EVER since the official Fantasy game of the AFL opened as an early Christmas present in December, tens of thousands of coaches have started piecing together their teams in a quest to gain bragging rights over their mates.

The popular salary cap game, AFL Fantasy Classic, gives coaches the chance to pick a squad of 30 players under the $15.8 million budget that mirrors the salary cap the clubs are limited to in the real thing. Players range from $200,000 all the way to last season's best Fantasy player, Tim English, at $1,071,000.

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Eager Fantasy players have started picking their teams, trying to find the best value throughout the six weeks since the game launched. With practice matches just around the corner and six weeks before round one, looking at the popular picks from the astute coaches who signed up early gives us a good look at the potential best pre-season picks.

Let's have a look at the most selected in each position.

Ownership figures can be accessed via Coaches Choice for Fantasy Coach subscribers.

Defenders

It's not a surprise that Nick Daicos is the most popular player in the backline. He's been a ripping Fantasy pick in his first two seasons, averaging 87 in his debut season and 109 last year. Daicos hits all the stat lines, finding the ball at will. While he is highly owned, there are some questions about the Pies' early bye and a date with Finn Maginness in round four. In round 21 last year, he was held to just five disposals before a last-quarter injury.

Value is where it's at for most coaches in defence. Draftee Daniel Curtin is being backed in as a cash cow with the discounted Zac Williams and Grand Final Fantasy leader and breakout contender Keidean Coleman selected due to their upside.

Hayden Young's ownership has risen following his all-but-confirmed midfield role for Fremantle.

Midfielders

Our highest earning cash cows come from the midfield and coaches have no hesitation in picking Tassie duo Colby McKercher and Ryley Sanders to play in their midfield. McKercher was the highest averaging player in the Coates Talent League while Sanders topped the table in the U18 Championships. Track watchers have been impressed with the pair at Arden Street and Whitten Oval and if named to play round one, they are locks.

Jhye Clark and Jeremy Sharp have been highlighted as rookie-priced players who may get a chance this year.

While some of last year's top performers like Marcus Bontempelli are popular picks, under-priced premiums are being targeted. Sam Walsh, Touk Miller, Jack Steele and Luke Davies-Uniacke are getting some love from the community as players priced below their projected output.

Rucks

Is this a nod to yesteryear? We've spent many seasons discussing set-and-forget in the ruck, but instead of going with the two top scoring rucks from last season, it's Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn who finished every season from 2018-2021 as the top two. The big reason is that instead of sharing the duties like last season, they're on their own and there's plenty of upside at their price points.

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Tristan Xerri has taken over North Melbourne's ruck department after Todd Goldstein was traded and has shown he can score when given the responsibility. It looks like most ruck line-ups will be two of these three players.

Forwards

In 2023, we had a range of premium forward options and starting squads were stacked with four or five of the big guns. This year? Tumbleweeds.

While Jack Macrae is the top priced forward, he averaged 104 in his career and last season's 92 average is his lowest return since his debut season. Is there value if the role is there for him? Sam Flanders finished last season in spectacular form, and some are keen on Taylor Adams based on his price and the potential opportunity at the Swans.

Outside of these three, we're likely to see some dollars saved in the forward line. Draftees are highly selected with Harley Reid the most picked player in Fantasy Classic.

Team Vanilla

The process in picking this team is quite simply looking at the most owned players and including as many as we can under the salary cap. Simple.

Well, not exactly.

Like most coaches putting together their initial squads, a few more dollars would be handy. There's $248,000 left in the bank which would've been nice to put on top of one of the cheaper players, but there wasn't anyone who would fit.

Structure was hard, too. Not many teams are likely to go with four 'rookies' in the midfield. There's basically also three up forward. While this strategy may work, it is not for everyone. But, this is how it has come out selecting Team Vanilla.

Another issue is how many early bye players this squad has. Round two and five feature four players having a rest in each of those weeks. Many coaches think this is too many, so a choice might need to be made.

All-in-all, this 'hype' squad looks solid and there's plenty of big scorers together with value selections and 2024's likely best cash cows.

Maybe you will start with a selection of these vanilla players and sprinkle some hundreds-and-thousands to give it something a bit extra?

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