Last week I talked about how infrequently we hit with our first round PSD picks. The players we placed our faith in that have just let us down, broke our trust, or maybe just got severely injured. But what about the ones that got away? I’m sure every manager has stories about the player that they drafted a year too early. The one they traded away only for them to become a Superstar the very next year. The one that got squeezed out of their team at end of season delist and blossomed the very next year. So how good a team have we let go? Lets find out.
I have decided to focus on Natas and Nexus (due to my more intimate knowledge of those two teams) and then to let you guys look at your own past history pages and let me know what kind of team you could pick from your own delists.
Natas
| Position | Player | 2022 Average |
| KF | Matt Taberner | 23.5 |
| F | Josh Bruce | 15.45* |
| C | Tim Taranto | 26.78 |
| M | Ed Langdon | 14.33 |
| M | Zach Tuohy | 14.89 |
| Ro | George Hewett | 19.14 |
| Ta | Jack Steele | 12.44 |
| B | Lachie Weller | 7.88 |
| KB | Jeremy McGovern | 15.36 |
| Ru | Paddy Ryder | 11.50 |
| Bench | Tom Mitchell | |
| Total | 161.3 |
Nexus
| Position | Player | 2022 Average |
| KF | Mitch Lewis | 25.67 |
| F | Matthew Taberner | 18.50 |
| C | Touk Miller | 29.33 |
| M | Daniel Rich | 18.89 |
| M | Isaac Smith | 14.67 |
| Ro | George Hewett | 19.14 |
| Ta | Jaeger O’Meara | 9.34 |
| B | Jeremy Howe | 7.67 |
| KB | Jeremy McGovern | 15.36 |
| Ru | Toby Nankervis | 13.61 |
| Bench | Will Brodie / Jacob Weitering / Peter Wright | |
| Total | 172.2 |
I have given myself a little leeway there by including Josh Bruce’s 2021 average, but predicted scores of 161 and 172 respectively are quite impressive. And who wouldn’t want the luxury of having Will Brodie, Jacob Weitering and Peter Wright as your reserves in 2022.
But, because I am a massive procrastinator of my real work, I decided to have a look at one other team. And due to Bruce McAvaney is a regular contributor to the comments section, I decided to look at the Marvels.
The Marvels
| Position | Player | 2022 Average |
| KF | Matt Taberner | 23.50 |
| F | Isaac Heeney | 13.56 |
| C | Callum Mills | 26.89 |
| M | Shannon Hurn | 16.88 |
| M | Daniel Rich | 18.89 |
| Ro | David Mundy | 13.34 |
| Ta | James Rowbottom | 10.67 |
| B | Jordan Ridley | 8.25 |
| KB | Jeremy Howe | 15.00 |
| Ru | Sean Darcy | 13.92 |
| Total | 160.9 |
Again, 160.9 is a very good predicted score. What is also interesting is that 5 of the 10 players listed here actually are averaging more this season than the players the Marvels have listed to play this weekend. And it is also interesting that Taberner, Rich and Howe all appear in both the Marvels and Nexus former players list. In fact looking at the History page Daniel Rich has been on 6 different team lists!!
But here is the interesting question: Does having the better team of former players mean you are a good manager with an eye for talent, or a bad manager who kept the wrong players? Or maybe some dedicated manager could look back though their history and post the details of their “all time greatest list”. Todd Goldstein from 2015… Tom Mitchell from 2017… What is the best score your team could ever put up if every player from your history was in their prime?
Judge’s verdict: Play along – How good is your delist?
