Remember Me? - Every Clubs Forgotten Man
- Feb 11
- 7 min read
The 2026 season is fast approaching. We see our first taste of action this
Saturday night with the return of State of Origin Football giving us the chance
to see the effects of the new rules, albeit in what is likely to be a quasi-friendly
type of match.
Whilst I’m somewhat excited for State of Origin, the introduction of new GDS
competitions for 2026 has me more excited. The Sunday Showdown, Primetime
and U22 competitions are going to require a lot more players in our squads, so
let’s have a look at one player per club who might not be at the front of your
thinking, but should be.
Adelaide: Mitch Hinge
Defender
2025 Ave: 80.59 | 2025 Games Played: 22 | 2025 Max Score: 132
Hinge falls into a category of a pretty vanilla rebounding defender. The type of
guy you’re happy to pick up late in draft or keeper league but if you hear his
name it’s not going to raise your heart rate. He comes into GDS relevance now
for a couple of reasons however. Firstly, Adelaide lead the way with primetime
games in 2026, secondly the recent injury to Mark Keane could pave the way
for additional points for Hinge.
Keane led the way with kick ins for the Crows in 2025 which could lead to a
bigger market share percentage for Hinge moving forward. If you’re looking at
the primetime comp, it’s worth investing in some Hinge stock.
Brisbane: Kiddy Coleman
Defender
2025 Ave: 86 | 2025 Games Played: 1 | 2025 Max Score: 86
Oh we do love the Brisbane Lions for GDS - Dunkley, Zorko, Bailey, Neale,
Lashcroft, Washcroft, McCluggage, Fletcher… the list goes on and one. But
don’t forget about the luckless Kiddy Coleman.
Who can forget Kiddy’s first half in the 2023 Grand Final? His scoring potential
has always been on show, it’s just his body that has let him down in recent
years, but after a good summer all eyes will be on his pre-season games to see
if he can remain healthy. Consider him for your primetime (and likely finals)
games.
Carlton: Liam Reidy
Forward
2025 Ave: 45 | 2025 Games Played: 1 | 2025 Max Score: 45
Carlton have somehow ended up with a large amount of primetime games
which creates some opportunity for their lesser-known fantasy players.
Towering ruck Liam Ready has joined the Blues from Fremantle, and despite
playing all of last year as a ruckman at WAFL level, Champion Data has
classified him as a forward.
This is great news for GDS coaches if he can grab the number 1 ruck mantle
for the Blues. We love solo #1 rucks with forward status as they have a very
high scoring floor, so watch this ruck battle with interest over the coming
weeks.
Collingwood: Dan Houston
Defender
2025 Ave: 79.68 | 2025 Games Played: 19 | 2025 Max Score: 108
There was some real Space Jam Monstars business happening with Dan
Houston last year. Yes, it’s hard to get the ball in your hands in a team featuring
Nick and Josh Daicos, but all of Houston’s strengths were seemingly stripped
off him when he moved east across the border.
With Josh Daicos potentially set for more time in the midfield, does this open
the door for Houston to assume his favoured role as the #1 rebounding
defender?
Essendon: Jye Caldwell
Midfielder
2025 Ave: 118.55 | 2025 Games Played: 11 | 2025 Max Score: 170
Caldwell often can get lost in the Bombers Hype train behind sexier names
likes Merrett and Parish, and hyped up early draftees like Tsatas, Sharp and
Hobbs (#RIP). But there’s no denying his scoring power when A) He’s Fit and B)
He has the role.
He earned his All-Star card in GDS for a reason and is a legitimate Top 6
midfielder option when fit. A little niggle in pre-season has been reported, let’s
see how bad it is in the upcoming games.
Fremantle: Luke Jackson
Ruck
2025 Ave: 106.55 | 2025 Games Played: 20 | 2025 Max Score: 166
Luke Jackson makes this list as a precautionary tale. Every year the fantasy
community are quick to write off players who have lost favourable dual
position status. Yes, we would have loved to be able to select him as a forward
still, but given the new changes to the ruck rules, along with Jackson training
as a midfielder all pre-season has us very wary of anyone writing off his
relevance.
Geelong: Tom Stewart
Defender
2025 Ave: 97.39 | 2025 Games Played: 18 | 2025 Max Score: 139
Speaking of position changes, as expected Max Holmes lost his defender
status which has bumped up Stewart to be the #1 averaging Geelong defender.
This is despite coming of an injury riddled year where he scored below 50
points on three occasions due to injury.
The Cats are our prime-time darlings in 2026, and you’ll want Tom Stewart in
your stocks
GWS: Brent Daniels
Forward
2025 Ave: 54.17 | 2025 Games Played: 6 | 2025 Max Score: 104
Daniels had a year from hell in 2025, with some internal stomach and
abdominal issues basically putting a line through his campaign. We have to go
back to the end of 2024 to remember his best - which came in the form of a
whopping 195 GDS point game to end the H&A season.
If Daniels can re-capture anything close to that form heʼll be a card all
coaches will considering in their top 7 forwards each week.
