Your SuperCoach Coach Blog

CJ’s up in the slopes again (I’m starting to think he might be a closet Melbourne supporter) so this week I’m back in charge of the juggernaut that is ‘Upgrade Watch’. I’ve ordered the options by price so you know straight away who’s within your budget and who isn’t. I’ll be looking at players I think present value, rather than those who will score the most points on the run home, which is this week’s QOTW.

DEFENDERS

1. Paul Duffield ($455,000, BE 67, AV 95) seems to get mentioned in just about every upgrades article. He’s coming off a couple of good games and with three home games remaining for the Subiaco specialist I’m sensing a big finish to the season. Broughton coming back into the side could hurt his scoring a bit but as we saw at the start of the year there’s enough room in the Docker’s team structure for both half-back flankers to pump out healthy scores in the same game.

2. Sam Gilbert ($448,500, BE 117, AV 96) has been in poor form of late, failing to hit the ton in any of his last 5 games. You may remember from one of the podcasts that Marcus, Mark and I all thought this guy would finish the season as one of the highest-averaging defenders. I’m not sure about the others but my opinion hasn’t changed and at this price I’d be all over him had I been sensible with my trades. He’s not considered one of the Saints’ elites just yet so I don’t think he’ll get rested and with St Kilda’s easy run home he should finish the season well.

3. Heath Scotland ($441,500, BE 96, AV 97) seems to have flown under the radar this year despite being the 8th-highest-averaging defender. Carlton don’t have a great run home with two trips west as well as games against premiership contenders Collingwood and Geelong, but with Scotland sharing his time between the midfield and the backline he should be able to rack up the stats even when his side isn’t going as well.

4. Heath Grundy ($389,700, BE 39, AV 92) was the hot topic at the start of the year with four scores over 125 in the first six rounds but has since dropped off in form. He had a disaster stretch from rounds 8 to 14, failing to score over 82 in this time, but he has hit the ton in his two games since. He could be very handy with his MPP if paired with someone like Phil Davis or Ricky Henderson so if you think he’s back in form now is a good time to jump on.

5. Shannon Hurn ($363,500, BE 110, AV 85) started the season beautifully but a drop in form followed by a calf injury has really hurt his owners. His score of 84 last weekend was his highest since Round 8 but I don’t think that thumping left boot can be contained much longer. West Coast actually have a pretty nice run home so a few more wins could see Hurn post some nice scores in the remaining weeks.

MIDFIELDERS

1. Brett Deledio ($526,400, BE 95, AV 102) doesn’t have a season average that would be considered elite but with the way he has finished seasons off in recent years I’d put him just behind the big six of Ablett, Swan, Judd, Montagna, Selwood and NDS. In his last 5 games Lids has averaged a very healthy 115, with 3 scores in the 120s. Richmond have been in great form of late so I’d have no problems bringing the 2004 Number 1 Draft Pick into my team.

2. Matthew Priddis ($508,100, BE 105, AV 109) has a score ceiling higher than most midfielders in the game but is let down by the odd quiet game. Off his ten hundreds this year, six have been 120 or over, so if he can avoid having a bad game for the rest of the season he could be an inspired pick. Normally you wouldn’t want to pick a midfielder from a team on the bottom of the ladder but with West Coast’s run home this shouldn’t be such a problem.

3. Adam Cooney ($478,300, BE 73, AV 105) has had a fairly strong year this season with two poor scores in Rounds 13 and 14 allowing his price to drop to this level. Working in such a high quality midfield could see Cooney avoid the tag in a couple of games in the run home, and scores of 164 and 171 so far this season show what can happen when oppositions let him run free.

4. Kane Cornes ($453,900, BE 40, AV 100) hasn’t had a great year so far with only 6 hundreds to date. That said, a few cheeky handballs could have made this stat look a lot nicer with scores of 99, 98, 97 and 92. Port won’t win many more games this year which would probably keep him out of my team but scores of 173 and 152 so far this season show Cornes’ massive scoring potential.

5. Brad Sewell ($412,900, BE 29, AV 89) hasn’t had a great year in 2010 with an interrupted pre-season contributing to a season average almost 20 points lower than last year. Shaun Burgoyne’s entry into the team would also be hurting Sewell’s scores with less midfield time on offer. Surprisingly for a player of his calibre, his job security isn’t ensured with him only being a late replacement last round. He has only hit the ton in 25% of his games this year but at his current price he’s a cheap smokie that could pay massive dividends.

FORWARDS

1. Adam Goodes ($447,200, BE -15, AV 89) has been in great form in the last couple of weeks, unsurprisingly paired with a return to the midfield. Playfair’s retirement this week could mean Goodes will be forced back into the forwardline at some stage this year. With the Swans headed for September action my one worry would be that Roos will want to preserve Goodes’ ageing body by resting him forward in the last few rounds so that he can play a full game in the midfield come finals time.

2. Matthew Pavlich ($434,300, BE 98, AV 102) is an absolute star that not many would have thought would get this cheap after the way he started the year. With only one ton in his last 7 games Pavlich is definitely not at his best but if there’s one player I’d back to turn it around it’s Pav. Fremantle have a few big games coming up that they’ll need to win if they want to finish in the top four and this is just the stage for Pavlich to pump out some big scores.

3. Daniel Giansiracusa ($423,600, BE 125, AV 80) will frustrate the hell out of you as an owner. As he’s shown twice this season he has the potential to go on massive runs of scoring but he’ll follow it up with a patch of very average scores. Normally I wouldn’t suggest a player this inconsistent but with only six games to go there’s a chance he’ll finish the season strongly.

4. Jonathan Brown ($391,200, BE 75, AV 95) is probably already in a lot of teams after the way he started this year, but if you resisted temptation then you can pick up a very nice bargain now. He was obviously restricted due to his injury in the weeks leading up to his four-game rest so hopefully he can get back to his stellar form at the start of the year. Even if he doesn’t I’d still back the big Brown-dog to average at least 90 for the rest of the season and for a player below $400k that’s a pretty good deal.

5. Heath Grundy ($389,700, BE 39, AV 92) was talked about in ‘Defenders’. Given his MPP as a forward and a defender it really depends on team structure as to where you bring him in.

Well that’s it for another week of upgrades. Hopefully there was something of use for you here. Uni starts next week so CJ should have nothing but free time and will be able to return to the helm. So, who did I miss? Who took your fancy? Go nuts in the comments.