Track Watch 18/12/24
Let’s run through, who has been catching our eye based on training reports over the past week.
Ollie Hollands
You got to love this time of year. A simple misinterpretation of a training session by a random account on X can get momentum pretty quickly. However, the early talk of Ollie Hollands off half back doesn’t appear to be one of these occassions as the Herald Sun even wrote about the potential move. Other than Matt Kennedy, Carlton lost noone of draft significance in the offseason and only really gained a defender in Nick Haynes. With that, I’m still trying to work out how this actually plays out, but for now, it’s a big watch from me as a confirmation of this role change during match simulation will slide Ollie up the AFL Fantasy draft rankings pretty quickly.
Reminder, before tagging Zorko in the final, Ollie Hollands posted scores of 94, 105 and 98 in the final three games of the home and away season. Reminder, he didn’t do much before that.
Matt Rowell
After the first seven games played last year, Matt Rowell was averaging 105
Over the last five games, last year, Matt Rowell averaged 104.
12 games across a season going at 104+ is a very solid return for a player that is going at M3 in AFL Fantasy Drafts for 2025.
Heading in to his sixth season, there is growing confidence that Rowell can bridge the gap between his best and worst across a whole season.
We are already starting to hear multiple reports from new recruits and track watchers that he is putting in a huge preason. The confidence is only going to continue to grow.
Tim Taranto
Tim Taranto
You love to see it on Draft Day, you toss up whether to take an A grade M1 or a premium from another position with your first pick. You go with the later option and then it comes back to your turn and staring right in front of you, still available, is the midfielder you were thinking about taking as your A grade M1.
There is no player more likely to help you play out this scenario this year than Tim Taranto. From every corner of the internet, any report about the Tigers track watch, all point to one thing. Tim Taranto is fit and firing. There is so much to love about him as a pick this year but I’ll save all that for later. Just know for now, the track watchers are excited, I’m excited and you should be excited. I smell a AFL Fantasy Draft steal.
Callum Wilkie
We don’t want to overhype the loss of Josh Battle and what it will mean for potential points out of St Kildas backline as it is not like Josh Battle racked up every week. He most certainly did rack up some weeks though and became a legitimate depth player option for our backlines.
So, when you combine the loss of Battles points, add in training reports that Wilkie is playing as the intercept defender and add the knowledge that Wilkie went at 87 in 2023, we have a potential matchup winning defender that can be streamed from our benches in 2025.
Will always be hard to stream against the tall forward lines (aka Carlton), but again, you can see those matchups coming from a mile away.
One we will be keeping a close eye on for you over preseason.
Matt Johnson
Here’s a name that is already getting traction out west for coming back in ripper shape and performing well on the track. Any buzz word you want to hear they are spitting out about Matt Johnson. For me, with him, it is quite simple, the less Nat Fyfe plays or the more Nat Fyfe plays as the sub, the better Matt Johnson will be for the Fremantle football club.
In games where Fyfe played as the sub last year (twice) Matt Johnson posted scores of 85 and 97. One to keep an eye on if Fyfe goes down in pre-season. Sorry, one to keep an eye on for when Fyfe goes down in preaseason.