Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
St Kilda FC AFL Fantasy 2024 team preview | #PODPOD
2.8k Plays1 year ago
The Saints were the NUMBER ONE fantasy scoring team last year, their first under Ross the Boss in his glorious return to Moorabbin.
Will much change in year two following the enormous acquisition of the man, the myth, the GOAT... Paddy Dow?
Dos, Statesman, Holmesey, and Harmey discuss not only Paddy Dow but all the biggest names, including Rowan Marshall, Jack Steele, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Marcus Windhager, Mitch Owens, and much more!
Want to sponsor us? Hit us up at podpodafl@outlook.com!
Find ALL our social links here: https://linktr.ee/podpodafl
Follow us on X, formerly Twitter:
The PODPOD: @podpodAFL
Dos: @HKdos
Lewy: @LewyAF
Statesman: @Statesman33
Holmesy: @Holmesyheroes
Harmey: @jonharmey
Recommended
Transcript
Saint Kilda AFL Fantasy Preview
00:00:16
Speaker
G'day and welcome to the Pod Pod. Gonna have to wait for the drop again on this one. We're doing Saint Kilda for our team previews in the Pod Pod. There it is, boys. It's 8-0 loving the theme songs from Checkers.
00:00:38
Speaker
At Marmalade, we are doing our AFL fantasy team preview of the Saint Kilda Football Club. And with me, as always, I have five-time top 100 finisher, the Statesman. I have two-time top 10 finisher, Honzy, along with another two-time top 10 finisher, John Harvey. Louis, not joining us on this one, but he'll be back shortly, no doubt. Let's get into the Saints team numbers before we dive into some players. They were sixth on the ladder.
00:01:07
Speaker
with Ross back at the helm, number one for AFL fantasy points. Coming off being number one for disposals, number one for kicks, number three for handballs. Loved getting their hands on the Sharon. They were third last though for meters gained per disposal. So that really just illustrates that chip chip game plan that they deployed last year. And also not a bad center clearance team, but the second worst,
00:01:33
Speaker
for stoppage clearance differential just ahead of West Coast. So, as we know, Ross, he's all about that transition defense, setting up behind the ball, using those wingmen to defend as well. But, Holmsey, what are your thoughts on the Saints coming into year two with Ross the boss back at the helm?
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, look, Ross kind of got put in that position pretty late in the piece last year. I'm pretty sure they'd already done the draft or at least the trade period before he'd been announced as coach. So new game style coming in. He's going to have a full preseason this year to really implement what he wants to do in it. It will be really interesting to see whether or not the way they played last year was just because he'd come in late and he just needed to get the best out of that group or whether or not that's the way he wants to play.
00:02:22
Speaker
being the highest fantasy scoring team for us, we really need to know this stuff because if they're going to change the way they play, we could be paying overs for some of their players.
00:02:31
Speaker
The other interesting thing that I should throw in as well is they also let their teams with that game plan, they obviously let their team opposition clubs score well, especially we saw defenders just going absolutely ham against the Saints and that became a matchup play in your draft and also considering captaincy options against them in the defensive line. So we'll wait and see if that continues as well in year two or if there is a bit more pressure in the defensive 50.
Key Trade Acquisitions
00:02:57
Speaker
The trade in period, a huge one.
00:03:01
Speaker
for the sites bringing in the one and only... Paddy Down! Paddy Down!
00:03:11
Speaker
Now, Patti Dow coming in to save the Saints, turn the fortunes around. All the lads, if you're watching the YouTube, you can see they're disgusted in my behavior on this one. But look, unfortunately, some news did come out about his knee the other day. We'll talk about Patti Dow more soon. That was one of the trade period ends. The other one, and it's the only other major one really here, was Liam Henry coming across from the Fremantle Dockers.
