Looking back on the opening round of our foundation draft, I am struck by an overwhelming sense of… eh?
| Pick | Player | Drafted By | Current Team | Games | Points | Average | ’19 Games | ’19 Avg |
| 1 | Tom ROCKLIFF | Shire Scourers | The Love Sparkles | 60 | 5968 | 99.47 | 17 | 100.9 |
| 2 | Scott PENDLEBURY | Such is Fyfe | Roughnecks | 69 | 7299 | 105.78 | 20 | 105.2 |
| 3 | Todd GOLDSTEIN | The Love Sparkles | The Love Sparkles | 68 | 6334 | 93.2 | 18 | 91.94 |
| 4 | Dustin MARTIN | The Redshins | The Redshins | 68 | 6880 | 101.2 | 16 | 93.88 |
| 5 | Dan HANNEBERY | Roughnecks | Shire Scourers | 47 | 4488 | 95.5 | 1 | 82 |
| 6 | Jack STEVEN | MaherShalalHashBaz | MaherShalalHashBaz | 62 | 6054 | 97.7 | 7 | 76 |
| 7 | Stefan MARTIN | Solomon’s Soldiers | Solomon’s Soldiers | 75 | 7043 | 93.9 | 18 | 83.22 |
| 8 | Jack MACRAE | Puttanesca Chiefs | Puttanesca Chiefs | 71 | 7881 | 111 | 19 | 110.11 |
| 9 | Tom MITCHELL | Defenestrators | Defenestrators | 58 | 7107 | 122.53 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Gary ABLETT | The Bailout Plan | Roughnecks | 57 | 5672 | 99.5 | 19 | 87.84 |
If we were to redo this draft heading into season five only two of these players – Mitchell and Macrae – would be locks to go in the first round again. Things change quickly in fantasy.
There is probably only one outright disastrous selection here (though, another is trending hard in that direction. We’ll come to that). Only four have a career average over 100 though. Four have been traded, and most others could probably be had if the price was right. Four have played for the Roughnecks. At one stage this year the Roughnecks and Love Sparkles owned 50% of the first round between them.
Best Pick: Jack Macrae (Puttanesca Chiefs – Pick 8)
Potentially controversial selection alert!
So if I had done this in October 2018 Tom Mitchell would’ve won easily. He’s a two-time Dangergawn medallist, and the highest per game scorer in the competition’s history. To snag that at 9 is amazing value.
But Macrae just spent an entire season pumping out an 110 average while Mitchell delivered nothing, thanks to a pre-season leg break. That needs to count for something, right? Throw in the fact Macrae is 13 months younger, and one suspects the Chiefs would reject a straight swap. That seems a good tie breaker to me.
Worst Pick: Dan Hannebery (Roughnecks – pick 5)
Todd Goldstein has the worst average of this group, was selected third overall, and has been surpassed at his position by players taken much later in the foundation draft.
But he’s consistent, and Hannebery is Jekyll and Hyde.
His first season was an extremely strong 108.30 in 20 games as the Roughnecks made a Preliminary Final, but performances have plummeted since then. 93.18 in season 2. 7 crappy games at 63 in season 3, which was enough to see him be the first of this group to not retain keeper status. This year he only featured once for his new club.
Yikes. Get in the bin.
Jack Steven dropped off sharply as well this year, and he may be at risk of losing keeper status. But Hanners can’t even get on the park and be mediocre.