Flagmantle Fremantle… Not a bad season but once again the only ship that will never dock in Freo is the premiership. From a fantasy perspective, it was basically all about the dynamic duo of Brayshaw and Brodie…

In these reviews, we will take a closer look at each club’s Fantasy snapshot for season 2022, whilst I nominate players for MVP, best rookie and biggest flop. I will also provide my two cents on what to look out for in 2023!

Most Valuable Player (MVP)

A.Brayshaw. And it wasn’t even close! The boy became a man this season – fair to say Bray is now of the big dog of the Freo midfield. He started off the season with a bang, posting a season-high 181 in R2 vs St Kilda! 181! That is not a typo and even came in a losing effort. As reliable as they come, coaches knew exactly what they were going to get when Bray crossed the white line! He did simmer a bit later in the season as opposition teams finally tried to put the clamps on him. When it was all said and done, Bray only sat behind Rory “The Desk Pig” Laird for average Fantasy points! A huge season that was well recognised with a top-5 finish in the 2022 Brownlow medal.

Well deserved quick shoutout to Will Brodie, who time and time again took the piss out of Gold Coast list management by playing all 22 games and averaging 95 after starting the season at $387K! Even a broken clock is right twice a day so hopefully the Suns can get something right this off-season.

Best Rookie

Cast your mind back to about R4… our defensive rook stocks were in dire straits. We had fruit loops like Sam Skinner holding a spot on field who couldn’t buy a possession and every other basement rookie lining up in the magoos! Enter Nathan O’Driscoll, affectionately known as NOD or Dizzy O’Driscoll. Following a sub-affected 11 in R2, NOD finally got a proper run at it and didn’t disappoint! Between R3 and R9, NOD was just about the safest 60 in the game with a very serviceable average of 70 residing as many coaches D5/D6. On a sad note, NOD was side-lined for months with multiple injury setbacks until he slotted back in for the final three games of the season.

Biggest Flop

A couple of guys spring to mind here… I’m conscious of mentioning big Sean Darcy as he could probably eat me, but I’m doubling down and running with him anyway! You could mount a case for Caleb Serong given the pre-season hype or even someone like Fyfe but he was pretty irrelevant this season. If we go back to season 2021, big Darcy was easily our 3rd best ruck choice behind Gawn and Grundy… Naturally, coaches out there would have been hoping he took the next step to cement a spot at R1/R2. Unfortunately, Darcy’s average went backwards by about 10 points even with Llooooooyd Meek only managing the six games. He played predominantly as a solo ruck but couldn’t cash in. You imagine his stocks won’t be improving anytime soon with the recruitment of Luke Jackson!

2023 Watchlist

With a mass exodus impending at Freo, those on the outside will be wondering how Freo shape up in 2023. From a Fantasy perspective, the exits of Blake Acres, Darcy Tucker, Lloyd Meek, Griffin Logue and potentially Rory Lobb isn’t huge news given they aren’t household names in Fantasy land! The now confirmed signing of Luke Jackson won’t be great news for anyone bullish on Sean Darcy. I imagine there will be plenty of hype around Caleb Serong again as he enters the 4th year of his career. He pumped out 118 and 122 in the finals and is a mainstay in the Dockers midfield – some food for thought. Can he get off the chain with opposition sides putting plenty of time into Brayshaw? Could Nat Fyfe be given FWD status? I don’t think it’ll matter anyway given his form in 2022… We know what he is capable of but his best Fantasy scoring days are past him!

So there you have it folks, the sixth of the Fantasy Fanatic’s 2022 Reviews! Stay tuned for more new content, Geelong are up next.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Feedback, comments and banter welcome.

Cheers legends,

Fantasy Fanatic #70