AFL Supercoach 2026: Final Word – Round 20

Just when you thought it maybe – surely, absolutely could not – get any worse… Think again.

A potentially season-ending injury to Max Holmes has coaches, who likely already used a trade on Zak Butters last week, scrambling.

It’s not a fun position to be in, and I think my sentiment behind saving a trade on Zak Butters got lost amid the chaos last week, because it’s not simply a case of just storing a $600k player on the bench for the fun of it. 

Our strategy now becomes less of “what sideways trade can I do to fix this injury?” and more of “what current players do I have who can adequately fill in the gaps?”.

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It’s about maximising points when we’re already scraping the bottom of the barrel.

So yes, I said to hold Zak Butters – not because I enjoy watching the world burn, but because the crop of Midfield rookies is far more capable of providing solid scores than any other line.

It’s all relative at this point.

All I know for certain is that if I went down to zero trades and  copped a forward injury, I’d be absolutely cooked with the rookie options I’ve got sitting on my bench there.

With Butters warming the bench, Elite Dadds pumped out a 2405 to take us up to 9093rd. Bring on the next five weeks!

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Trade Talk

Given I’ve touched on it quite in depth in the intro, I thought it would be appropriate for this week’s trade talk to focus on the best rookies moving forward – those who you can most likely trust to cover for any premium injuries or suspensions.

1. Hugo Hall-Kahan (DEF/MID)
2. Marcus Herbet (MID)
3. Oliver Francou (MID)
4. Campbell Lake (MID/FWD)
5. Joel Fitzgerald (MID)
6. Liam Reidy (RUC/FWD)
7. William Edwards (DEF)
8. Bailey Macdonald (DEF)

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Skippers

VC:

1. Max Gawn
2. Baz
3. Luke Jackson
4. Daicos
5. Dawson

C:

1. Bont
2. Sheezel
3. Ashcroft
4. Neale
5. Heeney