We are now into 2024 and are just over a couple of months away from the 2024 AFL Fantasy season getting underway, and we have had a big shakeup with the introduction of Opening Round and extra byes!
OPENING ROUND
The AFL have introduced a new concept called “Opening Round”. This round features 4 games that don’t count towards our AFL Fantasy season in terms of point scoring, but it will impact their price rises as players from the opening round will essentially get two price rises following round 1. Opening Round also serves as a “free look” at all the players from these eight teams, and will be especially helpful for and rookies and midpricers we are looking at as we actually get to see them in proper action.
Each of the eight teams involved in Opening Round, they have a bye within the first six rounds, which means we have more bye rounds, in rounds 2 (Brisbane, Carlton), 3 (Gold Coast, GWS), 5 (Collingwood, Sydney) and 6 (Melbourne, Richmond). For these rounds, it’s best 18 and the normal 2 trades each week for those byes.
As this is the first ever time having Opening Round, it’s going to be very interesting to see the strategies that coaches use to combat these early bye rounds. Do we start any premiums from these teams? How many midpricers can we pick? Do we get fooled into buying scores from players in Opening Round? Personally, I’m pretty much avoiding all premiums that have an early bye, while also limiting the amount of players I have from these teams. Great for discussion leading up to the season, and everyone will have their own opinions and preferences which is makes the game of AFL Fantasy so much fun.
PLAYER PRICES
There are eight million dollar men in AFL Fantasy this season. Tim English ($1.07m RUC), Marcus Bontempelli ($1.06m MID), Rowan Marshall ($1.05m RUC), Clayton Oliver ($1.03m MID), Jordan Dawson ($1.02m MID), Zach Merrett ($1.02m MID), Tim Taranto ($1.02m MID) and Errol Gulden ($1.02m MID) will all set you back a pretty penny if you want to start with any of them.
If you want to start with any of the players above, it is also important to look for “value” players. Sam Walsh ($854k MID) had a delayed start to 2023 and looked underdone for most of the season, but performed well in the finals, and will look to get close, if not better than his 109 average in 2021. Jack Steele ($884k MID) was hampered by injuries all throughout 2023 which saw his average drop down to 97.9, but we know he can push the 120 average.
Brodie Grundy ($677k RUC) and Taylor Adams ($691k M/F) have both gone to Sydney and with increased responsibility and better roles, could see them present significant value.
Keidean Coleman ($628k DEF) and Tristan Xerri ($580k RUC) are on the flipside, where players have left their respective teams – Daniel Rich and Todd Goldstein respectively – that add further responsibility and better roles for them where they look poised to outperform their starting price by a fair margin.
Even guys like Sam Flanders ($809k M/F) and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera ($824k DEF) had strong back halves of the year and present value based on their starting price.
There are also players that have done it before like Cam Guthrie ($762k MID), Matt Crouch ($734k MID), Ollie Wines ($701k MID) and Jy Simpkin ($684k MID) could all present significant value if they can return to or near their best, while Zac Williams ($442k DEF) missed all of last season and is very cheap for what we know he is capable of.
Chasing value is an important aspect when looking at players and their prices, so looking at different avenues of value is key when picking your starting squad.
We still have plenty of time (69 days but who’s counting?) before the AFL Fantasy season gets underway, but we have Opening Round and preseason action before then so it won’t be long at all before we really start to make plenty of changes to our fantasy sides!
