Dougal Howard was at one point seemingly destined to be a big dog as a key defender, moving across from Port Adelaide a few seasons ago when the Saints were in need of strengthening up the spine. A combination of injury and poor form has seen him fall well down the pecking order behind Callum Wilkie, to the extent that he is only appearing in the seniors today as a temporary replacement for Anthony Caminiti. He was never going to be a fantasy-relevant player given his close-checking role, but he gets a chance today against an undermanned and inexperienced Brisbane attack.
Dougal Howard was at one point seemingly destined to be a big dog as a key defender, moving across from Port Adelaide a few seasons ago when the Saints were in need of strengthening up the spine. A combination of injury and poor form has seen him fall well down the pecking order behind Callum Wilkie, to the extent that he is only appearing in the seniors today as a temporary replacement for Anthony Caminiti. He was never going to be a fantasy-relevant player given his close-checking role, but he gets a chance today against an undermanned and inexperienced Brisbane attack.
Howard not a wood duck
After a short career at Port Adelaide that looked like being very promising then petered out in disappointing fashion, Dougal Howard arrives at Moorabbin to play his preferred spot of key defender. He is also capable of playing forward and supporting in ruck, but has been less successful in those roles. The Saints had to patch their back line up with tape and twine at times last season due to injury to key talls, and with Howard they at least get a bit of much-needed depth. He should slot in front of Callum Wilkie in the depth chart and take most of his 22 games from last season. He is not a fantasy factor.
Howard goes to war
Fresh off setting a new single-game record for one percenters in Port's final loss in 2017 with 22, Dougal Howard led that stat for the league in 2018 at a rate of 11.5 per game. His contribution in more standard stat lines was not nearly as impressive. Howard is one of those back shoulder defenders who is not given a licence to do much else other than follow around the opposition's best forward and whistle his fist past the bloke's earhole when necessary. This is not conducive to fantasy scoring.
Dougal's magic roundabout
Despite an ACL injury from round 13 of 2016, Dougal Howard returned to footy in round 2 last year and had developed sufficiently in year three to play tall defender in the ones from round 21 through to the final. Howard will duke it out with Jack Hombsch for his spot when the Power resume in 2018. He is not a fantasy player as his role is based on close checking.
