Nic Naitanui has always been a bit of a tease as a fantasy player, as his game-changing ruck work has not been backed up very often by accumulation around the ground, with a particularly disappointing level of marks. This was exacerbated across the past two seasons by a managed return from surgery with limited time on ground, leading to a dreaded ruck tandem with a variety of partners. Nevertheless, NicNat has emerged lately as a traditional lead ruck once again, and is almost single-handedly keeping the Eagles in it. Could he become fantasy relevant at last?
Nic Naitanui has always been a bit of a tease as a fantasy player, as his game-changing ruck work has not been backed up very often by accumulation around the ground, with a particularly disappointing level of marks. This was exacerbated across the past two seasons by a managed return from surgery with limited time on ground, leading to a dreaded ruck tandem with a variety of partners. Nevertheless, NicNat has emerged lately as a traditional lead ruck once again, and is almost single-handedly keeping the Eagles in it. Could he become fantasy relevant at last?
Nic Naitanui comes up against arguably the best ruckman in the competition today in Brodie Grundy, but he has been coming into a decent vein of form himself. The Eagles have used him over the past two seasons in a tandem role as they eased him back into the saddle following an ACL tear, but in recent weeks he has been rucking mostly by himself, taking advantage of the shorter game times. He is still one of the best tappers in the game, but today presents as a big challenge to follow Grundy around the ground to quell his influence.
Nic Naitanui is the first name that comes to mind when thinking about possible beneficiaries of the new 16-minute quarter rule introduced as part of the AFL's package to address the coronavirus crisis. He was operating at well under 60% time on ground last season, meaning that he could play the same minutes and his relatively low stats could look a whole lot better than the league averages which should drop around 20% around him. All of this is supposition, and we await to see how his game copes with the new conditions.
NicNat? Not on your nelly
When he finally returned from a second ACL reconstruction last June, Nic Naitanui went into a ruck timeshare where he was used for less than 60% of game time, a system unheard of in the modern game. He continued that mode in September after recovering from an ankle syndesmosis. He ended up playing five games where he failed to break 15 disposals, but averaged a very respectable 31 hit outs. Naitanui is a signature example of why points per minute can be a misleading stat in fantasy. There may be a time when he can lift his time-on-ground back up to more normal levels, but what would then happen to his body when used for longer periods? He is the AFL's ultimate burst athlete, and the coaches are happy using him that way. This limits his fantasy value to virtually nil, to be drafted on name recognition alone.
Bit late for Nic Nat
Happily for the Eagles, losing Nic Naitanui to a second knee reconstruction after round 17 didn't prevent them winning the flag. They managed his game time fairly drastically last season to an average of 57% TOG, although he still managed two fantasy tons with an average only five points down. He is aiming for a round 15 return in 2019. Naitanui has always been more about quality than quantity, as he is arguably the most talented tap ruckman in the competition even if he's never going to win on weight of taps. This doesn't help his prospective owners in draft leagues with standard scoring, where he really should be left undrafted unless you have a LTI position on your bench.
Nic Nat in better nick
Assuming that Nic Naitanui is not troubled further by his ACL rupture from late in 2016 - and since he was almost fit for finals last year, that's a decent chance - he should go beyond the benchmark he set in the previous two years of 35 hit outs, 12 disposals and a goal every other game. His statistics have always been more about quality than quantity with hit outs to advantage being a particular focus, which shows up more in exotic fantasy scoring formats. The remaining question for Naitanui must be how his stat lines are affected by the removal of third men up in ruck, which changed the league last year while he was absent. Patrick Ryder has a similarly athletic high-jumping style and he won a 2017 All-Australian guernsey in adding 15 points to his fantasy scoring, and if Nic Nat does the same he'll start averaging a ton. This kind of upside puts him in the conversation for an early round pick.
Naitanui shows glimpses
Nic Naitanui, known as NicNat, is an excitement machine. The youngster has only played 24 games but is the cult replacement for Chris Judd to the WCE fans. We have enough footage of this player already to fill a highlight reel or two. He is even that big of a club hero that a song has been written about him.
The Flyin' Fijian's fantasy year looks like it's about to land on the runway. Averaging 65.5 in Dream Team and 74.9 in Supercoach, NicNat had a promising start to the year but with only four scores above 70 in DT and five in SC it is looking as if we should not expect too much for the rest of the season. His scores are not being helped with Dean Cox taking most of the rucking duties, leaving Naitanui searching for his own niche in another position, which he seemed to struggle with when playing Richmond in round 12.
With all this being said, Nic Naitanui has huge potential and should be monitored and picked up when this potential is reached.
