Tom Stewart is in the twilight of a glittering career, filled with jewellery and jackets on which to pin them. His game was never predicated on speed off the mark, more his positioning and footy brain, so the fact of his age reaching 32 years is no reason to discount his value to the team. Nevertheless, it has become apparent as the Cats have gone through the last season and a bit that it is Zach Guthrie who is the nominal seventh defender in the Geelong defensive structure, with greater agility and better availability with Stewart's increasing list of injuries.
Tom Stewart is in the twilight of a glittering career, filled with jewellery and jackets on which to pin them. His game was never predicated on speed off the mark, more his positioning and footy brain, so the fact of his age reaching 32 years is no reason to discount his value to the team. Nevertheless, it has become apparent as the Cats have gone through the last season and a bit that it is Zach Guthrie who is the nominal seventh defender in the Geelong defensive structure, with greater agility and better availability with Stewart's increasing list of injuries.
Tom Stewart returns to the Geelong side this week after a lengthy suspension for dropping Dion Prestia off the ball, and he will find his way back into a lot of fantasy sides too. His ceiling is just too high to ignore, and with the Cats having a relatively soft run home Stewart is every chance to pick up where he left off when he was best on ground against Richmond. The Cats set themselves up to go slow on attack with plenty of kicking around the key, so in addition to his intercept prowess he is usually going to get plenty of leather touches. A true premium.
Tom Stewart misses a few games earlier in the season with a broken collarbone but has otherwise been just what you paid for in fantasy terms in season 2020, a sea of calm in a world turned upside down by the coronavirus. Like Matthew Scarlett before him he is a key defender who often doesn't seem to have a direct opponent, playing the zone and moving to where the blal is going to be regardless of whoever else is there. He is also heavily involved in slow plays, of which the Cats have had a lot this year. He is a premium fantasy asset, reliable as an old set of slippers.
Stewart has vertigo
Since the mature-aged Tom Stewart joined the Cats in 2017, his statistical progression has been nothing but positive. Last season he achieved top ten finishes for kicks, metres gained and marks, with a kick-to-handball ratio that would excite any fantasy coach. He also topped the league rankings for rebound 50s by some distance, with the next-best Cat outside the top 40. Looking toward 2020, the versatile defender is injury-free and is showing no signs of slowing down after his back-to-back All-Australian nods. The mark tally is the true sign of a solid fantasy defender, putting a very high floor on his scoring. As one of the more consistent defenders on the market, Stewart warrants an early-round selection with great confidence.
Tom Stewart has quietly become one of the top six fantasy backs by average this season, lifting his scores in standard leagues by 15 points to well into the 90s. Three extra disposals and a mark to take the latter average to an elite level of 7.5 are the bases of a fairly high floor, though he has gone past 110 only three times on the season so his ceiling is not all that high. Sometimes that's all you want out of a fantasy asset though, and he's not going to let you down in his current role as long as he stays fit. He would be a fitting last trade-in for salary cap teams.
Stewart in the hot pot
There was no case of second year blues for the mature-aged Tom Stewart, who had a clear breakout season in the blue and white hoops. He ranked just behind Zach Tuohy for touches, but led the club in attacks from defence, ranking fifth in the competition from rebound 50s and earning All-Australian selection. Apart from a niggling ankle injury that caused him to miss two games throughout the season, Stewart’s durability was sound. Looking toward 2019, Stewart has locked himself into the Cats’ defensive unit and is as motivated as anyone to improve his personal and team performance. His consistency needs work, but to fill a spot in defensive lines, fantasy coaches could do much worse. Draft him with one of the later middle-round picks.
Stewart's middle ages
The departure of Corey Enright before last season opened up a spot in the Geelong defence, into which Tom Stewart strolled as a mature-ager from the VFL. He reached 20 disposals twice in 18 games, before a very quiet finals series. As with most key defenders, Stewart needs to up his marking rate past six if he's going to seriously interest fantasy coaches. He's a warm body you might slot in from the free agent pool on an easy match up, otherwise you can ignore him.
