10 down, 14 to go!

The mid-season byes have almost arrived and as a reward for making this far, the fantasy gods have decided to strike down a handful of our favourite premiums! We would love 3 trades this week, with some coaches looking at 4-5 forced changes due to injuries and it’s fair to assume that the depth of our squads is going to be tested in Round 11. While a lot of the focus is going to be directed to our on-field replacements for the likes of JHF, Callaghan, Macrae and Short (just to name a few), we can’t neglect our bench rookies entirely. They will be called up in the upcoming best-of-18 rounds and while a lot of their scores won’t contribute to our weekly total, getting a boost from a few cash cows off the pine can do wonders to your team’s performance in the byes.

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 10

I thought about ignoring the likes of Kane McAuliffe and Sam Wicks due to their low ownership, but credit where credit is due. The awkwardly priced pair finished as the top rookie scorers in Round 10 with mainstream, on-field options such as Levi Ashcroft and Zach Reid not too far behind them. It was encouraging to see Sam Lalor putting up a strong score to potentially reignite his cash gen and I’m giving my vote this week to the reigning No. 1 pick.

*If you’re having issues submitting your vote try clicking “view results” first and that should resolve the problem 🤞

Who's gets your vote as the most important cash cow in Round 10?

• Sam Wicks (88)
• Zach Reid (82)
• Sam Lalor (81)
• Kane McAuliffe (86)
• Levi Ashcroft (82)

View Results

 Loading ...

Round 10 Power Rankings

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

Power Ranking 2025 #AFLFantasy Cash Cows Round 10 💰🐮

1. Zach Reid ↔️
2. Levi Ashcroft ↔️
3. Harvey Langford ↔️
4. Sam Davidson ⬆️ 4
5. Luke Trainor ⬇️ 1
6. Sam Lalor (NR)
7. Riley Bice ⬇️ 2
8. Jaxon Prior ⬆️ 1
9. Max Hall ⬇️ 3
10. Riley Hardeman ↔️ pic.twitter.com/D3wtW4XXzp

— SportsbyFry (@sportsbyfry) May 20, 2025

Making Moves

Let ’em grow

There is a lack of obvious downgrade options at the moment, forcing fantasy coaches to chase value in other ways. Sure, the likes of Zach Reid ($722K, 82, BE 36) and Levi Ashcroft ($773K, 82, BE 64) are ticking along solidly and Harvey Langford ($662K, 74, BE 43) has also established himself as a great source of fantasy production. Outside of that trio, none of our cash cows appear to be safe at the moment and the tricky question every coach faces is who do we look to trade our fattened rookies to? Cooper Simpson ($313K, 64, BE -9) has emerged as the best downgrade choice at the moment and while his ownership has climbed to almost 20%, there are a lot of us who will be unable to move our magnets around and acquire the budding Docker.

Some have optimism around Bombers duo Archer Day-Wicks ($256K, 48, BE 9) and Saad El-Hawli ($339K, 29, BE 18), but it would be unfair to expect great fantasy numbers in the lead up to their Round 16 bye. Riley Hardeman ($417K, 44, BE 17) and Joe Fonti ($387K, 63, BE 23) intrigued some coaches as DEF downgrade choices, with Sandy Brock ($349K, 41, BE 20) getting some love too – and yet, we aren’t confident that they have the ability to churn out stellar scores on a consistent basis. As a result, that may lead coaches to hold onto a lot of our popular rookie selections in the hopes that they can find a ‘pop’ score in the coming rounds. Take Jaxon Prior ($624K, 59, BE 46) for example – we were doing everything in our power to ditch the Dons defender not so long ago, only to see him erupt for 115 points vs. Sydney. As a result, Prior has climbed an additional $82K in price and owns a breakeven of 46 ahead of a matchup with the Tigers on Friday night.

In a period of the season where some of us are clutching at straws to find value that will eventually help facilitate other trades, perhaps the best trade we can make is the one we don’t pull the trigger on. Sam Davidson ($624K, 69, BE 67) is another key example, with most of the readers of this piece ditching Doctor Davo at some point in the last month. Over his past four games, there have been two positive and two negative price movements; however, Davidson has increased in value by $16K over that time. I’m not saying that holding Davidson (or any other rookie for that matter) through their 12 bye and beyond is going to pay dividends, but with a lack of clear-cut downgrade options, holding some of these popular cash cows to make sure we eek out every possible dollar on offer is a tactic that may pay off.

Watch this space

As a Sam Lalor ($580K, 81, BE 46) owner, it was great to see the talented Tiger drop an impressive score vs. the Roos and keep his price moving in the right direction. Take this score with a grain of salt though, as Lalor has only produced two scores over 70 in nine AFL appearances. You could get away with keeping him until his bye arrives if you have more pressing issues and I guess Xavier Lindsay ($558K, 78, BE 51) should be included in the same category. Taking out his injury-affected score against the Suns earlier this year, Lindsay has four scores north of 75 and four sub-50 scores – suggesting that while the consistency may not be there, you could hide behind best-18 rounds and hope he finds his way to strong point totals more often than not.

