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 St Kilda Saints! Let us know your thoughts on who we have included below on all of our socials - twitter, facebook, instagram, discord.
GRADE
C Oh, how Saints fans would have loved to have made the top eight this year. They finished in 10th place, just missing out on making finals and interestingly enough, 10th is exactly where they finished in 2021. No improvements, no regression just an average Saints year. They looked like there were cemented for the finals earlier on the year off the back of some incredible performances from the likes of Jack Steele, Jack Sinclair and Brad Crouch but they ran out of legs after the bye rounds and finished the year with 7 losses for 3 wins. St Kilda always seem to field a great fantasy side, however, so let’s hand out some awards to some who shined for fantasy in 2022!
Most Valuable Player
Jack Sinclair
This has to go to star half-back flanker Jack Sinclair, and if I told you that going into the season I’d have been cancelled from writing about footy for the rest of my life. But he had an unbelievable season, averaging a whopping 27.7 disposals, 5.8 marks, and 2.5 tackles on a per-game average which equates to an eye-watering 123 GDS fantasy points in 2022! Sinclair finished as the 12th overall ranked player in the game and finished as the 2nd highest averaging defender in GDS footy, cementing him as St Kilda’s fantasy MVP for 2022.
Performance of the Year
Rowan Marshall
Rowan Marshall had the biggest score for the Saints in 2022. His big day against the Hawks in round 20 included :
21 Kicks
9 Handballs
9 Marks
7 Tackles
35 Hit-Outs
188 GDS fantasy points!
Rookie of the Year
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera had one of the more consistent seasons of the rookie class in 2022. He donned the Saints AFL jumper a total of 16 times this year and managed to average a healthy GDS footy average of 73 GDS fantasy points per game. His game got better and better as the season went on averaging 80 GDS fantasy points per game since round 11. His best game came in round 7 against Port Adelaide as he went on to score 94 GDS points off the back of 18 disposals, 4 marks and 4 tackles, proving that he does have the ability to score well, even in the early stages of his young footy career.
Surprise of the Year
Mason Wood
I’m taking some creative liberty with this one and giving the St Kilda surprise of the year to Mason Wood, but only his second half of the year! The former North Melbourne tall man struggled early on, but the numbers he was putting up in the second half of the year meant he was forced into a lot of coach's forward lines! From round 11 onwards he averaged a total of 97 GDS fantasy points, which included an average of 112 in his final 5 games of the season. Working up and down the wing, often impacting the scoreboard as well, the 29-year-old averages 16.6 disposals, 5.6 marks and 1.2 clearances a game. He’ll be one I keep a close eye on over the off-season.
Most Improved
Jack Sinclair
I’ve already spoken about how good this blokes year was so I’ll keep it short and sweet, but it’s Jack Sinclair. Sinclair took his 2021 GDS fantasy average of just 79 points per game to an eye-watering 123 GDS fantasy points per game in 2022! That is a gargantuan improvement. He also went from being the 31st ranked defender to the 2nd overall defender on average and total score. He’s one of the biggest improvers in GDS footy! Let alone the Saints.
Disappointment of the Year
Bradley Hill
Brad Hill teased us all year. He started the year well scoring 97, 114 and 139 all within his first 5 games. He then had a really nice purple patch from rounds 10 to 16 where he average 111 GDS points, with big scores of 136 and 156 in that time period. But he just couldn’t piece it all together for long enough and was deemed unusable because of his sporadic consistency. He finished the year with an average of 89 GDS fantasy points and it’s a matter of “what if” for Brad Hill in season 2022 if he could have just shown an ounce of consistent scoring.
After an ‘eh’ year for the Saints, they’ll look to bounce back next year and make that finals charge. They have all the talent in the world on that list, some of the best players in the game with Jack Steel, Jack Sinclair and Max King all within the Saints ranks. Will they piece it all together? Only time will tell.
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