Jack Buckley Scored 76 Last Week. The Registry Still Says Avoid.

"The sc_avg shows 70.5. The post-injury average is 59.6. Those are not the same player."

Jack Buckley scored 76 in R9 — his best return since coming back from the R3 injury. GWS won by 14 points. He cleared his 46 BE by 30 points. The SC community noticed. The verdict registry did not change its call.

Why the 70.5 Average Is a Trap

Buckley's listed sc_avg of 70.5 includes his pre-season score (66) and Round 1 opening round (79) — both from before he went down in R3. Since returning in R5, he has posted 62, 48, 51, 61, and 76. That is a five-game post-injury average of 59.6.

At $311k-ish with a 46 BE, a 59.6 real-world average means he is barely clearing his breakeven most weeks — not building the buffer the headline average implies. The 70.5 is a season-to-date artefact from a different version of the same player.

The Cash Gen Numbers Are Still Cooked

Buckley started the season at $399.9k and is currently sitting at $311.6k. That is $88k lost across the year. His current cash gen is negative $3,679 per round. He is still bleeding.

Even the 76 in R9 did not stop the cash gen from going negative for the round. That is because his four-game average before R9 was 55.5 — well below the BE floor needed to stabilise the price. One above-BE game after four below-BE games does not reset the cash gen trajectory.

For context: a player averaging 59.6 at a $311k price point with a 46 BE is producing roughly what you paid for. There is no upside from here unless the scoring consistency lifts meaningfully — two to three consecutive scores well above 70.

What the 76 Actually Was

The 76 in R9 came off 12 disposals. Buckley's strong early-season games featured 18–22 disposals with broader play-building involvement. A 76 off 12 disposals is a stat-heavy output — concentrated marks, goal assists, or a burst of hitout-to-advantage that does not land in the same column next week. The registry flagged this as a fragile base for exactly that reason.

This is not an argument that the 76 was a fluke. It is an argument that 12-disposal games are not a reliable foundation for a buy decision on a player who has been averaging 55–60 since returning from injury.

The Standard Before the Buy Window Reopens

The registry has said avoid for four consecutive rounds on Buckley. The standard for reopening the buy window is two consecutive BE-clearing scores with a sustainable possession base — not one. If he posts 70+ in R10 off a normal disposal count, that is a different conversation. Wait and see for me.

At $311k with a 46 BE and still-negative cash gen, there are better homes for your trade this week. The one-good-game trap is real. Do not let it close your options.

Updated: May 2026. Data sourced from RookieBible intel registry.

Pre-briefed. Opinionated. The more you challenge it, the sharper it gets — see Buckley's full profile and current verdict.