Compare the pair… Same age, same income, same starting balance…

All super advertisement gags aside, they say comparison is futile. What they don’t know is that this is AFL Fantasy so bugger that, it’s the name of the game to compare players and make potentially premiership winning decisions!

In this series of articles, I will put two players of interest head to head to see how they stack up against each other! Inevitably, as Fantasy coaches we are often faced the conundrum of “pick one”, whether that be due to salary cap squeeze, team structure, upcoming fixtures, etc.

For context, I will present multiple quickfire ✅(Pros) and ⌦ (Cons) and from there try and split the two to come to a final verdict!

Matchup #5 sees two of AFL Fantasy’s heavy hitters go head to head in what can only be described as a clash of the titans! You run out of superlatives fantasy coaching these blokes but it’s time to split the difference in one of the hottest editions of fantasy face-off yet! Don’t read on at your own risk.

Touk Miller	Player	Callum Mills
Gold Coast	Club	Sydney
$972K	Price	$983K
MID	Position	MID
22	2022 Games Played	22
109.8	2022 Avg.	111
R13	Bye	R12

MILLER

✅ It’s fair to say Touk has the runs on the board after averaging an absurd 122 in 2021… Yes, his season average dropped but just knowing he has the scoring power is a big tick! Question is: Can he reach those giddy heights again in 2023?

✅ Mr consistent himself only dropped below the 80 mark once in season 2022! This also happened to be the only game Touk recorded <20 disposals. You just know what you are going to get week in week out with a guy like Touk.

✅ Durability: Touk has only missed one game of footy over the past three seasons – huge tick!

⌦ Fair to say opposition teams look at Gold Coast and put a big circle around the name “T.Miller”. The ultimate compliment but sadly for us as fantasy coaches, Touk is generally public enemy #1 for the opposition. His scoring output dropped by 12 points from 2021 to 2022 as a result. A pertinent example of this was when Finn Maginess dry humped tagged Touk to 88 in R20 last year. I can’t see things getting easier if Gold Coast continue on their upward trajectory… He’s the main man in that engine room!

MILLS

✅ The stats don’t lie… Callum Mills just knows how to fantasy! Fun fact: In 22 games last season Mills only eclipsed 30 disposals once. That’s right, once! His ability to fill a stats sheet is second to none, averaging an elite 6.6 marks and 6.3 tackles per game in 2022. There’s about 45 fantasy points without even disposing of the nurrie.

✅ Ceiling! When Mills goes big he goes reeeeeaaallly big. His top three scores in 2022 read: 162, 156, 148. Not many players boast the ability to go this large.

✅ Incredibly, Mills could end up being a cheeky point of difference (POD) with a current ownership of just 4%! Now I’m not about chasing PODs but this is one you can take to the bank.

⌦ Pills, Thrills and Callum Mills. Honestly, any excuse to use the nickname/clever word play I coined last year… A flag worth mentioning is that when Sydney were in the shit, Horse Longmire would turn to Mills to play almost like a goalkeeper role down at full back in a bid to stem the bleeding! Turns out Mills is also pretty good at this role too… As you can imagine, whilst he still chalked up a few cheap +6’s, he did endure quiet patches throughout games not being around the footy as much. He also did not kick-in with the duopoly of Lloyd and Blakey feasting on cheap +3’s!

VERDICT

Boy oh boy this is difficult to split, not least that they almost share the same surname… However, this is Fantasy Face-off, no sitting on the fence! I’m going Mills by the tightest of margins! If Gold Coast continue on their improving trajectory, you’d think this would give clubs even more reason to sit on Touk which is no good for his fantasy output… Mills is simply not copping the same attention and doesn’t need to have 30 touches to go massive. If you do happen to be $11K off selecting a player you are keen on elsewhere, by all means select Touk!

So there you have it folks, the fifth edition of ‘Fantasy Face-off’? What did you make of it – agree? disagree? Who else would you like to see go head-to-head over the preseason? Let me know in the comments! Thoughts, feedback and banter welcome!

Cheers legends,

Fantasy Fanatic #70