Today, another 18 players gain a new position in NAB AFL Fantasy, just as an original batch did in May. The Traders are all over this exciting update, and Roy is here to pick out the cream of this new crop.
AFTER recognising a number of role changes earlier in the season, the team at Champion Data have identified a new crop of players deserving of positional adjustment to better reflect where they are gaining most of their stats in 2014.
Start picking these new dual-position players now in NAB AFL Fantasy
Once again, no player can lose a position, they can only gain one.
Therefore we have 18 new dual-position players (DPPs) that can add some extra flexibility to your Fantasy squad.
Here are my top five targets:
1] Kieren Jack [FWD/MID, $534,325] has been given forward eligibility based on the number of possessions he has been collecting in the forward 50. This is a huge bonus for Fantasy coaches, given he is one of the form players of the competition with eight 100+ scores in his last nine games including five scores over 110. He is currently owned by only four per cent of the competition, but that is set to sky-rocket.
2] David Zaharakis [FWD/MID, $539,318] has been in outstanding form in the last six weeks, only once dropping below 100 points and scoring over 130 on three occasions. After a slow start to the season where Zaka only reached triple figures once in the first eight rounds, he has certainly swung his form around and now looks likely to finish the year as one of the competition’s highest scoring forwards. Like many of the players gaining DPP, his current ownership is quite low (just 3.34 per cent of the competition) but in this instance, it won’t stay low for long.
3] Mitch Duncan’s [FWD/MID, $479,657] heatmap shows he has been doing a lot of his work in the forward 50, but he also pushes up to wings to gain some handy possessions. This has been evident over the last three weeks where Duncan has averaged 112 points, which puts him on the radar as one of this week’s value picks with the addition of forward eligibility. Despite a great run of games ahead and a low break-even, Duncan would not come under into as a midfielder, but as a forward, he should be well and truly on your radar.
4] After years of becoming accustomed to North's Nick Dal Santo [DEF/MID, $432,554] doing his best work in the middle, occasionally pushing forward to kick a goal, his heatmap reveals that times have changed. Dal’s role consists of roaming the back 50 and pushing up to the wings, which changes the way we look at his average of 91, from mediocre in comparison to other midfielders, to very competitive with the premium defenders. Especially considering he has reached triple figures in half of his games in this role.
5] Harley Bennell [FWD/MID, $464,679] is an absolute excitement machine, but less than one per cent of coaches could justify his ownership as a straight midfielder. As you can see by his heatmap, the addition of forward eligibility was an easy one to make for Bennell who gains the majority of his possessions on the flank. As we saw against the Cats at Metricon Stadium, Bennell has the ability to go big, with 155 from 27 touches and six goals. He can be a little inconsistent, but there is more leniency given to the forwards, so this give a perfect high risk/high reward opportunity for our forward lines.
Eagles trio Dean Cox, Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett have all moved from ruck to ruck/forward status, along with Bomber Paddy Ryder.
Blues recruit Dale Thomas has been given forward/midfielder eligibility and in years gone by, this would make him a prime target but unfortunately his form keeps him off the radar for the time being.
So there you have it, plenty of food for thought and if the players listed above don't tickle your fancy, here's the full list of players making the move
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