Max Hall ($578K, 53, BE 53) and Murphy Reid ($483K, 58, BE 57) fit the same mould and could be held until their week off in Round 13, although as I mentioned previously, the potential replacements are few and far between. Cody Angove ($293K, 38, BE 20) hasn’t shown enough in his first two AFL games to suggest he’s a viable money maker and frustratingly, Tom Gross ($350K, 43, BE 41) can’t shake himself free of the sub vest. He did excel with 43 points in just 43% of game time and I’m not the only coach who hopes Mini McQualter gives him a full run in the near future. Against Grossy’s Eagles on the weekend, we saw Liam O’Connell ($295K, 62, BE 5) put forth his best effort of the fantasy season, but I lump him in with Thomas Sims ($294K, 40, BE 16) and Finnbar Maley ($270K, 38, BE 18) as players we can’t trust as trade targets.

Somewhat unique options, Jaxon Binns ($457K, 56, BE 23), Ed Allan ($364K, 57, BE 32) and Kane McAuliffe ($452K, 86, BE 12) come with enough red flags that coaches should pause at the idea of targeting them – although, picking the right one from this crop may just give you a leg up over the competition. Personally, I can’t see any of the trio holding their spot in their respective teams over the medium-to-long term. Speaking of job security, Matt Carroll ($407K, 40, BE 41) found his way back into the Blues lineup which gave roughly 8% of the completion a backline boost, while an early injury saw Christian Moraes ($436K, 68, BE 40) play 87% of the contest against Geelong. Finn O’Sullivan ($396K, 46, BE 40) seemed poised to FINALLY reach great heights on the back of a 39-point first half, but alas, the 40-point king couldn’t deliver on that promise.

Let ’em go

Almost every coach in the game has copped a bullet or three ahead of Round 11, making it difficult to explore the idea of trading our rookies out. If you do have the chance to swing the axe however, Sydney pair Riley Bice ($653K, 59, BE 81) and Caiden Claery ($503K, 36, BE 64) are right near the top of the list after their meagre scoring efforts in recent times. I will likely look to hold Bice until his bye out of necessity and Cleary may become handy FWD line cover to stop you from copping a donut – but either way, it’s time to plan our exit strategy. Luke Trainor ($596K, 50, BE 54) is another rookie we can explore moving on after he was annoyingly subbed out in the last quarter. He seemed poised for another 65-70 point score and while there is a world where he makes another $50K-$100K, his days are numbered for the 44,000+ coaches who own the Richmond defender.

Sub status

Subbed On – Bailey Macdonald, Christian Moraes, Zane Duursma, Kaleb Smith, Tom Gross, Tobie Travaglia

Subbed Off – Isaiah Dudley, Arthur Jones, Saad El-Hawli, Luke Trainor, Harry Sharp, Kai Lohmann, Angus McLennan

The sub rule continues to wreak havoc for our rookie stocks, with Saad El-Hawli, Luke Trainor, Tom Gross and Christian Moraes all affected by the fluro in Round 10. As frustrating as the Trainor and Gross vestings were, I kind of understand it. What I don’t understand is Brad Scott’s decision to drag El-Hawli at halftime of their Saturday night clash against the Dogs. Let’s hope that doesn’t lead to the dashing Don being demoted on Thursday night – the last thing we need is another red dot!

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.

It’s more an existential question. Why do we do this every year?

— AT (@At_lives_here) May 20, 2025

Let’s start here. There are copious highs and lows throughout the fantasy season and during those low, low, lows it can be tough to comprehend why we spend so much time and energy building a hypothetical team only to see them turn into a pile of shit. My squad was in all sorts over the weekend, but watching Xerri (C) and Marshall side-by-side in the RUC department on Sunday made me quickly forget about the other 28 spuds on my list. It can be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel sometimes, but for every story of woe, there is usually one of joy in nailing a unique trade-in, on-field rookie choice, left-of-field captain, or simply beating your mates by a single stat in a league matchup. You can choose if the glass appears to be half-full or half-empty.

Do we think cooper simpson keeps his role with NOD and hayden young coming back soon

— Thilina Guruge (@Gurugeputha) May 20, 2025

I’m still bullish on Simpson keeping his place in Freo’s team for the next 3-4 weeks. Hayden Young isn’t due back for over two months and while NOD is a test to return this week, I think his inclusion will spell doom for Neil Erasmus instead of Coop. Wagner’s MID minutes may decrease with NOD back which may see Simpson’s magnet thrown around, but his last two games have been impressive and for that reason, I reckon he’ll keep producing scores around the 60-point range.

Pls rank who to field this week – Lindsay, trainor, bice, Cleary

— Gedav (@Gedav147022) May 20, 2025

For what it’s worth, I release on-field rookie rankings every Friday on my Patreon page, but because I’m an A-grade bloke I’ll still rank them for you. The smartest play would be to try and loop Trainor on Friday night and play Bice if he struggles – without cover though I’m giving Bice the edge and he’d be No. 1 in this group. I feel as though Lindsay will take a lot of confidence out of his game on the weekend, so I’d make him No. 2 on the list with Cleary bringing up the rear, making the order – Bice, Lindsay, Trainor, Cleary.

Is Cooper Simpson a must get as the last rookie coming through for a while, or are we better off using a Kiddy Coleman, Kai Lohmann… even a Dylan Moore to generate the cash through the byes?

— Lex (@TurnbullLex) May 20, 2025

In short, Simpson has a better blueprint to making $100K-$150K, purely based off his current price tag. I bought into Kiddy last week and think he’s another fine play and either way, you’re looking at the right type of players with regards to Lohmann and Moore. Remember, a lot can change in one week of fantasy footy. All we need is a debutant or two and a 60+ score and we’ll have another trade target on our hands.

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)

Fry

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