Following nearly two years on the sidelines with illness, the green light has been given for Dylan Roberton to resume full training. Averaging 23 touches and six marks across his last full campaign in 2017, the Saint may prove pivotal to coach Brett Ratten's ball movement plans. The skilful ex-Docker has been soundly missed since heart problems were diagnosed following an early 2018 season incident. Equipped with an internal defibrillator and medication to regulate his heart, Roberton may present as value for fantasy. Select him in the latter rounds for an upside play.
Roberton has ticker
Following nearly two years on the sidelines with illness, the green light has been given for Dylan Roberton to resume full training. Averaging 23 touches and six marks across his last full campaign in 2017, the Saint may prove pivotal to coach Brett Ratten's ball movement plans. The skilful ex-Docker has been soundly missed since heart problems were diagnosed following an early 2018 season incident. Equipped with an internal defibrillator and medication to regulate his heart, Roberton may present as value for fantasy. Select him in the latter rounds for an upside play.
Risk too great for Roberton?
Set to return from a year out of the game caused by a heart scare that caused him to collapse behind play, Dylan Roberton is an intriguing fantasy prospect in 2019. A roaming defender who tends to find a lot of the ball, if Roberton can resume the role he departed in 2018, he'll be a relevant fantasy prospect.
Assuming he stays healthy, the question would be whether or not the Saints decide to leave the rebounding duties mostly with others and ask him to play defensively given the LTI to Jake Carlisle. A further heart scare in the JLT will give most fantasy coaches pause, however. Given his scoring history, Roberton is worth drafting in middle to late rounds.
Dylan is poetry in motion
One of the more unlikely stories of 2017 was the sudden discovery of Dylan Roberton as an elite seventh defender, so much so that he made the All-Australian squad of 40. He moved into that role with Leigh Montagna shifting to a HBF, and his reading of the play was a revelation, leading to two BOG performances in the first six weeks and a tag in round 8. It showed up in his statistics with big jumps in personal bests for kicks and metres gained, plus a league rank of fifth in rebound 50s. It was noticeable that Roberton's two poorest games for the season came against Richmond, the standard bearer for frontal pressure which other clubs will no doubt seek to emulate in this copycat league. With Tags retired, Roberton is by far the most dangerous rebounder at the club, and oppo analysts would have an easy choice to sit a player on him if they want to lock the game down. He will go fairly early in your league due to the rarity of backs with his scoring potential, though he has some downside worries.
