A lot has changed in 8 years and it is a good point in time to stop and reflect on the league’s original draft. 8 years is a good sample size of the window most elite players are able to perform within at their highest level.
And thanks to Adam’s diligent work on the Dangergawn website, we have all that history right at our fingertips: Player Scoring History – Ultimate keeper league (dangergawn.com)!
I have looked at the top 30 players, or the first 3 rounds for this determination. For the scoring system, I have looked purely at total points scored and career average for our league and weighed them accordingly to present a snap shot in time of the success of the inaugural draft.
It may surprise people to see Zach Merrett at the top of this list as (to my knowledge) he has never been the outright highest averaging player in a fantasy season. But a testament to his consistency, both in scoring and in getting on the park, he has been the league’s best player to date.
Coach Mark’s foresight enabled him to select 8 of the top 30 best players in league history to date, including 4 of the top 10. MaherShalalHashBaz also used their inaugural draft well with 3 of the top 10. Coach Max unfortunately inherited a team with no players in the top echelon of scorers.
Round 2 was the most successful round, with half of the players selected going onto be legends of the league. Surprisingly the 8th round was also very profitable. Also most of the best players were drafted outside the first 5 rounds, which goes to show how much changes across a season (let alone 8).
A couple of other author’s notes:
- Interestingly Jarryd Lyons was the only undrafted player who has made it into the top 30 best players. He was part of a trade back in July 2017 along with Jack Crisp for Patrick Cripps and Christian Petracca, a trade that is infamous for how successful all of these players have been. And while Cripps and Petracca will likely overtake the scoring prowess of Lyons and Crisp it is fascinating to note how even this trade was, for such a high scoring group.
- In April 2016, the #1 overall draft pick Tom Rockliff, was traded twice for trades that included Ollie Wines and Lachie Neale. These lesser picks went on to be cornerstone of their teams, where Rockliff unfortunately couldn’t reclaim the heights of his best seasons.
| PLAYER | Round (redraft) | Pick (Redraft) | Team (redraft) | Round (2016) | Pick (2016) | Team (2016) | TOTAL POINTS | AVG. POINTS | GAMES PLAYED |
| ZACH MERRETT | 1 | 1 | Champs 16 (Te Puke Pukekos) | 5 | 46 | MaherShalalHashBaz | 13428 | 109.17 | 123 |
| JACK MACRAE | 1 | 2 | Such is ‘Fyfe’ (Lethal Vipers) | 1 | 8 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 13368 | 107.81 | 124 |
| TOM MITCHELL | 1 | 3 | General Soreness (Love Sparkles) | 1 | 9 | In Gore We Trust (Defenestrators) | 12696 | 111.37 | 114 |
| MAX GAWN | 1 | 4 | The Leadskins (Feelin Dusty) | 6 | 55 | MaherShalalHashBaz | 12728 | 104.33 | 122 |
| BRODIE GRUNDY | 1 | 5 | Rico’s Roughnecks (Roughnecks) | 6 | 53 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 12197 | 106.99 | 114 |
| RORY LAIRD | 1 | 6 | MaherShalalHashBaz | 4 | 33 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 12264 | 102.2 | 120 |
| LACHIE NEALE | 1 | 7 | Solomon’s Soldiers | 2 | 18 | General Soreness (Love Sparkles) | 12127 | 102.77 | 118 |
