Well we have now officially ticked over  the first third of the season. Our teams are starting to take shape, and the overall ranking starting to fluctuate less  (well it seems to go up slowly, but down quickly). We can probably put ourselves into one of three categories

• I’m still a chance for the car
• I have as much chance at the car as Lara Bingle does a respectable media career
• 2012? oh this is just a rebuilding year, and I’m not going to pick Tom Couch. bring on 2013

With the multi bye rounds firmly at the fore front of our minds (right next to day dreaming about Miranda Kerr/ Orlando Bloom, which ever way you’re inclined) the next few trades should almost have the byes as a very high priority, but not to the detriment of building your team. let’s see how the popular trades this week could affect your team during the byes….

The mask of Zorro  Zorko

With a current dearth of solid cows  to bring into our team, it feels like when one does come along we see them as some saving grace/super hero. As the banner suggests, the arrival of Dayne Zorko seems like some suernatural  human has come down to save us, and his power is tackling! Currently the most traded in player this week (almost 1 in 5)  the cows in line for slaughter are….

Toby Greene: As Chook pointed out yesterday (sort of, he likes to sit on a fence) Toby Greene could be a suitable suitor for the trade thanks to a halt in cash generation with his 54, and week off courteous of the tribunal, he will make you a cool $250k in the trade while not messing up any bye structure that has been meticulously planned already (ha!)

Dylan Shiel: Very similar to the Greene machine, he won’t stuff up any bye structure, but he wont also make you as much money. With a b/e of 37 , this trade is a little premature, but Zorko’s  cash generation is far greater now on and you still make a handy $176k in the trade. Your decision may also be helped out if Sheedy doesnt pull his name out of the hat  in the selection meeting tonight.

Jimmy Magner: Good ol magnet. Has become a super reliable M7 with a average of 73 in the last 5 rounds, and he is a tagger! (I will not add to the vent-a-thon on this topic) Has pretty much topped out in his cash making, but trading him out could add another rd 11 bye to your team, depending on other GWS rookies. On the plus side, he has great JS as he’s probably first picked every week and has that Tom Couch voodoo doll all worked out (doesn’t want to risk his spot in the team, cos he’s the ‘same type of player’). Magner will make you tidy $189k in the trade and could also add a very valuable DP link to that forward line for the byes.

Murphy’s not Swanning about anymore

The pre bye carnage continues with gun mids Swan and Murphy going down with Hamstring and shoulder injuries respectively. Murphy is out for 8-10 weeks while Swan is only reported to be out for 2 weeks, but with Collingwood having weak opposition coming up before the bye, Swan may already be on holiday in Arizona and we wont see him until rd 13 . neither of these players can be held due to the byes, so who can we bring in for them?

Gary Ablett: Currently 4500 people have already got the little master in (some for the second time, no doubt) for either Swan or Murphy. GAJ looks to of bottomed out at a bargain $553k, so you need to swallow your pride and get him back in if you traded him out. As Calvin’s number one captain pick this week it’s the vanilla thing to do. You don’t want to get mocked at work/school/employment agency for not having Gary now do you?

Bryce Gibbs: What? Bryce Gibbs? Well with Carlton currently downhill skiing and doing their best quell any threat of being a premiership favourite, they might see the light and put Gibbs back in the middle in a DT friendly role and start winning again! At a bargain basement $406k he has the ability to turn it around and return to super premium status now that Murphy is injured (another voodoo doll?) this trade could make your season, or continue its path down the toilet.

Alan Didak: Geez Stubby, you must be on crack to suggest these trades. Well, I’m not, but do like looking outside the box for alternatives sometimes. Didak is a proven DT gun who was down on his luck last year. With a solid run in the magoos and a DT ton on debut this year, he is basement price at at $363k and a good POD. With a b/e of 78 this week, he could be in line for extra midfield time in the absence of Swan and get back to his former glory days.

Tweet a question:

@Ashley Clark asks ‘is 6 trades enough to last after the bye rounds?’

Well Ash, if the first 8 weeks are anything to go by 6 trades will probably only last til rd 16, so saving trades whenever you can is a bloody great idea!  Keeping trades in the bank after the byes will, in my opinion, pay you back in spades in the long run(there are 10 rounds after the byes you know!) While a whole lot of luck is required for success,  picking rookies on the bubble (eg Zorko, Horsely) that have great JS and also looking to get a solid bench option will also ensure long term success in DT

Well there is plenty to talk about this week. We should see the high scores continue, my projected is currently 2,371 after I have traded in Zorko and Boyd for Greene and Magner (at the moment).

Also, just some data for next week!

Feel free to follow me on @jimbobholder in the Twittersphere

Discuss all your trades here, good luck this week!

LAST WEEKS TOP 5

Matthew Boyd – 128
Gary Ablett – 117
Dane Swan – 95
Brent Stanton – 124
Scott Pendlebury – 133

Yep… that’s how good I am with a great top 5 from round 8 and a pretty good order to match it. BOOM. But this week has been a very tough one for me with school camp and limited internet access, so I’ve popped in very quickly to show you my top 5 for the week. Arrgg and yes, even ‘Captain Picking Pirates’ have a day job.

Brett Deledio (smokey) Vs Hawthorn – Let’s kick off the list with a guy who didn’t make my top 5, but is a great smokey after his 160 last week. With previous scores of 51 (last year), 113, 139, 125 and 120 on the Hawks in his last 5… he’s certainly worth a thought.

