Nine down, 15 to go!
I refuse to declare we have a “rookie crisis” (trademark Warnie DT, 2006-07). There are ALWAYS value options that pop up on a weekly basis that present us with downgrade choices – the hard part is nailing the correct ones. Almost everyone reading this would have bought into Jedd Busslinger, Hugh Boxshall or Lewis Hayes over the last fortnight, and for one reason or another, there are now concerns over their ability to assist our squads moving forward. A few rooks are putting their hand up prior to Round 10 as good trade targets and with the bye rounds almost upon us, the investments we make over the next few rounds are going to be incredibly important. If we want to have a completed team coming out of the byes, we need to nail these picks.
Rookie/cash cows are typically defined as players who started the season priced at $400,000 or lower
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Cash Cow King – Round 9
It was hard to keep up with Essendon duo Zach Reid and Jaxon Prior last round, with the Dons defenders both hauling in 14 marks to drop a 110+ score. Their teammate Saad El-Hawli had his own impressive outing against the Swans and as a result, he’ll become a popular downgrade option this round. Harvey Langford maintained his stellar form and produced a season-best score, while the ever-reliable Levi Ashcroft finds himself in the nominees once again.
*If you’re having issues submitting your vote try clicking “view results” first and that should resolve the problem 🤞
Making Moves
Let ’em grow
A couple of cash cows have bobbed up as potential downgrade choices on the back of their Round 9 efforts. Cooper Simpson ($260K, 59, BE 2) and Saad El-Hawli ($312K, 82, BE -1) find themselves at No. 1 and No. 2 on the list of trade-in options, with some coaches even opting to bring them both in this week. It’s fair to say that Simpson and El-Hawli aren’t “must-have” rookies, although their recent performances should buy them a few more weeks in their respective teams and provide us with a decent source of cash gen. Slightly more expensive than these other guys, Sandy Brock ($321K, 48, BE 10) had a decent showing last weekend, although I’m much more interested in Roos halfback, Riley Hardemann ($381K, 64, BE 3). If it wasn’t for the Round 12 bye, Hardeman would probably be getting more love as a downgrade option as he continues to establish himself in North’s best-22.
Even with his recent success, no one is looking to trade Zach Reid ($668K, 118, BE 21) or Jaxon Prior ($592K, 115, BE 25) to Hardeman with the Bombers’ backmen THRIVING on the weekend against Sydney. A pair of epic scores from Reid and Prior will see their owners keep them for a much longer stretch than anticipated and it feels like we can also trust Luke Trainor ($588K, 69, BE 45) moving forward. Trainor could be upgraded if you can reach an elite DEF option, however he does have North and Essendon on the horizon which should equate to strong scores. Similar to this defensive trio, coaches will continue to trust Harvey Langford ($618K, 95, BE 26) and Levi Ashcroft ($746K, 84, BE 56) on the bench thanks to their recent form, while the coaches who held Max Hall ($565K, 70, BE 41) won’t be mad with his recent output that includes three straight scores of 65+.
Watch this space
After 40% of us invested in Hugh Boxshall ($312K, 38, BE 3) in the past fortnight, it’s hard to envision him holding his place in St Kilda’s side this weekend. The budding midfielder only registered 49% time on ground last Friday and it seems like he’s destined to become a red dot on Thursday – or worse, find himself demoted to the role of sub. Similar could be said for Bombers debutant Archer Day-Wicks ($233K, 27, BE 22), who had 23 points in the first half only to spend most of the second half against Sydney prioritising cardio over fantasy points. A few of our other cheap alternatives in Tom Sims ($273K, 43, BE 17) and Cody Angove ($279K, 37, BE 23) need to show us more before we would feel confident buying them, but West Coast youngster Tom Gross ($347K, 23, BE 41) is a different case.
Despite starting in the green vest, Gross quickly got to work when he came onto the field and the popular belief is that he’ll squeeze his way into the Eagles’ starting 22 vs. St Kilda. Gross comes at an inflated rate, although at this stage of the week, Gross is shaping up as a decent buy given his inside MID role. Checking in with an even higher price tag is Jaxon Binns ($424K, 76, BE 19) with the VFL fantasy premium turning plenty of heads in his first AFL hitout of the season. He should hold his place in the team, but a Round 12 bye coupled with his hefty price makes it hard to buy into Binns right now. Quickly, we didn’t get a great score out of Elijah Hewett ($487K, 34, BE 41) last round, however he should be able to right his wrongs against the Saints at home in the upcoming fixture.
