Fantasy Footy Tips And Tricks Part 1 - The Defense | Thebigtip

To follow up the previous introduction to Supercoach article, I’m going to kick off the four part series covering the players you should and shouldn’t pick to play in your defense.

It seems to be the midfield nowadays that scores all the points, wins all the awards and so on, but it’s the back 10 players that do take some skill and consideration to fill your squad. There are less premium players and more of ‘the rest’, which makes it more difficult.

One of those premium players to be ignored is Brian Lake (WB/104.5/508.7k). Pre-season surgery has been followed up by an 8-10 week break for knee, hip and shoulder injuries. They could’ve said he’d injured his entire body instead.

Brendon Goddard (STK/130.2/633.7k) can be picked in the defense or midfield, but I’d personally select him as a defender. This is an interesting situation.

When it comes to multiple position players (MPPs), always select them in the position that has less premium players. The midfield, in Goddard’s case, is where all your points are going to be scored, so to select Goddard in the defense is essentially like having an extra midfielder.

However, note that with injuries being regular occurrences in the AFL and the introduction of byes for the 2011 season, it’s handy to have another MPP in the other position, so that the chances of a player in your team scoring 0 go down. It’s never a nice thing to lose points because certain players aren’t playing, and this is going to happen more often this season. They're also good when it comes to trading.

The same rule applies for Brett Deledio (RIC/101.9/495.9k), Bryce Gibbs (CAR/104.5/508.3k), Heath Scotland (CAR/94.8/461.2k) and Lindsay Gilbee (WB/93.9/456.7k). They can all be selected in the midfield, but it’s more beneficial to select them as defenders.

Out of the other players who averaged over 90 last season, Paul Duffield (FRE/90.7/441.5k), Sam Fisher (STK/91.2/443.5k) and Greg Broughton (FRE/98.6/479.8k) look to be the best bets. Cameron Bruce (HAW/102.3/497.9k) is also set for more of a midfield role this year, so he should score well.

Jack Grimes (MEL/88/428.2k) is the only other player worth considering from the $400k and over price range. He does have the ability to score triple figures consistently, but there are question marks on whether his body can stay injury free.

Personally, players I’d stay away from in that region include Dustin Fletcher (ESS/96.6/469.9k), Darren Milburn (GEE/98.7/480.4k), Corey Enright (GEE/98.1/477.5k) and Brady Rawlings (NM/97/472k). As players age, their scores generally decline so, although they may average 90 or higher, the chances that they will at least stay on par with their price is slim.

Josh Drummond (BRI/91.6/401k) is in a similar situation – his average may look like a great buy, but consider this: he has played 14 or more games in a season once since 2005. Do your research on players – if they struggle with injury, don’t risk them. I made a bad move selecting an injury prone Drummond last season and wasting a trade after five rounds on him, so don’t let that happen to you.

Once you get down into the lower priced players things get trickier: there are 131 players priced from $200k to $400k, but there are only a few that I’d consider.

Levi Greenwood (NM/63.9/311.1k) is a good one, although he is currently injured – he is part of an up and coming band of talented North youngsters, and looks set for a good year if his last home and away game is anything to go by, racking up 39 disposals.

Brad Sheppard (WC/59.9/291.6) is similar, as he was getting bigger scores towards the end of the year as a member of my squad, along with Phil Davis (ADE/60.5/294.2k), who should accomplish more in the absence of Nathan Bock.

Jeremy Laidler (CAR/82/279.3k) should play more regularly after moving from Geelong, where he played one game last year. Michael Hurley (ESS/69.4/337.8k), if he plays forward, should also score well, as he is still improving his game. If he plays defense, however, avoid him – key defenders are the last players you would ever select in Supercoach.

Robert Murphy (WB/71.1/346k) looks to be a good buy, as does Nick Maxwell (COL/71.7/349k), but I’d say otherwise. Murphy had a great year in 2008 playing as a forward, but at the age of 28 it looks unlikely that he’ll ever recapture that form. In Maxwell’s case, I doubt he can do too much more to improve his scoring.

The Maxwell case is another handy idea to keep in mind – role-players are a recipe for disaster, like key defenders. These include taggers such as Clint Jones and high-marking loose men, like Maxwell, or Jared Rivers. A player always gets rewarded for racking up the touches more than marking the ball on the line to save a goal.

Unless you’re Leo Barry, who apparently got awarded about 40 Champion Data points for his famous 2005 mark.

Anyway, there’s not much quality from ‘the rest’, as most of them are floating defenders or key position players who will be happy with their 50 points every game. So stack up on the rookies.

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