Jasper Pittard

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Jasper the footy ghost

If he dropped out of contention for a pick in your fantasy draft last year, someone would have claimed Jasper Pittard off the free agent pool after some heavy scoring in the first third of the year... then dropped him again after the form line turned sour. By the time an August purple patch came around, many would have lost faith. His best form comes when he catches the eye with selfless defensive efforts to add to his rebound work.
Pittard is a better real footy player than a fantasy asset, with one percenters like spoils and running bounces when making occasional line-breaking runs not counting in standard scoring leagues. Dips and troughs in form was what eventually ended his Port career, though North showed faith in their off-season recruit through several months where he failed to reach 20 disposals. You don't need to be that emotional about it.

Jasper the footy ghost

If he dropped out of contention for a pick in your fantasy draft last year, someone would have claimed Jasper Pittard off the free agent pool after some heavy scoring in the first third of the year... then dropped him again after the form line turned sour. By the time an August purple patch came around, many would have lost faith. His best form comes when he catches the eye with selfless defensive efforts to add to his rebound work.
Pittard is a better real footy player than a fantasy asset, with one percenters like spoils and running bounces when making occasional line-breaking runs not counting in standard scoring leagues. Dips and troughs in form was what eventually ended his Port career, though North showed faith in their off-season recruit through several months where he failed to reach 20 disposals. You don't need to be that emotional about it.

Jasper Pittard has delivered just about everything that North Melbourne paid for him in the off season, dropping a handful of points off his fantasy average as you'd expect with a slightly lesser inside midfield to feed from, but largely fulfilling the same role as he did at Port Adelaide linking up off a wing. Every club needs at least one good player of his type, even if they are not top four calibre. As a fantasy asset his value has decreased slightly with the drop in numbers, which won't be helped by injury to Shaun Higgins.

Jasper exasperated

A player who typically has a sizeable gap between his best and worst performances, Jasper Pittard was an All-Australian candidate in 2016 and particularly effective off half back. In the two years that have passed, he has found himself in and out of the Port Adelaide side and eventually traded to North for minimal return.
The combination of a change of clubs and a demonstrated ability to score well in the past is generally appealing to fantasy coaches. On the flip side, the Kangaroos tend not to produce premium rebounding defenders so there may not be much in the way of upside there. Pittard is worth a close look in middle to late rounds.

Pittard falls in a hole

Perhaps it can be blamed on hamstring and calf issues that surfaced during the year, but Jasper Pittard lacked the zip he showed in 2016 when he made the All-Australian squad of 40, staying deeper and allowing teammates to take more of the rebound duties. He dropped from fourth to 29th in the league in rebound 50s, and third to 44th in metres gained.
Pittard was still very startable in your fantasy defence if you picked him, though you didn't quite get value for money for the relatively high pick you would have had to use to get him at the start of last year. A solid preseason would stand him in good stead to have a bounce back year in 2018, as when he is on he can do things that none of his teammates can do.