In The Buzz this week we’ll discuss some of the D-Cam replacement options with those around his price, go through the current rooks on the bubble and some POD picks that might fly under the radar in the next few weeks.

Darcy Cameron replacements

Many coaches thought it would be a masterstroke trading Gawn or Darcy to big Darcy Cameron however he left Friday’s night game with a knee injury that will sideline him for up to 6-8 weeks. Unfortunately for coaches, this is going to be another forced trade (unless he has whatever Tom Stewart is taking and surprises everyone by coming back three weeks early). Regardless I’d thought to leave down some of the better options to trade him to as there aren’t many great ones at his price and the ones that are locked are at least a $150k upgrade

Brodie Grundy (SC $510k Ruc)

I hinted last week that he should be one of your buys for Max Gawn given he will take up that number one ruck mantle and he fully delivered providing some retro Grundy scores with a 21 disposal and 25 hitout game where he helped dominate the clearance battle for the Dees. With their next fixture up against an undermanned Eagles side this is perhaps the obvious trade in given he’s only a $15k upgrade. So far this season the Eagles have conceded 132 to Darcy, 132 to Flynn and 83 to a 2nd string ruckman in Comben. Grundy might hit a new PB this weekend with this matchup. 

Todd Goldstein (SC $514k Ruc)

Yes, I know this is not 2015, but North needs a ruckman for the majority of the season. Goldy looks like he’s back to being the number one ruck after being ignored in Round 1, and he’s fully delivering some retro performances with a formidable 90 against Freo and a 115 against the Hawks. Similar price to Grundy so you don’t need to fork the cash out for him. At this stage, Xerri’s return looks to be a long way away and the likes of Coleman-Jones are outside of the best 22, so Goldy’s spot is safe. He’s probably not a long-term option because, towards the end of the year, he tends to tire out (didn’t ton up in the last five games last year). 

Toby Nankervis (SC $554k Ruc)

Yes, unfortunately, you have to spend $50k here to get him from Darcy Cameron but at this stage, he’s the third highest-scoring ruckman and has the number one ruck role at the Tigers sown up. For the last couple of years, he’s shown in burst that he could genuinely be a top-tier supercoach ruckman but ends up fading away late in the year. This year so far his stats have been very impressive averaging 17 disposals, 7 tackles and 37 hit outs a game so far. All these contested possessions are reminiscent of a prime Stefan Martin. He does have a mixed bag in his next few with the likes of the Dogs, Dees and Suns set to challenge him as he plays against top-tier ruckman but will have easy beats in Sydney and West Coast as well which should even out these performances. Will he continue averaging 118? I would say unlikely but 110+ is definitely not out of the question and there were very few ruckmen that scored this well. 

Which is the best rookie on the bubble to pick up

With prices now starting to rise for the rookies that have played every game so far, we are left in a conundrum of whether to overpay for the current batch of rookies or go for ones that have missed a game. While there aren’t many options for those on the bubble I’d thought I’d list out the best ones and what their job security would look like post this week. Especially with a few rookies either not performing as we thought they would (ie Chesser, Constable)

Will Phillips (SC $159k Mid)

Phillips is the best scoring option for this week, but that doesn’t necessarily make him the safest bet. His Round 1 score of 65 only came about when he was subbed on early in the 2nd quarter while he was fortunate to play in Round 3 after Simpkin was suspended and LDU missed with injury. Now that those two are available, we are nervously waiting for the team selection to see if he gets picked. Judging from the game he played he didn’t necessarily have a bad one but I would be very worried if I were going to trade him in just because will he become the sub again or does he play an unfavourable role because he is behind the likes of secondary midfielders like Powell and Greenwood. If you have trades to burn or like to gamble then you can definitely see if he can stay in the team past round 4 but for me, I’d like to save for other potential rookies.

Harry Rowston (SC $140k Mid)

Not as prolific as Phillips judging from his scoring but what makes him a better option is that he has the role locked down so far, when Perryman did a hamstring in Round 1 and probably be out at least for the next 3-4 weeks, Rowston will take on board this midfield role supporting the likes of Green, Coniglio and Kelly. They’ve already ignored putting Callaghan in there as well as taken away Ward’s minutes this week. So it looks like the Giants are pretty set on midfield rotations as they only use four different players in that midfield mix it seems. While his scoring isn’t fantastic he is getting on an upward trajectory so his breakout game could be at any moment. His short-term JS is probably better than Phillips but we’d have to wait for the team selections to make any call. 

