The Crows are a funny one. “Good, but not great,” as George Bush Snr says approvingly of his own memoirs in The Simpsons, just like his presidency and the Crows haven’t been bad over recent years, but they haven’t been great either.
This translates across to Fantasy terms as well. The Crows as a unit are routinely one of the top three or four pointing scoring teams and contain genuine big beasts like Patrick Dangerfield.
There’s also the matter of a new coach: he’ll inevitably have his favourites and Walsh’s style of play will see some players getting more of the ball than in previous years.
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GET THEM IN
Brad Crouch (MID $524,00)
The kid is a proven gun who has had rotten luck with injuries. He’s coming good and is nicely priced here, especially given opposition coaches will be targeting Dangerfield and Sloane ahead of him.
Patrick Dangerfield (MID $524,000)
Many people were burned by Danger’s inconsistent and injury affected 2014. Moving to a sole MID designation should be a negative but that’s outweighed in my view by his price drop. If he’s over his injuries, he’s priced well below market value.
NOT WITH A BARGEPOLE
Matthew Jaensch (DEF $477,000)
Just doesn’t deliver enough for mine. Has upper to mid priced list clogger written all over him. Use that spot and far less cash on a rookie or similar.
Scott Thompson (MID $544,000)
This long serving warrior will still play good football, and rack up some decent Fantasy scores, but is priced at what I feel is his maximum to begin with. There’s better options.
WORTH A PUNT
Rory Sloane (MID $592,000)
I suspect Sloane is going to have a gun year but nearly $600k is a lot to spend from the get go. If he’s down on form in the NAB Marlarkey, or copping tight tags as happened late last year, then avoid up front.
Rory Atkins (MID $120,000)
The talent has always been there, the question mark has been over his dedication. The reports are he’s training strongly and at that price, is sure to gain cash quickly if he gets a game.