Joel Selwood Vs Western Bulldogs – Last year Joel had just 92 against the Bulldogs but will be pretty good this week like he was prior to that 92. Over the last 3 years he has had scores of 92, 139, 45, 136 and 110. A little up and down but good enough for me, especially after a nice 136 (36d) last week.

Scottie Thompson Vs Collingwood – Thomo had 108 on the Pies last year but it’s his form that gets him the Irish nod this week. He has been on fire with a lowest score of only 121 in his last 4 games this year. Hot to trot.

Scott Pendlebury Vs Adelaide Crows – With Dane Swan not playing, Pendles should be just fine for those who have been asking. He had 103 (27d) on them last year and 101 prior to that. Pendles has been in great form and has a lowest score of 113 in his last 6 games this year and with a very nice 133 Vs Geelong last week. Pretty safe option!

Brent Stanton Vs Greater Western Sydney – Keeps getting it done with another massive 124 last week. He now has 6×115+ games next to his name this year and I have no reason at all why he shouldn’t kill the Giants at Skoda Stadium in Sydney. ‘Oh V8… what about Jobe?’ people will ask. Yeah he’ll be fine, not top 5 worthy but if you need my approval to do something a little different then… ‘go for it’. How’s that?

Gary Ablett Vs Port Adelaide – Despite having 83 in his only game against the Power last year, Gazza gets my #1 spot this week. That game was only his 3^rd for the new club and he did cop the Matt ‘who are you’ Thomas tag. When Gaz was with Geelong though he had scores of 133, 148 and 127 on them. Last week, Swallow (138) and Wells (118) were awesome against the Power and after having 2 games under his belt (106 and 117) after his knee injury, Gazza will be back to his best this week for sure.

 Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

TWITTER FOLLOW: @CalvinDT

Three-or-more gamers

A glance at the Chook’s Rooks back catalogue might have you thinking I’m a pessimistic little bastard but, honestly, I really do believe it’s important to look for the positives in life. Like, if you were a Lovatic, (an obsessive fan of nearly-no-longer-a-teen singer-actress Demi Lovato, but as if you didn’t know), then you’d be spewing that the Camp Rock star will be getting just a million bucks for her work as a judge on the US version of X-Factor, while that no-talent, washed-up hack Britney Spears will pocket 15 times that for doing the same job. The positive? Having a co-judge as crazy-bad as Britney will make Lovato seem like a pop genius and genuinely nice gal in comparison. Sorry for the reality TV singing show reference, (I’ll leave them exclusively to RL Griffin from now on ;)), but I just wanted to use an analogy that the 13-year-old Dream Team coaches would understand when I point out that there’s even a silver lining to the poor round-eight effort of their classmate, Greater Western Sydney midfielder Toby Greene. Sure, scoring a lowly 50 points – lumping the usual high-flyer with the Sam Days and Tim Mohrs of the DT world – might’ve brought Greene’s soaring price to a screeching halt, but at least it’s made the often stressful decision of which midfield rookie to cull next an easy one, right? And, just for good measure, he even got himself rubbed out for a week in case you weren’t totally convinced. Positives, people, positives!
After that diatribe above, I’ve got to say Greene, right? Um, I don’t want to. Greene has shown he’s got a higher ceiling than both of the others and, although the GWS kids are being touted as getting capped at 14 games this year, the fact that Greene is having an enforced rest this week increases his longevity, in my mind. Plus he had five free-kicks against in that 50, meaning he could’ve quite easily scored a more respectable 60+ – not terrible in a team that got smashed. Classic fence-sitting by me.

It certainly won’t be Gold Coast’s Kyal Horsley on the chopping block any time soon, with the mature-age mid again turning a modest number of possessions into a staggeringly awesome Dream Team total. Okay, 27 touches isn’t exactly modest, but there’s no doubting that The Horse is raking in the big scores on the back of his willingness to tackle like a man possessed. He had seven in his score of 108 against the Western Bulldogs, actually dragging his average tackles per game down to 8.5. After four games he’s averaging 106.8 ppg, putting him on track to pass previous rookie greats like Joel Selwood, Rhys Palmer and even Michael Barlow. Long may it last.
While Horsley has scored big before, the rest of the top five from round eight were breaking new ground. Port Adelaide’s Darren Pfeiffer and Brisbane’s Dayne Zorko, both mid-fwds, had sub-affected 26s to their name in their previous games, but smashed out 90s when given a full game on the weekend. The next best were a pair of ruckmen, with Adelaide’s Josh Jenkins notching a 92 and Zorko’s teammate Billy Longer grabbing an 81. Zorko and Jenkins are on the bubble, so more about them later.

At the other end of the scale, Greene wasn’t the only GWS rookie to score lowly in their big loss to Brisbane, with mid-fwd Taylor Adams and Adam Treloar also struggling to make much of an impact. Unlike Greene, however, they’ve still got reasonable breakevens. That’s not the case for Brandon Ellis, with the Richmond defender copping his second consecutive green vest. A much earlier appearance this week meant he was able to scrape together a respectable 44 (better than non-vested teammate Steven Morris, who had 40), but he still dropped $16,600 and enters round nine with a breakeven of 76.