00:03:37
Speaker
And you'd expect him to step into some sort of a wing role and maybe even a fantasy friendly role. Let's talk about that later too. The outs, Jade Gresham off to the Bombers. Nick Coughfield, a fantasy option for us going to the Western Bulldogs after some injury issues over the years. Jack Billings heading off to the Ds and poor Jack Bytel getting D listed. A fantasy favorite of mine and nobody else's as well. Now let's talk about the buy round. Off to you, Stado.
00:04:05
Speaker
No opening around for the Saints, they've got that round 15 buy but a few juicy options for
Fantasy Picks and Player Potential
00:04:10
Speaker
us. Yeah, smooth sailing for 14 rounds which is always a bit of a bonus but as I've mentioned before as we're going through the other teams, they have unfortunately one of the trickiest buys and that is round 15 where there's a lot of premiums on that round so just be mindful
00:04:30
Speaker
when you're planning that you don't end up with 12 or 13 so-called keepers in round 15. All right, well, let's get on to the popular picks at the Saints. And there's actually a bunch of them. There's six players to talk about here. We might move a few of them into a different category, but Max Heath is the most popular player at the Saints, 200K, Ruck Ford, 26% owned. We'll talk about him in the rookie priced segment.
00:04:58
Speaker
But I think that's just a place holder at the moment. Jack Sinclair, $922,000 defender, averaged 102 last year. He is 22% owned.
00:05:11
Speaker
Talk us through Jack Sinclair as an option this year. Yeah, I like it. I guess I'm a bit of a fan of the way he plays. He's on that defensive line, but he's not overly locked down and accountable, is he? He sort of gets a bit of a loose ball, which is nice. He had a few CBAs too last year. He's got a high ceiling. He's a guy that can go 130 plus, which is always good for us. And he's pretty consistent. It's not very often that he hits a low score.
00:05:39
Speaker
Yeah, that's probably, I mean, yeah, he's a defensive option, he's a defensive premium. So I think he'll very likely to be a top six defender come into the season. Stata, your thoughts on Jack Sinclair? He is quite a popular pick and the defensive line, we are looking for a standout kind of number one premium if you don't go the Nick Dacos route with given his opening round.
00:06:04
Speaker
I'll be honest, I don't see the upside, but I don't think he drops away too much either. So I'm looking for value at the start. He doesn't really have that. But if we look at our defensive line and forward line, there's a lot of players with question marks. So what you do get from Jack Sinclair, if you're picking, is what he's priced at.
00:06:26
Speaker
Okay, the next most popular pick at the Saints, $249,000 Darcy Wilson, we'll talk about him in the rookie segment as well, nearly 16% owned. So coaches are pretty keen on starting him. Let's talk about him a little later. Jack Steele though, the next most popular pick, almost 15% owned, 14.6% at the moment. Coming off a bit of a down year for Jack Steele's most recent standards, 97.9 average sitting at
00:06:54
Speaker
Just under $900,000 Holmes, he can still get back to his best and be value at that 98 average.
00:07:03
Speaker
Look, I don't think he can get back to his best. His best has been a 120 average, but either side of that, the previous season before last and the year before he went 120, he's had years of 110. So that's three years of some very good scoring. And yes, we have seen a coach change in that time, but the way I look at it, I still think he's the main man in there. They don't really have anyone else
00:07:26
Speaker
And we are looking for value in our starting squads, and I think if you don't seriously consider Jack Steele, you might be overthinking things a bit. I'm not sure he's going to get back to the 110 plus days, but I would be shocked at the end of the year if he's not a 105 plus guy with potential to go to 110. They don't really have anyone else, and he still is their captain. Army, you got something to say?
00:07:46
Speaker
I was just going to say, I actually like to sit down and try and predict who's going to be in the midfield for the year. And with a lot of teams, you know, you get two, three, four, five, six players sort of thing. With the Saints, I wrote down Jack Steele and then question mark because for me, he's a pretty clear number one.
