11 bargains to set up your KFC SuperCoach season

But 2022 proved that backing in these speculative picks can put you on the quick monitor to success – coaches who began final season with all of Patrick Cripps, Stephen Coniglio, James Sicily, George Hewett and Will Brodie rocketed to the highest of the rankings, and lots of of them stayed there for the whole season.

Was final season one out of the field or has the KFC SuperCoach panorama modified endlessly?

Either approach discovering worth will all the time be a key to constructing a profitable crew, with each greenback saved in a single place liberating up money to spend up someplace else.

So who might be the Brodie, Cripps or Coniglio of 2023?

Here are 11 gamers who might massively outperform their beginning worth this season. Stay tuned over pre-season as we replace this record with the most recent pre-season intel.

Nat Fyfe (Fremantle) $313,600 MID-FWD

Fyfe as a ahead for lower than $320k – do we have to say any extra? Ten seasons with a mean over 100, three over 120 and we will choose him within the ahead line. The case towards is simply seven matches final yr with a excessive rating of 96 and a mean of 63, persistent hamstring accidents, the actual fact he’s now 31 and would possibly play extra as a everlasting ahead as he passes the baton to a brand new era of Dockers midfielders. But the upside is huge.

Verdict: Injury historical past is an enormous purple flag – preserve an ear to the bottom for any discuss of pre-season niggles. But to this point, so good. He’s in for me.

Toby McLean (Western Bulldogs) $178,900 MID-FWD

McLean was a incredible KFC SuperCoach choose in 2018 when he burst out of the blocks with a 111 common over the primary 10 rounds, and a repeat efficiency in 2023 would have fantasy coaches laughing all the best way to the financial institution. That’s the highest finish of his potential output however 90-plus scores will not be an outrageous prediction – he scored 100 factors when he returned in final yr’s elimination last after nearly two years within the wilderness.

Verdict: Should be nearly your first-picked participant if he cracks one of the best 22 – he was within the B crew in current match simulation however regarded in nice nick.

Conor McKenna (Brisbane Lions) $167,500 DEF

We don’t have KFC SuperCoach knowledge for the Gaelic Athletic Association, the place McKenna has performed for the previous two years. But he was a key member of Tyrone’s All-Ireland title successful crew in 2021. Having fulfilled that dream, he’s returning to the AFL with Brisbane successful the race for his signature – an indication the Lions see him taking part in a task of their push for a primary flag since 2003. “We see Conor being a player who further improves our list, particularly as he adds both run and speed,” footy supervisor Danny Daly stated. “He showed in his time at Essendon that one of his strengths is that he can play at both ends of the ground, and he can also win plenty of the ball. We look forward to Conor putting in a solid pre-season and helping us go that next step in 2023.”

Verdict: McKenna averaged 79 and 74 in his final two full seasons on the Bombers and shapes as a secure on-field starter if he’s picked for spherical 1.

Ben Cunnington (North Melbourne) $419,000 MID-FWD

Some coaches have been hoping for a good cheaper price ticket after the Kangaroos champ performed simply two matches final season for a 49.5 common. But the KFC SuperCoach bankers have additionally taken into consideration his 2021 season, when he averaged a career-best 108.7. That demonstrates Cunnington’s scoring energy – he additionally averaged 100 plus the 2 earlier seasons and a minimum of 90 in 5 others since 2013 – which makes him properly underpriced if he can recapture something like this finest. Can he do this after beating testicular most cancers?

Verdict: If Cunnington is taking part in within the guts it’s onerous to see him averaging lower than 90, and the upside is far increased. What will Clarko’s plan be for the veteran and the Roos’ younger midfield brigade? Hopefully we’ll discover out within the pre-season.

Jacob Hopper (Richmond) $332,000 MID

This was the decision on Hopper in Champion Data’s 2016 AFL Prospectus: “The comparison we have drawn him to is Patrick Dangerfield. He wins the ball in a contested situation as frequently as the new Cat, dominates around stoppages and impacts the scoreboard in a similar way.” That was after he had averaged 122 KFC SuperCoach factors throughout his junior profession and been chosen at choose 7 within the draft by GWS. Of course, now he’s a Tiger – the place we will count on that ball-winning capability to return to the fore; after sharing midfield time with a protracted record of Giants mids, he’ll be lining up at each centre bounce at Punt Rd.