Two gamers

Either my radar is broken or there are only six rookie-priced players on the verge of their first money-making round, and four of them – Sydney forward Trent Dennis-Lane, West Coast midfielder Koby Stevens, GWS ruckman Andrew Philips and North Melbourne midfielder Brad McKenzie – won’t interest Dream Teamers either because of their starting price, job security, points potential or, simply, because there is a better option in the same position. That leaves Brisbane mid-fwd Dayne Zorko, who should be making his way into your team this week if you didn’t take the punt last week, and aforementioned Adelaide ruckman Josh Jenkins. If you’re a tad GWS heavy and are trying to downgrade a few Giants to make the first multi-bye round easier to swallow, then neither Zorko or Jenkins are particularly helpful, with both sharing that round-11 break. Well, suck it up, because Zorko ($104,200) the 22-year-old winner of last year’s NEAFL best and fairest award, was a must-have before teammate Todd Banfield suffered an injury that looks set to keep him out for six weeks. Now he’s an, er, must must-have. After a sub-affected 26 in his first match, Zorko grabbed 96 points last week. Just bear in mind he won’t be part of many, if any, Lions wins as big as that this season, so an average of somewhere between 65 and 75 is probably a realistic expectation.

That’s what I did last week: Zorko in for long-time absentee Aaron Hall, of the Gold Coast, apparently. While there’s plenty more cash to be made from downgrading a Greene, Shiel or Smith, I wanted to have as many players on the park as possible during the bye rounds, so dumped Hall. In the same week, Hall pops up in the best players for the Suns’ NEAFL team, despite not registering a goal. I don’t think he’ll return this week, but certainly keep an eye on the teams tomorrow night.

Jenkins (also $104,200) has impressed in both his outings at AFL level, but was able to trouble the statisticians a little more in his second match, racking up 92 points against Carlton last week after scoring 54 against Geelong on debut. The ruck isn’t typically the most common line to wangle downgrades in, but some are considering ballsy moves like this one by RamboTambo below.

Giles’ performances this season have seen him elevated to keeper status by plenty of coaches, with his 84.75ppg average seeing him ranked equal 10th with Sam Jacobs in the ruck department, and only five points per game behind fourth-placed ruck Hamish McIntosh. While Jenkins has shown an ability to score highly, the fact that Giles is now the first-choice ruck at his club gives him a big advantage in the consistency stakes. Jenkins will ride the roller-coaster that comes with playing forward and pinch-hitting behind number-one ruck Jacobs. It could be a brilliant trade if it comes off, and will only take one trade to fix if it doesn’t, but I don’t have the guts to go through with it.

Similarly, I can’t bring myself to trade out Redden for Jenkins either, as it’ll net less than $50k and, depending on your team structure of course, isn’t likely to improve your doughnut-dodging chances in the multi-bye rounds. That might sound contradictory to my Zorko advice, but he’s a must-have, whereas Jenkins is a maybe. Better off hoping that big Jarrad gets another run during the MBRs, I reckon.

One gamers

I broke a golden of rule of Dream Team by bringing in a one-gamer last week, adding Zorko in a bid to avoid a forward-line doughnut. It worked out swimmingly and now I’ve got a hankering to do it again this week in order to afford an upgrade elsewhere. The trick is working out which one deserves a place in your line-up. It’s hard enough when they’ve played two games, let alone basing your decisions on a sample size of one.

Like the two-gamers, there are six rookie-priced players who played their first AFL game (of 2012, at least) in round eight, with Sydney forward Tommy Walsh the highest DT scorer of the group. The St Kilda reject scored 85 points against Melbourne but, like Zorko, won’t find the opposition as generous every week. The long-awaited debut of GWS back Sam Darley also eventuated in round eight, with the former North Hobart midfielder making a great first impression with 44 opening-half points before cooling to finish with 64 for the game. North Melbourne forward Ben Warren, a familiar face in these parts, scored a 60 on his return to the Kangaroos unit, while Gold Coast mid-fwd Alex Sexton, Western Bulldogs forward Zeph Skinner and GWS defender Matthew Buntine had their scores restricted by Reptile’s green vest. If you’re clever, you’ll wait another week before jumping on any of these blokes. If you’re not, like me, then it’s at least worth narrowing it down to Walsh, Darley and Sexton. The highly-rated Gold Coast youngster excites me the most, scoring 22 points when he got his chance in the final term, with all six of his disposals by foot. Great Dream Teaming, although I’m concerned about the number of games he’ll get due to his young age. Darley is the other I’m keen on, but would love to see both he and Bugg in the same team first – it didn’t happen in the pre-season.

Apologies for not getting to all the tweets (@ChookDT), or clucks as I like to call them, that people sent in, but I’ll endeavour to do a better job of it next week. And sorry for the lack of feedback from me in the comments during the day, but I spend Wednesdays running around at my day job like, well, me with my head cut off. Thanks for the comments, advice, etc, over the season so far!

We call Swanny the ‘Pig’ because he is a fantasy pig… he uses the ground as his sty and he has a lovely time out there. Ironically he strained his hamstring (mmm, ham) on the weekend leaving 87,000 Dream Team coaches sweating on the prognosis. Swan had scans today which indicated it was a strain and the club says he will be back for the Round 11 game against Melbourne.

Evidently, we’re without Dane Swan for 2 weeks… or so they say.

This is where I’m being a little more cautious. Once upon a time I had a player called Gary Ablett and he went down with a knee injury. I assumed it was a 2+ week injury so I traded. Not just because he was out for two weeks (possibly more), but because my mid structure couldn’t go into 2-3 weeks without one of the big boys (ala Swan, Pendlebury or Stanton). So I brought in Swanny. If Ablett was out for two weeks, I would call it a win. Swanny scored 171 on debut for me as captain and up until this week, it was the right choice. Then Swanny’s hammy went ping (slightly).

The old school DT coach in me says not to trade him and hold him on the bench. But I always like to think outside the box and look ahead. While I don’t have an indepth bye trading plan like many other coaches, mainly because of injuries we will encounter like this, they are definitely in my thinking coming up over these few weeks.

So here’s my thinking re: Swanny.

