Jack Ziebell has been the focus of a lot of consternation in fantasy circles this week due to his monster score in a loss to Fremantle, where he brought back memories of Joel Bowden in his ability to rack up cheap uncontested disposals as the quarterback of a poor team. However, his role also involves sitting in the hole and copping knees to the back of the head by leading forwards, so you can't chip him for courage. He is a must have in fantasy competitions this year as he is almost always where the ball is in North games as they rebuild.
Jack Ziebell has been the focus of a lot of consternation in fantasy circles this week due to his monster score in a loss to Fremantle, where he brought back memories of Joel Bowden in his ability to rack up cheap uncontested disposals as the quarterback of a poor team. However, his role also involves sitting in the hole and copping knees to the back of the head by leading forwards, so you can't chip him for courage. He is a must have in fantasy competitions this year as he is almost always where the ball is in North games as they rebuild.
Jack Ziebell finds himself holding down centre-half back in the 2021 version of North Melbourne's senior team, with Robbie Tarrant injured and Josh Walker installed up the other end. His specialty is intercept marking and creativity on the rebound, which is not a traditional skill set for a CHB and is more suited to a third tall role, but at the Kangaroos it's all hands on deck at the moment. He is in a lot of fantasy teams and should prove to be a lucrative buy, especially in Supercoach where his game is suited.
Jack Ziebell is the most talked-about player at North Melbourne among fantasy coaches for 2021, as he has been earmarked for a half-back role in a team which has lost a lot of leadership across most lines in the off season. His performance against the Hawks in the preseason showed a few things: he is going to make some horrendous mistakes that cost his team goals with a lot of ball pinging towards him from all angles, but he's going to get bagfuls of leather on his hands along the way. This makes him a very popular fantasy pick.
Central perk for Jay-Z
The Kangaroos largely abandoned the Jack Ziebell key forward experiment after an execrable six-touch stinker in round 5 last year, restoring 30 points to his fantasy average and rewarding fantasy draft coaches who had taken the gamble that Brad Scott would rediscover his sanity. Scott was eventually sacked the week following Ziebell playing forward again in round 10. Jay-Z's central role continued through the coaching transition to Rhyce Shaw. Ziebell retains forward status for fantasy purposes in 2020, which lifts his draft value greatly given that dual-positional premiums are much harder to find this year than last. The only fly in the ointment is the ever-present possibility that injuries or form drops from inexperienced tall forwards mean that he has to return to attack, where he can still put up some scores but can also go cold when the team struggles. He will be taken in early rounds despite that caveat.
Jay-Z's goal umpire state of mind
Following a big move to the forward line in 2018 to boot 35.29, Jack Ziebell is a different fantasy prospect to what he’s been for most of his career. For most of his AFL life, Ziebell has been a strong inside ball-winner with obvious limitations in his speed and endurance. As a forward he is a difficult matchup, strong one-on-one and mobile enough to crumb his own contests. Never a truly elite fantasy midfielder, Ziebell is not a tall man but his role emulates that of a key position player, making him a poor man's Patrick Dangerfield with less centre rotations and more of the variation typical of the position. Forward designation keeps him fantasy-relevant despite the drop in scoring from his midfield days, so consider him in middle rounds.
Can't knock Jay-Z's hustle
Brad Scott tried out something weird with contested beast Jack Ziebell in rounds 15 and 16 last year, starting him on a HBF and returning him to the engine room after HT. This resulted in two losses to fellow minnows, including a 56-31 belting at clearances by Gold Coast. He then went forward in round 20 after a knock to boot five goals, and stayed there in his last game to little effect. After all that, his stat lines for the season ended up much the same as the previous year, his 22-disposal average significantly lower than elite levels. The problem with playing Ziebell anywhere except in the middle is that North is so lacking in players of his raging bull type that they will end up getting obliterated from stoppages, something which can destroy much better teams if they allow it to happen. Perhaps this will turn into a Tom Rockliff-at-Brisbane situation where the club just gives up on giving their all at the coalface and plays the kids in there to teach them how hard it is, leaving their star mid to gather cobwebs in a FP. He is just not reliable enough to merit more than a middle-round pick.
