Two down, 22 to go!

We were reminded over the weekend just how important it is to have ceiling scores in a best-18 round. Popular picks like Nick Daicos (136), Jordan Dawson (134), Connor Rozee (145) and Jack Macrae (153) helped vault coaches up the rankings, while some of our rookies underperformed and dropped off as one of our four worst scorers. There are some cash cows who are helping though and given the early stage of the season, it’s still not too late to join the Levi Ashcroft/Xavier Lindsay club if you missed out over the first fortnight. A few other rooks likely finished as your 16th, 17th and 18th best scorers on the weekend and fielding the right combination is still crucial as we try to maximise points on the ground and stay in touch with the rest of the competition.

Rookie/cash cows are typically defined as players who started the season priced at $400,000 or lower

You can find more fantasy advice from Fry by joining the Fantasy SportsbyFry Patreon community!

Cash Cow King – Round 2

A pair of Geelong cash cows found themselves among the top scorers in Round 2, with Ted Clohesy‘s performance particularly impressive! He rapidly helped himself to 91 points to top all rookie scorers, while his teammate Connor O’Sullivan wasn’t too far behind after racking up 15 touches and 7 marks. Levi Ashcroft was his usual self against the Eagles, while Tyrell Dewar bobbed up in the same game to earn his first nomination of the season. My vote however is going to popular trade in option, Xavier Lindsay with the Dees draftee proving his Round 1 efforts were no fluke with a strong score of 80.

Who's gets your vote as the most important cash cow in Round 2?

• Connor O'Sullivan (75)
• Ted Clohesy (91)
• Levi Ashcroft (74)
• Tyrell Dewar (89)
• Xavier Lindsay (80)

View Results

 Loading ...

Round 2 Power Rankings

After 2 weeks of action, these are the top 10 cash cow performers in season 2025!

Power Ranking 2025 #AFLFantasy Cash Cows Round 2 💰🐮

1. Xaiver Lindsay ⬆️ 1
2. Levi Ashcroft ⬇️ 1
3. Sam Lalor ⬆️ 4
4. Ted Clohesy (NR)
5. Corey Warner ↔️
6. Max Hall ⬇️ 2
7. Jaxon Prior (NR)
8. Jack Henderson (NR)⁰9. Sam Davidson (NR)
10. Zac Reid ⬇️ 1 pic.twitter.com/Fz0pSXh3U1

— SportsbyFry (@sportsbyfry) March 25, 2025

Making Moves

Let ’em grow

Last week it was Xavier Lindsay ($438K, 80, BE -13) who surprised us – this week, it was Ted Clohesy ($318K, 91, BE -14). The inexperienced Cat got onto the ground relatively early against St Kilda, and he got to work quickly by racking up 16 touches and kicking a pair of goals from his 57% game time. That’s led to Clohesy being the most traded-in player this week, although he certainly comes with some red flags. We’ll have more clarity over his place in Geelong’s team on Thursday, but if he’s picked in the 22 there’s no doubt that he’ll quickly climb in value.

The likes of Max Hall ($335K, 51, BE -8) and Levi Ashcroft ($433K, 74, BE -3) also continued to move in the right direction. Their owners won’t lose sleep plugging them on field during the best-18 rounds and hope for strong scores, along with the likes of Sam Davidson ($302K, 60, BE -6) and Jaxon Prior ($417K, 61, BE 16) at opposite ends of the ground. There’s less confidence in Prior’s teammate Zach Reid ($308K, 51 BE -3) after his showing vs. Adelaide, although a negative breakeven and an upcoming bye means we can probably ride it out until Round 4 arrives. Some are opting to pivot to Connor O’Sullivan ($365K, 75, BE 0) in defence, who has performed well in the first fortnight of the fantasy season.