The club have told us 2 weeks. That’s Rd 9 (vs Adelaide) and Rd 10 (vs Gold Coast) to return on the long weekend game in Rd 11 (vs Melbourne) before Collingwood get their week of with the Rd 12 bye. My problem is that this two week injury could potentially be three week and ultimately four weeks if you include the bye. With our bench players, normally you’d wear Swanny’s injury over these rounds as they’re not scoring too badly. But if he does miss Rd 11, there is a whole heap of sh*t that will hit the fan. With Matthew Boyd and a host of GWS midfield boys (along with our new friend Dayne Zorko) all missing Round 11, we will be facing some donuts I think. And then don’t forget that he will be out for Round 12.

My current plan is to trade Dane Swan to Gary Ablett this week – with Ablett playing in Rd 11 and 12 (he has the Rd 13 bye) – and then when Swanny returns in Round 13, upgrade one of my midfield rookies to him and get him back in. While I wouldn’t want to let him go, Kyal Horsley would make this fit quite nicely before his Round 13 bye trading out a player who hasn’t had a bye for someone who has.

So the reason for me trading is that best case, he is out for 3 of the next 4 weeks. I can get Gary Ablett back in without an upgrade now when all of my cows still have a bit more time to mature and then do my upgrade smartly during the bye rounds to help avoid multiple donuts when there will be a hell of a lot of DT carnage.

Issues are that he is every chance to play in Round 11, but with his break even of 144, we’re not going to see a price rise – most likely drop a bit to make him cheaper for our upgrade to him – and we’re only getting him back for a week before the bye anyway. If he doesn’t play in Round 11, then this would be a genius trade (if you’ve got enough left of course) to help set you up for the back half of the season having both Swanny and Ablett kicking around in your team for the last 10 rounds.

Of course, anything can happen this week so I’m not getting too excited about this (did someone say Gary Ablett was carrying a groin injury on the weekend?!)… who knows if all of our GWS boys are back? Argh. So much rides on team selection – and what really happens on the weekends – to see if this is at all feasible.

Anyway, we’ll work it out! At least it’s something to talk about. I’m sure we’ll be doing plenty of that on DT TALK Live this week (7:30pm AEST on Thursday).

What are your thoughts regarding Swanny? Post them in the comments below and chirp chirp to me on Twitter… @WarnieDT!

Collingwood v Geelong Cats

MCG – Fri May 18, 7:50pm

Collingwood

B: Heritier O’Brien, Ben Reid, Alan Toovey
HB: Simon Buckley, Nick Maxwell, Tyson Goldsack
C: Dane Swan, Sharrod Wellingham, Jarryd Blair
HF: Heath Shaw, Chris Dawes, Ben Sinclair
F: Dayne Beams, Travis Cloke, Alan Didak
Foll: Darren Jolly, Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom
I/C: Dale Thomas, Martin Clarke, Lachlan Keeffe, Alex Fasolo

Emg: Tom Young, Kirk Ugle, Paul Seedsman

In: Dale Thomas, Chris Dawes, Darren Jolly, Alex Fasolo
Out: Nathan Brown (Knee), Cameron Wood, Paul Seedsman, Peter Yagmoor

Geelong Cats

B: Matthew Scarlett, Tom Lonergan, Josh Hunt
HB: Corey Enright, Harry Taylor, Andrew Mackie
C: James Kelly, Joel Selwood, Jimmy Bartel
HF: Steve Johnson, James Podsiadly, Steven Motlop
F: Paul Chapman, Tom Hawkins, Mathew Stokes
Foll: Orren Stephenson, Joel Corey, Taylor Hunt
I/C: Trent West, Mitch Duncan, Jesse Stringer, Cameron Guthrie

Emg: Shannon Byrnes, Billie Smedts, George Horlin-Smith

In: Jimmy Bartel, Matthew Scarlett, Mathew Stokes, Orren Stephenson
Out: Shannon Byrnes, Tom Gillies (Ankle), Allen Christensen (Calf), Billie Smedts

Milestones: James Kelly – 200 games, James Podsiadly – 50 games

Port Adelaide v North Melbourne

AS – Sat May 19, 1:15pm

Port Adelaide

B: Jackson Trengove, Alipate Carlile, Jacob Surjan
HB: Ben Jacobs, Troy Chaplin, Hamish Hartlett
C: Kane Cornes, Domenic Cassisi, Danyle Pearce
HF: Matthew Broadbent, Jay Schulz, John McCarthy
F: Brett Ebert, John Butcher, Justin Westhoff
Foll: Brent Renouf, Bradley Ebert, Travis Boak
I/C: Matt Thomas, Paul Stewart, Chad Wingard, Darren Pfeiffer

Emg: Jarrad Redden, Andrew Moore, Simon Phillips

In: Danyle Pearce, Matt Thomas, Jay Schulz, Chad Wingard, Darren Pfeiffer
Out: David Rodan, Daniel Stewart, Tom Logan, Simon Phillips, Aaron Young (Ankle)

North Melbourne

B: Jamie Macmillan, Scott Thompson, Luke Delaney
HB: Daniel Wells, Michael Firrito, Cameron Delaney
C: Shaun Atley, Andrew Swallow, Leigh Adams
HF: Ben Cunnington, Nathan Grima, Kieran Harper
F: Aaron Edwards, Drew Petrie, Brent Harvey
Foll: Todd Goldstein, Jack Ziebell, Ryan Bastinac
I/C: Lindsay Thomas, Ben Warren, Levi Greenwood, Brad McKenzie

