SuperCoach Round 5: Best buys

We’re back again and Round 5 is nearing, which means we’re all trying to figure out the right trades to improve our side.

I’ll briefly review last week’s best buys for Round 4.

Rory Sloane came in at number one and scored just the 60. He copped a head knock early in the game and also clashed with Cam Ellis-Yolmen later on, fair to say he had a bad day. But he’s a premium midfielder and will bounce back.

Marcus Bontempelli at number two was yet to go up in price, and in his return game scored a solid 82 and jumped $40,000.

Adam Oxley’s place at number three was purely for his price rises, and he didn’t disappoint, after scoring just 47 after being subbed out, he still managed a price rise of $62,000 and has a breakeven of just nine.

Tom McDonald has become a favourite of mine, scoring 97 on the weekend. He has an average of 109 and looks a very good sort as a point of difference who may or may not be the most consistent SuperCoach defender this year.

Nathan Krakouer came in at number five and he will also appear in this week, as he is now on the bubble and I put him in after one game. He scored another 82.

Without further ado, let’s get into this week’s best buys.

The top five

1. Robbie Tarrant (FWD, $144,700)
Tarrant has unexpectedly exploded in his first two games this season, with scores of 107 and 121. He’s a mature player so does not come with any risk of being a young 19-year-old rookie, but he’s rookie priced and with a breakeven of -144. He will shoot up in price this week and is just about a must have.

2. Nathan Krakouer (FWD/MID, $106,900)
Yet another mature player, Krakouer has marked his two games returning to the AFL with scores of 82 and 82. His breakeven is -100 and will also rise hugely in price this week. A very cheap option and should be thought about very seriously – opportunities rarely arise when you have mature players at rookie prices pumping out big scores. Get on it, now, and watch with delight as his price sky-rockets.

3. Todd Goldstein (RUC, $615,500)
Goldstein is the must have ruckman this year, thankfully I started with him. His scores so far this year read 100, 154, 110 and 154. He has been the most consistent ruckman this season and looks to have the biggest ceiling. If you don’t have him and your rucks are struggling, then Goldstein is a must, and is averaging 129.5 points per game.

4. Daniel Hannebery (MID, $564,900)
Hannebery has started the season with a bang, with scores of 133, 91, 136 and 118, all against quality sides (or sides that have started the season well) in Essendon, Port Adelaide, Greater Western Sydney and Fremantle. His draw only gets easier from here with the Bulldogs, Melbourne, Geelong, Carlton and Gold Coast taking up five of the Swans’ next six matches.

Hannbery averaged 120.75 points per game overall against those sides combined last season. He has a breakeven of 82 so should rise in price this week and at the moment holds some good value and is a point of difference.

5. Devon Smith (FWD, $520,800)
Devon Smith has started the season in great form, with scores of 77, 102, 123 and 128. He has a breakeven of just 58 so if you want him, you’ll have to get him this week because next week he may be out of your price range. He is a real point of difference and his last few weeks have been outstanding, and his season average stands at 107.5 so far.

Smith is a real talent and is already looking to improve on his solid SuperCoach season of 2014. He spends a consistent amount of time on ground each week (102, 105, 104 and 103 minutes respectively) so you know what you’re going to get and he’ll be a consistent scorer. Is almost a sure thing to either accumulate a lot of the ball, tackle hard or hit the scoreboard, all sure fire ways to boost a score.

Special mentions

Mark Blicavs
Gets a lot of his possessions around the ground and doesn’t rely on hitouts, also is a solid tackler for a big man. Gets points elsewhere, which may be handy, most pure-rucks are finding it difficult scoring wise this season. Also is still fairly cheap at $428,000.

Aaron Young
Was on the watchlist last week and backed up his 98 with an 81. Only reason he misses the top five best buys is because of his awkward price of $244,000. He’s in the midfield and forward line and will be overlooked for Krakouer by many

If you bought in Krakouer a week early, however, and have an injury or under-performing premium who you want to give the flick, Young isn’t a bad option with a breakeven of -35 and could rise $120,000 to $140,000 over the next three or four weeks if he maintains his 89.5 average.

The watch list
This week we have a bunch of midfielders that will be dropping or have been dropping in price recently, who will present very good value at some stage or another.

Luke Parker
Another week on the watchlist, he is now down to $505,000 with a breakeven of 139, he should drop well into the 400s this week and if his score of 84 last week is anything to go by (with majority of that in the second half) he is looking like getting back to his usual self again. Watch with interest over the next week or two and if he starts to get a couple of games over 100, he’ll be in the best buys sooner rather than later.

Steve Johnson
After a great Round 1 start with 131, he had two horrid weeks in Rounds 2 and 3 and thus was the sub in Round 4. His price is now $474,000 and has a breakeven of 165. Will be low 400s very soon, and like Parker, wait for signs of his usual self to be returning and he could be a real cheap premium pick up.

Tom Rockliff
Returned from injury and played forward for a lot of last week. Will take a few weeks to be fully ready and back to his best I assume, and right now he has a breakeven of 296. At $700,000, we can expect to see him far lower and we may be able to pick up last year’s second highest averaging player for a bargain basement price in the coming weeks.