Luke Davies-Uniacke has been one of the premier inside midfielders of his generation at AFL level, even while his club has gone through some of the worst doldrums over the past five years. Now that the Kangaroos are on the upward hop once again with their top draft picks maturing, he is an elder statesman among rapidly developing kids. With Jye Simpkin relegated to the wings and Luke Parker at half back, he's the muscle man who has to bullock through packs to enable younger and quicker teammates to shine. As a fantasy player, he has always been a tease at best.
Luke Davies-Uniacke has been one of the premier inside midfielders of his generation at AFL level, even while his club has gone through some of the worst doldrums over the past five years. Now that the Kangaroos are on the upward hop once again with their top draft picks maturing, he is an elder statesman among rapidly developing kids. With Jye Simpkin relegated to the wings and Luke Parker at half back, he's the muscle man who has to bullock through packs to enable younger and quicker teammates to shine. As a fantasy player, he has always been a tease at best.
Luke Davies-Uniacke has been mooted as a breakout candidate for years now, a late bloomer with a body built for inside midfield grunt work but lacking consistency in his game and also without much help at the coalface. He started 2022 poorly including an early-game shoulder injury in round 2 and some poor games afterwards... but since round 9 he has peeled off a series of scores that definitely put him in the premium midfielder bracket. He will go into 2023 as an underpriced premium due to that poor pre-bye run, and should be in your starting 22 in salary cap formats.
Luke Davies-Uniacke has been a tease all through his AFL career, earning a high draft pick with some stellar junior numbers but through a combination of injury and slow development has rarely shown that sort of form in a senior jumper. 2021 has not exactly been a breakout year for LDU, but he has shown more than a glimpse of what he is capable of, like last week where he piled up the stats. Can any fantasy coach trust his low scoring floor enough to take a chance on him going into 2022? He's in just the right age bracket. Stranger things have happened.
Luke Davies-Uniacke was a high draft pick many years ago and has been a very slow burn, struggling with injury and match fitness throughout his four-year career at North Melbourne so far. He was the sort of pick that you could look at in preseason and imagine that he could break out after years of underperformance, like Dustin Martin and Christian Petracca before him. It hasn't worked out that way, and he has been a massive fantasy bust for those who spent fantasy capital on getting him into their sides. Lesson learned: don't trust the Kangaroos development system.
Luke Davies-Uniacke has been a classic underperforming high draft pick, to whom North Melbourne has devoted a lot of development effort and senior game time without much reward on field. As they commit to the deepest of rebuilds, he becomes one of the senior inside mids at a club which is playing the kids something fierce. Does all this opportunity and responsibility sit well on his broad shoulders, or is he going to bust one more time before the Kangas cut bait? Fantasy coaches have been underwhelmed, but some will take one last chance.
Luke Davies-Uniacke has been a very slow burn as a footballer at senior AFL level, but nearing the end of season three he is showing definite signs of being up to the level. He's not setting any records at all, and is still a massive bust compared to his draft position in 2017, but he has strung together a few startable games for fantasy in draft leagues and might turn into a regular player if he can avoid injury. He is worth a look in draft leagues if he's still available in your free agent pool, and he has potential to be a mid-price improver in 2021 for salary cap competitions.
Slow LPG burn for LDU
Going into season two, Luke Davies-Uniacke was coming off a low base of performances and had the scope for as high a jump as anyone has had. His numbers did rise, especially in the first two rounds, but by season's end the upward angle of the graph was still frustratingly gentle. Perhaps some blame can be put on a shoulder problem that occasioned a post-season reconstruction. Davies-Uniacke is slow as a wet week, that's his major problem. He doesn't present enough hurt factor when playing forward, and hasn't got the motor or defensive craft to play at half back, but 15 touches per game isn't going to cut it playing in the middle, especially when he only contributes two tackles. He is not going to lift his rates by the thirty points he needs to jump over the midfielder baseline in year three. Avoid.
Cheap prices at LDU
North Melbourne’s highest draft selection since 2010, Luke Davies-Uniacke had a slow start to his AFL career in 2018. In his senior games, he appeared to struggle with the pace of the game and never surpassed 16 disposals. With that said, he is a young inside midfielder with a lot of ability and another AFL pre-season will have done him a lot of good. Look to select Davies-Uniacke with a late draft selection. It is common for midfielders to make a big leap in their second AFL season and Davies-Uniacke is as good a candidate as any to follow that trend.
LDU the latter-day Roo
He didn't go first picked, but Luke Davies-Uniacke was thereabouts in draft rankings all through last year and North will be well pleased with their selection. Wearing number 9 for the Stingrays, he puts one in mind of Trent Cotchin with his strength at the contest, with greater height which he can use well in the air. He went at rates of 24 touches at TAC Cup level and 22 at the Championships. Davies-Uniacke has the body type to compete at AFL level in round 1, and if you're North Melbourne, what have you got to lose by giving your fans hope from the start of what will be a long season? However, if we use Cotchin himself as a precedent, the first year for players of this size usually does not result in numbers worthy of a start in draft leagues.