Tylar Young (SC $103k Def)

A mature-aged key defender that was picked up for the Tigers, he missed Round 1 with an injury but has come straight into the team. He looks to have a safe role in the team after the long-term injury to young defender Josh Gibcus so it’s pretty much between him, Ben Miller and Robbie Tarrant to fight over that backline role. At this stage, his scoring isn’t great with a 34 and 52 but all you want from him is to play games and provide you cover when need be. He is probably the safest pick of the lot but he will be a slow burner if you do own him, will be a great downgrade target as he makes you a bit of cash being 103k. 

Joel Amartey (SC $223k Fwd)

I have to mention him because so far he has been mighty impressive in the two games he’s played scoring a 122 and a 78, and in that 78 he kicked 0.3 so it could have been an even bigger score. He’s been used as a backup ruckman for the Swans but has also impressed down forward kicking 4.2 against the Hawks and 0.3 against the Dees. Now with a matchup against the leaky Power, Amartey could be a gem to jump on for some short-term cash generation. In terms of long term, Tom Hickey is three weeks away which could mean that he gets dropped and they play Ladhams as the second ruckman in the team. But by that time he would have made at least $100k even scoring 60s. This is more of a premium option if you have like Flanders and need to jump ship, but would you prefer someone like Kade Chandler who’s $20k cheaper and is playing the Eagles this week?

Players to keep an eye on

We’re not quite yet into the silly season of trading but I just wanted to list a few players to keep on your radar as they may be approaching a role change, be a part of an injury crisis or are flying under the radar. I won’t discuss any rucks because you’ll have likely had set and forget ruckman.

Tom Barrass (SC $ 491k Def)

Scores of 85,90,126,90,75,69,149,132,109,103,126,83. These are not the scores of any of the top 6 defenders last year but instead, they were the scores that Tom Barrass scored when McGovern was out of the team. While he isn’t priced cheaply and as a key back he can be prone to drop a low score especially when the ball doesn’t come his way, he has shown in the past he can rack up monster scores just the way the Eagles play with a lot of kicks and marks. Throw in the ability to take intercept marks and you’ve got the potential to average 100+. With McGovern being ruled out for the next 12 weeks, it is safe to say that Barrass could genuinely be within the top scorers, especially with how decimated the Eagles lineup has become. 

Brad Crouch (SC $561k Mid)

Again another similar scenario to Tom Barrass, Crouch is benefitting due to the injury to skipper Jack Steele and can lift to another gear when need be. When Steele was out of the team he went on a five-game-scoring burst of 140,127,105,129 and 80. While he is already at a premium level price with how successful St Kilda have been this year we could be seeing an elevated level from them. He’s already got the inside mid role on lock so it’s just a matter of how often he finds the footy and how well he uses it.

Josh Rachele (SC $340k Fwd)

A mid-priced option that flew right under the radar, Rachele has been playing as a hybrid fwd and inside midfielder for the Crows this season. He’s so far attended around 40% of CBA’s with a season-high 53% last week in the showdown, what was interesting was that they chose to drop Schoenberg and sub out Berry who was two of their prominent midfielders last year which caused this spike for Rachelle. He almost definitely passes the eye test and has a bit of Connor Rozee about him in that he is clean in the midfield and can go up forward and still contribute to the scoreboard. So far this year he’s averaging 2 goals a game to go alongside around 18 disposals so that’s almost premium-level numbers. The big worry though is if he gets shifted up forward how will that affect his scoring, certainly, the Crows are on the up after two strong performances in a row, probably not a good time to trade him in but if he continues to score like this then he will be a very nice POD option.

Bailey Smith (SC $522k Mid)

Now you might be thinking, why would you bother listing a midfielder averaging 88.3 points, well an article put out by the herald sun has highlighted some of the potential upcoming pre-Round 6 DPP changes we might see with some obvious ones like Sheezel and Taylor Adams getting Def and Fwd status respectively but one that I did not expect to be this high was Bailey Smith. At this stage, he is currently in the Fwd line 55% of the time and the threshold for champion data is 35%. So while as a midfielder he isn’t a tantalising option as a forward once he picks up the pace a little he will almost definitely be locked into being a top-10 forward for sure once again like he was last year. It’s almost like Luke Beveridge is playing Supercoach himself.