AFL Fantasy is back for another season, and the team at Footy Prophet will again be supplying NMFC.com.au with premium fantasy analysis and tips for the 2015 season.

Going into North Melbourne’s Round 5 clash with Hawthorn, there might never be a better time this year to bring Jack Ziebell into your AFL Fantasy Classic team.

The last two weeks have conspired to give us a great discount on Ziebell, beginning with the collision between him and Ollie Wines in the first quarter of North’s game against Port Adelaide that saw Ziebell taken to hospital with a bruised lung. The Kangaroos midfielder was subbed out on just seven points for the night, and this saw his price take a significant cut.

However Ziebell defied expectations and pulled up in time to face Geelong last week. Most players who had spent a couple of nights in hospital would take a week or more off, those who decided to play would probably take things lightly.

There aren’t many players who, like Ziebell, could go from hospital bed to equal-most tackles on ground in less than a week. A score of 98 was an excellent effort from Ziebell all things considered, coming largely from his 20 disposals and eight tackles. Given it came from just 68% time on ground, it’s even more impressive. However, it wasn’t quite enough to arrest the drop in his price.

Ziebell is now priced at $452,000 in AFL Fantasy Classic, a discount of $28,000 on his starting price for the year. Consider the fact that he’s running at an average of 102 points per game from the three full games he’s played this year, he becomes hard to ignore. If you don’t have him already, buy him now. There’ll never be a better time.

Speaking of must-have Kangaroos, Todd Goldstein is at the top of the list of players your fantasy team simply cannot do without. After four rounds and boasting an average of 118 points per game, Goldstein not only has the most fantasy points of any ruckman, he has the third most of any player in the competition behind only Jordan Lewis and Dyson Heppell.

Currently priced at $569,000, Goldstein is not a cheap acquisition by any means, but at this stage it’s not a question of whether or not you can afford to have him – the question is, can you afford not to have him?

Around the Grounds

One of fantasy’s prodigal sons makes his return to AFL level this week, Sydney’s Tom Mitchell has been named for his first game of the year. He burst onto the scene with some big scores in 2013 but has struggled to maintain a spot in the side ever since – still, his fantasy talent is undoubted so keep a close eye on him.

Aside from that ray of sunshine however it seems to be more a bad luck week for fantasy coaches as far as the teams go, with names like Mitch Clark, Isaac Heeney, Ben McGlynn, David Swallow, Nick Malceski, Matt Rosa and Paul Chapman all sitting in the outs column for the week.

However, the upside is that a lot of young kids are getting their chance. Fresh draftees Corey Ellis, Kyle Langford, Dan McKenzie and Joshua Glenn are all set to make their AFL debuts, while former Giant Mark Whiley will play his first game for Carlton.

All of them potentially have fantasy upside, so keep an eye out for their performances this weekend.