The 2022 AFL regular season has ended, and with that, so has the most challenging fantasy season in recent times. Big name injuries, covid-19 protocols and an entire positional group decimated. That didn't kill the spirits of all the fantasy coaches around the world who stuck it out for the entire season! Now that the season is over for another year, it's time to hand out some online hardware. We will be reviewing every team's fantasy season and awarding those who stood out. To kick us off we have the Port Adelaide Power! Let us know your thoughts on who we have included below on all of our socials - twitter, facebook, instagram, discord.
GRADE
D+ I was so so so wrong about the Port Adelaide Power going into the season. I was incredibly bullish about where they were going to finish the year on the ladder, expecting them to finish second. So from a personal perspective, it was a bit of a letdown this season from them. But from a fantasy point of view, they were great! They had a lot of fantasy-relevant players throughout the year and with the likes of Connor Rozee and Zak Butters really starting to show off the potential they were tipped to have, you have to be excited about what going on at Port Adelaide in terms of the young talent they have, but the 2022 season just leaves a bit of a sour taste in the Power fans' mouth over the off-season.
Most Valuable Player
Connor Rozee
He may not have had the highest average in this Port Adelaide team, he may not have scored the most points in this Port Adelaide team so mathematically I’m in the wrong here but I can’t go past giving Connor Rozee the MVP award for the Power in 2022! He took his game to another level, from averaging just 78 GDS fantasy points in 2021 to now averaging 102 GDS fantasy points in 2022 and establishing himself as one of the best forwards in fantasy football is nothing to bat an eye at! He only ranked 5th among Port Adelaide players but finished as the 6th ranked forward in the game, becoming one of the most sought-after player cards in GDS fantasy footy. I love where his game is at, I love the midfield time he’s getting, and let’s hope we see even more of an improvement in 2023.
Performance of the Year
Dan Houston
Dan Houston had the biggest score for the Power in 2022. His big day against the Lions in round 1 included :
27 Kicks
9 Handballs
12 Marks
2 Tackles
2 Goals
184 GDS fantasy points!
Rookie of the Year
Jase Burgoyne
I thought Jase Burgoyne carved out a really good debut season in Port Adelaide colours. He played 7 consecutive games to end the year for an average of 70 GDS fantasy points, his biggest outing coming against Collingwood in round 20 where he put up an awesome score of 95 GDS fantasy points. I think he’s a player to monitor over the off-season just to see where he might play next year. We saw him deployed as a half/back flanker, and a winger who could push forward and impact the scoreboard. Burgoyne finds the footy well, I’m tipping him to take another step forward next year.
Surprise of the Year
Dan Houston
Dan Houston is my fantasy surprise of the year for Port Adelaide this year. I think most of the fantasy community knew that Houston was more than capable of scoring gigantic fantasy scores, but he’s never really been able to add any level of consistency to his game. That was until this year passed! Houston was unreal for Port this year, his GDS fantasy average of 111 GDS fantasy points placed him as the 43rd overall ranked player for GDS fantasy average and 8th amongst all defenders. While he was still very much so boom or bust, he was able to bring that fantasy scoring floor up to a startable level.
Most Improved
Zak Butters
Mathematically the most improved for Port Adelaide this year was Connor Rozee, but we’ve already spoken about him so I’m going to give this to his draft classmate, Zak Butters. I personally wrote about Zak abutters upwards of around 700 times in the pre-season going into this year, a lot of people put a lot of stock into Zak Butters and for the most part, he proved us right! He was hampered by a grade 2 MCL injury through the season, but his healthy GDS fantasy average of 101 points was enough to rank him as the 7th highest scoring forward in GameDay Squad footy. What’s more important to note about Butters is he averaged a ridiculous135 GDS fantasy points in his last 4 games. He’s a strong set-and-forget candidate for 2023!
Disappointment of the Year
Xavier Duursma
It was tough to find an individual disappointment for the Power this year, it was more of a collective effort of disappointment. Some big names and club legends didn’t score as well as they did in the past but I’ll leave those alone (Port fans are scary) and I’ll go with Xavier Duursma. He’s the third and least loved child of Ports famous 2018 first-round draft picks (Connor Rozee and Zak Butters were selected by Port Adelaide before Duursma). He was in and out of the team all year, often used as a medi-sub, it's disappointing in itself that he couldn't nail down a starting role in this port team. So with a lack of game time and a GDS fantasy average of just 65 points per game, it's hard to get enthusiastic about Duursma, especially when outclassed by the guys he was drafted with.
While it has to be said that Port Adelaide didn’t meet the expectations we had for them at the beginning of the season, there is still reason to be excited about this playing group. The young stars are starting to really hit their straps, Connor Rozee and Zak Butters specifically the two to keep an eye on for fantasy.
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