00:08:08
Speaker
Yeah, last year looking at the numbers, he was number three for the points per minute. Obviously, we said that they were an incredibly high fantasy scoring team, so that's no surprise. But despite the horrid year, over one point per minute in the fantasy average, which if you look at those numbers, anything over one is pretty good. 79% time on ground. I think that could be better for Jack Steele and 76% center bounce of tendencies.
00:08:33
Speaker
definitely high usage, relatively high time on ground. You want that, you know, that's pretty solid as well. But I think we, like Homsey said, I think we can expect some upside, but maybe not the lofty heights of just a couple of years ago.
Rookies and Emerging Talent
00:08:46
Speaker
Let's move on, though, to Neziah Wanganin-Millerastato, another defensive option that fantasy coaches are keen on. He's just over 12% owned in this early stage. Your thoughts on him?
00:08:59
Speaker
Oh look, I like him as a player and massive back half of the year last year. The question mark is when defensive pressure comes on it's in Kilda, where's it going to go? This is a very talented player with good ball skills. It sounds like to me that he will be up there in the rating.
00:09:23
Speaker
I don't know if there's massive growth. I'm probably more excited about him in draft, especially keepers. I just think he'll have a few little footy lessons in his third season.
00:09:37
Speaker
It's an interesting one Wanginin Miller certainly only his what third third season at AFL level and already sort of in our fantasy minds looked like a real real stud back there in the defensive 50 for the Saints and the final popular pick for Saint Kilda is $200,000.
00:09:54
Speaker
Arie Showa maker. So he's getting some attention from coaches as well. We'll talk about him in the rookie price segment. Let's get to the top averaging players for the Saints last year. Number one was Rowan Marshall. 116 average, $1.04 million. Harmony, can we pay up for Roamark? There's lots of juicy ruck options this year for us.
00:10:19
Speaker
you could do I mean he was one of the best scorers of the season last year and he's got a high ceiling definitely a captain option but I just feel like people are going to be chasing a bit more a bit more of a lower priced player that presents some value feel as though there's some underpriced area in the ruck line and not many have been going on Romar but yeah
00:10:41
Speaker
I've kind of said it in the bulldogs pod with English. I'm not sort of ruling out considering starting a high priced RUC as opposed to paying up for a high priced mid for my captaincy choice.
00:11:00
Speaker
Holmsey, you were looking like you were nodding at the start of that segment. You know, we are a video format now for the YouTube audience, but for the podcasters out there, you were pretty bloody keen on some Roma by the sounds of things, Holmsey. Yeah, that's he's really keen, really, really keen. He's pretty excited. Look at him.
00:11:23
Speaker
Well, it looks like Homesy has dropped out on our feed, so we'll have to get back to that. But Stado, your thoughts on Romar then?
00:11:34
Speaker
Oh, look, I won't be going there, but I don't have any criticism whatsoever for anyone that does. And if you listen to the draft doctors at all, Stevie Fizz is big on him and points out that he was the highest scorer in stoppage and they were the lowest stoppage team. And it's probably his point against Jack Steele as well. But I think people forget very quickly that Jack wasn't too healthy
00:12:01
Speaker
last year so I think you'll find that he'll bump up the scoring a bit and Romar potential growth I probably doubt his price will go up so I think he can wait. Alright number two Brad Crouch 103 average the second highest averaging player at the Saints last year. Is there any upside there Hami? I think we probably saw one of Brad Crouch's best seasons last year up.
00:12:27
Speaker
Well, that's right. Yeah, that and he has had an injured off season. I'm not sure if he had surgery, but he's definitely been in the rehab group. So it's not something that I'm looking at for a starting option. Yeah, just consistency and consistency of role. And there's times last year when he was get a heap of CBAs and then they sort of moved him out of the CBAs. It was a little bit of a funny one with Crouch.