Verdict: Ignore Hopper’s common of 67 in seven injury-plagued video games final season. He averaged 97 the yr earlier than and will a minimum of match that in 2023.

Josh Bruce (Western Bulldogs) $161,200 FWD

Bruce was one of many hardluck tales of the 2021 AFL season, hurting his knee within the last home-and-away spherical because the Dogs charged to the grand last. He returned in spherical 18 final yr however struggled to seek out his contact, averaging simply 36.6 KFC SuperCoach factors in his 5 senior appearances. Bruce needs to be lots higher than that after a full pre-season, and one of the best news out of the kennel is he has been coaching as a defender, the place he began his profession on the Giants.

Verdict: Key forwards are all the time high-risk KFC SuperCoach picks, however intercept defenders are an entire completely different story. If Bruce can safe that position within the Bulldogs’ finest 22, he’s an on-field choice in our ahead traces.

Ben King (Gold Coast) $176,300 FWD

What have been we simply saying about avoiding key forwards? That evaluation nonetheless applies with King even at his vastly discounted worth following a yr out of the sport. In his final season earlier than struggling the knee harm he performed 22 video games and produced KFC SuperCoach scores of 11, 12, 18, 21, 22, 24 and 25. But he additionally posted a 117 in a four-goal efficiency towards Hawthorn – and we simply want a recreation or two like that for his worth to go skywards. I’m placing a circle round clashes towards Essendon in spherical 2 and North Melbourne in spherical 6.

Verdict: An affordable ahead assured to play each week he’s out there is an enormous tick to start out with, and King would be the No.1 ahead goal for a quickly enhancing Gold Coast crew. It may be most secure to select him on the bench although, when you can afford it.

Tarryn Thomas (North Melbourne) $295,700 MID-FWD

One of the AFL’s largest enigmas and most intriguing tales heading into 2023 will likely be what grasp coach Alastair Clarkson can get our of the vastly proficient mid/ahead. At his finest Thomas is usually a KFC SuperCoach premium, as he demonstrated when he averaged 103.7 in a scintillating last seven rounds of 2021. Unfortunately, his 2022 season was a complete write-off, taking part in simply 10 video games with a excessive rating of 76 in KFC SuperCoach. His 53.7 common was even worse than his debut season so count on a bounce-back if he will get his thoughts and physique proper, it’s only a query of how huge that’s.

Verdict: Whispers out of Arden Street recommend he’s coaching for a brand new position at half-back, the place he can use his kicking expertise to arrange the Roos’ rebound. Remember what that transfer did for Jack Ziebell and Aaron Hall.

Will Phillips $158,300 MID

Those North Melbourne spies inform us the luckless Phillips can also be having fun with a robust pre-season, named in one of the best for the ‘blue’ crew in current match simulation. Phillips was taken behind Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson at choose 3 within the 2020 draft and the ball-winner will hopefully make up for some misplaced time this yr after struggling Covid and two bouts of glandular fever in 2022.

Verdict: A well-liked choose for M7 or M8 at this stage of the pre-season.

Nick Coffield $208,800 DEF

Coffield’s return from a knee reconstruction that worn out his 2022 season hit a hurdle when he suffered a hamstring harm earlier than Christmas. But the Saints say he’ll be prepared by the point observe matches roll round, giving us an opportunity to evaluate his health and position below Ross Lyon. If it’s wherever in one of the best 22 he shapes as a possible discount purchase at a vastly discounted worth, particularly if he can match or enhance on his career-best 79 common from 2020. A former top-10 draft choose getting into his sixth season needs to be aiming for increased than that.

Verdict: One for the pre-season watch record however at that worth he must be within the dialog.

Sam Flanders $256,300 MID/FWD

Picking forwards within the mid-$200k worth vary has been the ticket to success in KFC SuperCoach in current seasons. Who can observe the path blazed by the likes of Will Brodie, Stephen Coniglio, Jack Ziebell and Jarman Impey in 2023? The selections aren’t leaping off the web page this yr however Flanders is one to observe. Taken at choose 11 within the 2019 draft he has battled to cement a spot within the Suns’ line-up, however all of the noise of out of the Suns’ camp over summer season is the explosive midfielder who was likened to Christian Petracca by my good pal The Phantom after he was drafted is burning up the monitor.

Verdict: Cracking one of the best 22 is one factor, moving into the Gold Coast midfield is one other. Jury remains to be out.

Originally printed as KFC SuperCoach 2023: The finest bargains, worth picks this season