Emg: Matt Campbell, Cruize Garlett, Cameron Pedersen

In: Ben Warren, Levi Greenwood, Nathan Grima
Out: Hamish McIntosh (Knee), Samuel Wright (Shoulder), Liam Anthony

Hawthorn v Fremantle

AU – Sat May 19, 2:10pm

Hawthorn

B: Brent Guerra, Stephen Gilham, Josh Gibson
HB: Grant Birchall, Ryan Schoenmakers, Benjamin Stratton
C: Isaac Smith, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis
HF: Cyril Rioli, Lance Franklin, Shaun Burgoyne
F: Luke Breust, Jarryd Roughead, Paul Puopolo
Foll: David Hale, Brad Sewell, Liam Shiels
I/C: Clinton Young, Brendan Whitecross, Shane Savage, Matt Suckling

Emg: Xavier Ellis, Thomas Murphy, Broc McCauley

In: Josh Gibson
Out: Michael Osborne (Knee)

Milestones: Lance Franklin – 150 games, Clinton Young – 100 games

Fremantle

B: Garrick Ibbotson, Zac Dawson, Dylan Roberton
HB: Michael Johnson, Luke McPharlin, Tendai Mzungu
C: Paul Duffield, Ryan Crowley, Stephen Hill
HF: Matthew de Boer, Christopher Mayne, Clancee Pearce
F: Hayden Ballantyne, Matthew Pavlich, Zachary Clarke
Foll: Aaron Sandilands, David Mundy, Michael Barlow
I/C: Jay van Berlo, Greg Broughton, Lachie Neale, Lee Spurr

Emg: Jesse Crichton, Alex Silvagni, Jonathon Griffin

In: Jay van Berlo
Out: Adam McPhee (Calf)

Milestones: Hayden Ballantyne – 50 games

Sydney Swans v Melbourne

SCG – Sat May 19, 4:40pm

Sydney Swans

B: Martin Mattner, Ted Richards, Rhyce Shaw
HB: Nicholas Smith, Heath Grundy, Jarrad McVeigh
C: Lewis Jetta, Josh P. Kennedy, Nick Malceski
HF: Ryan O’Keefe, Tommy Walsh, Daniel Hannebery
F: Ben McGlynn, Sam Reid, Trent Dennis-Lane
Foll: Mike Pyke, Kieren Jack, Jude Bolton
I/C: Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Craig Bird, Luke Parker, Alex Johnson

Emg: Jesse White, Andrejs Everitt, Tony Armstrong

In: Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Mike Pyke, Tommy Walsh
Out: Jesse White, Mark Seaby, Andrejs Everitt

New: Tommy Walsh (St Kilda)

Melbourne

B: James Frawley, Jared Rivers, Clint Bartram
HB: Jack Grimes, Colin Garland, Tom McDonald
C: Cale Morton, Brent Moloney, Nathan Jones
HF: Jack Trengove, Jack Watts, Liam Jurrah
F: Jeremy Howe, Mitchell Clark, Aaron Davey
Foll: Mark Jamar, Jordie McKenzie, Colin Sylvia
I/C: Brad Green, Sam Blease, Jamie Bennell, James Magner

Emg: Lynden Dunn, Rohan Bail, James Sellar

In: Brad Green, Jack Watts, Sam Blease, Liam Jurrah
Out: Matthew Bate, Ricky Petterd, Rohan Bail, Jack Fitzpatrick

Western Bulldogs v Gold Coast Suns

TIO – Sat May 19, 7:10pm

Western Bulldogs

B: Robert Murphy, Brian Lake, Ryan Hargrave
HB: Dylan Addison, Mark Austin, Justin Sherman
C: Mitchell Wallis, Matthew Boyd, Daniel Cross
HF: Daniel Giansiracusa, Liam Jones, Luke Dahlhaus
F: Jarrad Grant, Ayce Cordy, Shaun Higgins
Foll: William Minson, Ryan Griffen, Liam Picken
I/C: Nathan Djerrkura, Thomas Liberatore, Clay Smith, Tory Dickson

Emg: Zephaniah Skinner, Daniel Pearce, Fletcher Roberts

In: Liam Jones, Nathan Djerrkura
Out: Jordan Roughead (Calf), Patrick Veszpremi (Groin)

Milestones: Ryan Griffen – 150 games

Gold Coast Suns

B: Jeremy Taylor, Matthew Warnock, Seb Tape
HB: Sam Iles, Rory Thompson, Joel Wilkinson
C: Michael Rischitelli, Karmichael Hunt, Matt Shaw
HF: Harley Bennell, Tom Lynch, Andrew McQualter
F: Campbell Brown, Sam Day, Luke Russell
Foll: Zac Smith, Josh Caddy, Gary Ablett
I/C: Daniel Stanley, Dion Prestia, Alex Sexton, Kyal Horsley

Emg: Michael Coad, Tom Hickey, Liam Patrick

In: Rory Thompson, Daniel Stanley, Matt Shaw, Jeremy Taylor, Alex Sexton, Andrew McQualter
Out: Jared Brennan, Trent McKenzie, Josh Toy, Charlie Dixon (Checkbone), Michael Coad, David Swallow (Knee)

New: Alex Sexton (), Andrew McQualter (St Kilda)

Essendon v Richmond

MCG – Sat May 19, 7:50pm

Essendon

B: Dustin Fletcher, Cale Hooker, Dyson Heppell
HB: Kyle Hardingham, Jake Carlisle, Courtenay Dempsey
C: Ricky Dyson, Jobe Watson, Brent Stanton
HF: Stewart Crameri, Patrick Ryder, Alwyn Davey
F: Leroy Jetta, Michael Hurley, David Zaharakis
Foll: Tom Bellchambers, Sam Lonergan, Ben Howlett
I/C: Heath Hocking, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Angus Monfries, Jake Melksham

