19 down, five to go!

It’s crazy to think there are only 10 trades left to fix our AFL Fantasy teams in season 2024. There are still coaches who will need all 10 of those trades to fix their squad and give themselves the best chance possible of ending the year on a high note, while some are shuffling bench pieces to ensure they have red dot/loophole options. Thanks to some stellar scoring from our rookies, we’re nearing the point of the season when coaches cash in their inflated bench rookies for their final few on-field upgrades. Some cash cows are ready to be axed over others, so make sure you still make educated moves at the trade table with just one week separating us from the start of the fantasy finals!

Rookie/cash cows are typically defined as players who started the season priced at $300,000 or lower

Mooooving On

Part of our weekly trade focus is to remove the rookie-priced players who are no longer making money. When a cash cow sees their average fall in line with their breakeven or they find themselves on the outside looking in for multiple weeks at a time, that’s a good time to give them the axe.

Fattened cash cows

1. Bruce Reville, Lions ($395K, 50 AVG, 99 BE)
2. Joe Richards, Magpies ($412K, 56 AVG, 60 BE)
3. Oliver Dempsey, Cats ($674K, 72 AVG, 107 BE)
4. Nathan Kreuger, Magpies ($414K, 53 AVG, 61 BE)
5. Koltyn Tholstrup, Demons ($413K, 51 AVG, 55 BE)

Injured/non-playing rookies

1. Kane McAuliffe, Tigers ($311K, 40 AVG, 41 BE)
2. Harvey Harrison, Magpies ($406K, 43 AVG, 53 BE)
3. Charlie Dean, Magpies ($387K, 48 AVG, 43 BE)
4. Jhye Clark, Cats ($451K, 47 AVG, 35 BE)
5. Arie Schoenmaker, Saints ($362K, 58 AVG, 14 BE)

Cash Cow King – Round 19

Two rookies raised the bat with triple-figure scores last round – both of whom have probably spent time in your team at some point this season. Coaches moved Matt Roberts (102) on through the mid-point of the season, but it’s possible that you were able to make the most of Logan Evans’ (101) day out and cash in his score vs. Richmond. Trailing those two, Colby McKercher (86) battled bravely against the Blues to surpass 80 and Shaun Mannagh’s (84) strong score on Saturday night would’ve helped those playing the loophole game in the forward line. Zac Taylor (78) started the round with a bang though, and as the must-have rookie for this week I’m giving the young Crow my vote for Round 19.

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With the votes counted up to Round 18, we currently have 4 cash cows who have separated themselves from the rest of the field. Jeremy Sharp holds a narrow lead as it stands right now, but Oliver Dempsey, Matt Roberts and Colby McKercher are all capable of stealing CCK honours from Sharpy.

Making Moves

Money makers

Entering Round 19 as the most popular rookie from a trade perspective, there were 15,000+ new Zac Taylor ($280K, 78, BE – 23) owners delighted to watch him go about his business. Some coaches (me) might have held off from locking a trade in during the first game of the weekend, but those who invested would have been stoked to see Taylor rack up 17 touches and kick the first goal of his AFL career. With Adelaide’s main midfielders banged up, there should be another opportunity for Taylor to play a high number of midfield minutes against Hawthorn and keep his price climbing.

Those who didn’t snap up the young Crows MID last week might have opted to bring in West Coast’s Zane Trew ($331K, 50, BE 6) instead. Obviously, with St Kilda thrashing the Eagles it was going to be tough for ANY West Coast player to score and with the Dockers and Suns to come, it may be a trend that continues. I’ve still got faith that Trew can make enough cash to help coaches over the final five rounds, but he’s hardly a must-have rook. More established players such as Shaun Mannagh ($441K, 84, BE -9) and Logan Evans ($585K, 101, BE 3) ensured that they’ll make some valuable coin as well during the final push, with Richmond duo Steely Green ($273K, 50, BE -1) and Kaleb Smith ($203K, 50, BE 12) also drawing attention from the fantasy community thanks to their cheap price tag and low breakevens.

Keep the faith

Quick shoutout to the early-season cash cows who produced solid scores last weekend. Harley Reid ($576K, 79, BE 66), Ryley Sanders ($533K, 65, BE 59), Darcy Wilson ($460K, 73, BE 58), Matt Roberts ($457K, 102, BE 9) and Caleb Windsor ($558K, 63, BE 52) are going to be in consideration for end of season rookie awards and more impressive scores in the final five weeks could help them secure some silverware. The same could be said for Colby McKercher ($743K, 86, BE 74) who much to the delight of almost 58,000 coaches suited up against Carlton and scored strongly.

