DRAFTING is open for AFL Fantasy leagues from Thursday morning and for coaches keen to get the edge over their opponents, they’ll spend some time setting their pre-Draft rankings.

I like to work off positional rankings. As each Draft takes place, you’ll find yourself strategising as to which line you should take your next pick from based on how your squad, and other coaches’, is shaping up.

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We’re currently compiling our rankings for a number of upcoming drafts as well as the annual Draft Kit which will be available later this month on AFL.com.au. Projecting season averages based on past performances, new roles and personnel changes coupled with durability and age help make decisions on where I’ll be happy to take players.

It’s a guessing game, but being prepared will help you when you’re on the clock and under Draft day stress.

As information flows through – such as injuries and our favourite pre-season quotes of "more midfield time" - we adjust our ranks.

Note: Due to 2020 games played with shorter quarters, the averages for players below have been adjusted to reflect full length games.

DEFENDERS

Expect Jake Lloyd and Lachie Whitfield to be first round picks but from there, you should be able to get serviceable defenders a little later in the draft. Last season, 27 of this year’s players with DEF status averaged more than 80. That’s 10 more than the forwards, so you may prioritise grabbing a forward over a defender in those first few rounds.

Zac Williams has a big bump based on his 2020 average with the mooted midfield time he’ll get at the Blues.

In the last week or so, James Harmes has seen his Fantasy stocks rise due to the revelation that he’s training with the midfield group because his season in defence "didn’t really work". Harmes averaged 94 the previous season when he was primarily a midfielder.

RANK

PLAYER

CLUB

POS

AVG

GMS

1

Jake Lloyd

SYD

DEF

114.4

17

2

Lachie Whitfield

GWS

DEF

107.4

17

3

Rory Laird

ADE

DEF/MID

99.9

17

4

Jack Crisp

COL

DEF

95.1

17

5

Tom Stewart

GEE

DEF

96.4

14

6

Zac Williams

CAR

DEF

82

11

7

Sam Docherty

CAR

DEF

88.6

16

8

Bachar Houli

RIC

DEF

85.8

9

9

Callum Mills

SYD

DEF

92.3

15

10

Jayden Short

RIC

DEF

90.9

17

11

Caleb Daniel

WBD

DEF

88.6

17

12

Christian Salem

MEL

DEF

89.1

16

13

Alex Witherden

WCE

DEF

97.3

6

14

Jeremy Howe

COL

DEF

106.9

4

15

Brayden Maynard

COL

DEF

93.8

17

16

James Harmes

MEL

DEF

62.1

13

17

Jordan Ridley

ESS

DEF

89.5

17

18

Dan Houston

PTA

DEF

91.3

15

19

Brodie Smith

ADE

DEF/MID

85.4

16

20

Luke Ryan

FRE

DEF

88.1

17

21

Nick Haynes

GWS

DEF

88.4

17

22

Darcy Byrne-Jones

PTA

DEF

79

17

23

Brad Sheppard

WCE

DEF

88

17

24

Luke McDonald

NTH

DEF

90.6

17

25

Jack Lukosius

GCS

DEF

77.9

17

26

Hunter Clark

STK

DEF

79

16

27

Jordan Dawson

SYD

DEF

82.9

16

28

Jack Bowes

GCS

DEF

79.6

17

29

Shannon Hurn

WCE

DEF

80.8

16

30

Daniel Rich

BRL

DEF

84.4

13

MIDFIELDERS

The most prolific scorers in Fantasy are the midfielders. They’re the ones that will rack up plenty of touches and in turn, rack up the best scores. A whopping 27 midfielders averaged 100 or more last year meaning that your captain is usually going to be the first midfielder you pick.

Your first or second solution will hopefully be someone who has the capacity to average 110-plus.

For those playing Fantasy Classic, you’ll notice a range of players who last year returned averages well below their personal best. They may become value selections and worth bumping up your order. I believe the Giants will have a much better year and have ranked Tim Taranto and Stephen Coniglio around the group of midfielders I think will go at around 105.

Knowing that there were 51 players last season who averaged 90 or more, I’ll be keen to grab a skipper and fill my other lines before thinking too much about the midfielders… unless there’s a value pick that pops up in the mid-rounds I need to jump on.

