Reuben Ginbey – Deck of DT 2024

Click here for 2024 Fantasy Classic prices.

Why should I pick him?

Every report out of West Coast this season has mentioned Ginbey. He’s put on size, he’s setting running PB’s and he’s going one on one with Yeo during the intraclub matches.
Taken top 10 in the 2022 draft, Ginbey has plenty of talent and was given lots of opportunities in his first year to show what he can do at the level. Ginbey played 18 games in his first year before finishing his season hamstrung on 15 points against Richmond.
While that 15 points does severely drop his average (as well as the game where he was injury subbed against Geelong) his role also played a part as he was given tagging/run with roles throughout the year and even swung into defence to play as a key back when West Coast’s injuries hit hard.
When given a pure midfield role, Ginbey was able to show what he’s capable of including jumping out of the gates with a 92 in his debut game.
The key to Ginbey’s fantasy game is that this kid loves a cuddle. In both games last year where Ginbey scored over 90 he had 12 and 16 tackles respectably. From full games last year, Ginbey averaged 7 tackles meaning that’s essentially 28 points already banked before he’s touched the footy!

The current situation at West Coast isn’t great but provides a heap of opportunities for younger players. As we can see, Ginbey had essentially cemented himself in the best 22 in his first season, with another preseason under his belt, Ginbey’s job security is about as high as it can be. This kid is a best 22 midfielder who loves to tackle in a team that needs tacklers.

Why shouldn’t I pick him?

At $532K Ginbey is at the expensive end of awkwardly priced. It’s a fair amount of coin to invest in the hope that you’re hitting a breakout player on the way up. For a similar price he’s sitting in the same range as Wardlaw, Ollie Hollands and Tsatas who all could be 2nd year breakout candidates or even Dylan Stephens or Fyfe for cheaper who could be value selections. Historically loading up a team with mid priced players isn’t a great game plan so you’d be passing up one of those guys with the belief that Ginbey has the opportunity and potential to go better.
Typically players breakout in their 3rd year, they’ve had 2 preseasons under their belt, have gotten stronger, found their place in their sides and are ready to make their mark. Before they do this we typically see the ‘2nd year blues’ where they’ve come out of great cash cow rookie years and then struggle to make the jump the next year. We call it ‘2nd year blues’ when in reality they rarely take a backward step, they just keep producing what they did the first year when we’re expecting more. Does Ginbey improve or plateu?
While he should get a lot of opportunity as mentioned above, he gets that opportunity because he’s playing for a team who have hit the basement in terms of performance, injury management and development. Soft tissue injuries have riddled this club the last few seasons and Ginbey was not immune to this, going down with a hamstring that finished his season in round 18.
He was fairly durable as a junior so fingers crossed it was an unfortunate injury and not something that will plague his career.
His team mate Elijah Hewitt who was taken in the first round of the draft with him hasn’t been as lucky and is battling a foot injury that saw him sidelined at stages last year and has seen him miss the majority of this preseason. Until they have a clear injury run, West Coast players get a massive red flag for injuries.

Deck of DT Rating.

JACK

The biggest reason why I put Ginbey’s name up for consideration this preseason is as a POD. Currently he is only appearing in 4% of teams, if all goes well and Ginbey lives up to his potential this season, he could end up the being a secret ACE up your sleeve. There’s not many better things in AFL Fantasy than being able to say, ‘I’ve had him since round 1’ when a player breaks out and everyone is scrambling to grab them. Here’s your chance!

Follow @anthondydsmith86 on X and catch him on 91.3 SportFM every Sunday morning during the AFL season for Behind the Goals.

Anthony

Joining the DT Talk writing team in 2013, you can now catch Anthony every Sunday morning during the season for his show on 91.3 SportFM, "Behind the Goals". @anthonydsmith86.