Liam Duggan – Deck of DT 2025

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Why should I pick him?

Liam Duggan has a chance to be the sneaky POD this year. he’s not a name often thrown around in fantasy circles, but over the last 4 seasons he’s consistently produced averaged in the 80s, peaking at 96 in 2023. Last year his average dropped to 88, but he had 2 injury affected games where he scored 28, and 23 points. When you take those out, he averaged 95, immediately giving him some solid upside. Duggan splits his time between the midfield and half-back, the two roles most conducive to fantasy scoring, and he scores well in either role. Opportunity is also on Duggans side, unfortunate pre-season injuries to Yeo and Sheed, as well as Ginbeys move to half-back, ensures Duggan will have plenty of midfield time – which I will talk more about later.

With similarly priced defenders like Houston and Stewart sharing the round 3 bye with some of the value players you’ll be considering, Duggan’s lack of early bye may give him a slight edge over some of the other players you are considering around this price point. His round 15 bye is late in the mid-season byes, allowing you to trade him into a player who’s already had their bye.

Another thing on his side is Market Share. Using an upcoming Game Changer (Download Here) feature, we can do a little dive into West Coast’s fantasy build-up – All without leaving the fantasy site.

Overall, West Coast averaged around 1360 points a game last year, alongside Richmond, these are historic lows, even compared to North Melbourne who averaged 120 more points a game. As West Coast gradually improve, we expect this number to rise. This makes Liam Duggans average of 88 more impressive, this was 6% of his team’s total points, and he scored it in a team where there aren’t many points to go around. Yeo, Sheed, and Ginbey accounted for 11.3% of West Coast’s total points, important parts of their midfield rotation gives Duggan every chance to capitalise on this, capturing some of the available Market Share and boosting his average accordingly. Witherdon and Barrass’s departure in defence frees up another 7% of available points.

Why shouldn’t I pick him?

Game Changer’s (Download here) Fixture Difficulty page shows a challenging early fixture for West Coast. Gold Coast and Freo are okay matchups for defenders, but Brisbane, Freo and GWS are all extremely challenging for midfielders to score against. These challenging matchups may cause Duggan’s price to drop during the during the crucial early rounds. After those rounds, he could be a good trade target (maybe down from a player with an early bye), with a long stretch of neutral and easy games before his bye.

It’s also worth mentioning that West Coast recruited Liam Baker and Jack Graham from Richmond. who will play through the half-back and midfield respectively, and may soak up some of the points that have become available. West Coast’s new head coach, Andrew McQualter, also comes from Richmond. As with any coaching change, it’s difficult to predict how player roles will evolve and whether the team’s new game plan will support high fantasy scoring. Players like Taranto, Short and Rioli all saw drops in averages during 2023 after he was appointed interim coach for Richmond. Despite this – he is co-captain of the club, and I’m sure the coaches will be looking to him to lead a young defensive and midfield line.

Deck of DT Rating.

QUEEN

Liam Duggan earns a QUEEN rating in the Deck of DT because he offers a unique blend of upside, opportunity, and uniqueness in your Fantasy Team. While not a household fantasy name, his ability to produce mid-90s averages when injury-free puts him in strong contention as an underpriced premium defender. The two injury-affected games in 2024 masked his true scoring potential, and with an expanded midfield role due to Yeo, Sheed, and Ginbey’s absences, he has every chance to reclaim a 90+ average posing enough upside to consider for your team. His tough early fixture, and uncertainty around role amongst new recruits and coaching staff makes him a hard player to start. Duggan is a player I will definitely be keeping a close eye on in the preseason games, and am certainly considering starting or trading into early.

Will

Founder of Game Changer