IT WAS an exercise to see how things can change in half a season of football. Everyone is an expert in the pre-season as they put together their pre-draft lists and participate in their AFL Fantasy Drafts ahead of the new season.

There will always be injuries that can make a logical pick in March end up as the wrong choice or the role changes that weren’t predicted that sees a player bolt to be among the best for the new year.

After a stellar 2017, his first as a Hawk, Tom Mitchell had an average draft pick (ADP) of No.1. He was the man everyone with the coveted first pick was picking. On Sunday night, a crew of 10 Fantasy nuts convened for a mid-season Fantasy re-Draft and Mitchell slid a couple of spots to go at No.3.

Bulldog Jack Macrae was the first selected midfielder, but due to the outstanding form of Brodie Grundy, he was the first selected knowing the data from the past 12 rounds.

The biggest differences from the ADP to the results of this re-Draft was headlined by Jack Billings. He was the third forward taken on average of all pre-season drafts. This week, he was ranked as the 34th best available forward, taken as bench cover.

Dustin Martin went at pick 61, a long way from the ADP of four he carried three months ago. Taylor Adams has suffered a similar fall, taken at 51 when coaches thought he was worthy of going at No.8. Zach Merrett’s value as third pick overall slid to 34.

At the other end, players such as Ed Langdon, Tom Stewart and Bayley Fritsch were drafted in the top 150 players in the three defender, four midfielder, one ruck, three forward and four bench squad structure draft. They were undrafted by the majority of leagues in the pre-season.

Jimmy Webster, Darcy Byrne-Jones, and Dale Thomas had the biggest differentials between ADP and the re-Draft.

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DEFENDERS

The biggest mover in the top group of defenders was Angus Brayshaw. He wasn’t selected in round one by the Demons but has since shown the form to be a top-line Fantasy back. Lachie Whitfield and Brendon Goddard were awarded with DEF/MID dual position status (DPP) in round six. It’s no secret that they were valuable selections in the pre-season now they are available as defenders.

Some of the biggest spikes in change include Shannon Hurn, Luke Ryan, Darcy Byrne-Jones and Jimmy Webster; all taken much higher on Sunday night than their ADP indicates.

MIDFIELDERS

A total of 10 midfielders were taken in the top 20 selections of the re-Draft, whereas 13 were in the ADP top 20.

Fantasy sub-editor Chris Corriea has been impressed with Ed Curnow’s season to date, thinking he’ll be the fourth best midfielder from here taking him at No. 6. Roy from The Traders took Tom Phillips with his second round pick at 19 overall, up 151 places from the consensus in March.

Andrew Gaff, Lachie Hunter and Shaun Higgins saw a significant increase when comparing the data.

RUCKS

It has generally been regarded as a no-no to take rucks too early in Fantasy Draft.

Grundy going at one followed by Max Gawn and Stefan Martin at four and seven just shows how much better the top rucks are this year compared to the rest. Chris Harrop from Telstra was clearly spooked by the early ruck run and panicked, taking last year’s top ruck Matthew Kreuzer at 10.

Sam Jacobs’ trust as a reliable Fantasy option has been tested, left until late in the draft before being picked up.

FORWARDS

Toby McLean is regarded as the best available forward at this point of the season based on high ceiling he has in his scoring.

With his added DPP, Tom Rockliff hasn’t lost too much faith from the Fantasy community despite a less than spectacular start to his time at Port Adelaide. Jack Ziebell, another player to have gained dual position status earlier this year,

Devon Smith, Justin Westhoff, Jesse Hogan and Michael Walters have outperformed where coaches had them in the pre-season.

It’s not too late to play Fantasy Draft. Head to fantasy.afl.com.au and start a league with some mates to see what decisions you would make when picking the best performers for the second half of the season.

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Also in this week’s podcast:

• All of the weekend's action
• News from around the grounds, including Magoos News
• Trade tips
• Bye round strategy
• Your questions answered

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