It’s late in the SuperCoach season with trades few and far between, and thankfully there’s not much injury carnage although there’s some concerns for George Hewett, Sam Walsh and Adam Treloar to monitor.

As a result, trade options aren’t overly top of mind, but those who’ve dodged the injury carnage with some trades up their sleeves may be considering moving on the likes of Darcy Cameron or Jayden Short.

Plus depending on the Hewett and Treloar news, there could be some moves needed, particularly with Tom Stewart available again after suspension.

So Price Watch will take a look at a few of those scenarios this week, starting with Hewett/Short upgrades.

Tom Stewart (SC $562k DEF, BE 73)

The Cats defender is $33k more expensive than Hewett but almost $100k up on Short, so getting him won’t be simple, especially with a break-even of 73. His price is generous, having dropped $60k across three games after he scored 39 in a concussion-affected Round 12 game and 95 in Round 14 against West Coast when tagged by Jake Waterman, before a huge 161 when suspended against Richmond. He has three 160+ scores this season and a juicy run home Gold Coast and West Coast in the final two trades, but the Dogs (who are 14th for SC points conceded) are next.

Nick Vlastuin (SC $547k DEF, BE 61)

It may seem left field but Vlastuin has the best five-game average of any active defender in the recent stretch, with 118.2 SC points. He has six sub-100 scores this season, but four of his past five games he’s scored 100+, so the Tigers are using him more and more, which is no coincidence with Short’s decline. Note, Richmond’s next two are against Brisbane and Port who are very tough to score against, but with only 6% ownership, he could be a shrewd point of difference in the final two rounds against Hawthorn and Essendon.

Harry Himmelberg (SC $566k D/F, BE 70)

Himmelberg isn’t someone most coaches would’ve envisaged targeting to round out their team but he’s coming home with a wet sail following his mid-season role change which has sustained. In fact, Himmelberg has the equal best active three-game average in SC for a defender, alongside Jack Sinclair, with 120. He has six tons in his past eight games, including back-to-back 130s. The ceiling is high too, with his 187 against North, but the Giants’ run home is tough, with Sydney, Essendon, Bulldogs and Fremantle to come – none of whom are in the top eight for points conceded.

Trade Targets

In terms of trade targets, it’s obvious to point to Rory Laird (SC $686k MID, BE 108) and Marcus Bontempelli (SC $652k M/F, BE 40) who are the two in-form players, but their prices may make that unachievable for coaches short on trades. If that’s not you, downgrading a bench option to on-bubble Eagles rook Jai Culley (SC $102k M/F, BE -106) is the no-brainer move, utilising that cash to upgrade to either of the pair, if you don’t own them. Otherwise, there’s a few premo options worth considering.

Max Gawn (SC $538k RUC, BE 118)

Gawn dropped $12k on the weekend despite returning to form with a score of 147. Is that enough to convince coaches to jump back on? He only managed scores of 98 and 50 in his first two games after injury so many are cool on him, but he’s cheap enough to consider bringing in for someone like Jarrod Witts, who has a three-game average of only 93.7, while he’s $50k up on Darcy Cameron whose role is likely to be impacted soon by Brodie Grundy’s return.

Tim English (SC $520k F/R, BE 131)

He is owned by 35%, but plenty will jump on after returning to form with 122 last round, especially given his price dropped another $20k to become an affordable option to upgrade Cameron. His DPP flexibility arguably puts him ahead of Gawn, with the pair’s season averages quite similar – English is 111.6, while Gawn is 112.9, making them the best two rucks available based on averages. He possibly comes into considerations if Treloar is unavailable for multiple games.

Bailey Smith (SC $513k M/F, BE 97)

Similarly, Smith may become very relevant if Treloar is out for multiple games. After his indiscretions, he is owned by less than 5% of coaches, so he’s a great POD option at a cut price, requiring only $16k to upgrade Treloar. Smith averages 106.8 across the season compared to Treloar’s 97.1 too. Smith is the fourth highest averaging forward available. Remarkably the top five forwards are all Dogs and that’s excluding Treloar down in 11^th.

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