2024 Fantasy Bold Predictions: In the realm of fantasy football, the mantra "fortune favours the bold" resonates deeply. While following consensus rankings can build a solid team, true greatness demands risk-taking. It's about daring to defy expectations, challenging the status quo, and embracing boldness. I'm going to comb through AFL rosters, crafting bold predictions for each team. These forecasts, rooted in data and seasoned with foresight, offer a glimpse into what could be!
Adelaide Crows
Jordan Dawson leads the league in kicks and finishes top 5 at the midfield position in 2024. We're starting off with a light simmer as opposed to a blistering hot take but the man who finished 8th league-wide for total kicks per game has a clear run way to the top spot! Dawson is widely renowned for being on of, if not the best users by foot in the league so he's a good shot at this title anyway but throw in the fact that he has the 1st (Matt Crouch) and 3rd (Rory Laird) leading handballers per game playing in the same engine room, and he might just take his outside game to even greater heights!
Brisbane Lions
Will Ashcroft scores more GDS fantasy points on average than Lachie Neale and Hugh McCluggage.
Expect a big second year jump from the Prince of Woolloongabba in 2024! Ashcroft suffered a cruel ACL injury late in the 2023 season. He still mustered a very tasty rookie season average of 96 GDS fantasy points per game through 18 games and when he comes back in 2024, I suspect we will see another jump from the 19-year-old!
Carlton Blues
Sam Walsh wins the Brownlow Medal and finishes as the number one player in all of GameDay Squad Aussie Rules! Now we're warming up. Sam Walsh has all the makings of a Brownlow Medalist and Fantasy Coaches will be well aware of his fantasy scoring power. Don't let an injury and role riddled 2023 season deter you from what is one of the better fantasy player in the country!
Collingwood Magpies
Collingwood only have one player finish in the top 15 at their position for fantasy in 2024.
No guesses for who the exception will be but maybe it is because every single forward movement the Pies make is through the hands of Nick Daicos. But seriously, who makes a push? Do Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom and Jeremy Howe turn back the clock? Probably not. Do Josh Daicos and Jordan De Goey have the minerals to finish as top 15 midfielders? Yes... but I can't see it in 2024. I think the best chance is Lachie Schultz who is listed as a forward and I'd suggest that will be a push for him.
Essendon Bombers
Elijah Tsatas breaks into the Bombers midfield and finishes as a top 8 forward in 2024.
Essendon might have the most confusing midfield depth chart of all time but I think Tsatas overtakes the likes of Ben Hobbs, Jye Caldwell, Archie Perkins and Dylan Shiel and becomes a genuine fantasy stud.
Fremantle Dockers
Jordan Clark becomes a competition winning POD (Player of Difference) who will end the season as a weekly must-start.
Everyone in the community by now is well aware of Hayden Young's move from the half-back flank to the midfield, and while he's understandably a popular choice in defence lines right now I think his teammate Jordan Clark will be the Freo defender everyone is starting by the time we get to the busy end of the season.
Geelong Cats
Jack Bowes leads the Cats for marks and becomes their key distributor off the half-back line.
Bowes realises his potential and becomes the rebounding half back we saw glimpses of on the Gold Coast just a couple of seasons ago where he averaged 96 GDS fantasy points a game? I can see a world where it happens and Bowes' average reaches levels we haven't seen before. Pay close attention!
Gold Coast Suns
Matt Rowell overtakes Noah Anderson as the Gold Coast's best dynasty fantasy player! Best mates on and off the field, Rowell rose to fame straight out of the gates in his rookie year before succumbing to multiple injuries which stunted his playing growth. While he was out Noah Anderson cemented himself as the face of the franchise that will 'hopefully' take Gold Coast to success. Both are absolute studs, but Rowell has tailed Anderson as a fantasy player for some time now... until 2024 where Rowell will over take Noah and become the Suns' best fantasy player.
Greater Western Sydney Giants
Lachie Whitfield finishes the season as a top 3 defender.
Whitfield has been thrown around all over the ground in recent years, but his best fantasy seasons has been when he's flown off the half-back line using his wheels and ball usage by foot to break lines. Whitfield is tipped to return to a full time defence role which should be music to the ears of owners of Whitfield cards and he should be in your teams!
Hawthorn Hawks
James Sicily finishes outside of the top 7 defenders in 2024.
Spicy, I know. But the Hawks have been absolutely decimated this preseason. They have already lost three key defenders in James Blanck, Denver Grainger-Barras and Changkuoth Jiath to long term injuries. A shake up in defence is clearly needed which could see Sicily reverting to a lockdown role. He is an absolute fantasy stud but are there too many question marks around him as we stand today?
Melbourne Demons
Kozzy Pickett wins Mark of The Year, Goal of The Year and kicks 55+ goals in 2024.
And those 55+ goals will put him in contention for selection for fantasy footy because as we know the forward position is... challenging to say this least this year, which means goals are going to be extremely valuable! Especially due to goals being worth 8 points in GDS fantasy!
North Melbourne Kangaroos
Colby McKercher has an even better rookie fantasy season than Harry Sheezel.
Which is a big ask given that Sheezel finished the 2023 season with an average of 114 GDS fantasy points! While McKercher will be a little harder to justify starting, given he is a midfielder, I think he'll give Sheezel's rookie season sight and is a good chance to eclipse it!
Port Adelaide Power
Todd Marshall finishes top 3 in the Coleman Medal Race and averages 90+ GDS fantasy points per game. Again, the Forward position is going to be tough to navigate through this season but one man who will score enough goals to warrant selection is Port Adelaide's full forward Todd Marshall.
Richmond Tigers
Jayden Short finishes the season as a top 2 defender for Fantasy.
Jayden Short's return to the half-back line clearly has me up and about but I think he's in for a colossal season with he return to defence. Before his move into the midfield Short was one of the best defenders in fantasy footy and I can see him leapfrogging the likes of Jack Sinclair, James Sicily and Tom Stewart for that spot behind Nick Daicos.
St Kilda Saints
Ross Lyon continues to create headaches for fantasy coaches and Jack Steele falls outside of the top 15 midfielders.
Jack Steele is a fantasy jet and he has proven it year after year but his fall from grace under Ross Lyon has stirred fantasy coaches as soon as Lyon walked through the door. This will continue in 2024.
Sydney Swans
Brodie Grundy finishes as the number 1 ruckman in 2024.
Is this bold? I think it is... To overtake Rowan Marshall and Tim English would be a monster effort but if anyone can do it is the ruckpig who is back to being solo! Grundy has made his way up to Sydney to become the number one ruckman in the league for fantasy once more!
West Coast Eagles
Reuben Ginbey finishes in the top 5 league-wide for tackles made and pushes for selection weekly.
Reuben Ginbey finished the 2023 season as the most requested player on the GameDay Squad transfer market and for good reason! We saw glimpses of what Ginbey could be as a fantasy player and in his second season i'm tipping we see a major improvement!
Western Bulldogs
Jack Macrae finishes outside the top 5 fantasy forwards.
Consensus number one forward heading into the 2024 season, Jack Macrae will finish the season outside of the top 5 at his position in 2024. Will his role change enough to improve on his 104 GDS fantasy average? I don't think so but I'll be extreamely happy to be proven wrong!