00:12:51
Speaker
I mean, he has been a high fantasy scorer in the past, though, as well at the Crows, but, yeah, just given his age, given his injury history. Yeah, it's a tough one to follow in. The third highest averaging player we've already talked about, it was Jack Sinclair. Let's get into the rookie price players. And I don't think we need to spend much time on Max Heath, the 200K ruck forward. Contract year. Contract year. Max Heath.
00:13:17
Speaker
Yeah, look, I think that's just there because if Royal Marshal does go down, there's not a heap of other rock rock options for them, I suppose would probably be the only other thing. But yeah, we'll move on to another player, Darcy Wilson, two hundred and forty nine thousand dollars. Popular pick, 16 percent own. We mentioned him at the top.
00:13:36
Speaker
Anyone got any thoughts or do you guys know anything about Darcy Wilson? There's big raps on him in the quality of player, but it's just going to be interesting where he fits in with that team, where the opportunity is. I don't think it's going to be any type of that sort of midfield role. I think it's sort of a deep forward. So I'm sort of thinking he's a slow burn, if anything, but preseason games will determine whether he's going to be in the best 22.
00:14:05
Speaker
I've just got a point there, Dossie Boy. He was one of the best scorers in the, well, NAB League, that's not the NAB League anymore, last season. So he's definitely a scorer and he has come into the same scene, been right up there in their time trial. So he's fit enough. It's just about how quickly he picks up the game plan and where they can see him playing on the field.
00:14:32
Speaker
All right, and stay though for the next in the rookie segment, we've got Ari Schalmaker as well. 200K defender, 12% owned by coaches.
00:14:41
Speaker
Yeah I don't think we're going to see him actually playing early on in the season. He's actually doing one night a week with the VFL squad. A good talent played well in the Allies program but was sort of one of those, he was the last out of the four big Tassie boys to
00:15:02
Speaker
to get drafted so I probably can't seem cracking a game early but I think in keep an eye on him with the keepers because I think he's He's a national championship scoring was actually pretty good. So He might be one to keep an eye on for the long term All right getting into the pods now and my favorite of all
Midfield Dynamics and Player Impact
00:15:29
Speaker
Oh wait, I need to make sure... That's why Holmesy left. I'm going to hit the sting again. There it is.
00:15:40
Speaker
Let's talk about Paddydow and look, what are your actual thoughts, Hami, on Paddydow? Obviously, unfortunately, we saw he's out for a four-week block with an injured knee. Thankfully, only bone bruising. Initially, there was fears of an ACL, but Hami, let's just put that aside, you know, and your thoughts on Paddydow at 512K, if fully fit.
00:16:04
Speaker
Yeah, well, after the trade period, I was sort of interested. Dossie priced at 57, had five sub games last year. Um, potential value upside and a midfield role, but then didn't really hear much out of the saints. Not really sure how he was fitting into training. Now injured.
00:16:29
Speaker
I don't think we could possibly start in, could we? Maybe if he comes in and cracks a couple of big scores upon return, and then we can think about it, but I just put a line through it. I think he's an absolute lokkami. You've got to pick him in your squad. No, I mean, with the injury concern, unfortunately, it's really dire times for Patty, but no. I'm just hoping he comes back, plays some good footy, and maybe now we just, we wait and see on him, Stado, is that probably where you're at as well?
00:16:59
Speaker
Oh, who's better, Jack Bytel or Paddy Dow? Come on, mate. Both same result, right? That's what's going to happen. No. I would laugh if Jack Bytel ends up being a Premiership player with Collingwood. Yeah. We'll wait and see on that one. In all seriousness, who's playing in the midfield? Where's my thing?
00:17:23
Speaker
Right. So they got, they clearly crouch and Sinclair, I reckon will be your main four. And then it's going to be interesting to see whether they want to inject pace.
00:17:38
Speaker
I mean, all the homes he made at the top though, like this was Ross's first off, you know, proper full off season and they've identified two people and brought him in and it was Patty Dow and Liam Henry. So clearly there's something that he's wanting to do. He did that. I know it was Soss, but he did that. Soss got a lot of players from GWS to Carlton. How many of them is still on the list and played a lot of games of footy?
