Position 2026 Midfielders

[Dundalis]

Thoughts on Errol? Scored ok but really not the role I was expecting

 

[Saints4ever]

Thoughts on Errol? Scored ok but really not the role I was expecting

Started slow.

His 3rd qtr was ridiculous and a big reason the swans got going.

I’d say if you was going to pick him before tonight stick with him as he will produce big scores regularly if you was going to fade him in favour of others stick with those thoughts.

The biggest take we can get out of round 0 is don’t pick your premiums based on 1 round.

I would only be chopping and changing rookies based on round 0.

 

[Eagling]

I don't get SuperCoach pundits sometimes .....they chop & change their narrative all the time (podcasters)

2025 - Don't get Serong, he's a stoppage heavy guy, and the #1 tag target

2026 - Get Serong, huge upside, great value

Fact is ....nothing has changed this year over last year ....same situational analysis, just cheaper than 2025

2025 - Don't get Steele, he's injury prone, and slow in an era where midfields are getting quicker

2026 - Steele is great value, and is the main man at Melbourne

Fact is ....again nothing has changed situationally ....Steele also was the main man at the SAINTS

I mean, price matters quite a lot. Last year Serong cost 115 ppg. This year it's 105 - and he doesn't have the early bye, and he doesn't have the the dreaded Round 12 bye. One could easily say a fit Hayden Young and an upcoming Murphy Reid means that teams can't focus on Serong.

As for Steele, he goes from a team with a serviceable ruck at best, to literally the greatest ruckman of all time.

You can craft a narrative however you like.

 

[Deliverance]

Walsh is going to suck me in and break my team isn’t he

If you didn't already have him, nothing from last night's game turns the dial on him. Likewise if you already have him.

 

[Pathetic Pittman]

Started slow.

His 3rd qtr was ridiculous and a big reason the swans got going.

I’d say if you was going to pick him before tonight stick with him as he will produce big scores regularly if you was going to fade him in favour of others stick with those thoughts.

The biggest take we can get out of round 0 is don’t pick your premiums based on 1 round.

I would only be chopping and changing rookies based on round 0.

If 2026 is transition, he seems well suited

 

[Lindsay_Gilbee]

If you didn't already have him, nothing from last night's game turns the dial on him. Likewise if you already have him.

Exactly right. I can't imagine anything last night would want you to stay away from Gulden. Was nowhere in the first half and still tonned.

 

[Lord De Goey]

If you didn't already have him, nothing from last night's game turns the dial on him. Likewise if you already have him.

Kind of disagree. He looks in the best shame we’ve seen him in for years. The question marks are the same though, will his body let him down again.

There’s enough value and his draw is really favourable. I’ve considered him but he was probably behind a few for my last mid spot, but he’s definitely in contention now.

 

[Deliverance]

Kind of disagree. He looks in the best shame we’ve seen him in for years. The question marks are the same though, will his body let him down again.

There’s enough value and his draw is really favourable. I’ve considered him but he was probably behind a few for my last mid spot, but he’s definitely in contention now.

But we'd seen that already all summer. Nothing new was gained from last night.

 

[Lord De Goey]

But we'd seen that already all summer. Nothing new was gained from last night.

We’ve seen one practice game with half the Geelong midfield missing. Plenty was gained last night.

 

[AFDogs]

Walsh and Gulden looked good and will be better for the run. Had Walsh all pre-season as a cheeky POD. Looking like I might lose that low ownership % now.

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

Walsh and Gulden looked good and will be better for the run. Had Walsh all pre-season as a cheeky POD. Looking like I might lose that low ownership % now.

You sure are

 

[Scythe]

Wasn't enough to sell me on Walsh considering how many times I've been burnt in the past. Same concerns as always – for a guy who gets so much outside ball, he doesn't kick it anywhere near well enough, which puts a pretty hard cap on his scoring. I expect he'll improve this year, but I don't think he jumps into the top 8-10 on averages, and there's almost no way he plays every game.

 

[54Dogs]

Walsh and Gulden looked good and will be better for the run. Had Walsh all pre-season as a cheeky POD. Looking like I might lose that low ownership % now.

Walsh has been in the top 5 premo mids owned for a while, he's pretty popular

 

[Lord De Goey]

Wasn't enough to sell me on Walsh considering how many times I've been burnt in the past. Same concerns as always – for a guy who gets so much outside ball, he doesn't kick it anywhere near well enough, which puts a pretty hard cap on his scoring. I expect he'll improve this year, but I don't think he jumps into the top 8-10 on averages, and there's almost no way he plays every game.

Tbf he has averaged 111 and 117 before. Feel like it’s health related rather than kicking efficiency

 

[Scythe]

Tbf he has averaged 111 and 117 before. Feel like it’s health related rather than kicking efficiency

He has, but the 117 was five years ago.

Compare key stats from the past two years to the 117 year for instance (outside of just kicking):

Year	Kicking efficiency	Disposal efficiency	Hard ball gets	Marks	TOG%
2025	59.9%	70.7%	2.1	3.6	78.7%
2024	50.0%	66.0%	2.3	3.0	80.5%
2021	63.1%	74.4%	3.7	5.8	87.4%

Now bearing in mind that the rest of his stats from the past couple of years are very similar to 2021 (1 disposal less in 2024, 3 disposals less in 2025, everything else within minimal variation), which of the above do you/people see bouncing back near his 2021 level? Because that's what will need to happen for him to return to being a 110+ player after all this time. It definitely won't be TOG, for obvious reasons.

 

[timtimtim]

If you didn't already have him, nothing from last night's game turns the dial on him. Likewise if you already have him.