Gold Coast: Will Graham
Forward
2025 Ave: 64.88 | 2025 Games Played: 8 | 2025 Max Score: 83
Hereʼs one for your Under 22 Coaches. Graham is unassuming by nature, a
pretty easy feat to do when you’re surrounded by the likes of Rowell, Anderson
and Petracca. But he showed his value last season before an untimely injury
ended his season.
He enters the 2026 season eligible for the U22 comp, but also with forward
status AND an opening round fixture. Put it simply, if he plays Round 0, he’s in
every team.
Hawthorn: Karl Amon
Defender
2025 Ave: 107.09 | 2025 Games Played: 22 | 2025 Max Score: 143
The criminally underrated Amon continues to deliver for fantasy coaches
across all formats. He’s never going to be a top line defender like a Whitfield or
Rozee - but he is going to be very important for the GDS special comps (of
which the Hawks have at least 9 fixtures)
Melbourne: Trent Rivers
Defender
2025 Ave: 96.83 | 2025 Games Played: 23 | 2025 Max Score: 146
“Who wants to be a Melbourne Midfielder?”
Trac: Nah
Clarry: No Way
Jack Viney: I would if I could
Opportunities are going to be plentiful, and Rivers has the opportunity to stamp
his credentials after dabbling in there the last couple of seasons.
Holding defender status, watch for Rivers to assume a key midfield role during
the pre-season.
North Melbourne: Finn O'Sullivan
Defender
2025 Ave: 63 | 2025 Games Played: 22 | 2025 Max Score: 97
It’s Sheezel and McKercher that rightly get the buzz from North’s early
draftees - but don’t overlook the number 2 pick from the 2024 draft. O’Sullivan
had a solid introduction to AFL football in 2025, but with another full preseason under his belt (after an injury interrupted draft year) don’t be surprised if his scoring increased to make him a valuable U22 defender.
Port Adelaide: Miles Bergman
Defender
2025 Ave: 92.47 | 2025 Games Played: 19 | 2025 Max Score: 142
Miles Bergman the Midfielder. it’s great when we see it happen, the problem is
we just don’t see it enough. Or when we do see it, Port cop an injury and
Bergman is needed to stop the boat from leaking.
Josh Carr now has the reins and IF Bergman finally becomes a full time
midfielder he’s going to increase in relevance. He stacks points in a wide
variety of ways - making him the ideal fantasy player.
Richmond: Taj Hotton
Forward
2025 Ave: 57.14 | 2025 Games Played: 7 | 2025 Max Score: 65
Richmond has hit the draft hard in the past few years with Smilie, Lalor,
Cumming and Grlj all being taken in the Top 10 in recent years. it’s Taj Hotton
we want to remind you of here though. Hotton made his debut in Round 18 last
year after recovering from an ACL injury in his draft year.
With forward status in GDS, he’s a sneaky pod option for your U22 forward
lines.
St.Kilda: Mattaes Phillipou
Forward
2025 Ave: 41.57 | 2025 Games Played: 7 | 2025 Max Score: 84
Phillipou was set for a big 2025, until he wasn’t. Injury issues plagued the
talented youngster so we find ourselves here again leading into 2026.
“Tearing down the house”
“Midfield role”
“Put on size”
Yep - been there, heard that.
But if it does all click, there is the potential for Phillipou to not only be a card
we want to stack rarity on in the U22 comp, but also a potential Top 7 forward
in all other comps. After all, we have seen his scoring potential in 2024 where
he averaged 110 GDS points in the last 4 games of the year.
Sydney: Callum Mills
Defender
2025 Ave: 104.92 | 2025 Games Played: 12 | 2025 Max Score: 135
Mills fantasy ceiling is up there with the best of them:
Season 2021: 116 GDS Average
Season 2022: 117 GDS Average
We’re talking elite numbers there. The past 3 years though has seen a mixture
of injuries, form and role hamper his output.
Can he get back to his best? Probably not.
Can he get to a level where he is Sydney’s #1 defender and you’ll play him in
every PrimeTime and Sunday Showdown fixture? Yes
West Coast: Ryan Maric
Defender
2025 Ave: 90.36 | 2025 Games Played: 22 | 2025 Max Score: 134
Ryan Maric is a sneaky U22 eligible player mainly because he looks like he’s
been working on a job site for the last 10 years, but also as a mid-season
draftee we tend to think he is older than what he is.
Maric had a delightful back half role at times in 2025, and if gifted that again
expect him to be a key U22 card.
Western Bulldogs: Conor Budarick
Defender
2025 Ave: 56.12 | 2025 Games Played: 17 | 2025 Max Score: 111
We’re going to finish off here with some spice. Or some vanilla essence.
Depending on which way you want to look at it. If you know Budarick inside out
you’ve either held him in a deep, deep keeper league or you’re a sicko - or
perhaps both?
Anyway, the new Dog has arrived from the Suns and is training across half
back for his new Club. The Dogs have 7 primetime games and Budarick does
hold forward status, so you just never know…
Comments