Let ’em go
Let me preface this by saying you don’t have to instantly trade out everyone on this list, with only two trades up our sleeve for this week and some rookies are clearly more pressing trade issues than others. Take Riley Bice ($666K, 66, BE 79) for example – Sydney’s mature ager has been a stellar source of points and cash generation so far this season, but he currently finds himself as the most traded out player with over 8,500 coaches axing him from their team. Trading Bice out depends slightly on which player you can bring in on the other side of the trade, with a lack of cash to facilitate an upgrade to a premo the reason why I’m personally leaning towards keeping the Swans defender. It’s fair to say that we’d rather move on from Xavier Lindsay ($540K, 44, BE 60) first, with consecutive poor scores seeing the dashing Dee stall in price.
In a similar tier as those two, Caiden Cleary ($514K, 37, BE 53) and Sam Lalor ($561K, 63, BE 62) could be chopped from our FWD line if they’re residing at F7-F8. Doing so probably frees up enough cash to help another on-field upgrade and they’ve essentially reached their peak price point. It’s more tempting to ditch an underperforming rookie from our benches and the grouping of Murphy Reid ($487K, 39, BE 67), Sam Davidson ($621K, 62, BE 70), Connor O’Sullivan ($531K, 51, BE 68), Isaac Kako ($403K, 37, BE 46), Conor Stone ($441K, DNP, BE 25), Corey Warner ($493K, 41, BE 54) and Finn O’Sullivan ($396K, 29, BE 49) will all be explored as trade out options for their owners. I’d much rather move on from the first three before the other cash cows, as the likes of Reid, Davidson and COS are all going to start losing value – with another subpar effort in Round 10 likely leading to a $30K-$40K dip in price. If you are moving any of that collective out of your team, I wouldn’t go investing in Joe Fonti ($361K, 17, BE 34) or Finnbar Maley ($255K, 20, BE 22) with the pair failing to fire last weekend.
Sub status
Subbed On – Lance Collard, Bailey Macdonald, Jake Rogers, Christian Moraes, Tom Gross, Josaia Delana, Ted Clohesy
Subbed Off – Matthew Jefferson, Lewis Hayes, Daniel Curtin, Archer Reid, Finnbar Maley
I haven’t mentioned Lewis Hayes ($254K, 52, BE 6) yet in this piece, with one of the most popular buys last week suffering a devastating ACL tear vs. Sydney. With his season now done, Hayes will become a red dot for 16,502 coaches and clog up a spot at D8. Dan Curtin ($411K, 16, BE 60) and Christian Moraes ($430K, 25, BE 64) found themselves on the opposite end of the sub patterns in the Showdown and both should be culled ASAP with everyone’s favourite Geelong rookie, Ted Clohesy ($339K, 3, BE 70) failing to get amongst it in 14% game time.
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.
Who to flick first – Lindsay or Cleary?
— Gedav (@Gedav147022) May 13, 2025
I think we move Lindsay on first. He’s coming off consecutive poor scores, which naturally means when we trade him out he’ll score 80+ lol. Cleary should be able to tackle his way to greater heights, so I’d keep him and trade Lindsay.
Saad vs Simspson? Simpson is cheaper but Saad looks to have scoring potential
— Scootermcgavin (@scottdylan791) May 13, 2025
Good question! Some coaches are looking at buying both of these rooks in a double downgrade move this round, but if I’m investing in one, it’s Cooper Simpson. I’m still not convinced that either Simpson or El-Hawli have stellar job security, but I think the young Docker is less of a sub risk and his halfback role gives him access to solid scores.
Your view whether to trade Murphy Reid or Bice, please mate?
— DWH (@DWH93591975) May 13, 2025
The easy answer is Murphy Reid goes before Bice, but assuming Murph is on your bench and Bice is on your field that makes it a tad trickier to navigate. Chasing a Bice upgrade may serve you better on field from a scoring standpoint, although I view Reid as more of a trade priority now that he’s starting to lose value. Flick Murphy out first.
Remember the Name
In no particular order, here are some of the other rookie-priced players to consider throughout the season.