I personally have some doubts over O’Sullivan’s scoring ability, but a 33-point final quarter coupled with Tom Stewart’s injury bodes well for his future output. Speaking of, decent scores should continue for Sam Lalor ($410K, 62, BE 11) and Jack Henderson ($302K, 68, BE -9) in our midfield line, with Henderson kickstarting his price rise by filling up all areas of the box score on Sunday. If we were back to best-22 scorers, then both of them would likely be pushed back to a spot at M9-M10, however I think we can keep plugging them on field for the next two weeks in the hopes that they pop for a ceiling score. After attending the final game of the round at Optus Stadium over the weekend, I’m also enthused by the efforts from Riley Bice ($280K, 64, BE -4) and Corey Warner ($385K, 68, BE -7). Bice in particular interests me as a trade target and I expect to see his ownership climb rapidly after Sydney’s week off.

Watch this space

A week can be a long time in fantasy football. Seven days ago, I was pumping up Lucas Camporeale ($309K, 30, BE 6) and expressing concerns over Daniel Curtin ($335K, 73, BE 6), but on the weekend the two of them almost perfectly swapped places in terms of scoring output. We have to be careful to not get too trigger-happy in trading out our rookies before they do their job and make us some convenient cash, and for that reason, I’d lean towards holding Camporeale and Curtin until we have a greater sample size. A bunch of our rooks fall into a similar bracket with Murphy Reid ($364K, 50, BE 8), Luke Trainor ($308K, 33, BE 17), Joe Berry ($327K, 49, BE 17), Elijah Hewett ($366K, 53, BE 19) and Isaac Kako ($343K, 44, BE 19) hardly pressing issues at the trade table. They all still own low breakevens and should maintain a rise in value.

If you have NOTHING else pressing to address with your trades, firstly, kudos! However, there’s nothing wrong with a potential rookie shuffle at this early stage of the season. On that note, Finn O’Sullivan ($359K, 33, BE 31) is being tossed aside by almost 4,000 coaches right now and after scoring a combined 84 points in his first two games, I can see why. As a high draftee with a seemingly solid place in the Roos’ team, I’m going to back him in to right his wrongs and find his way to a decent score in the near future. Still, if you opt to give Finn the flick to chase a Lindsay/Ashcroft/Clohesy type though, I understand your thinking.

If you already own the top-tier cash cows, I wouldn’t be so aggressive with plenty of options continuing to emerge. Debutant duo Tom Edwards ($258K, 58, BE 1) and Isaac Keeler ($249K, 47, BE 9) are getting some love after they battled their way to respectable scores in their first AFL hitout, but neither of them seems like a safe investment right now. Again, we need a greater sample size to see where some of these guys fall, including a pair who did battle at the Gabba on the weekend in Clay Hall ($284K, 49, BE 13) and Will McLachlan ($252K, 50, BE 7). If they, or one of the other fresh faces build on that performance and turn our heads, that’s when we can make our move. Quick shoutout to Tyrell Dewar ($389K, 89, BE -3) who started on FIRE in that aforementioned clash in Brisbane, but no, he’s not worth a look in at just under $400K.

Let ’em go

There aren’t many rookies who we desperately have to get out of our team just yet. Archer Reid ($252K, 35, BE 15) isn’t exactly lighting it up, but there aren’t any options to trade him to so he may as well stay for his owners. St Kilda youngsters Liam O’Connell ($250K, 38, BE 14) and Angus Hastie ($244K, DNP, BE 14)* are two players that I’d feel much better with out of my team and swapping them for a rook moving in the right direction is ideal. Now that the bye has arrived for the Swans too, I would look to replace Tom Hanily ($289K, 25, BE 16) if, for some strange reason, he made his way into your team. Sydney are expected to welcome back some healthy players after Round 3 and there are no guarantees that Hanily will dodge the vest, or even keep his place in the senior team.

*Hastie scored 81 from 20 touches in the VFL over the weekend, FYI.

Sub status

Subbed On – Sid Draper, Jye Menzie, Christian Moraes, Kaleb Smith, Ted Clohesy, Taj Woewodin

Subbed Off – Lucas Camporeale, Reef McInnes, Arthur Jones, Matthew Jefferson

A few more relevant names were affected by the vest rotation over the weekend, although first-gamer Christian Moraes ($260K, 60, BE 0) lucked out. An early injury to Jack Lukosius saw him play 65% of the game and he put up solid numbers as a result. It is important to remember thought, they won’t be playing Richmond every weekend. Sid Draper ($339K, 38, BE 31) watch continues after the explosive MID was limited to 28% TOG. His time is coming.

