The Friday Scramble: Round 3

My first thoughts as I saw my scores coming in across the weekend was… Bloody hell what is this $#%$.  But then I thought to myself, you know what, if this game was so easy that we just had to turn up and all our players got 100’s every week it would get very boring very quickly.  So, like any good Dreamteamer I got up, dusted myself off and thought, right let’s harden up and get on with this again. And that is exactly what you should do.  Yes we had rubbish scores, yes we have injury and suspensions to contend with.  But it is round 3, there is a hell of a long way to go in this game!

So, let’s have a teaspoon of cement and get scrambling.

Trade Time

Round 3 brings us our first real need to trade.  In those games that have limited trades this is our last week before changes in prices take effect.  So what you should be doing this week is making any corrective trades that you need to do.  And this last chance to make changes before price changes comes at an opportune time with all the injuries and suspensions.
Of course in AFL Fantasy we don’t have this luxury as we have already started to have price changes take effect.

Carnage

This word is thrown around a lot in Dreamteam but this week is a prime example of it.  Not only have we lost Nat Fyfe for two weeks with suspension, then we lose Barlow for 4 – 6 weeks to top all that off Freo then go and lose Zac Dawson for a week!  Ok, seriously, losing Fyfe and Barlow is a huge blow.  In addition we have lost Luke Hodge, Brett Deledio and Patty Ryder all to injury for at least a week each.  Also we have Matthew Kruezer now out for 12  weeks with his foot injury.

All this does is open you up to more opportunities.  It allows you to trade some of these guys out if you have them without any guilt!  In RDT and SC the only one though that should definitely be traded is Barlow given the length of time he will be out.  Fyfe will be back in two weeks, so with all the playing rookies we have at the moment you should be able to cover him.  Ryder and Deledio should be back shortly so once again if you have a playing bench guy then you may not want to trade…. however, given his form and the plethora of good cheaper rookies rucks you may want to downgrade Ryder.

In AFL Fantasy, any injury to a premium screams trade!!  Given that we have two trades a week in their use it or lose it format, there is no reason to be carrying mega dollars on the bench (unless you have 3 injuries!).  So in that form of the game get trading and get the best team on the park that you can.

The End of the Swan?

Now before you stop reading and assume I have gone insane.  Can we trust our favourite fantasy pig Dane Swan anymore?  I mean, he has dropped his scoring  and we have even heard his coach say that Pendles and Beamer are the in form midfielders.  I think that we have now seen that Swanny will be spending more time up forward.  If you have him in the two forms of the game that have limited trades I would be keeping him for now, however, if you are an owner in AFL Fantasy then I would seriously consider dropping him.  Now, since I have put this out there I am sure Swanny will come out and score 136 this week just to get back at me!

Captains

So last week I stuffed it like a few others did including our very own Tbetta by having Scooter Selwood as captain.  How bad was he!  Anyway, we have moved on and this week I have to agree with our very own Irish Pirate Calvin and go with Scott Pendlebury, he is in amazing form and doesn’t look like slowing down.  And for those that listened to Tbetta’s Bulletin earlier this week they would have heard Mong tell us that Geelong is one of his favourite teams to play.  Other good options this week would include Jobe Watson who is also putting together a fantastic start to the season and of course Gary Ablett who should flourish against Brisbane with no Andrew Raines to worry about.

#AskDunny

Hasn’t Nathan Jones been sensational this year!  The way that Paul Roos has them playing is more of a possesion game which seems to be working well for Nathan.  Over the past few years his DT averages have been 78, 89, 86, 67 and 76.  I don’t think he will keep pumping out scores of 129 and 147, but I think an end of season average of 90-100 is certainly achievable for him if he keeps playing like this.  But back to your question, yes I think he could be a very handy step ladder, particularly with the low BE (-43 in RDT)  that he has at the moment.

If you are looking at my team’s scoring you would say that it is to make money!  But seriously though it does come back to what your aims are.  If you are looking at overall ranking then points are always important as they are so hard to catch up later in the year.  But if like most you are looking at leagues (which start this week of course) then you would be trying to maximise your cash cow generation to build your elite team as soon as you can.  But you don’t want to completely ignore points as there is no point getting heaps of cash but losing all your league games on the way there!

Good question Anthony (and even more interesting profile pic!).  The obvious choice for this will be that Mundy will increase his looks at the ball.  I would also expect someone like Danyle Pearce to play more of a midfield role.  One interesting question would be, does Pav stroll into the midfield for the next couple of weeks to provide that experience and body.  Other guys to potentially come into the mids and get possessions would be Tendai Mzungu, Stephen Hill and Cameron Sutcliffe.  Do I think any of these are worth picking up?  Well Mundy is the only one that I would look at with any seriousness.

Things to Remember

• No Rolling Lockout so No Loophole – So you need to put yourself on the line and pick your captain straight up this week (unless you are a Supercoach player of course).
• Leagues get under way – So don’t forget to check out how you are going against your mates.
• Matchday Comp continues – So checkout CubboDT’s article from earlier in the week.
• Make your correction trades – Pre price changes in RDT and SC make sure you get your corrective trades done.
• Scott Selwood, you are on notice – One more week mate….  lift!

Good luck this weekend as we head into league matches.  I just hope that this week isn’t quite as bad as the last one!  I have a bit of work to do climbing up the rankings as I am sure a lot of people who had Scooter as captain would!  Keep an eye on twitter today for late outs etc and make sure your team is locked away before lockout actually comes around.  If you get the chance get yourself to the Adelaide Oval.  Last week was fantastic there (yes it helped that Port won) but the ground is awesome.  I am heading along again this week to see how Buddy goes.

Follow me on Twitter for any late Scrambling issues I come across @pkd73.