Despite enjoying his best statistical season in his first for Port Adelaide after eight at West Coast, Scott Lycett was dropped in the second half of 2019 in favour of Peter Ladhams, somewhat controversially. He returned for round 23 after Ladhams petered out. His fantasy scoring post-bye actually rose by 25 points, making that selection decision even more puzzling. It seems like Ken Hinkley has never gotten his ruck division to click, with changes of personnel and CBA balances on a monthly basis, none of which have satisfied him. Apart from Lycett's historical average being close to the ruck baseline, it's hard to justify using a pick on him as the lead ruck in your fantasy league team if he's not even locked in as key ruck for his AFL team.
Hard to like Lycett
Despite enjoying his best statistical season in his first for Port Adelaide after eight at West Coast, Scott Lycett was dropped in the second half of 2019 in favour of Peter Ladhams, somewhat controversially. He returned for round 23 after Ladhams petered out. His fantasy scoring post-bye actually rose by 25 points, making that selection decision even more puzzling. It seems like Ken Hinkley has never gotten his ruck division to click, with changes of personnel and CBA balances on a monthly basis, none of which have satisfied him. Apart from Lycett's historical average being close to the ruck baseline, it's hard to justify using a pick on him as the lead ruck in your fantasy league team if he's not even locked in as key ruck for his AFL team.
Scott likes it at home
Months after lifting the cup as an Eagle premiership ruckman, Scott Lycett moved home to South Australia for personal reasons. He was technically the senior partner in tandem with Nathan Vardy on the run to the flag, but they were totally outclassed by Brodie Grundy twice and Max Gawn once in finals. In all four games last season where he passed 30 hit outs, he did not win the hit out count. Lycett joins Port at a time where the club is trying to nurse Patrick Ryder through the latter stages of his career. One school of thought is that the older man will stay forward more as the younger takes more of the physical load. The other is that the Power looked completely lost without Ryder late last year, and they risk disaster if they don't feature Paddy in the guts. A preseason battle worth watching.
Scott Lycett is somehow a very important player in the preliminary final today. It may not even be because of his own play. His presence caused Melbourne to sacrifice Bayley Fritsch to bring in an extra tall, which may end up ruining their structure by being too reactive. He will be matched up on Joel Smith, and will probably play decoy to clear space for Kennedy and/or Darling.
Scott Lycett is in the news for contract talks for next year with a possible move to Victoria, but fantasy coaches are more interested in the here and now where he has had a stellar last month since Nic Naitanui went down with a season-ending injury. More impressively, his scores have built every game over that four-week period, and today he comes up against Max Gawn who looked slightly restricted last week with some calf soreness. Plenty of fantasy coaches will be riding him in their finals, possibly against a team featuring Gawn.
Luck lacking for Lycett
Shoulder dislocations in preseason and his return game in round 16 ruined Scott Lycett's 2017, after carrying the ruck for the second half of 2016 to produce his best of seven seasons. His more natural support role starting from deep in the forward line tends to produce a goal or two from less than 15 disposals. Lycett's fantasy value is reliant on his own fitness returning, and will only lift into anything deserving a draft league pick if Nic Naitanui has bad setbacks on his own comeback from reconstructive surgery. That is too many ifs, though he looms as a nice free agent pickup if he hits form.
