Shaun Atley has had a long career at North Melbourne without ever becoming elite at much of anything with football in hand, playing various outside roles mostly off the flanks at either end to use his blistering pace. At the moment he's starting on a wing, and put up a decent fantasy score last week even while his club were getting spifflicated. It looks very much like destroyations are on the menu for much of the rest of 2021 for the rebuilding Roos, so the fact that Atley can still score in a pizzling means he might garner some interest in daily fantasy formats today.
Shaun Atley has had a long career at North Melbourne without ever becoming elite at much of anything with football in hand, playing various outside roles mostly off the flanks at either end to use his blistering pace. At the moment he's starting on a wing, and put up a decent fantasy score last week even while his club were getting spifflicated. It looks very much like destroyations are on the menu for much of the rest of 2021 for the rebuilding Roos, so the fact that Atley can still score in a pizzling means he might garner some interest in daily fantasy formats today.
Diss passion, Atley
Nine years into Shaun Atley's AFL career, we long ago saw what kind of player he is: a silky user who earns his keep with quality over quantity, but doesn't quite have enough of the latter to do justice to the former. 2019 was his first season of 20+ disposals, reverting to a half back role after some underwhelming time off a HFF, though his metres gained stat was just over half that of the best HBFs in the league. You just want more, more, more out of Atley. He didn't kick a goal last season, so if that's going to be his game now then he needs to concentrate on his score involvements, which also dropped 40% from his previous forward role. He has more than enough opportunity to use his speed at Docklands, though at the age of 27 there may not be an extra gear in those legs to propel him any faster.
Shaun Atley has had a middling and ultimately disappointing career at North Melbourne, like many of his teammates in this post-Boomer era. He started his career as a defender and then moved up to a wing where his numbers improved markedly, but a return to defence as the club recruited some higher-profile outside runners has meant a reversion to a lower average for his fantasy owners, a list that is dropping rapidly. He is now a lowly-valued asset in fantasy circles, and for good reason as his startable scores are seldom these days.
Shaun Atley came to North Melbourne with a lot of hype in his draft year, taken with a top pick which is a rarity for the Kangaroos, but up to now has failed to deliver on his potential. Perhaps 2019 will be the year that everything clicks for him, if he can avoid injuries and build on a solid preseason. He was a point of difference pick in preseason and his round 1 score justified any fantasy coach who took the chance on him. Can he string together some startable scores to become a valued commodity?
Atley is a cat
Once a promising half-back with midfield ambitions, Shaun Atley’s career has never reached the heights that many expected. While he is a solid role-player, now deployed at half forward, he is not the match-winner he promised to be as a teenager and has never exceeded an average of 68 fantasy points. Atley should not be considered in drafts and appears unlikely to be a useful free agent target, as his role is not based on accumulation of uncontested possession but quality of delivery inside 50.
Shaun Atley has been playing in a North Melbourne team that has lifted itself somewhat surprisingly into finals calculations after struggling for years near the cellar, but his own statistical output has not changed particularly much even though he has transitioned from half back to wing and now to a HFF. He is still a handball receive merchant, with his mark average his lowest since his debut year of 2011, but 14 goals from 20 matches is still not enough. His trademark dash and delivery inside 50 is great when it happens, but it's too infrequent for fantasy coaches.
On an Atley island
Given the opportunity to move from half back to wing in 2017, Shaun Atley put up much the same sort of numbers, exchanging rebound 50s for inside 50s, though his metres gained stat went up by a third. Unfortunately, even in the new role it doesn't look like Atley is ever going to learn how to accumulate enough leather to put him in the frame to start in a fantasy league side with basic scoring.