I still believe that McKercher can sit at D6 for coaches to close the season – especially when you look at the juicy remaining fixture for North Melbourne. If he falters, then Colby is expensive enough to pivot to another top-line defender and by that time you could maybe trade out a Lawson Humphries ($443K, 49, BE 10)/Billy Dowling ($476K, 75, BE 28) type once they reach peak value. Both Humphries and Dowling still have money to make for their owners and while some are cashing them in to ensure they can reach the player they want with another trade, my advice is to hold the star youngsters.

It’s possible that by this time next week, the aforementioned pair will be above the $500K threshold thanks to their achievable breakevens ahead of Round 20. The price rise should continue for Andy Moniz-Wakefield ($355K, 38, BE 23) and Shadeau Brain ($241K, 45, BE 9) even though they didn’t blow us away with their efforts last time out. I wouldn’t look to offload the Melbourne talent just yet, although another dud score could change that. Most coaches would have traded out Joel Freijah ($446K, 71, BE 45) during the last month, but anyone who still finds Freijah in their side would’ve been happy with his performance against the Cats. There’s a world where he can have another run, but I’d strongly consider a trade in the next fortnight.

Cut them loose

I think the time has come for Oliver Dempsey ($674K, 30, BE 107) owners to pivot away from the Rising Star hopeful. If you find yourself without any of the star FWD quartet – Sam Flanders, Dayne Zorko, Isaac Heeney and Jye Caldwell – that’s where I would turn my trade attention. Outside of that group, it’s hard to identify the forwards that are worth trading for to replace Dempsey with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the group. Still, I’d feel much better trading out a rookie with a triple-figure breakeven for a Mason Wood, Dylan Moore or Ben Keays type.

A few of our popular bench picks that copped injuries over the weekend too – making them viable loophole options as red dots on the pine. The smartest play is to axe these $400K+ players and make the most of their inflated price tag, with concussion issues forcing Nathan Kreuger ($414K, 21, BE 61) and Koltyn Tholstrup ($413K, 16, BE 55) to the sidelines. You can net yourself more than $130K by chopping one of them out for Zac Taylor, but as I mentioned it may suit your side to keep them around and use them for loophole purposes. With the expectation of the injured pair, Joe Richards ($412K, 42, BE 60) is a priority to remove from your squad while Bruce Reville ($395K, 9, BE 99) is a MUST TRADE in my eyes after scoring a combined 50 points in the past three games.

Thin Ice

There are a handful of rotting forward bench picks that don’t deserve a place in our teams any more. Starting with Toby McMullin ($301K, 26, BE 31) and Calsher Dear ($317K, 30, BE 49) – the pair have often found their weekly score affected by the sub vest and it’s hard to envision them climbing towards the $400K price bracket this late in the campaign. Harvey Thomas ($468K, 51, BE 49) has been more productive than the other two, with all three bound to come into consideration as trade out options for the few coaches who still own them.

I want to highlight Jack Carroll ($268K, 58, BE 26) quickly, as the Carlton midfielder has shown glimpses of promise throughout the 2024 campaign. His average of 38.4 points from a dozen games this year looks crap on paper, although there have been six separate occasions where Carroll started a game in the vest and he found himself subbed out at three-quarter time against the Bombers in Round 13 too. In the five games where Carlton has given Carroll a full run, it’s no surprise to see his numbers improve – excelling in four of them to record averages of 18.5 disposals and 63 fantasy points. If he is forced to wear the vest a few more times to end the season and his averages suffer as a result, the budding Blue is someone I’d add to my 2025 watchlist.

Wait and see

There are a few rookies stuck in no man’s land late into the fantasy season, and it’s possible that more than one of these players are still stuck in your team. Joe Fonti ($283K, 46, BE 9), Hugh Bond ($215K, 32, BE 17) and Jack Hutchinson ($271K, 40, BE 14) all own lowish breakevens and could make a few more dollars, but there isn’t a ton of optimism around them. Hugh Bond in particular did a job tagging Merrett for big chunks of Friday night’s clash – a pattern we see continue that may lead to more fruitful scores from the Adelaide prospect.

He hasn’t shown a ton so far through two matches from a fantasy standpoint, so I don’t think we can consider Bond until he improves his scoring rate. Additional cheap characters such as Henry Smith ($205K, 31, BE 19) and Robert Hansen Jr ($205K, 31, BE 19) won’t interest coaches, but it’s worth adding Ted Clohesy ($206K, 32, BE 19) to your watchlist with the hopes that he can shake the sub vest free in Round 20. Having starred at VFL level this season (14 games; 109 AVG), Clohesy should be able to put points on the board if given the opportunity.

