George Hewett is currently the leading fantasy points scorer for the entire AFL competition, a fact that will please his very few owners but perhaps mystify everyone else. Carlton has historically been a team based on Patrick Cripps feeding the ball from stoppage out to the rest of his mids to race away for long balls up the spine, but this season it is Hewett who leads the club for clearances - two better per game than Cripps - and is top five in the league. Hewett is a more complete player than Cripps with better mobility to get involved in transition, making him a fantasy must.
George Hewett is currently the leading fantasy points scorer for the entire AFL competition, a fact that will please his very few owners but perhaps mystify everyone else. Carlton has historically been a team based on Patrick Cripps feeding the ball from stoppage out to the rest of his mids to race away for long balls up the spine, but this season it is Hewett who leads the club for clearances - two better per game than Cripps - and is top five in the league. Hewett is a more complete player than Cripps with better mobility to get involved in transition, making him a fantasy must.
George Hewett has spent significant time in the VFL this year, in danger of becoming an afterthought as Michael Voss seeks the best mix of midfielders chasing the double chance. At the age of 28 his peak performances may be behind him, but there is no substitute for experience when the whips are crackiing, and he comes back to the senior side after a few midseason blips by the Blues. Perhaps there is only room for two of Hewett, Adam Cerra and Matthew Kennedy in the 22, with the other to contribute as a sub if they are lucky. A fascinating battle within today's battle.
George Hewett has always had great wraps on him from his junior days, and to look at him you know he is a quality player, even if he sometimes makes mistakes as all players do. Speculation has always been that he's good enough to graduate into the midfield, but like fellow young Swan Isaac Heeney he has so far been persisted with outside the centre square for the most part, as John Longmire judges his skills to be better suited inside 50. He usually watches as the likes of Jake Lloyd and, increasingly, Dane Rampe do the rebounding while he stays home.
George slowly coming on
Transitioning at times from a pure tagger to a ball-winner in his own right, George Hewett enjoyed his highest disposal rate to date of 22. He improved his fantasy average by 10 points, matching his prime form of 2017 and laid 4.5 tackles per match. As a tagger, he claimed scalps like Travis Boak, although let the likes of Clayton Oliver[[ get off the hook. Without forward eligibility as was the case in seasons gone by, Hewett's selection isn't obvious as run-with players tend not to score particularly well, especially early in their stint in the role. Should Ryan Clarke be sent on exclusive tagging duties, Hewett will be able to focus on his own accumulation. As a watchlist candidate, he could be worth at least a late-rounder.
Curious role for George
The big tick for George Hewett in 2018 was plenty more midfield minutes. The cross was his shut-down role, which including some successful scalps of A-graders like Dustin Martin and Lachie Whitfield. John Longmire loves Hewett’s team-first mindset, which is why he’s played every game over the past two seasons. Fantasy coaches aren’t as fond of this as Hewett’s marks, tackles and goals decreased, resulting in a 10 point slide. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, so Hewett looks like he’ll suit up as Sydney’s number one stopper again in 2019. The problem with squeezing any value out of him for fantasy purposes is his loss of forward designation, as the midfielder baseline is set much higher than his trailing average. He would be a reliable option as bench cover and could be taken in the later rounds as a safe depth option, but only if he was moved forward again.
Hewett lobs into midfield
In his second year of senior footy following two in the NEAFL, George Hewett played every game mostly starting forward, increasing his average possession count from 13 to 19 plus three games with 10 tackles. He also spent more time rotating through the midfield, including tagging jobs on Dustin Martin and Joel Selwood. Emerging as a key cog in the Swans forward and midfield rotations, there’s no reason why Hewett’s output shouldn’t improve further in season five. Snap him up in the later rounds as at worst he will be good bench cover; at best, he will improve to hold a handy forward starting position in your side. Dual-position eligibility is a bonus.
