Possible 2021 Fantasy position changes

Fantasy positions will be finalised and revealed in mid-late-December as lists will be ‘finalised’ following the Draft which is set to be held in the week of the 7th December.

As with every year, there will be plenty of position changes ahead of the new season.

Using the position additions throughout the season by Champion Data and their AFL Player Ratings, we’ve tried to find the key changes that will be the most Fantasy relevant in 2021.

WHITFIELD GOES BACK TO DEF

This time last year we saw Lachie Whitfield go from having DEF status in 2019 to MID/FWD status in 2020. According to the Player Ratings, Whitfield will be a DEF next season. He generally lined up at half-back and racked up a lot of his numbers, including those handy +6s, in the back-half of the ground. There is a chance that he’ll have DEF/MID status despite just being named up as a DEF by the Player Ratings (they don’t have any DPP for defenders.

Whitfield with DEF status will place him as the second most expensive defender due to his 2020 average of 86.4. Jake Lloyd averaged 91.5.

OTHERS TO LOSE FWD STATUS

The top scoring Fantasy forward in 2020, one point more than Whitfield, was Christian Petracca. He enjoyed a cracking season due to his midfield role and this is likely to make him a MID only next season.

Other top performing MID/FWDs from this year that are are good odds to be MID only include Hugh Greenwood and Andrew Brayshaw. Their spike in output was because of their midfield usage. Greenwood averaged 77% of centre bounce attendances. While Brayshaw attended ‘just’ 42% of CBAs, he is named up as a MID in the Player Ratings.

Jy Simpkin and Bailey Smith were popular mid-priced players that improved their numbers. They will be stripped of their FWD status and be MID only.

Although David Swallow gained FWD status in the first lot of DPP additions, his season-long 61% CBAs would nearly put a line through him holding that for 20201.

DUNKLEY, DANGERFIELD NOW FWDS?

A big name of the trade period, who remains a Dog is Josh Dunkley. While some joked about him gaining ruck status due to his couple of games where he was the main man in there, despite English playing, he was used as a forward for a lot of the season. A tale is told by the Bulldogs’ CBAs. Dunkley was in the guts for 77%, 80% and 87% for the first three rounds, but coming back from injury, he peaked at 41%, averaging less than 25% for his last 8 games.

While some was bench, he was primarily forward and this should see him as a MID/FWD in 2021.

But, as discussed on last week’s podcast… can we touch (or trust) any of the Dogs?

% of time spent in the midfield for Josh Dunkley:

2016 – 38%
2017 – 35%
2018 – 51%
2019 – 77% (career-best season)
2020 – 55%#SuperCoach #AFLFantasy #AFLTrade

— Fantasy Freako (@FantasyFreako) November 3, 2020

It’ll be interesting to see whether Patrick Dangerfield gets the DPP he’s been talked up to gain. He missed out on the second round of DPP additions by a few percent, but finals games count towards the positions that Champion Data provide for the Fantasy competitions. In the semi-final he booted 4 goals and played 81% as a forward. Throughout the finals he spent plenty of time forward and it could be very close to him being named as a MID/FWD in 2021.

Steele Sidebottom and Dayne Zorko added FWD to their MID status’ during the season and could be in the mix for dual-position status. One of Roy’s favourites, Zac Bailey, is listed as MID/FWD by the Player Ratings after being a DEF/MID in Fantasy this year.

Two-time Norm Smith Medallist Dustin Martin is called a MID/FWD by Player Ratings, but interestingly, he has the highest percentage of centre bounce attendances for the Tigers with 76%. It will be interesting to see how the numbers come out and whether he is DPP again.

2020 DUAL POSITION PLAYER ADDITIONS

Each year the team at Champion Data adjust the Fantasy classifications for players in a single position to reflect what roles they have been playing. From what we understand, their cut off is approximately 35% in the ‘new’ position (which is what we see give them DPP when they are initially set up in early December).

Due to a shortened season, there was just two rollouts of DPP additions in 2020. The first was prior to round six as per normal, the second was following round 12 rather than before. This was due to the condensed fixtures and that round 12 was at the end of the first block of condensed fixtures.

A total of 48 players added DPP,

PRE-ROUND 6 ADDITIONS

Magpie gun Steele Sidebottom was the biggest name to gain DPP in the first rollout but coaches didn’t really get to take advantage of it. He was suspended for breaching COVID-19 protocols. When he returned, his price was extremely high due to his cracking start to the year. Soon after he left the hub to return to Melbourne to be with his pregnant wife.

Player	Club	Initial	Add	New
Brodie Smith		DEF	MID	DEF/MID
Ben Keays		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Cameron Rayner		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Chris Mayne		MID	DEF	DEF/MID
Tom Phillips		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Will Hoskin-Elliott		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Steele Sidebottom		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Jake Stringer		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
David Zaharakis		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Reece Conca		MID	DEF	DEF/MID
James Aish		DEF	MID	DEF/MID
Brett Bewley		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Lachie Weller		DEF	MID	DEF/MID
Jack Bowes		MID	DEF	DEF/MID
David Swallow		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Darcy Fort		FWD	RUC	RUC/FWD
Shaun Burgoyne		DEF	FWD	DEF/FWD
Ben McEvoy		RUC	DEF	DEF/RUC
Jay Lockhart		FWD	DEF	DEF/FWD
James Harmes		MID	DEF	DEF/MID
Christian Petracca		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Aaron Hall		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Zak Butters		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Connor Rozee		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Jarryn Geary		DEF	FWD	DEF/FWD
Ben Long		FWD	DEF	DEF/FWD
Harry Cunningham		DEF	MID	DEF/MID
Tom Liberatore		MID	FWD	MID/FWD

POST-ROUND 12 ADDITIONS

Lions captain Dayne Zorko has been a Fantasy favourite over the years and his DPP was a welcomed addition. The recently traded Isaac Smith is another that could be a relevant FWD in 2021 as well as Jye Caldwell.

Player	Club	Initial	Add	New
Ned McHenry		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Dayne Zorko		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Cam Ellis-Yolmen		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Matthew Kennedy		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Orazio Fantasia		FWD	DEF	DEF/FWD
Rory Lobb		RUC	FWD	RUC/FWD
Will Powell		MID	DEF	DEF/MID
Mark Blicavs		DEF	MID	DEF/MID
Jye Caldwell		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Isaac Smith		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Luke Jackson		RUC	FWD	RUC/FWD
Harley Bennell		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Adam Tomlinson		MID	DEF	DEF/MID
Kyron Hayden		MID	DEF	DEF/MID
Sam Mayes		MID	DEF	DEF/MID
Kane Farrell		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Kane Lambert		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Shai Bolton		FWD	MID	MID/FWD
Brendon Ah Chee		MID	FWD	MID/FWD
Oscar Allen		FWD	RUC	RUC/FWD