Who to pick in each position for SuperCoach Finals week one

The new short-format fantasy game is a fun, fast way to enjoy the September action.

Pick nine players and the best eight scores count towards your total for the week.

So you can afford to take some risks, especially with unlimited trades over the finals – next week wipe the slate clean and pick a fresh line-up for week two.

There is no salary cap, so the sky’s the limit when packing your team with superstars – the only catch is a limit of two players from any competing club.

Who should you pick to claim ultimate finals bragging rights? Here are my top picks for week one.

DEFENDERS

1. Jordan Clark

2. Lachie Whitfield

3. Rory Laird

4. Dayne Zorko

5. Tom Stewart

SMOKIE: Darcy Wilmot

New All-Australian Jordan Clark has become one of the best running defenders in the competition, and he gets a great match-up against Gold Coast, a team he scored 143 SuperCoach points against in round 12. Lachie Whitfield is a SuperCoach star who enters the finals in hot form, averaging 124 over his past five games, including 176 in round 24.

Rory Laird was a favourite in defence for years and it’s time to welcome him back to the fold. He scored 120 and 141 in his two most recent games, plus 117 against the Magpies earlier in the season.

Dayne Zorko and Tom Stewart are old men in AFL terms, but finals experience counts for plenty. Zorko torched the Cats with scores of 135 and 123 this year, and in this format we can ignore Stewart’s occasionally dodgy knees. Leigh Montagna says September suits smart interceptors like Stewart, who finished the year strongly and scored 113 against the Lions in last year’s prelim.

Pick one or two players to set yourself apart from the pack – like Lions youngster Darcy Wilmot. He flew home, scoring 120, 123 and 119 in the last three home-and-away rounds.

Others to consider: Lachie Ash, Josh Daicos, Luke Ryan, John Noble

MIDFIELDERS

1. Hugh McCluggage

2. Nick Daicos

3. Josh Dunkley

4. Matt Rowell

5. Jordan Dawson

SMOKIE: Tom Atkins

Plenty of guns to choose from here.

Hardly anyone picked Hugh McCluggage in SuperCoach this year – now is the time to correct that mistake! Only Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy scored more points in the regular season, and the Lions star was incredible consistent, scoring over 115 in eight of his last nine games. McCluggage already boasts scores of 136 and 131 against Geelong this year.

Nick Daicos scored 133 in round 23 against Adelaide, a team that hasn’t used a tagger all year, and Josh Dunkley was cooking over the final month of the season, averaging 138 in his last four games.

Matt Rowell dropped the ball with a score of 67 in round 24, but he demolished Essendon in the make-up game a few days later and was averaging 137 over a dominant eight-week stretch leading into the final round.

Jordan Dawson loves playing Collingwood, with his past five against them including big totals 132, 150 and 149.

Tom Atkins is the surprise packet. Fresh off a 120-point game in final round and an average of 104 in his last six, he led the AFL for tackles this year (ahead of Rowell) and will love the finals furnace.

RED FLAG: You may notice there is no Bailey Smith or Lachie Neale on this list. The Lions restricted Baz to two of his lowest scores of the season – 81, 85 – in their two home-and-away match-ups, while Neale was the Cats’ No.1 target and scored 71 and 72 in those games. So I’m looking elsewhere.

Others to consider: Finn Callaghan, Noah Anderson, Max Holmes, Will Ashcroft, Caleb Serong

RUCKS

1. Darcy Cameron

2. Jarrod Witts

3. Luke Jackson

SMOKIE: Darcy Fort

The three topscoring rucks of 2025 – Max Gawn, Brodie Grundy and Tristan Xerri – are all off the table, so we need to get creative. Darcy Cameron has the best average of the available players, and he scored 142 against this week’s opponent, Adelaide, just three weeks ago.

Witts is about as dependable as they come and hit the line strongly with an average of 112 over his last four games.

The unicorn Luke Jackson is here on potential. He’s capable of the extraordinary but played mostly as a forward late in the year, with Sean Darcy taking the centre bounces.

Darcy Fort isn’t the first name that springs to mind in SuperCoach but Geelong is a ruck match-up we have been targeting all season, and he did score 110 and 100 in the last two home-and-away rounds.

Others to consider: Lloyd Meek, Reilly O’Brien

FORWARDS

1. Dylan Moore

2. Riley Thilthorpe

3. Toby Greene

4. Zac Bailey

5. Ben Keays

SMOKIE: Patrick Dangerfield

This is where things get spicy. No one in the pool averaged over 100 in the home-and-away season, and the No.1 forward in SuperCoach this year, Bailey Smith, is classified as a midfielder only for SuperCoach Finals.

We still like picking forwards who get time in the midfield, and Dylan Moore enjoyed an uptick in his centre bounce numbers late in the year – reflected in his SuperCoach returns, averaging 102 over his final six games.

Key forwards are hit and miss, but getting a hit could be the ticket to SuperCoach Finals success. Thilthorpe is the best of the bunch, averaging 97 for the year including 103 against Collingwood in round 12 despite going goalless that day. He was in the negatives at halftime in their round 23 rematch but came home strong with a 65-point second half.

Toby Greene put up scores of 126, 82 and 124 in the final three home-and-away rounds and loves September, Zac Bailey is another gun who could get midfield minutes and Ben Keays scored 112 against Collingwood three weeks ago. He somehow finished with 8 points from one effective disposal when these teams met in round 10, but, hey, that’s what best eight scoring is for!

There isn’t a whole lot of science behind the Patrick Dangerfield pick but this is when the best players shine.

Others to consider: Josh Treacy, Jack Gunston, Jeremy Cameron

FLEX

Your Flex pick can come from any position – grab an extra midfielder unless you’re really keen on a second ruck or third defender.

CAPTAIN / VICE CAPTAIN

Captains score triple points and vice-captains double points in SuperCoach Finals, so this is where the game will be won and lost.

You want players who have shown they can push into the SuperCoach stratosphere – churning out 105 points every week doesn’t cut it here.

Matt Rowell had the most 120-plus scores of any finals player, but Nick Daicos was the king when it came to soaring over 150 points.

If Luke Jackson fires, he has one of the highest ceilings in SuperCoach. His best scores of 2025 are 186, 165 and 163, but it’s worth bearing in mind they came against Essendon, West Coast and Port Adelaide.