Defence
Don’t Start: Hayden Young - Instead start: Brayden Maynard
Hayden Young has been a popular fantasy selection this season with his new role in the midfield. He had an acceptable outing in his first game scoring 109 GameDay Squad points but the news of Brennan Cox being out for 12-14 weeks due to a hamstring injury means I can see Young shifting back to his less enticing half back role. One possible upside for Young is his opponent being North Melbourne this week. Historically they’ve been one of the easier teams to score against but from the one game we’ve seen of them, this doesn’t even look like the case anymore. If you’re looking to start a Fremantle defender, I would definitely be choosing Ryan over Young.
The player I think should start ahead of Young hasn’t historically been on our fantasy radars but has looked very impressive in his first two games. Brayden Maynard seems to be getting up the ground a bit more this year which has helped him score 119 and 128 in his first two games. What I’ve loved about this is both games looked pretty much identical stat wise which makes me think this could be a consistent shift in output. He also lines up against St Kilda this round who have always been notorious for leaking points to defenders under Ross Lyon. This was seen again last week against Geelong where they conceded the second most points to defenders for the round. All these things add up to Maynard looking like a pretty good option for round 2.
Midfield
Don’t Start: Tim Taranto - Instead start: Matt Rowell
Tim Taranto had an incredible start to 2023 and was a must have in all of our forward lines for the whole season. He was doing so well in fact, I foolishly traded my Diamond Gulden for a Diamond Timmy and thought that I’d won the deal. Now in 2024 he’s listed as a midfielder and that trade looks even worse. Watching Richmond play he just doesn’t seem to be at the level he was last year and as such we can’t waste a spot in our midfield for him. He’s averaged 87.5 from his first two games and while I think he will bounce back, there are so many options ahead of him that we must consider. Don’t rule him out forever and maybe even try to pick one up on the cheap.
One of those midfielders that we can’t ignore for much longer is Matt Rowell. Firstly, you can pick up his diamond cards on the transfer market for insultingly cheap at the moment so now is the time to take advantage of his underratedness. He currently sits as the fifth highest averaging midfielder after his first two games and has looked like a whole new man under Damien Hardwick. He’s a contested ball magnet who is also a tackling machine which all adds up to big scores. He went 135 and 141 in his first two outings and doesn’t look like slowing down. Get him in your squad now before everyone else catches on.
Forward
Don’t Start: Shai Bolton – Instead Start: Jesse Hogan
Shai Bolton was one of the main cards I was worried about not having this preseason but thankfully, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be much of a problem. With scores of just 61 and 74, he must have let a lot of coaches down in the first two rounds. When he gets close to the ball, he looks dangerous but the problem is he always seems to be in that awkward area in between receiving the handball and receiving the kick. If he sorts out his position or has his role changed up, he has the potential to be a big scorer but as it stands, he’s just fantasy dead weight.
Instead, you need to be looking at Jesse Hogan who is a must start player for everyone and has the potential to put up the highest score of the round. Normally I would be staying well clear of key position players in GameDay Squad, but Hogan is having an incredible start to the season and has the best match up for a key forward. He’s playing a struggling West Coast who give up the most points to forwards (by far), and Jesse is in perfect form to take advantage of that. There’s a chance Hogan is already in you squad from last week in which case firstly, congratulations and secondly don’t do anything stupid like taking him out. If you’re looking for another point of difference, someone like Billings or Rankine might be an option for you.
