Jarrod Witts has proven how valuable he is to Gold Coast by how they played without him through injury last year, which was putrid at times. He has returned to the side along with Matt Rowell and Touk Miller who have formed one of the better inside combos in the league. His personal statistical high point came in 2019 when he moved into premium scoring territory, but since then he has not hit those heights and is nowhere near there in the current campaign. For fantasy purposes, he may be a second-half POD pick up if his form lifts.
Jarrod Witts has proven how valuable he is to Gold Coast by how they played without him through injury last year, which was putrid at times. He has returned to the side along with Matt Rowell and Touk Miller who have formed one of the better inside combos in the league. His personal statistical high point came in 2019 when he moved into premium scoring territory, but since then he has not hit those heights and is nowhere near there in the current campaign. For fantasy purposes, he may be a second-half POD pick up if his form lifts.
Keep your Witts about you
The Suns continued to enjoy consistent and dominant supply from their lead ruck Jarrod Witts, and he reached another level in 2019. The ex-Magpie rose his disposal, mark and hit out count, recording an incredible 45 hit outs per outing to lead the league in that stat. He gathered the fifth most clearances of ruckmen on average, culminating in a first best and fairest award. He underwent surgery on a left foot injury in January. Arguably the best trade acquisition in the club's short history, expect more of the same from the dependable Witts despite what is apparently a minor preseason setback. Playing in 94% of fixtures since the trade, drafting the best tap ruckman in the AFL early has merit as he brings both dependability and a high scoring floor to your draft side. Selecting him in the early rounds will provide you with one of the best rucks in the game.
Jarrod Witts has one of his biggest tests of the season in front of him, up against reigning All-Australian Max Gawn. He is one of the better-performed Suns in a team that still regularly gets beaten in clearances, and the Gold Coast coaching staff will be working overtime to get him producing more hit outs to advantage in the near future. The newness of the Suns midfield, with young faces and journeymen rotating through, doesn't help with that. Maybe it will be a year or two before he challenges Gawn and Brodie Grundy in the elite category.
You can't outwit Witts
Any thought that Tom Nicholls might have regained the senior ruck position at the Suns last season was put to bed when he injured his shoulder in April, but Jarrod Witts had a firm enough grip on the job anyway. Gold Coast as a team was mid-table in clearances despite an inexperienced inside brigade, and that was largely due to Witts putting them third in hit-outs at a rate of 39 of their 45. Witts is the sort of piece that you can forget about in middle rounds as you look for more upside in younger and more interesting players. That would be a mistake, as there is considerable value in a set-and-forget ruckman with a high floor from weight of taps. Nicholls will make one last attempt to wrest back his spot in 2019, but it's Witts' job to lose and there is no indication that that will happen.