Emg: Mark McVeigh, Henry Slattery, Cory Dell’Olio

In: Michael Hurley
Out: Travis Colyer

Richmond

B: Steven Morris, Alex Rance, Chris Newman
HB: Bachar Houli, Dylan Grimes, Jake Batchelor
C: Shaun Grigg, Dustin Martin, Brandon Ellis
HF: Brett Deledio, Brad Miller, Nathan Foley
F: Reece Conca, Jack Riewoldt, Jake King
Foll: Ivan Maric, Trent Cotchin, Shane Tuck
I/C: Daniel Jackson, Shane Edwards, Robin Nahas, Matt Dea

Emg: Angus Graham, Jayden Post, Matthew Arnot

Milestones: Chris Newman – 200 games

Brisbane Lions v GWS Giant

G – Sun May 20, 1:10pm

Brisbane Lions

B: Ryan Lester, Matt Maguire, Josh Drummond
HB: Jed Adcock, Joel Patfull, Mitchell Golby
C: Pearce Hanley, Tom Rockliff, Daniel Rich
HF: James Polkinghorne, Jonathan Brown, Jack Redden
F: Ashley McGrath, Daniel Merrett, Patrick Karnezis
Foll: Billy Longer, Simon Black, Andrew Raines
I/C: Jared Polec, Joshua Green, Rohan Bewick, Dayne Zorko

Emg: James Hawksley, Ryan Harwood, Niall McKeever

In: Jed Adcock, Ryan Lester, Joshua Green, Rohan Bewick
Out: James Hawksley, Todd Banfield (Leg), Ryan Harwood, Niall McKeever

GWS Giants

B: Luke Power, Tim Mohr, Sam Darley
HB: Adam Tomlinson, Phil Davis, Sam Reid
C: WIlliam Hoskin-Elliot, Dom Tyson, Tom Scully
HF: Adam Treloar, Jeremy Cameron, Stephen Coniglio
F: Chad Cornes, Israel Folau, Toby Greene
Foll: Jonathan Giles, Callan Ward, Jacob Townsend
I/C: Andrew Phillips, Rhys Palmer, Matthew Buntine, Taylor Adams

Emg: Anthony Miles, Sam Schulz, Nathan Wilson

In: Sam Darley, WIlliam Hoskin-Elliot, Matthew Buntine, Adam Tomlinson, Sam Reid
Out: Tomas Bugg (Rested), Dylan Shiel (Rested), Liam Sumner (Foot), Devon Smith (Rested), Adam Kennedy (Shoulder)

New: Sam Darley (Nth. Hobart), Matthew Buntine ()

Carlton v Adelaide

ES – Sun May 20, 3:15pm

Carlton

B: Christopher Yarran, Michael Jamison, Lachlan Henderson
HB: Nick Duigan, Paul Bower, Zach Tuohy
C: Kade Simpson, Chris Judd, Heath Scotland
HF: Eddie Betts, Bret Thornton, Jordan Russell
F: Andrew Walker, Shaun Hampson, Jeffrey Garlett
Foll: Matthew Kreuzer, Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs
I/C: Dennis Armfield, David Ellard, Mitch Robinson, Edward Curnow

Emg: Aaron Joseph, Brock McLean, Andrew Collins

In: Bret Thornton, Christopher Yarran
Out: Jarrad Waite (Back), Aaron Joseph

Milestones: Christopher Yarran – 50 games

Adelaide

B: Michael Doughty, Ben Rutten, Graham Johncock
HB: Matthew Jaensch, Daniel Talia, Brent Reilly
C: David Mackay, Scott Thompson, Nathan van Berlo
HF: Jared Petrenko, Josh Jenkins, Ian Callinan
F: Matthew Wright, Kurt Tippett, Jason Porplyzia
Foll: Sam Jacobs, Patrick Dangerfield, Rory Sloane
I/C: Bernie Vince, Ricky Henderson, Brodie Smith, Tom Lynch

Emg: Brad Symes, Brodie Martin, Luke Thompson

In: Bernie Vince, Tom Lynch

Out: Taylor Walker (Suspension), Jarryd Lyons

West Coast Eagles v St Kilda

PS – Sun May 20, 2:40pm

West Coast Eagles

B: Sam Butler, Darren Glass, Will Schofield
HB: Beau Waters, Eric Mackenzie, Shannon Hurn
C: Matthew Rosa, Matthew Priddis, Andrew Gaff
HF: Chris Masten, Quinten Lynch, Luke Shuey
F: Dean Cox, Jack Darling, Josh Hill
Foll: Nic Naitanui, Scott Selwood, Daniel Kerr
I/C: Adam Selwood, Patrick McGinnity, Brad Sheppard, Jacob Brennan

Emg: Thomas Swift, Lewis Stevenson, Koby Stevens

In: Adam Selwood, Will Schofield, Nic Naitanui
Out: Mitch Brown, Ryan Neates, Scott Lycett

St Kilda

B: Jason Gram, Sam Gilbert, Jason Blake
HB: Tom Simpkin, Sean Dempster, Jarryn Geary
C: Ahmed Saad, Lenny Hayes, Brendon Goddard
HF: Jack Steven, Nick Riewoldt, Leigh Montagna
F: Stephen Milne, Rhys Stanley, Terry Milera
Foll: Justin Koschitzke, Nick Dal Santo, Clinton Jones
I/C: David Armitage, Farren Ray, Jamie Cripps, Beau Wilkes

Emg: James Gwilt, Arryn Siposs, Jack Newnes

In: Jamie Cripps
Out: Arryn Siposs

OUR FOOTYTIPS

Wow what a difference a week makes.  Very little carnage this week and the scores showed it.  Par turned out to be around 2200 and we are back to what has been a very high scoring season.  Not too many seasons recently where scores like that have been Par this early as far as I can remember.  As for me, I had a great week and finished 93rd over all for the week which I reckon is one of the highest scores I have had for a while.

