POD Squad - Round 18

Welcome to POD Squad!

This blog follows my journey using a special Gameday Squad side built entirely around Point of Difference (POD) players, those unique picks most coaches overlook. My mission? To see if I can crack into the top 100 without relying on the same popular stars everyone else has. Each week, I’ll break down my squad decisions, highlight big hits (and inevitable misses), and share insights on finding those hidden gems. Join me as I embrace the risk, chase the upside, and try to prove that playing different can pay off big!

POD Squad selected prior to lineup announcements*

Round 17 review: In future weeks, I’ll dive into detailed reviews of my previous decisions, celebrating the wins and learning from the misses. But since this is the very first week of POD Squad, there’s no past performance to dissect just yet.

Defenders: Mostly chasing the match ups here but there are a few stand outs.

Duggan has come into some form which might have gone unnoticed given a lack of interest in all things West Coast. He comes up against Port which is one of the worst match ups for a defender but I'm still hopeful of a ~115 score.

Lloyd is another in excellent form with 136 and 129 since returning into the Sydney lineup. The difference between him and Duggan is he has an excellent match up. Lloyd is a lock for me, even in my serious squads.

Midfielders: Its getting harder and harder to justify calling Callaghan a POD with the form hes been in. 5 round average has him sitting as the 4th best midfielder but I suspect he will be missed by a few who sort their cards by season average. He's a POD that will be making it into my main teams.

Heeney, Taranto, Oliver, Powell and Daicos are all quality midfielders who I think can take advantage of some favourable match ups.

Ruck: In a round that seems to suck for our conventional picks for ruck, this could be the area that I get ahead. Ive gone with Nank and Sweet who are coming off some decent form and have two of the best matchups for the week.

Forwards: Georgiades comes up against bottom-of-the-table West Coast, and he has absolutely carved up other teams in similar positions. I'm expecting big things!

Keays has shown glimpses of form over the last few weeks, and with Rachele going under the knife, I can't see his scores going backwards; it's just a matter of whether he can lift further.

Simpkin is another who I'm hoping steps up a bit in response to injury. Although he plays a different role from LDU, I'm hoping there are a few more points up for grabs.

The rest are purely chasing the matchup.

Thanks for following along as I kick off this POD Squad experiment. I’m excited to see how far this unique squad can climb and to share all the highs and lows along the way. Stay tuned for updates each week, and let’s see if we can break into that top 100 together!