Player	Luke Davies-Uniacke
Club	North Melbourne
Position	MID
Price	824k
Bye	15
2022 avg	93
2022 gms	21
Proj. avg	50 max
Draft range	Probably undrafted

Why should I pick him?

You shouldn’t.

Why shouldn’t I pick him?

Luke Davies-Uniake is without a doubt the worst possible pick for your fantasy team this year, and you’d be silly to pick him in your starting squad. 

I repeat. Do NOT, under any circumstances, start LDU in your AFL Fantasy side in 2023.

Deck of DT Rating.

JOKER

He’s overpriced, overrated, and simply no good. Easiest DT Talk article I’ve ever written. 

NEXT!

 

Catch more from Dos as part of the Point of Difference Podcast

…

…

…

…

…

Dossy’s HiLux Journal: LDU, the GOAT.

Cool, now everyone has stopped reading I can share my true thoughts and feelings in this secret private diary entry in the journal of Dossy: 2023 AFL Fantasy Winner.

This is the true story of why I will 100% be starting and riding LDU the GOAT all the way to the HiLux.

Underpriced

Priced at his season average of 93, Davies-GOATiacke will cost you $824k in 2023 – an absolute bargain if you look at his back half of 2022 and the natural progression he’s shown in his still-young AFL career, not to mention the injury-affected 14-point game baked into his starting price. 

Post-bye last season, in the lead-up to and following David Noble’s axing, LDU saw his midfield time increase dramatically, resulting in a much more competitive Roos midfield, and a much more dominant Davies-Uniacke.

Just look at the numbers, Dossy:

Pre-bye CBAs: 59.4%

Pre-bye avg: 83.2

 

Post-bye CBAs: 82.3%

Post-bye avg: 106.1

In the words of BT, “boy oh boy wowee”! 

One question remains. How much mid-time does Clarko give him? Time will tell, but given he’s illustrated what he can do while shouldering more of the load, the answer should be a whole bloody lot.

Underrated 

Right now, LDU is an official point of difference (POD), owned by just 7% of coaches – and that’s fine by me!

He may not be the sexiest fantasy name going around, but he is incredibly sexy…

Photo credit: @Maddiemelb.
Note to self: upload more photos of LDU to my burner account @Maddiemelb.

North Melbourne was the worst fantasy scoring team last year, putting up a measly 1403 points per game, according to Footywire. That’s more than 180 points per game less than the Cats and 70 points less than the notoriously stingy-scoring Tigers, for reference.

The game plan changes this year. We can be sure of that! And things can only get better (on-field at least…) for the blue and white in 2023, meaning more juicy fantasy points on offer for this sexy POD.

Simply the best 

Playing just 30 games in his first three years due to a shoulder reconstruction and “pubic overload” (nice), his apparent 2021 off-season Shakira transplant appears to be working – those hips don’t lie and he’s starting to feel it’s right. 

Stringing together 41 games over the past two seasons, the 23-year-old is building into one of the competition’s best midfielders, and soon enough, best fantasy players.

Let’s just think of the best fantasy players in our game today. What do they all do? 

✔️ Rack up

✔️ Mark

✔️ Tackle

✔️ Kick goals

My ideal number lies around a 25-5-5 (disposals, marks, tackles) stat line as a starting point, with any boost in goal-scoring an added bonus. Having a mix of an inside and outside game is ideal to consistently build a score, regardless of weather conditions, opposition play style, or even a dreaded tag.

LDU has plenty of strings to his bow. His explosive power out of stoppages, elite kicking under pressure, ability to find space, and lay bone-crunching tackles, led him to average 25-4-4 to go with 0.4 goals in 2022. During his blistering stretch of nine games to finish the season, he already improved those numbers to 29-5-5 while hitting a high-ceiling score of 145 AFL Fantasy points.

Remember, these numbers are coming from the worst fantasy scoring team in the AFL last year, numbers that should only improve as North presumably possess the ball more, apply more pressure, and kick more than the league-worst nine goals per game they kicked last year. 

GOAT–D-U has the makings of a mega breakout to back up the leap he made last season, all while having another clear tag target next to him for anyone willing to roll a run-with.

Don’t think twice, Dossy – pick him! 

 

NOTE: If anyone else is somehow still reading my private diary notes, congratulations on second place!