But what does all this mean for Round 8?  Diddly Squat is what it means, absolutely nothing!  We all start back at square one with 0 points on the board at 7pm on Friday night.  However, it is what we do in the meantime until that point that might help us.  Let’s have a look at a few of the issues of the week and see if I can help you get through some of them and make a few decisions.

The Tigerback Conundrum

All year we have had the problem of which to play out of Ellis and Morris from the Tigers.  I know it is something I have agonised over whenever one of my backs is out.  One week it cost me the win when Morris was outscored by Ellis by about 25pts and I lost my league match by 3… not that I am bitter or anything.  But this has been an issue for us all year.  Well this week many coaches had to go with one and they picked Ellis who was vested.  But to make matters worse he only scored the 6 points.  Thankfully that interchange infringement didn’t count as a FA otherwise he would have only been credited with 3pts!

However, what this has done is push his BE way up to 82 and this has made our decision for us.  I think that most coaches this week will be looking to unload him before his price plummets again next week.  So make sure that you have had a good read of Chook’s Rooks from Wednesday where he gives you the lowdown on who to select.

For those with Morris still, let’s just hope like hell he doesn’t get the vest this week and do the same thing because the downgrade options in the backlines are very slim indeed!

The Ablett Abberation

Well the little master came back this week, Gary Ablett, defied what most of us were expecting and he played against the GWS.  Whilst he did rack up the ton, he wasn’t looking 100% right yet and I reckon of Bluey McKenna had his time over or knew they would get beaten I reckon he might have left GAJ out of the side for one more week.

Last week I gave you a little spiel that suggested that you should wait to get him back if you did manage to trade him out during his weeks off.  As it turns out, that was certainly the right thing to do as he now has a BE of 176 and that is going to be very difficult to obtain up in Darwin against the Doggies this week.  My side, Port Adelaide, have played a lot of games up there and the one thing that I have noticed from watching them in those games is that the conditions are quite slippery which makes clean ball handling very difficult.  I just can’t see him getting near that score and he should have a nice price drop making him ripe for the picking next week at what the Assistant Coach predicts will be a price of $563,800 (a drop of $16,500).

During the week I had a lengthy chat with the coach of “Cousins Coke n Ice” @Douthteez who believes that GAJ may get rested again over the next couple of weeks to fully recover and would be even cheaper by the time he is finished with his bye in round 13.  I am not sure, but I do agree that he isn’t at peak form just yet.  I will certainly be reassessing after watching him play the Dogs on Sat night.

One thing we did learn on Saturday was that The Horse‘s score wasn’t affected much by Ablett and RiskyTelly coming back into the side.  Hopefully this trend continues and he keeps racking up points and cash.

 The Rucking Roundabout

Another week, another Ruckman goes down.  This week it was the turn of Hamish McIntosh.  I feel for the big guy as he spent the last year on the sidelines after a great season the year before.  I also feel for those coaches that have now gone Mumford > Sandi > McIntosh. 

During the week we saw a Tweet from the NMFC and Brad Scott’s press conference which read….

“We think McIntosh will miss 1-2 but he still thinks he’s a chance for this weekend”

The way I read that is… we have no idea how long he will be out.  But if you are an owner of McIntosh, I really think that you need to hold tight this weekend and perhaps take a donut in the hope that he will be back the following week.  I know it is easier to say than do, but I think that 1 is more likely than none or 2.  If you have only used 2 or maybe 3 trades all up you can probably afford one, but who do you go to?  I would say Cox, Jacobs, Ryder or Goldstein.  But personally, I would hold at the moment if I had him.

And the DT Gods have given you a great reason to hold by naming The Big O this week for those that needed cover!

How’s the Carnage!

Just when you thought everything was safe, the GWS match committee pull a fast one and relegate all of our Cash Cows to a visit from the General!  Bugg, Shiel and Devon Smith all copped a visit from the General this week whilst Kennedy is out with a Shoulder.  I guess the thing to remember here is to stick to your plans if you can.  These guys (particularly Shiel and Smith) have a bit of cash still to make, so don’t just ditch them unless you were planning to anyway or if you really need to.  On top of that Sheeds didn’t give us back Old McDonald either.

And still…. No Tom Couch.  I just can’t understand how this bloke can’t get a game but Jurrah and Watts can be getting a game in front of him.

 Things to Remember

1. Seriously consider trading Ellis – I think he will leak a lot of cash over the next two weeks so take the $95k profit and run.
2. Read Calvin’s Captains -  The Mad Irish Pirate is rarely wrong.  Get on him… and don’t listen to Chook’s Captains as they haven’t proven as good. (Broughton… need I say more)
3. Consider the Bye’s in your upgrades – No matter what your bye strategy is, it is worth taking the byes into account when putting your trades together.  But don’t be bound by them either.
4. Don’t kill a half-fat cow unless it is a necessity – I have heard a lot of talk about people culling Greene, Magner or Shiel this week.  Unless you need to so you can get a premium at the bottom of his price cycle.  Hold these guys for another week at least.
5. Don’t Drink N Trade - We all know that you shouldn’t drive, but don’t trade either.  You might find yourself waking up in the morning lying in bed next to someone you don’t know and don’t really want to know and then Lockout has started and you are stuck there until Monday morning comes and you can sneakily trade them out while they are in the shower getting ready for work.

