Brad Crouch posted his largest fantasy score of the 2022 season last week against the lowly West Coast Eagles, a week after one of his lowest against the highly-rated Bullldogs. That's the problem with Crouch, unfortunately: he's a barometer but in a bad way, his performance fluctuating depending on the strength of opposition he is facing. This can be useful in daily fantasy formats as you can usually rely on him to fill his boots when the matchup is good, but his scoring floor is too low when facing top four midfields to be considered an all-season premium.
Brad Crouch posted his largest fantasy score of the 2022 season last week against the lowly West Coast Eagles, a week after one of his lowest against the highly-rated Bullldogs. That's the problem with Crouch, unfortunately: he's a barometer but in a bad way, his performance fluctuating depending on the strength of opposition he is facing. This can be useful in daily fantasy formats as you can usually rely on him to fill his boots when the matchup is good, but his scoring floor is too low when facing top four midfields to be considered an all-season premium.
Brad Crouch has survived the selection axe at St Kilda this week after a terrible showing by the entire team against the Bulldogs, with a couple of younger names sacrificed instead. A late preseason and a lack of depth in the midfield around him means he has been struggling to show his best form, which when at Adelaide was the full package of inside/outside accumulation and burst running. The heat is on the Saints, and an outing against the lowly Kangaroos might be a good opportunity to blow out the cobwebs with some big numbers for fantasy usage.
Bro hug for Brouch
Following a breakout year in 2017, Brad Crouch missed all of 2018 with groin problems but bounced back better than ever to post personal bests in disposals in his first 22-game season. Most of the improvement came in kicks with his contested rate dropping eight points to 36%, implying a lot more work on the outside. His raw clearance numbers were not that far off his 2017 rates, suggesting an improvement in work rate enabling him to receive more on the spread. Crouch has become a more complete inside-outside midfielder now that his injury woes seem to be behind him, and it was very pleasing for those who spent a mid-rounder on him last year to see him deliver a full slate of premium scores. The only hole in his game now is quality of delivery, as his disposal efficiency has dropped below 65% in a position where the elites average over 70. He has shown that he can deliver wherever he is positioned, so he is worth an early pick.
Brad Crouch is in a lot of fantasy teams this year due to his depressed price in salary cap competitions, and he has rewarded everyone with some stellar scores. Some may even be planning to keep him all season, as he's not going to be far off the top eight midfielders if he can keep up this current vein of form. At worst he is a keeper until the byes when perhaps you can look for someone more reliable on the way home, as his price would have topped out by then.
New spring in Crouch's step
After a breakout 2017, Brad Crouch did not suit up for the Crows last season as a groin problem eventually led to surgery to correct rumoured osteitis pubis. Reports that he had carried it for two years make his previous numbers look better in retrospect. His best form is top 10 for both handballs and tackles, which adds up to some big scores in games with plenty of stoppages. Crouch's role in the engine room at Adelaide was replaced by Cam Ellis-Yolmen and a combination of Bryce Gibbs and Hugh Greenwood last season. If fit, he should walk back into his old role with no qualms, with CEY rotating in and the other two taking some different responsibilities on the outside. His only question mark going into 2019 is durability, so he will be a faith pick.
Great leap from Crouch
Stepping into at least one of Scott Thompson's big shoes for good last season, Brad Crouch topped 30 possessions only four times but posted 11 fantasy tons, including 10 from the last 13 games. His game is heavily inside, relying on volume of handballs and tackles with top 25 levels of contested possessions and inside 50s. Given that Crouch started 2017 slowly due to a nasty January hamstring, he still has more upside if he can hit the track running for his seventh season. He showed towards the end of last year that he can convert tons into 120s and 130s, which will push interest in him to very early rounds.
