Following a long-awaited breakout, Matthew Scharenberg suffered a delayed 2019 after requiring another knee reconstruction late in 2018. Prior to that he'd been in career-best form, something he struggled to replicate on the park last season. The injury-prone backman suited up for the last five rounds before being dropped for the qualifying final due to poor form. Scharenberg teased us with a few big scores in 2018 but, at this stage, his injury history and selection question marks can't be overlooked. It's hard to see him and Tom Langdon in the same starting 22, so it's best to leave Scharenberg out of consideration. His only saving grace might be the susceptibility to injury of his teammates, so if he's in the unlikely position of being the best of what's left, that would be his only useful scenario.
Scharenberg cold as ice
Following a long-awaited breakout, Matthew Scharenberg suffered a delayed 2019 after requiring another knee reconstruction late in 2018. Prior to that he'd been in career-best form, something he struggled to replicate on the park last season. The injury-prone backman suited up for the last five rounds before being dropped for the qualifying final due to poor form. Scharenberg teased us with a few big scores in 2018 but, at this stage, his injury history and selection question marks can't be overlooked. It's hard to see him and Tom Langdon in the same starting 22, so it's best to leave Scharenberg out of consideration. His only saving grace might be the susceptibility to injury of his teammates, so if he's in the unlikely position of being the best of what's left, that would be his only useful scenario.
Matthew Scharenberg comes back into a Collingwood side reeling in a form slump, in part because of personnel shortages. Missing the calming influence of Darcy Moore at CHB, Nathan Buckley picked Flynn Appleby ahead of Scharenberg last week and it was a colossal failure on the face of it, with Appleby beaten many times as GWS built an unassailable lead. Scharenberg is a different player to Moore, less of a zone-off interceptor and more of a back-shoulder spoiler, but he is comfortably better than Appleby and should bolster a Magpie defence under heavy siege.
Too many icebergs
A stellar junior career has not been replicated in the seniors for Matthew Scharenberg due to three ACL tears, the last of which occurred in July. He was out on the track running laps in December and while he’d be hopeful to play senior football in 2019, he is yet to show scoring consistency. The scoring potential is there, but the lock-down defender role isn’t beneficial for fantasy coaches. Pass on Scharenberg in the draft, but watch closely as he could prove to be a smoky in the free agent pool when he returns to full fitness.
Matthew Scharenberg has been the rock around which the rest of the Collingwood defence has revolved, though it didn't look like that would be the case early in 2018 when Darcy Moore threatened to supplant his natural CHB role. With Ben Reid, Tyson Goldsack and Lynden Dunn all succumbing to injury, the Pies' key position defensive stocks are a bit thin which leaves Scharenberg, Howe and Moore as the talls with not much scope to zone off. The recent return of Moore has seen a drop off in Scharenberg's fantasy numbers, which is worrying for his draft league owners.
Matt's had his share of bergs
The club was understandably wary about slotting Matthew Scharenberg back into the seniors after a second knee reconstruction, and it took six VFL games before the call up, only to be dropped three games later. In his second stint he peeled off six games of 20+ disposals and 7+ marks, thriving as a tall defender when Ben Reid went forward. Off-season speculation over Darcy Moore spending time in defence obscures the possibility that the Magpies have found their next CHB in the form of Scharenberg. If that August form holds up going into 2018, Reid and Moore could stay forward with Scharenberg holding up the defensive spine, compiling big mark tallies like Reid did regularly in that position. The JLT will sort this mess out.