RANK

PLAYER

CLUB

POS

AVG

GMS

1

Lachie Neale

BRL

MID

122.5

17

2

Zach Merrett

ESS

MID

115.8

16

3

Clayton Oliver

MEL

MID

114.6

17

4

Taylor Adams

COL

MID

114.4

17

5

Tom Mitchell

HAW

MID

107.8

17

6

Matt Crouch

ADE

MID

110.5

16

7

Adam Treloar

WBD

MID

109.8

8

8

Andrew Gaff

WCE

MID

108.8

17

9

Jack Macrae

WBD

MID

112.6

17

10

Jack Steele

STK

MID

113.6

17

11

Lachie Hunter

WBD

MID

119.1

9

12

Tom Rockliff

PTA

MID

114.3

14

13

Josh Kelly

GWS

MID

106

14

14

Tim Taranto

GWS

MID

94.1

11

15

Stephen Coniglio

GWS

MID

97.5

16

16

Marcus Bontempelli

WBD

MID

104.9

17

17

Christian Petracca

MEL

MID

108

17

18

Mitch Duncan

GEE

MID

106

16

19

Jarryd Lyons

BRL

MID

107

17

20

Scott Pendlebury

COL

MID

105.5

13

21

Luke Parker

SYD

MID

106

17

22

Patrick Cripps

CAR

MID

94.1

17

23

Brad Crouch

STK

MID

92.8

12

24

Sam Walsh

CAR

MID

96.8

17

25

Andrew McGrath

ESS

MID

96.6

14

26

Travis Boak

PTA

MID

104.6

17

27

Josh P. Kennedy

SYD

MID

101.6

12

28

Cameron Guthrie

GEE

MID

106.1

17

29

Tim Kelly

WCE

MID

95.6

17

30

Sam Menegola

GEE

MID

102.6

17

31

James Worpel

HAW

MID

96.5

15

32

Dion Prestia

RIC

MID

94.5

5

33

Dylan Shiel

ESS

MID

102.1

15

34

Nat Fyfe

FRE

MID

94.3

14

35

Ollie Wines

PTA

MID

95.5

15

36

Hugh McCluggage

BRL

MID

92.8

17

37

Matt Rowell

GCS

MID

88.5

5

38

Touk Miller

GCS

MID

100.8

17

39

Ed Curnow

CAR

MID

96.8

17

40

Rory Sloane

ADE

MID

76

12

RUCKS

Recently the No.1 selection based on ADP (average draft pick) is a ruckman. Brodie Grundy has been that man for the last couple of seasons but Max Gawn is likely to be at the top of the table this year.

The two best ruckmen in the game could have 10-point gap on the next best available ruck (possibly Reilly O’Brien) and should be taken in the first half of the first round. I’m predicting the duo to have ADPs of one and two.

A strategy that has worked when drafting ruckmen is to take a punt on them. Meaning, if you didn’t get one of the big dogs early, you leave them until the late rounds. Based on projections, you could get an 85 averaging ruckman with one of your last picks as players like Toby Nankervis and Nic Naitanui can return those numbers, yet the defenders or forwards in the later rounds might be mid-70s at best.

RANK

PLAYER

CLUB

POS

AVG

GMS

1

Max Gawn

MEL

RUC

123.6

14

2

Brodie Grundy

COL

RUC

113.6

17

3

Reilly O'Brien

ADE

RUC

108.5

17

4

Rowan Marshall

STK

RUC/FWD

96.6

17

5

Todd Goldstein

NTH

RUC

99.5

17

6

Jarrod Witts

GCS

RUC

80.5

17

7

Tim English

WBD

RUC

91.4

17

8

Toby Nankervis

RIC

RUC

80

7

9

Nic Naitanui

WCE

RUC

85.5

16

10

Scott Lycett

PTA

RUC

82.5

13

11

Braydon Preuss

GWS

RUC

62.5

3

12

Oscar McInerney

BRL

RUC

72

17

FORWARDS

There is certainly a gap between the first couple of tiers of forwards and the rest. Scoring drops away dramatically outside of the top half-a-dozen players.

You can bank 100-plus averages from MID/FWDs in Steele Sidebottom, Josh Dunkley and Patrick Dangerfield. Even with time in the forward line, they’ve proven to be great scorers across their careers. They’ll be snapped up in the first two rounds with the next group, including Dustin Martin, not far behind.

While it’s possible, there is unlikely to be more than 10 forwards average more than 90. Last year it was eight.

RANKINGS SPREADSHEET Click here to download Warnie's excel sheet

Snagging some of those high-80s players will be a priority. There’s plenty of risk, but those MID/FWDs that are likely to have a run on the ball will be hot property. Jye Caldwell should get that opportunity at the Bombers as may Jaidyn Stephenson at the Roos.

The player who took the biggest hit in my rankings was Tom Hawkins. After averaging a career-high 89, the inclusion of gun key forward Jeremy Cameron has me scratching my head over what his output will be. I’ve basically ranked him at 25 (he was the ninth highest averaging forward last year) as I know someone else will grab him before I will.

RANK

PLAYER

CLUB

POS

AVG

GMS

1

Steele Sidebottom

COL

MID/FWD

113.6

9

2

Josh Dunkley

WBD

MID/FWD

97.1

11

3

Patrick Dangerfield

GEE

MID/FWD

102.1

17

4

Rowan Marshall

STK

RUC/FWD

96.6

17

5

Dayne Zorko

BRL

MID/FWD

98.6

15

6

Dustin Martin

RIC

MID/FWD

93.4

16

7

Isaac Heeney

SYD

FWD

88.4

6

8

Michael Walters

FRE

MID/FWD

91.4

14

9

Tom Phillips

HAW

MID/FWD

78.9

15

10

Toby Greene

GWS

FWD

82.1

13

11

Chad Wingard

HAW

FWD

84.4

17

12

Kyle Langford

ESS

MID/FWD

85.8

16

13

Isaac Smith

GEE

MID/FWD

81

10

14

Jordan De Goey

COL

FWD

74.9

8

15

Jack Martin

CAR

FWD

79.6

15

16

Kane Lambert

RIC

FWD

78.3

16

17

Shai Bolton

RIC

MID/FWD

81.9

15

18

Jye Caldwell

ESS

MID/FWD

67.8

9

19

Zak Butters

PTA

FWD

77.9

15

20

Jaidyn Stephenson

NTH

FWD

61.5

12

21

Robbie Gray

PTA

FWD

76.4

17

22

Ben Ainsworth

GCS

FWD

77.5

16

23

Sam Powell-Pepper

PTA

MID/FWD

73.1

17

24

Jeremy Cameron

GEE

FWD

63.9

17

25

Tom Hawkins

GEE

FWD

88.5

17

26

Tom Lynch

ADE

FWD

79.8

13

27

Zac Bailey

BRL

MID/FWD

77.3

17

28

Gryan Miers

GEE

FWD

78.3

17

29

Tom Papley

SYD

FWD

72.8

17

30

Aaron Hall

NTH

FWD

76.4

15

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