2026 AFL Fantasy – Early Selection
Something different this year. Having become an avid AFL Fantasy player over the past few years – best overall ranking of 450 about 3 seasons back – I thought why not track the build of the team through season 2026. There’s many thoughts and reasons which go into selections and come the end of the season, hard to go back and review to think about what went right or wrong.
As such, I plan to post some tracking of the evolution of my team here for 2026. From preseason, through Opening Round and subsequently during the season. It should be a good look back and feed into learning for the years to come.
So, as of January 24th 2026, below is the first cut of my team. But first a caveat here to note:
I have taken no consideration to early bye rounds – I’m sure this team is overloaded with early byes and won’t work in real life. It’s a simple brain dump of who is on my radar at the moment and how they could fit into my starting 30.
Player by Player notes
Defenders
Conor Rozee – locked at D1 for me. Hopefully a little value still here with the Carr influence and a full year down back.
Miles Bergman – value here with more midfield time in 2026.
Nic Newman – returning from injury priced at 72, hopefully ~15 points of upside.
Josh Weddle – not sure about this one. Solely picked based on Will Day being out. Hopefully means midfield time. Probably not in my future iterations…
Keidean Coleman – returning from injury priced at 53, surely 20+ upside.
Jai Serong – moved for opportunity, priced at 26 and watch his role in preseason.
Josh Goater – flyer pick to watch in preseason.
Bo Allan – flyer pick to watch in preseason.
Mids
Errol Gulden – another captain option in the early weeks, will need him in season so why not start? Early bye though but should have some upside given interrupted 2025.
Jack Steele – 2025 role seemed different perhaps as he was on the way out. New home, and will own the midfield for the Dees. Priced at 96, I’m thinking 10 points upside with Gawn tapping it to him.
Clayton Oliver – New home, but congested midfield. Still I think he’s in there to help take heat off Tom Green. Close watch early, including round 0.
Darcy Parish – lock him in priced at 72. 20 points upside and could even have 30+ based on past years.
Harley Reid – Maybe this is the year West Coast begin to climb, and hopefully Reid benefits from it. Could have $200k to climb with a bit of luck…
Xavier Lindsay – Dees moved Trac and Clarry and will have openings for CBA and possessions. Jump on early as a stepping stone to an Uber premo at the byes.
Dan Annable – next in line of Lions youth. Questions on how it all fits, but he’s rookie priced so doesn’t need much to add value.
Jagga Smith – basement 230k for a pick #3, enough said.
Zeke Uwland – pick #2 in the draft, highly rated.
Josh Smillie – was in the 2025 starting squad at this same time before injury hit. So now he’s only $230k.
Rucks
Tristan Xerri – struggled at times last season, so looking to lock him in at R1 in the hope there might be 10 points gain in him.
Sam Draper – moved to the Lions so will have all that talent to tap down to. Priced at 70, if he locks in the Lions premier ruck role, he’s got plenty of value.
Liam Reidy – limited risk on the bench and is in the mix for Carlton’s R1. Priced at 38, park him here an monitor the situation.
Forwards
Harry Sheezel – Locked and loaded for 2026. F1, need to have him, start with him and he should operate at or above his 109 priced.
Christian Petracca – unhappy in 2025, moved to GC and priced at 90, hopefully has about 15 points value in him for ’26.
Sam Flanders – this years Baz Smith, will be owned by 100% of starting teams. No space for him in the GC mids so he gets Jack Steele’s old role we all hope.
Josh Rachele – close preseason watch needed here, basing this early pick on the injury last season and need for Crows to add more dynamic players through the midfield.
Mattaes Phillipou – here based on 2024 selection when he got mid time late in the season. If that doesn’t carry into 2026 now, he’ll be out of this initial side.
Jake Rogers – placeholder at this point, at $362k he probably drops down to a rookie by R1.
Dev Robertson – moves to WC and is rookie priced. If in the R1 team, he’s in.
Finn Macrae – see above! moved and if in the R1 team, he’s in.
[Utility] Will Darcy – placeholder rookie as a DEF/FWD for early flexibility only. Not likely to be in the R1 side.
Others I’m Watching
Just a laundry list of names who were in/out of the initial side and are still on the radar.
Sam Walsh, Colby McKercher, Connor Macdonald, Jordan Ridley, Harvey Langford, Nick Bryan, Ben Ainsworth, Caleb Windsor, Dyson Sharp, Willem Duursma, Callum Coleman-Jones.