00:18:06
Speaker
All right. Well, you don't have to pick him Stado, right? But he'll be fairly- I'm just telling you at some point this year, facts. Well, question then for you, Stado. If you see Windhager being in the middle, being a defender priced at 60, is he an option for us?
00:18:27
Speaker
Yes, yes he is. Absolutely mid price option. The issue may be if he plays too many defensive roles and then does that limit what his ceiling is?
00:18:42
Speaker
But tearing out the track, doing really well. We saw the photo of the rig and that's always got to bump up your score by at least 10-15 points. Correct minimum. Correct minimum. Alright, so let us talk about him then. Marcus Windhager, this is 570K defender mid.
00:19:03
Speaker
Close to 8% only, he's got that massive high about his own rig there, killing the time trials, doing all that sort of stuff. If you've got any interest in Marcus Windager.
00:19:15
Speaker
I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not sure. He had a few sub-affected games early last year. He had a couple of tons. He's a bit of an unknown quantity, I suppose, for me at the moment. But maybe he's not a bad alternative to Heath Chapman, who everybody's looking at, at the same price. Yes. And Windhager's got a midfield role. So maybe I'll have a look at that. And know where they buy.
00:19:38
Speaker
There's a few more pods we can talk about for the Saints that may be of interest, given we did say, you know, if they are still up there as a high fantasy scoring team, and if they're going to be number one again, maybe there's some upside here. Mitch Owens, I'm a big fan of this guy. I think I'd have to see a midfield roll change, which I don't know is necessarily going to be their stato, but at 74 average, and when we're, you know, looking for forwards that we can
00:20:03
Speaker
hope for a bit of a push forward in their average. $667,000 for Mitch Owens. Could he go to the next level? Look, I think he had his biggest breakout last year. So you're paying a fair price for him. And he had some magnificent runs, predominantly as a forward, but as we know, he also played a bit of time in the ruck. So might get ruck forward status. That's an interesting one that someone might burst on and start getting mid time.
00:20:29
Speaker
Who knows with that one? But look, high quality player. So Winhager and Owens are two academy players, both of them going into a third year. They're expecting big things from both of them. And I think they're extremely talented. Probably Owens has got a bit more of the X factor and Winhager is that pure grunt. So I think Winhager ends up being a replacement for still longer term. I think that's where he ends up getting.
00:20:59
Speaker
and Owens has just got flair but there's a difference between the two and it's about 100k for Windhager's favour and Windhager's probably going to have a better role.
00:21:11
Speaker
All right, let's talk about another play and we'll try and throw to Holmsey if he can hear us here. But look, he's back on deck, I think. Matthias Philippou just in time, mate. You've missed Patty Dowd, though, unfortunately. We know you dropped out on purpose there, but 470,000 bucks you pay for Matthias Philippou. That's a 52 point average. Looked like he had a fair bit of potential. Could he take a jump in year two and beat a bit of value up forward?
00:21:36
Speaker
Yeah, look, he definitely fits that mold, doesn't he? I think he's their future. I'd have to throw to you or Stado, though. What were his junior numbers like? Was he a big scorer? I'll double check for you while you guys pass your thoughts on him. Yeah, I believe he was a big. I remember fantasy coaches were kind of waiting for him to go in the draft because he had some pretty juicy numbers in the juniors. So, yes, he is known to be that, but he was also one of the youngest players, I think, in the draft. So it was going to take a little bit of time to develop.
00:22:05
Speaker
got the height, homzy, got the talent, Hami. He had some big scoring, but that was from Sandfall 18's. So that's why he was kind of like hyped, but it was Sandfall 18's. It wasn't the senior comp. So yeah, and the bomb was passed on him. The national, yeah, the under 18's national championship was a 75. We don't know what role and stuff as well, but
00:22:29
Speaker
So nothing to ride home about, but like Army mentioned off the top, when we think about this St Kilda midfield, we're a little bit unsure about how it's going to line up. And he is their future. He played a lot of games to them last year, which is not easy to do in your first season. So absolutely, I think he's almost guaranteed to go north of his starting price in the low 50s. But where that gets to, I'm not too sure.
