SuperCoach 2027: 10 players we’re keen on for next season — plus five to keep an eye on
Some big names changed clubs during trade week, and there are big ramifications for our SuperCoach sides. Here are 10 players we’re locking into our first team of 2027 — and five others to keep an eye on.
The trade period has finished, players are on holiday — but SuperCoach pre-season is slowly rumbling into gear.
Players at news homes are always enticing … but those left behind can be just as interesting, if not more.
Here’s 10 players we’re keen on starting, plus five others we’re keeping an eye on.
READ MORE: HOW EVERY CLUB’S BEST 23 IS SHAPING UP
ROWAN MARSHALL – GEE
Max Gawn and Luke Jackson may loom as must haves, but an underpriced Rowan Marshall assuming Geelong’s ruck mantle will be a tempting option at Flex, or R2 while you wait for one of the former to falter.
Mitch Edwards developed well for the Cats, but they’ve gone after a ruck for a reason. Marshall averaged 141 SuperCoach points across three games – including a 169 against Geelong – when Tom De Koning was injured late this year.
His ceiling is well documented – he was the second best ruck in 2023, and the fifth best player in SuperCoach overall on total points.
He now has a point to prove, and the durability to do it, having played the most games of any ruck across the last five seasons.
Marshall finished the year at $497k, with an average of 81 points – bumped up to 105 across the last five rounds.
TOM DE KONING – STK
Now St Kilda’s solo ruck, Tom De Koning looks to be an interesting buy on potential – even more so because he finished the year at $289k.
De Koning struggled with injury – unfortunately a feature across his career – and shared the ruck role with Rowan Marshall, managing only two tons.
Now assuming solo ruck duties, can he replicate the seven-game ton run that began his 2025 season at Carlton (148, 104, 133,101, 118, 100, 135)?
If he can stay healthy, his ceiling is evident, averaging 144 across five games without Marc Pittonet in 2024.
Is 2027 the year he can become a consistent premium scorer?
JORDAN RIDLEY – GEE
Jordan Ridley was a burn man of mine, but finishing 2026 at $282k, he may just make his way back into my 2027 side.
He burst onto the scene in 2020 with an average of 101.9, and maintained a 90+ average until 2024 despite missing games through injury.
Speaking of injury – he has only eclipsed double-digits games played twice in the past four years.
One of the reasons for his switch to Geelong was to get his body right, and the Cats were able to turn Jack Martin back into a durable player, so is now the time for Ridley to play consistently?
At the price, I’d take the gamble, even if just for a quick sugar hit.
KEIDEAN COLEMAN – ESS
Kiddy Coleman has promised to be a SuperCoach star for years, and he may get his chance to be just that at Essendon.
He averaged 106 in the 2023 Finals series for Brisbane – with a 167 in the Grand Final – but has had rotten injury luck since, suffering an ACL tear to begin the next season.
We all saw what Archie Roberts produced this year for the Bombers, and with Kiddy finishing 2026 priced at $337k, he looms as great value if he’s able to stay at halfback consistently.
Lachie Whitfield – CAR
Everyone looks better in navy Blue, but Whitfield just so happens to be the best defensive premium since 2023.
He’s recorded the fifth-most tons of any player in this time, and the most for any defender, playing 20+ games in each season.
Whitfield will slot perfectly into Josh Fraser’s game plan, which saw Ollie Florent finish with the highest five-round average (114.8) of any defender.
Whitfield sat fourth in this metric (106.2) in 2026.
He dropped as low as $464k, but still finished at a reasonable $511k.
LACHIE WHITFIELD – CARLTON
Everyone looks better in navy Blue, but Whitfield just so happens to be the best defensive premium since 2023.
He’s recorded the fifth-most tons of any player in this time, and the most for any defender, playing 20+ games in each season.
Whitfield will slot perfectly into Josh Fraser’s game plan, which saw Ollie Florent finish with the highest five-round average (114.8) of any defender.
Whitfield sat fourth in this metric (106.2) in 2026.
He dropped as low as $464k, but still finished at a reasonable $511k.
LACHIE ASH – GWS
With long-time stablemate Whitfield departing for the Blues, will we see Lachie Ash stride back into must-have territory?