That’s not how SC works

Everyone knows you spend all preseason planning only to toss it out the window come opening rd

 

[Petrify]

Exactly right. I can't imagine anything last night would want you to stay away from Gulden. Was nowhere in the first half and still tonned.

I had Gulden in my team and it made me want to go off him. My main worry for him is he can go missing in games and he already proved it.

Having 11 tackles in a game in a blowout win and only hitting 111 is big warning signs. He won't hit anywhere near that tackle count every game

 

[54Dogs]

He has, but the 117 was five years ago.

Compare key stats from the past two years to the 117 year for instance (outside of just kicking):

Year	Kicking efficiency	Disposal efficiency	Hard ball gets	Marks	TOG%
2025	59.9%	70.7%	2.1	3.6	78.7%
2024	50.0%	66.0%	2.3	3.0	80.5%
2021	63.1%	74.4%	3.7	5.8	87.4%

Now bearing in mind that the rest of his stats from the past couple of years are very similar to 2021 (1 disposal less in 2024, 3 disposals less in 2025, everything else within minimal variation), which of the above do you/people see bouncing back near his 2021 level? Because that's what will need to happen for him to return to being a 110+ player after all this time. It definitely won't be TOG, for obvious reasons.

I think with his body now right and his first full PS in 4 yrs, plus Cerra out early he'll get a lot more CBAs. Almost every yr he's been in the 50-70% range, last night he had 84%.



The 2 yrs he had 68% and 70% CBAs he averaged 117 and 107, which is enough for M8.




As always the body holding up is the key concern but he did look fit last night.

 

[Saints4ever]

I had Gulden in my team and it made me want to go off him. My main worry for him is he can go missing in games and he already proved it.

Having 11 tackles in a game in a blowout win and only hitting 111 is big warning signs. He won't hit anywhere near that tackle count every game

If I had Gulden in my team watching him in the 3rd qtr would 100% keep him in my team.

Absolute jet.

 

[54Dogs]

If I had Gulden in my team watching him in the 3rd qtr would 100% keep him in my team.

Absolute jet.

Prob less so if you watched the first qtr and saw him plonked down in the FP and scoring 8 SC

 

[Lord De Goey]

He has, but the 117 was five years ago.

Compare key stats from the past two years to the 117 year for instance (outside of just kicking):

Year	Kicking efficiency	Disposal efficiency	Hard ball gets	Marks	TOG%
2025	59.9%	70.7%	2.1	3.6	78.7%
2024	50.0%	66.0%	2.3	3.0	80.5%
2021	63.1%	74.4%	3.7	5.8	87.4%

Now bearing in mind that the rest of his stats from the past couple of years are very similar to 2021 (1 disposal less in 2024, 3 disposals less in 2025, everything else within minimal variation), which of the above do you/people see bouncing back near his 2021 level? Because that's what will need to happen for him to return to being a 110+ player after all this time. It definitely won't be TOG, for obvious reasons.

So you don’t think his kicking/DE can go up 4%? Free flowing games could give him the 2 extra marks as well

2021 he came third in the Brownlow I think, last night, he looked like that calibre of player to me. He even handled the tag fairly well.

Last night he had the most cba’s for the game, something he didn’t achieve once last season, he hasn’t had the most cba’s for a game since round 6 2024. Maybe that can give him the boost he requires? Obviously it’s one game so it’s really hard to judge

 

[Scythe]

He has, but the 117 was five years ago.

Compare key stats from the past two years to the 117 year for instance (outside of just kicking):

Year	Kicking efficiency	Disposal efficiency	Hard ball gets	Marks	TOG%
2025	59.9%	70.7%	2.1	3.6	78.7%
2024	50.0%	66.0%	2.3	3.0	80.5%
2021	63.1%	74.4%	3.7	5.8	87.4%

Now bearing in mind that the rest of his stats from the past couple of years are very similar to 2021 (1 disposal less in 2024, 3 disposals less in 2025, everything else within minimal variation), which of the above do you/people see bouncing back near his 2021 level? Because that's what will need to happen for him to return to being a 110+ player after all this time. It definitely won't be TOG, for obvious reasons.

On Walsh's kicking, you'd say he had a big improvement last year vs 2024, yeah?

Of the 395 players who had a contested possession rate of less than 40% last year, Walsh ranked 311th for kicking efficiency. Goes to 231st out of 281 players who played 10 or more games.

What made Walsh great in SuperCoach was his gut-running/endurance, which showed in his TOG% and mark numbers, and offset his terrible kicking. I don't have faith in his body/fitness to get back to those sort of numbers (77.0% TOG last night), and he's not suddenly going to become a good kick, so I'm not sure where the big bump is going to come from (and that's disregarding the nearly inevitable games missed due to injury).

 

[Petrify]

If I had Gulden in my team watching him in the 3rd qtr would 100% keep him in my team.

Absolute jet.

He's just one of those super high peaks and low low type players. I think he'll probably be over $600k at one point in the season then drop back down again.

Can't be having quarters with 8pts only from a premo. 48 in the third was good obviously but that 8pt first quarter is nightmareish.

 

[Saints4ever]

Prob less so if you watched the first qtr and saw him plonked down in the FP and scoring 8 SC

I guess the swans do have a lot of mouths to feed in the midfield with
Heeney
Warner
Sheldric
Rowbottom
Mcinerney

I still think Gulden is a pretty safe pick.

 

[54Dogs]

I guess the swans do have a lot of mouths to feed in the midfield with
Heeney
Warner
Sheldric
Rowbottom
Mcinerney

I still think Gulden is a pretty safe pick.

Yep agree, also think Sheldrick is on thin ice given his poor game and lack of versatility