00:22:51
Speaker
But, I mean, you could do worse. Have a look in the preseason and see what that role is. And if it looks like he's going to be in the CBAs, you know, 50% of the time, then you can definitely take a punt at it. But he's not someone I've really considered at this moment in time until I see something.
00:23:06
Speaker
few more names for us to talk about here, lads. Liam Henry, now he did come across from the Dockers, had a really good stretch towards the end of his Dockers tenure as well. Stado, could Liam Henry pop this year at the Saints given he's coming into the number one scoring fantasy team and we saw a surprising career year from Mason Wood last year playing on a wing roll as well, going at 92 average. Yeah, priced at 77. I wouldn't be touching Liam Henry on a wing.
00:23:38
Speaker
Ah, subtle winnings. Draft. Draft depth. Zach Jones then, Harmey 484K. This is a guy that has just struggled with injury time and time again, has had patches of brilliance in the fantasy arena. Don't know if patches of brilliance on field. He's more of a fantasy player than probably a damaging footballer, to be fair, Harmey. But, you know, is there a little bit of value? He's only played the four games last year. He is mid only though, I believe.
00:24:03
Speaker
Yeah, he is mid only price at 54. I had a friend tell me in December that he was in full training and looking really good. And that got me a little bit excited. But that turned out to be a false report. And it was from you. So I think he's, I think he's still on a modified trading plan of some sort did average 88 in 2021.
00:24:24
Speaker
just as he came across to the Saints. But yeah, he's just been injured so often. I just don't think we can really take the risk. I think there are other players with a poor injury history that are worth taking a stab at, but I just think Zach's have added up too much for me.
Midfield Depth Evaluation
00:24:43
Speaker
Yeah. If, if you'd had an uninterrupted pre-season and it was flying and that was the word coming out of St Kilda, then he's absolutely the type of player you take a punt at because I mean, back in 2021 when I was, when I was flying at the top, I'm pretty sure Ashley's bombers who won the comp brought Zach Jones in in that last round. So he had some pretty monster scores that year. And if you can get a few of them and get off to a fly, then absolutely you look at it. But if he hasn't been training, it's, he's going to have a slow start and it's not something you really want to touch early.
00:25:11
Speaker
Speaking of injury prone players, Hunter Clark, 612,000 bucks. Unfortunately, he is also only a midfielder this year. I just threw his name in there because I was shocked to see his time on ground for the year, 58% for that 68 average, surprisingly enough. So he had an injury affected three where he barely played and then few sub games in there as well. And then he's just generally a low time on ground player, but Stado.
00:25:37
Speaker
Hunter Clark, 24 years old still. Could he be that extra guy in the midfield that Harmony's talking about that maybe they lack? Yeah, well, he's number six now that we've listed that will play through the midfield. But obviously, Hunter's never had a good run with injury. And I think the low time on ground is reflective of their want to look after him.
00:26:01
Speaker
So it's pure management but he might get a good run, lift his time on ground, not have injured games like he even did a game last year and his average might come up. But look, 68 average, 600k. You're not touching the Hunter Clark, right? Not in classic.
00:26:21
Speaker
All right, that'll do it for the Saint Kilda podcast.
Episode Wrap-up and Teasers
00:26:24
Speaker
Make sure you follow us at Pod Pod AFL on X, formerly Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, pardon me, and also all the stuff on Spotify. Make sure you follow us on there. Chuck us a rating down. If you're listening on Apple podcasts, of course, leave a review, all of that sort of good stuff this pre-season and we'll see you on our next team preview podcast. We're smashing through these. We've got Carlton next up.