DEFENDERS
Josh Gibucs (Tigers, $230K)
Luke Beecken (Lions, $230K)
Alix Tauru (Saints, $313K)
James Barrat (Saints, $247K)
Ben Jepson (Suns, $230K)
MIDFIELDERS
Luke Urquart (Kangaroos, $230K)
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
Ashton Moir (Blues, $230K)
Will Hayes (Magpies, $230K)
Ty Gallop (Lions, $230K)
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Fry’s Cash Cows – Rd. 9
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Calvin’s Captains – Rd. 9
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Great article as always Fry, thank you. Just want your thoughts if you can, out of these 2 options. Going to give cleary and lalor another week.
Kako & Bice to C.Simpson & NWM leaving $4k
Or
Kako & Bice to C Simpson & El Hawli leaving $723k banking cash heading towards byes.
Or i could bring in K. Coleman instead of NWM.
Still prefer NWM
I’d 100% do option 1 and grab NWM mate
Thanks Fry!
I really want to go one up one down with Bice & XL as recommended above, but I think Sanders is a bigger priority, so Bice gets one more week.
It’s also tempting to get two mid pricers like Peats & CJ since it looks as though I’ll have plenty of looping options to ensure a semi-decent score!
But I think I have to trust Simpson, and get a premo while I can – either Martin or NWM I guess?
It’s a tough spot to be in with some fattened rookies and an underperforming like Sanders – in that example, I think Bice can live for another week
Peatling is my preferred option over CJ FYI, but trusting Simpson to land NWM (over Martin) is a great alternative
Another Fantastic article fry,
Who do you recon is the best premo for every position right now
and who are the best 3 rookies to bring in other than brock, hardeman, and saad el-hawli
With good job security
Best premo is tough to quantify, but I’d lean towards – Whitfield, Dunkley, Gawn and Baz Smith. The only other rookies I like as trade targets that you didn’t mention are Gorss and Simpson. Hope that helps!
Hi fry good to see you on the afl fantasy fanatics. Which two to field out of Trainor, Bice and Langford.
Thanks mate, it was good to finally line a time up with Bails that worked for us both! I think Bice and Trainor get the nod for me with Langford going to the Gabba against Brisbane a tall task
Hey Fry trade options,
1st Cleary to C.Simpson
2nd Lindsay or Hastwaite to Sheezel?
I thinking Lindsay our first but Hastwaite might be dropped after been subbed last week.
Hustwaite now confirmed out, so he can absolutely go first
Hey Fry would you trade,
Stone to Simpson leaving 15k, assuming he’s a red dot.
Cleary to Simpson leaving 88k or
Lindsay to El-Hawli leaving 62k.
Which leads to who to play on field?
El-Hawli or Lindsay?
I think the red dot in Stone goes first – and I’d want to play Lindsay on field over El-Hawli
After the Jayden Short out and with Hastwaite already locked in my first trade to Sheezel. If I trade Short I can get to Blicavs or Phillipou? Or save cash by going down to Simpson and 400k for next week.
I’d invest in Philipou if that’s the case mate. I’m a bit bummed I can’t use DPP to grab him myself!
Which two rookies to get in, hardeman, saad or Simpson?
I prefer the last two, but if Hardeman suits your bye structure he’s another fine pick
G’day legend, killer read on a Wednesday morning here in London. Suffered a donut last week because I was sleeping when the Short news popped when I had Trainor sitting in my utility! Unfortunately I dropped from the top 200 to just outside the top 400. Absolutely gutted but its my own fault for playing the looping game with Reid! Onwards and Upwards! Which of the following do you tick off?
1) Cleary (bench) and Lindsay to Simpson (bench) and Peatling
2) Stone (bench) and Lindsay to Simpson (bench) and Peatling
3) Bice and Lindsay to Simpson (bench) to Zorko and Simpson (this option means fielding Cleary/Simpson)
I love Zorko this week but I think the smart play is 2) which leaves me cover in every line so I am probably answering my own question!
Great to hear you’re still actively playing despite the overseas status mate! After spending a year in Canada and trying to juggle fantasy I understand your pain.
Of those options, I prefer the first two and chasing Peatling while giving Bice another chance – lean towards chopping Stone first if he doesn’t get named
Hi Fry! Which of the three would you tick off?
1) Bice and Cleary to N. Martin and Simpson
2) Bice and Moraes to Steele and Simpson
3) Lindsay and Trainor to Steele and Simpson
4) Lindsay and Cleary to Peatling and Simpson
Option 4 gives me the best bench cover but I’d like your thoughts!