| CLAYTON OLIVER | 1 | 8 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 29 | 288 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 11579 | 105.26 | 110 |
| LUKE PARKER | 1 | 9 | In Gore We Trust (Defenestrators) | 3 | 25 | Rico’s Roughnecks (Roughnecks) | 12797 | 97.69 | 131 |
| DAYNE ZORKO | 1 | 10 | The Bailout Plan (Taxmanian Devils) | 8 | 75 | MaherShalalHashBaz | 12178 | 99.82 | 122 |
| ADAM TRELOAR | 2 | 11 | The Bailout Plan (Taxmanian Devils) | 2 | 16 | Rico’s Roughnecks (Roughnecks) | 11370 | 104.31 | 109 |
| PATRICK DANGERFIELD | 2 | 12 | In Gore We Trust (Defenestrators) | 2 | 13 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 11346 | 102.22 | 111 |
| MARCUS BONTEMPELLI | 2 | 13 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 7 | 68 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 11985 | 98.24 | 122 |
| ANDREW GAFF | 2 | 14 | Solomon’s Soldiers | 2 | 12 | In Gore We Trust (Defenestrators) | 11509 | 99.22 | 116 |
| JOSH KELLY | 2 | 15 | MaherShalalHashBaz | 17 | 169 | In Gore We Trust (Defenestrators) | 11246 | 100.41 | 112 |
| JAKE LLOYD | 2 | 16 | Rico’s Roughnecks (Roughnecks) | 15 | 146 | MaherShalalHashBaz | 11905 | 96.01 | 124 |
| MITCH DUNCAN | 2 | 17 | The Leadskins (Feelin Dusty) | 10 | 99 | Such is ‘Fyfe’ (Lethal Vipers) | 10722 | 102.11 | 105 |
| SCOTT PENDLEBURY | 2 | 18 | General Soreness (Love Sparkles) | 1 | 2 | Such is ‘Fyfe’ (Lethal Vipers) | 11160 | 97.89 | 114 |
| JACK STEELE | 2 | 19 | Such is ‘Fyfe’ (Lethal Vipers) | 20 | 198 | General Soreness (Love Sparkles) | 10997 | 97.32 | 113 |
| PATRICK CRIPPS | 2 | 20 | Champs 16 (Te Puke Pukekos) | 8 | 80 | Champs 16 (Te Puke Pukekos) | 10942 | 95.98 | 114 |
| STEELE SIDEBOTTOM | 3 | 21 | Champs 16 (Te Puke Pukekos) | 2 | 20 | Champs 16 (Te Puke Pukekos) | 11102 | 94.89 | 117 |
| LACHIE HUNTER | 3 | 22 | Such is ‘Fyfe’ (Lethal Vipers) | 13 | 125 | Rico’s Roughnecks (Roughnecks) | 10346 | 95.8 | 108 |
| JACK CRISP | 3 | 23 | General Soreness (Love Sparkles) | 6 | 54 | Solomon’s Soldiers | 11175 | 90.85 | 123 |
| TAYLOR ADAMS | 3 | 24 | The Leadskins (Feelin Dusty) | 3 | 28 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 9919 | 98.21 | 101 |
| TOUK MILLER | 3 | 25 | Rico’s Roughnecks (Roughnecks) | 21 | 202 | Such is ‘Fyfe’ (Lethal Vipers) | 10334 | 95.69 | 108 |
| OLLIE WINES | 3 | 26 | MaherShalalHashBaz | 4 | 34 | Solomon’s Soldiers | 10343 | 94.89 | 109 |
| TRAVIS BOAK | 3 | 27 | Solomon’s Soldiers | 5 | 44 | The Leadskins (Feelin Dusty) | 10470 | 93.48 | 112 |
| JARRYD LYONS | 3 | 28 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | – | – | Undrafted | 10061 | 95.82 | 105 |
| STEPHEN CONIGLIO | 3 | 29 | In Gore We Trust (Defenestrators) | 7 | 69 | In Gore We Trust (Defenestrators) | 9315 | 98.05 | 95 |
| SAM DOCHERTY | 3 | 31 | The Bailout Plan (Taxmanian Devils) | 8 | 73 | Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 8328 | 101.56 | 82 |
| Team | # Originally drafted players in the top 30 |
| Champs 16 (Te Puke Pukekos) | 2 |
| Such is ‘Fyfe’ (Lethal Vipers) | 3 |
| General Soreness (Love Sparkles) | 2 |
| The Leadskins (Feelin Dusty) | 1 |
| Rico’s Roughnecks (Roughnecks) | 3 |
| MaherShalalHashBaz | 4 |
| Solomon’s Soldiers | 2 |
| Stranger Danger (Puttanesca Chiefs) | 8 |
| In Gore We Trust (Defenestrators) | 4 |
| The Bailout Plan (Taxmanian Devils) | 0 |