Q & A

I’m adding a Q&A section to the weekly articles to help address the biggest issues we have with our rookies/cash cows. If I don’t get to your answer in the article, I promise I’ll answer it on Twitter – and as always, you can drop your follow-up question below.

Is Knevitt or Clohesy a better trade in?

— Joksbjerg (@Joe_Oksbjerg) March 25, 2025

Belter question, but I think it’s Knevitt. Sure, we may sweat over him wearing a vest for most of his tenure although he’s excelled over the first fortnight and has access to heavy MID minutes. He’s someone I’m chasing this round to strengthen my midfield group.

Please rank Clohesy, Dewar and Hall

— Apollo Analyst (@Apollo___3) March 25, 2025

You’ve done my job for me – Clohesy, Dewar, then Hall. I suspect that if Hall stays in the side it will only be as the sub pending Jack Graham’s return, Dewar hasn’t convinced me just yet that he can churn out these performances consistently and Clohesy has a proven track record of being a great scorer in the VFL. We just need Christ Scott to give him minutes!

FOS -> Lindsay? And is it viable to hold Perryman and trade him for Bice next week? I don’t trust many rookie options in Def and Bice looks to be best 22 and a good scorer.

— James (@thehurrrricane) March 25, 2025

Firstly, FOS to Lindsay is great – pull the trigger. Holding Perryman isn’t a move I’d encourage though, we never know what curveballs we’re going to be thrown in Round 3. I’d prefer to grab an on-field scorer for Perryman and chase Bice by flicking out a bench DEF off his bye next round.

Do I still have a look at Max Hall as a downgrade or go to a guy like Ted Clohesy?

— Jason Zecchin (@JasonZecchin) March 25, 2025

Both come with risks and while Hall seems safer, I’m tempted to chase the ceiling of Clohesy. Maybe I’m trying to manifest him getting a consistent run of games, but we saw players like Humphries and Mannagh do it last season for the Cats and become great cash cows. Fingers crossed Clohesy stays in the side and keeps churning out stellar scores.

Remember the Name

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

DEFENDERS

Tobie Travaglia (Saints, $319K)
Josh Gibucs (Tigers, $230K)
Luke Beecken (Lions, $230K)
Saad El-Hawli (Bombers, $230K)
Jedd Busslinger (Bulldogs, $230K)
Bo Allan (Eagles, $295K)
Kaleb Smith (Tigers, $230K)
Alix Tauru (Saints, $313K)
James Barrat (Saints, $247K)
Ben Jepson (Suns, $230K)

MIDFIELDERS

Hugh Boxshall (Saints, $230K)
Tom Gross (Eagles, $230K)
Luke Urquart (Kangaroos, $230K)
Clay Hall (Eagles, $267K)
Jaxon Binns (Blues, $230K)
Sam Marshall (Lions, $268K)
Cooper Hynes (Bulldogs, $283K)
Josh Smillie (Tigers, $322K)
Caleb Mitchell (Swans, $230K)
Zak Johnson (Bombers, $230K)
Ben Camporeale (Blues, $230K)

RUCKMEN

Max Heath (Saints, $230K)
Taylor Goad (Kangaroos, $230K)
Tom Campbell (Demons, $316K)
Kayle Gerreyn (Bombers, $232K)
Lachlan McAndrew (Crows, $302K)
Nic Madden (Giants, $230K)

FORWARDS

Cooper Simpson (Dockers, $230K)
Cody Angove (Giants, $230K)
Isaac Keeler (Saints, $230K)
Ashton Moir (Blues, $230K)
Will Hayes (Magpies, $230K)
Hamish Davis (Eagles, $230K)
Ty Gallop (Lions, $230K)
Caiden Cleary (Swans, $244K)

Fry

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