Outside of Lloyd, Laird and Whitfield are there any defenders between 410-580k that people are very bullish about?
It seems Witherden is in just about every team but based on what? He doesn’t score better in wins (expecting Brisbane to win more this year), he’s in his 3rd year yes but nothing seems to jump out of the page (didn’t finish the year off super strong, didn’t have a high ceiling of scores) that points to anything other than be a consistent 85-95 scorer.
Although he has been in my team quite a bit, its only because I can’t bring myself to put in Brodie Smith as a mid pricer and can’t seem to find anyone else I like outside of Williams between 300-570k.
Sicily has a huge ceiling but is already quite expensive and there is some uncertainty that he may be swung forward at times.
Hurn seems as consistent as they come and should benefit from the kick out rules with a play on and thumping long kick getting them to the centre circle basically. However, he is getting on in age and was last year a spike year with a fairly decent increase in fantasy as well as sc?
Crisp appeals for consistency but again looks to be a 90-95 scorer and doesn’t have the high ceilings either.
Ryan scores extremely variable at home/away and I’m not even confident he’ll be having the kick in duties with Wilson there anyway. He plays lock down half the time and seems allergic to 1%ers or intercept marks which is a worry at his price.
Andrews has been rumoured to be swung forward as well with no prior form of scoring as a forward and all of his high defensive scores based around 1%ers and intercept marks.
Anyone else fancy players in that 300-570k bracket outside of Whitfield and Williams??
Brodie Smith shouldn’t even be in my calculations but there are just not many other viable options.
Have you looked into Whitfield & Williams + 6 ?
Big IF but Collins , Scrimshaw , Clark , Duursma (Hore , Burgess ) even Joyce & McKay could be warm bodies on the bench.
2-3 of them could dissapear after 2-3 games but no different to 3-4 mid rookies that many people are keen on.
Think we just need to build our sides around the rookies and may have to take the likes of Smith , Rocky , Libba , Greene , Moore etc.
I am starting to think of leaving some money in the bank to start just in case the rookies fall over early.
Probably different attitude to many here but I can't see GnR being viable , think we need to accept that we may not be able to afford our high end premiums from the start.
As for Witherden check out how Bailey affects him.
As for Smith he might be the best available for 6-8 weeks until it becomes clearer if the new rules do affect the likes of Lloyd , Laird , Sicily , Simpson etc or if indeed there are a new wave of premium defenders coming through.
Just my opinion of course.