I’ve also got a watchful eye on Samson Ryan ($318K, 16, BE 55) this week with Toby Nankervis’ concussion creating an opportunity in the Richmond ruck. The scores/hitouts Ryan has been winning doesn’t make him a strong investment right now, but if he is named as the solo hitout specialist against Collingwood this week, he’s going to have access to more fantasy points. Finally, first-round draftees Nate Caddy ($393K, 63, BE 24) and Nick Watson ($470K, 59, BE 50) deserve a mention for their scores on the weekend, even if they aren’t the most consistent fantasy players. I can see why Bombers and Hawks fans respectively are excited about these goal-kicking teenagers.

Sub status

Subbed On – Will Graham, Hugo Garcia, Lachie Sullivan, Ted Clohesy, Corey Warner, Bruce Reville

Subbed Off – Nathan Kreuger, Calsher Dear, Ryley Sanders, Henry Smith, Koltyn Tholstrup

The vest continues to disrupt the cash generation of our faithful rookies, but most of the relevant names dodged a bullet last weekend. Kreuger and Tholstrup found themselves red-vested due to injury and of course, Bevo subbed Ryley Sanders for Jack Macrae just to frustrate the fantasy community some more. It was great to see Hugo Garcia ($375K, 27, BE 49) return to the fray and Corey Warner ($232K, 42, BE 14) got an extended opportunity thanks to an early Dane Rampe calf complaint.

State League Stats

Jaxon Binns, Blues (197) – 47 disposals, 13 marks, 3 goals
Kynan Brown, Demons (175) – 27 disposals, 24 tackles, 1 goal
Conor Stone, Giants (140) – 33 disposals, 15 marks
Dante Visentini, Power (124) – 18 disposals, 41 hitouts, 6 marks, 7 tackles, 1 goal
Logan Morris, Lions (118) – 22 disposals, 9 marks, 4 goals
Jack Bytel, Magpies (116) – 31 disposals, 5 marks
James Leake, Giants (113) – 25 disposals, 12 marks
James Tsitas, Suns (113) – 26 disposals, 9 tackles, 3 behinds
Mitch Hardie, Cats (110) – 32 disposals, 5 marks, 7 tackles
Will Verrall, Demons (110) – 19 disposals, 45 hitouts
Caiden Cleary, Swans (104) – 21 disposals, 9 tackles, 1 goal
Max Heath, Saints (103) – 19 disposals, 20 hitouts, 5 marks
Will Lorenz, Power (101) – 25 disposals, 5 marks, 1 goal
Marty Hore, Demons (97) – 21 disposals, 10 marks
Hugh Jackson, Power (91) – 18 disposals, 5 tackles, 1.1 in front of goal
Daniel Curtin, Crows (91)  – 21 disposals, 5 marks, 2 goals
James Tunstill, Lions (89) – 27 disposals, 6 marks
Blake Howes, Demons (89) – 21 disposals, 5 marks, 6 tackles
Phoenix Gothard, Giants (88) – 19 disposals, 5 tackles, 4.2 in front of goal
Max Gruzewski, Giants (87) – 15 disposals, 9 marks, 2.2 in front of goal
Finlay Macrae, Magpies (86) – 21 disposals, 6 tackles, 1.1 in front of goal
Jedd Busslinger, Bulldogs (84) – 22 disposals, 8 marks
Josh Sinn, Power (81) – 19 disposals, 6 marks, 1 goal
Jhye Clark, Cats (77) – 16 disposals, 8 tackles, 1.1 in front of goal
Luke Beeckan, Lions (70) – 15 disposals, 6 marks, 1.2 in front of goal
Iliro Smit, Magpies (62) – 12 disposals, 11 hitouts, 2 goals

Remember the Name

In no particular order, here are some of the other rookie-priced players to consider throughout the season.

DEFENDERS

James Leake (Giants, $252K)
Jakob Ryan (Magpies, $200K)
Billy Wilson (Blues, $201K)
Archie Roberts (Bombers, $200K)
Jedd Busslinger (Bulldogs, $200K)
Charlie Edwards (Crows, $240K)
Saad El-Hawli (Bombers, $200K)
Jacob Blight (Tigers, $200K)

MIDFIELDERS

Clay Hall (Eagles, $200K)
Hugh Jackson (Power, $200K)
Harry Rowston (Giants, $241K)
Harry DeMattia (Magpies, $228K)
Mitch Hardie (Cats, $200K)
George Stevens (Cats, $200K)

RUCKMEN

Coen Livingstone (Eagles, $200K)
Max Heath (Saints, $200K)
Archer Reid (Eagles, $213K)
Will Verrall (Demons, $200K)
Taylor Goad (Kangaroos, $243K)
Mitch Edwards (Cats, $207K)

FORWARDS

James Tsitas (Suns, $200K)
Ashton Moir (Blues, $216K)
Tom Anastasopoulos (Power, $200K)
Brayden George (Kangaroos, $200K)
Max Hall (Saints, $200K)
Campbell Gray (Tigers, $200K)
Toby Murray (Crows, $200K)

Fry

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