Tim English – Deck of DT 2024

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Why should I pick him?

If you’re reading this, I assume you love AFL Fantasy – so do I! When the Godfather of AFL Fantasy, aka Warnie, shared a Google Doc in December and asked us to fill in the gaps for the Deck of DT, I made sure to pounce on the 14th of February to write about someone special to me.

Tim English has been my starting ruckman in a keeper league for 3 years now and I was confident last preseason that the Bulldogs star would emerge as the clear-cut No. 1 RUC for fantasy coaches. For years I’ve watched English go about his business and seen shades of Dean Cox as the younger WA talent gathers more than his fair share of disposals and amasses 120+ scores for fun. I wasn’t the only coach to benefit from English’s production last season, and yet, as we gear up for a new campaign over 85% of coaches are ignoring (perhaps) the best fantasy player in the entire game.

A sizeable portion of the fantasy community slotted the Bulldogs tall into their starting outfit for 2023 – while a smaller group passed on him and probably regretted the decision right away. There were questions surrounding Tim’s durability after injuries interrupted the first six seasons of his career, but English hardly missed a beat last year. He was named the starting ruckman for the All-Australian side after averaging 19.1 disposals, 31.2 hitouts and a league-best 118.7 fantasy points. Amongst those scores were some eye-popping individual efforts from English, including eight scores over 130 and four of at least 140 points!

Owning such a monumental fantasy ceiling made English a weekly mainstream captain choice and there aren’t many players who have access to close to 300 points while wearing the C. Perhaps the most impressive number that he produced last season was 23, with the oft-injured ruckman appearing in every game for the Bulldogs and scoring a whopping 2730 total points as a result. Since the COVID-affected season, English’s 2023 production has only been bettered by Touk Miller and Jack Steele (2021) with Brodie Grundy, Tom Mitchell and Max Gawn the only others to reach similar single-season heights in the past decade.

Even though fantasy players had an extra game up their sleeves last season, you can’t deny that Tim English is one of the best scorers going around. Thanks to his expensive price tag and migraine issues throughout the summer, a lot of coaches will fade English to start the season and view him as an eventual upgrade. However, Tim is only 26 years old and everyone will want him in their fantasy sides at some point this season. Why not lock him in from the start and reap the 115-120 point rewards?

Why shouldn’t I pick him?

If you want to start 2024 with Tim English in your fantasy team, it’s going to cost you 6% of your total salary cap. That might not sound like a huge percentage, but if you combine English’s salary you could afford to pick another ruck such as Tristan Xerri AND born-again Docker Nat Fyfe. Investing over $1 million in a starting RUC isn’t usually a tactic fantasy coaches are comfortable with and there are plenty of value options to choose from instead.

Brodie Grundy is the most popular non-rookie in the entire game, largely because you only have to invest two-thirds of English’s price to land the new Swan. Grundy should easily perform much better than the 75 points he is priced at. His former teammate Max Gawn is also significantly cheaper than Tim, checking in at $831K which would free up a convenient $240K for you to use elsewhere. If you want to go against the mainstream starters then perhaps the aforementioned Tristan Xerri intrigues you at $580K? All three rucks who I have mentioned have the opportunity to be 10, 15, maybe even 20 points better than what they’re priced at. As much as I love Timmy English, I can’t see him offering the same upside.

When constructing a starting outfit you want to pick a handful of premiums that you can lock away for the entire season – with English capable of being one such player. There are already 14% of coaches who have slotted the Bulldogs gun into their teams, although I’d love to ask those coaches how confident they are that he can get through another full season. If you take a step back and look at his career in its entirety then last season was the obvious outlier with English playing every possible match. The Western Bulldogs have already informed us that English has missed a chunk of time with “migraine-related symptoms” this summer – not exactly the news you want to hear regarding a player who has already dealt with multiple concussions in his career. Can we trust him to feature in another 20+ games without any interruptions?

Deck of DT Rating.

ACE

Don’t get me wrong, Tim English is still going to be a great selection and his production should see him finish 2024 as one of the best fantasy players. However, it’s hard to justify his current price tag given the other players available in the RUC department. If it suits your structure and you have the $$$ to afford the star Dog, then lock him away and don’t look back. Another tactic is to wait and see how English starts the season and add him to your lineup later – although, there were a lot of coaches with the same plan last season who never pulled it off.

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: @SportsbyFry for all things AFL Fantasy (and more)! Feel free to hit me up with any questions you have throughout the season. Got something to say about the Deck or AFL Fantasy in general? Join the conversation and use the hashtag #AFLFantasy.

Fry

An Australian coffee/burrito enthusiast who is the frustrated owner of 16 fantasy teams. Writer for SportsbyFry and DT Talk ?