IT'S A moral grey area for footballers, but West Coast star Dean Cox says he will select himself in his Toyota AFL Dream Team for 2009.

Cut him some slack because Cox, the league's standout ruckman, is something of a necessity in any Dream Team after averaging more than 100 points in the last two seasons.

The trade-off is never selecting himself as captain and steering relatively clear of teammates.

"I'll put myself in, I've always done it," he said. "I never put myself as captain or vice-captain, or anything like that. I just leave myself in for the year – I don't touch it, don't look at it.

"But I generally keep as far away from my teammates as possible.

"When you look at players over your pre-season, I suppose you can pick 10 players that you think are going to have big years. But you can't go filling your side up full of West Coast Eagles."

There are exceptions, of course, and Cox says teammates Shannon Hurn and Matt Priddis will be seriously considered when he finalises his 30-man squad, while premiership teammate Daniel Kerr presents excellent value.

"Kerry's price is down a fair bit for an elite midfielder, so I'll probably have a look at him," he said.

"Matt Priddis has obviously been a ball magnet but he lays a lot of tackles as well, which generates a great score. He and Shannon Hurn are probably the standouts."

After being ravaged by injuries in 2008, there is plenty of Dream Team value on West Coast's list.

Mitch Brown, Sam Butler and Matt Rosa are all potential high scorers returning from long lay-offs, but Cox warned about putting too much stock in such players.

"Sam Butler came back on the weekend and played his first game as did Mitch Brown," he said.

"But Sam's coming back from a groin injury and Mitch from a knee reconstruction, so how much footy are they going to play? That's probably the biggest risk.

"Obviously they've both had great pre-seasons, but they've been out of footy for 12 to 18 months."

The other advantage Cox has over other Dream Team enthusiasts is a week-to-week appointment with his fellow ruckmen.

Generally a hard position to fill for fantasy coaches, Cox tipped a big improvement from Fremantle's Aaron Sandilands and another stellar season for Essendon's David Hille.

"Hille scores a lot of points and Sandilands I think is starting to generate a lot more footy around the ground to go with his hit-outs," Cox said.

"Then you've got the young up-and-coming types like (Dawson) Simpson and Matthew Leuenberger – those sorts of players that will be trying to establish themselves as good ruckmen through the year but will still be reasonably priced.

"Then I'll choose a rookie ruckman and hope for the best."

Dream Team watch – Dean Cox is rated a $473,200 ruckman in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.