in case he finds out where I live and hunts me down Dexter style).

The Dockers draw is pretty good as well with Gold Coast and Port in the next 2 weeks followed by Hawks, Eagles, Crows and Tigers before the Bye. Post Bye they play Melb twice, GWS, Port and the Dogs… they feel like some good points.

Pearce also provides a good strong body around the contests to help out the likes of the smaller bodied Fyfe and Barlow. With Lyon going on record saying that he will rest players during the year, I dont see this being a big issue for Clancee as would see some of Freo’s better ball users and bigger names getting a rest before him.

He goes into this week with a BE of 49 and projected increase of 15k.. so definitely a good time to jump on if any of the numbers above spark your interest. The only down side may be the Bye that he shares with Sidey, Cloke, Beams, Fyfe, Pav, Goodes, Chappy, Stevie J, Zaha to name just a few… but why not take a Chancee on Clancee? I don’t think it would be the worst move that you could make all year.

Josh Kennedy – Mid – $474,500 Ave 113

Last week I talked about Kennedy in passing saying that next year he could be a potential Premo… he must have heard me… punching out a Swanesque 147 against the Hawks down at Aurora, almost doubling his previous average against them. (76).

147 comprised 27 disposals, 6 marks and 11 tackles, add 3 goals and just icing on top of a pretty impressive cake.

Looking at his numbers, he loves getting 27 disposals… has done it 4 out of 5 games (the other game was 36 disp v Freo) and has a 50% kick to handball ratio, traditionally not fantastic for DT, but the numbers are pretty good. He averages 6 tackles and 4 marks a game, but importantly is averaging 1.2 goals per game as well.  His 5 games this year read 94, 136, 94, 95, 147.

Of the 5 games he has played he tends to score better against tougher opposition with his 2 big 100s against Freo and the Hawks, whilst his 90s have been against GWS, Port and North.  A mixed bag coming up for the Swannies prior to the Bye with games against Crows, Tigers, Dees, Saints, Dogs and Bombers.

Is he the real deal? Not sure but have been very impressed with the way that he goes about it nad will definitely pump out some more big scores before the season is ovet, the question for me is whether those mid 90’s scores can become 110+ scores. If he can do that then Ladies and Gentleman he may just be a keeper.. but I am gonna say not quite at this stage…

This almost certainly guarentees another monster score this week.

Allen Christensen – Mid/Fwd – $360,200 Ave 76.6

Bundy was on a lot of radar’s pre season, given his smashing finish to the year and his impressive numbers when you took his sub scores out. Like Clancee, he started the season in the Vest with a 33 first up against the Dockers. If we take this out he is actually averaging 87.5 and has been very impressive in his last 2 matches with 110 and 101.

Rotating more through the midfield this year has seen his goal scoring drop, registering only the one major so far this year. He is averaging 23 disposals in his last 4 games, 4.4 tackles and just 2.6 marks. He is very nicely priced and could well push that average up towards mid 90s. Has a great BE of 21 and a $22k price rise on the cards this week and a game against the Dees which should see him put up some healthy numbers.

The cats draw coming up looks pretty nice as well as after the dees, they have Crows, Pies, Dogs, GWS and Blues before their Bye. Post their Bye the draw gets tougher but do have some juicy games against Port, Suns and the Doggies.

Bundy has some stiff competition with the abovementioned guys sharing the round 12 Bye, but if you are looking at going unique, he may just be the one.

So that is a wrap for the week… congrats to Bird and Ebert for sharing the Hampson and to Danger for taking out the Kallis.

Each week I will now be focussing on 3 players that are punching above their weight and will be looking to the Twiitersphere for nominations… so shoot them through to me @RainmanDT.

 If you aren’t on Twitter already, get on board and follow the DTTalk crew.

Cheers

Rainman @RainmanDT