NEWS
All clubs are now on deck for pre-season training, West Coast returned today and Adam Simpson shed some light on a few burning issues at the Eagles.
Josh Smith recently joined the Eagles and could be inline for senior action at some stage next season, there are no promises but Simpson made mention of Smith during his presser.
“Good first impression (on winning the time trial).. Hopefully he will have an impact at senior level.. but if he doesn’t (he’ll) help out with our younger guys as well.. we think there’s some good AFL footy in him” Adam Simpson on Josh Smith.
Liam Ryan made an early exit from a pre-season training camp, Simpson wasn’t too concerned with making the right call.
“It was a physical camp. He’s pretty fit, he ran well today, but he didn’t handle it too well to the back end so we pulled him out and we took him home” Adam Simpson on Liam Ryan.
Four players have joined new clubs via the Pre-Season Supplemental Selection Period:
Nth Melbourne: Tom Campbell
West Coast: Keegan Brooksby
GWS Giants: Shane Mumford
Essendon: Zac Clarke
Interesting that the first four players taken are all Ruckmen.
Tom Scully is likely a fair way off playing early in 2019, he injured his Ankle in Round 2 and did not reappear last season.
“I’m going to start some light loading this week.. everything’s on track.. It’s going to be a long process, but one I’m confident that I can get right” Tom Scully.
Catch Up – Fantasy News Today: 30 November, 2018
Elliot Yeo did not train with the main group today, Adam Simpson said he was recovering from a toe operation and should be set to return to full training in January.
Yeo averaged 106.2pts in AFL Fantasy & 107.9pts in SuperCoach in 2018.
AFL FANTASY ANALYSIS
Since moving from Collingwood at the end of the 2016 season Jarrod Witts has put up back to back solid averages at the Suns, after averaging 95.7pts from his opening 18 games Witts averaged 85.0pts from his final 4 games in 2018.
Witts scored 100pts or more in 31.8% of games & 120pts or more from 22.7% of games in 2018, this was a moderate increase compared to 2017 for ceiling games.
Witts has played in 90.9% of games since his Gold Coast debut at the start of the 2017 H&A season, he averaged 37.9 Hit Outs in 2017 & 38.8 Hit Outs in 2018 which was 3rd behind Max Gawn (44.8) & Brodie Grundy (39.9).
The Disposal numbers for Witts have restricted him from averaging over 100pts, he averaged 13.3 Disposals in 2017 & 13.6 Disposals in 2018. Maybe the extra Disposal or two is possible under the new Ruck rules which will be implemented next season.
Fantasy Impact: 2019 Rule Changes
Stuart Dew is likely building a contested game style at Gold Coast, while the process may take a while to be properly implemented the increased stoppages could help Witts as early as next season.
Witts won’t be highly owned & you could actually just be buying his low 90’s average again, he has shown an increase in ceiling games last season but just needs to find consistency from game to game. Worth consideration.