The Shepparton product broke out in 2025 with an average of nearly 108, but spent time in the guts towards the end of this season and his scoring suffered for it.
Whitfield missed two games in 2026, with Ash scoring 112 in Round 18 and 95 in Round 11 without him, but two data points aren’t telling us a whole lot.
The number I am interested in, though, are the 120 kick-ins Lachie Whitfield will leave on the table at the Giants.
Ash took the next most at 71, playing on from 70 of them. If he’s sliding back into a running defender role and leaving the centre ball-ups behind, look out.
PORT ADELAIDE’S MIDFIELD
With Butters gone, there’s plenty of midfield minutes to fill at Port Adelaide.
Will new recruit Luke Pedlar (forward eligible, likely to come in below $300k) step into some serious midfield minutes? Will Jase Burgoyne continue his five-round average of 105 into the 2027 season. Is it time for the Hornet to step up as an uber-premium?
Jason Horne-Francis and Burgoyne will be will only be eligible as midfielders, but Miles Bergman will be defence eligible and also could run through the middle.
Or … is it finally Will Brodie szn?
NICK BLAKEY- NORTH MELBOURNE
Luke Parker, Caleb Daniel Aaron Hall, Jack Zeibell. Hell, for a while there even Zac Fisher. None of these players were ever approaching the status as best general defender in the competition, and all have pigged out in North Melbourne’s backline for SuperCoach enthusiasts.
Enter Nick Blakey.
The Lizard has always sat just outside that top rung of defensive premiums, with his best average coming in 2025 at 101, but he could well rise to a top 10 player in the game if North feed him the ball the way they have for other stat-padding defenders.
And they will — you don’t pay a running, line-breaking defender eleventy squillion dollars over eight years despite the weight of the Pullman saga hanging over him and not give him the ball.
Barring anything coming out of that scandal, you’d be mad not to have him in your first draft.
LACHIE NEALE (AND NICK DAICOS)
Hot take incoming: Nick is good at footy. And the addition of another Brownlow medallist — a two-time one at that — could make him even better, Neale scooping the ball out to Daicos running past.
It’s not easy to project exactly what the will score together, but you look at the averages Brisbane’s midfield has put up over the past few seasons and he’s definitely not cutting anyone’s lunch in the points department.
Can the two uber-premiums coexist? You’d be foolish to bet against it.
ZACH MERRETT – ESSENDON
We’re finally going to see something we’ve never seen before — Zach Merrett playing for a good team.
As much as I loathe to give them any credit, Hawthorn is a good team.
Merrett won’t be bargain basement but he also won’t be top dollar, and his game is built for SuperCoach.
Sam Mitchell will plonk his magnet in the middle of the centre square and he’ll dominate. I don’t think he becomes the best-scoring player in SuperCoach, but a 115 average is more likely than not for mine.
ZAK BUTTERS – WESTERN BULLDOGS
He’s extremely good at footy. Enough said.
KEEPING AN EYE ON …
THE SWANS’ BACKLINE
You’d think one of Harry Kyle or Matty Roberts is thrown the keys to the Lizard’s half-back role, but one I’m keeping an eye on is former pig Jake Lloyd — who’ll be forward eligible next season.
WILL ASHCROFT
There’s plenty of water to go under the bridge to figure out who gets midfield minutes, but Will ‘Norm’ Ashcroft is front of the queue, with buy of the century Hugh McCluggage not far behind him for those in a forgiving mood.
DYSON SHARP
The Bombers’ No. 13 draft pick fell out of a lot of teams after injury, but he came home with an average of 94. You’d be bold to pick him at nearly $500k but the Bombers will be a side to keep an eye on.
THE DEES’ NEW FORWARDS
Will McLachlan should come in at a rookie price after just the one game this season, but Zane Duursma is likely to be a more annoying price. If McLachlan’s best 23 to kick off the season, you’d think he’s in most SuperCoach forward lines.
FLYNN RILEY
Does he play? The Pies loved Oscar Steene, but the young high-leaper won’t be seen early doors as he recovers from an ACL.
A money-maker at R3 would be very nice … assuming the pricing gods don’t take his one game at 80 as an excuse to curse us with a price above $200k.
Originally published as SuperCoach 2027: 10 players we’re keen on for next season — plus five to keep an eye on