All eyes of fantasy coaches are on the Gold Coast Suns to see who they pick for their debut game.
For those not familiar with this annual series of blog posts, they are intended as a guide to the players who are in consideration for the first game of the season for each team. This one is devoted to the Suns as they are so important, but the others come with four teams per post. Please note that the “iffy” and “waiting” lists are always four names long – thus some players are named who you would think are locks in the 21 just to fill out the numbers – and they are not listed in order of likelihood.
Gold Coast
FB: Campbell Brown, Karmichael Hunt, Michael Coad
HB: Nathan Krakouer, Nathan Bock, Jarrod Harbrow
C: Michael Rischitelli, Daniel Harris, Harley Bennell
HF: Danny Stanley, Jared Brennan, Brandon Matera
FF: Liam Patrick, Charlie Dixon, Alik Magin
Fol: Josh Fraser, David Swallow, Gary Ablett jnr
Int: Marc Lock, Dion Prestia, Joshua Toy
Sub: Jack Hutchins
Iffy: Hutchins, Lock, Prestia, Toy
Waiting: Sebastian Tape, Sam Iles, Trent McKenzie, Sam Day
You may look at this and say “what about…” or “you forgot…”, but I can assure that your favourite Sun is in the mix with at least half a dozen others of the same type at the same position, so none of their kids are locks at this stage.
Harbrow playing the last NAB game this weekend shuts off the spot in the 21 that Hutchins or Tape could have claimed. I think Coad is ahead of both of them due to his size and experience, at least to start with.
Those wanting to push someone out to fit their boy might target Patrick, and while it’s true that he doesn’t look to have the quality of some other kids not in this side, he has to play for structural reasons, because this list is titchy enough as it is without playing just one tall forward.
Despite Iles playing last week and on Sunday, I have chosen Lock, Prestia and Toy ahead of him because they have had more solid preseasons. You could make defendable cases for a half dozen others, of course. Some clarity in your statements to the media on selection in the next week or so would be helpful, Bluey!
Let me know whether you cheered or jeered when you saw the above list. Are all the Suns in your fantasy side in that 21? How confident are you that they will get picked every game for the crucial Suns run from rounds 2 to 8?
Also, don’t forget to check out Footy Utopia for preseason fantasy info and hijinks!