I think Lindsay needs to go before Bice, so the later two are my preference. Probably prefer to keep Trainor over Cleary (just) as well, so option 4 it is!
G’day Fry, thanks for article! I need some advice. I still have Bice and Lindsay on field who need to go. What options do you like best?
1) Bice and Lindsay to Simpson and Green (no def cover unless Stone named)
2) Bice and Lindsay to 230k rook and Dunkley (no fwd cover unless Stone named)
3) Bice and Lindsay to Simpson and Zorko (cover in all lines but fielding Cleary/Simpson)
I think I’d rather have Zorko over Green, so No. 3 is the way I’d go mate
Does Bo Allan not exist anymore after a 1 week suspension it have I missed something
There wasn’t a lot to talk about regarding Bo Allan. He should come back in after his suspension, but scoring 37 on debut will hardly force our hands. I’d prefer to target El-Hawli or Hardeman for D7-D8
G’day Legend, just sipping a flat white here in Europe thinking about my trades and need your help! Ranked in the top 500 and hoping to move forward (like us all!). Which do you tick off?
1) Lindsay and Bice to El-Hawli and Martin (both on field)
2) Lindsay and Bice to Simpson and Martin (Cleary on field)
3) Lindsay and Cleary to Peatling and Simpson (Simpson on bench)
Enjoy that FW mate! I think moving on from Lindsay and Cleary first is the way to go, so No. 3 is the way to go
Hey Fry
Awesome article this week – keep up the good work.
Just wanted your thoughts on the following:
Xavier Lindsay to Hugh Boxshall
Caiden Cleary to Nick Martin
leaving approx salary cap of 90k
If not Boxshall – Cooper Simpson, another rookie 250k
Cheers
If Box doesn’t hold then Cooper Simpson as an alternative is a fine shout – love the Nic Martin upgrade from Cleary as well
Hi fry who would you pick out of the premium mids I’m thinking dunks,Dawson or Tom green.
Maybe have a look and see if any suit your bye structure better? But it’s probably Green for me
G’day legend. Which combo would you go?
1) Peatling & El-Hawli
2) Peatling & Simpson
3) Warner & El-Hawli
4) Warner & Simpson
It’s at the expense of Lindsay & Cleary.
Second one for me mate
Hey Fry, Any news on TDK being out? Thx dude
Yep out
Yeah confirmed now, bugger!
Fry,
Stone Short Bice and Daniel all need to go for me.
What should I do?
1) Stone and Bice to Simpson and Peatling
2) Stone and Daniel to Simpson and NWM or Martin
3) Short and Daniel to Peatling and Roberts
4) Short and Bice to Roberts and Bergman
5 Short and Stone to Simpson and NWM or Martin
Btw Fry any of the Matt Roberts I might change to Luke Ryan
I’d do the two rookies in Stone and Bice first and grab Peatling
Fry, should i go
Brayshaw, Butters, Bont, or sheezel
Brayshaw has the better bye, but I think I’d prefer Butters as a unique
I reckon Lohmann will be a cash cow after his by Be 67
Could be a shout, but we need to see a bit more before targeting him
Great again Fry,
Which move would be better, bring in Sims or Mayley to cover TDK, or bring in Simpson and deal with the red dot. If I do the first option I will probably bring in Simpson for Cleary next week
Cheers
I’d be worried about playing Sims or Maley to cover TDK – I’d prefer to just swap him out for another stud ruck. So you can wait a week on going Cleary to Simpson if it means addressing the TDK issue
Brilliant again
Rely so much on the info.
Interested to know as I have locked in Simpson and Sheezel this week.
Bice has to go this week ( I’m keeping Daniel for at least 1 week)
who else should go? Lalor, Lindsey or Trainer?
then which one do I play out of those 3
currently gone Lalor out and Trainer on field but starting to think Lindsay out and F 7 Lalor
Glad I can help mate!
I think Lindsay out and Lalor F7 with Trainor on field is the best way to attack it.
Thoughts on Bews?
Not a fan, there’s a reason he’s priced so cheap – career fantasy average of 47.8 from 152 games
Oliver or short out
Ooof, depends a bit on you have to cover each of them. If you’ve got a decent bench DEF I’d ditch Clarry, otherwise Short can go