Aliir Aliir is still one of the most feared defenders in the league when Port Adelaide gets the game played on his terms. Those terms involve him being able to zone off his opponent to intercept, something the current Power list has not been able to provide him, hamstrung as it has been by injury and poor form by other key defenders. He has reverted to a more traditional back-shoulder style recently, with Josh Carr trying out Todd Marshall as the interceptor before another near-inevitable injury. Will we ever see Aliir dominate a back 50 again as he did at his best?
Aliir Aliir is still one of the most feared defenders in the league when Port Adelaide gets the game played on his terms. Those terms involve him being able to zone off his opponent to intercept, something the current Power list has not been able to provide him, hamstrung as it has been by injury and poor form by other key defenders. He has reverted to a more traditional back-shoulder style recently, with Josh Carr trying out Todd Marshall as the interceptor before another near-inevitable injury. Will we ever see Aliir dominate a back 50 again as he did at his best?
Ole, Aliir
For the first time, Aliir Aliir played every match in a season. His scoring dropped five points off the back of three fewer marks per game, while notching up a handful of hitouts when thrust into the ruck after Callum Sinclair went down with injury. Aliir ranked 18th in total intercepts league-wide with three rebound-50s to go with it. Aliir's accountability will be more relied on than ever without Heath Grundy and Nick Smith. Don't expect many forward line thrusts and don't choose him in your starting fantasy lineup, although his presence is worth tracking as it will help teammates like Dane Rampe play more attacking roles. There are better options out there for fantasy coaches.
Aliir Aliir now officially inherits the full back position at Sydney in the wake of this week's retirement of Heath Grundy. The Swans are always going to try to send Dane Rampe to the most dangerous forward with a tendency to start at CHB, as in tonight's contest where he will probably follow Brody Mihocek leaving Aliir to cover Ben Reid out of the square. Like Alex Rampe, Aliir can be a solid starter if the structure of the team means he can take intercept marks, but he can go missing against quality opponents. Tonight might be a sit decision on him.
A lot to a-like from Aliir
Aliir Aliir forced his way back into the Swans’ lineup last year after being dropped for poor form and suspended for missing training. When recalled, Aliir was full steam ahead and cemented his position as John Longmire’s centre half back. His 11 games garnered a career-high average in touches, marks and fantasy points. Aliir is motivated to maintain his spot in Sydney’s defensive six. The athletic interceptor prioritises the team role, which as a closely-marking defender isn’t always fantasy-friendly. With a draft pick in later rounds coaches could do much worse than Allir, but he shouldn’t be in any starting fantasy lineup.
Tears for Aliir's year
After bursting onto the AFL scene and making a name for himself in the 2016 finals series, Aliir Aliir struggled with knee problems in preseason and could only muster up three senior starts for the Swans in 2017, dropped in round 5 for Lewis Melican, then effectively banished after failing to appear for training for round 7. Sydney has one of the best defensive games in the competition with a solid, consistent back six. Aliir looked like he was set to play 200 games at CHB; now he has to start all over again. Any thoughts of his fantasy ceiling being startable come from a very small sample size from those 2016 finals, and are probably illusory.