As always, we know there will be something happen later today that will have some sort of impact on your team.  Make sure you are ready and are all over it, so stay close to Twitter.  If you don’t have Twitter, get it.  It is the best source of news and last minute info that I have found.

Even though we have Reversible Trades, don’t just set an forget them.  Make sure you check out Dream Team Stock Market with Aki later today.  Don’t let his photo scare you off, he doesn’t bite and he has some great info on when to sell and who to buy.  So make sure you read that before you finalise your trades for the week and head off to the pub (if doing so, refer point 5 above).

Have a great weekend, discuss your teams in the comments if you need some last minute help from the DTTalk community and most of us are on Twitter for all of Friday Avo issues.  You can find me @pkd73

Well, round 7 was an absolute belter of a round with the par score around a massive 2200 points. The trades are flying hard and fast (in a Tony Greig voice) at this point of the season, and people are starting to get what they consider a ‘set’ team to have a crack at league glory or for a select few the FJ. What trades will get you there? Well, me or my crystal ball doesn’t know but it’s sure as hell good fun to discuss!

Spurr of the moment?

This week,  general consensus in dream team communities (and assistant coach stats) is trading young tiger Brandon Ellis to mature Docker Lee Spurr. Ellis got the attack of Scorpion ( I don’t care what others say chook, I’m gonna keep it going) and pumped out a paltry 6, putting a halt in his dream team cash production quicker than David Cloke shops around Travis Cloke for more dollars. Ellis has already leaked $21,200 last week and with a b/e of 82, is due to leak another $13,500 so now appears the time to jump ship. For the first time this season, there is a back line rookie that is on the bubble,and is actually worth considering and this man is Lee Spurr. Lee Spurr looked at home on the half back line, amassing 20 disposals and 6 marks for 69 points and now has a b/e of -21 and projected increase $26,900. Something to consider with Spurr is that he only has played GC and Port so may not look as home against the better teams like Hawthorn and West Coast (ironically, the teams he plays next. Job security wise, he is keeping veteren Antoni Grover and Alex Silvagni out of the team so has a chance to keep playing and earn some cash.

Is this a good trade?  Well you make $104,100 on the trade, which isn’t great money, but Spurr does have more cash generation in the interim. Is it worth a trade? In my opinion, no.  I see Rd 13 rookies like Ellis and Morris as keepers until this round, when they can be traded to rd 11 or 12 players to reduce the amount of donuts. With all the gun rd 13 backmen, flexibility will be the key to successfully navigate the bye rounds.

Looking upwards, an extra $200k or so will get you gun premos who have bottomed out such as Shaw ($421k), Goddard and Suckling ($417,000) Birchall ($398,000)  and Waters ($393,000). There are players from each round to suit any structure needs and with other rooks with great job security, upgrading at this time of the season may turn out to be more profitable than the cull.

Well, short and sweet this week, are you jumping on the Spurr wagon? or will you just hold the trades for future cows and sacrifice a bit of cash? Discuss it all here!

Any feedback much appreciated on @jimbobholder on the twitterverse

LAST WEEKS TOP 5

Dane Swan 143
Brent Stanton 140
Scott Pendlebury 119
Gary Ablett 106
Tom Rockliff 73

Before I get started… check out my top 5 from last week. Pretty solid (excluding old Rocky there) but the best thing about it is the order is pretty much on the money.  Yeah I know I don’t have Boyd in there for his massive 162pts, but you’d have to be pretty happy with any of those top 3 for your #1 job.

Grand Final Re-Match

This Friday night we will witness a massive match in DT for the week. This match could hold the key to your success over the weekend and it has some of the biggest guns playing. Scott Pendlebury had a nice 131pts in the Grand Final last year despite a rotating tag from Kelly and Corey. He has scored 4×100+ against the Cats in his last 5 games and with an average of 122 in his last 3 this year, he should be great once again. On the other hand, his partner in crime Dane Swan… had a terrible record against the Cats last year with scores of 68 and 84 in his last 2 games against them. But with Cameron Ling on the sidelines, things will now be much easier for him this year. Last week when the Crows played Geelong, Scott Thompson (138pts) was the only guy to crack a ton against them, although 7 others had 90+… and that was in a 50pt upset win to the Crows. Meaning, although they were pumped, the Cats made it tough to score. Swan has played in 3 Friday night games this year for scores of 102, 109 and 117 and has averaged 130 in his last 3 at the MCG with a massive 171 in his last. Taylor Hunt tagged Dangerfield (86) and will most likely go to one of these big Collingwood guns on Friday night. Joel Selwood is another guy certainly worth considering too. He had 119 (28d, 7t, 2g) in the GF last year and has scored 100+ in all of his last 4 games against Collingwood with a low of just 93 in his last 8 games. This week he goes for his 6^th straight ton at the MCG and should certainly be looked at with the big “C”.

Ablett V Boyd

How big will this be? Both players could actually walk out of this game with huge scores next to their names and I’m tipping it will happen. Last week (as predicted), Gary Ablett wasn’t at his best. Yes, he managed 106 but after flying with 62pts at the half, he did slow down. Whether he is wearing a GC top or a Geelong top, Gazza loves playing the Bulldogs and had 118 and 115 on them last year and is going for his 7^th straight 100+ on them this week. He has never played in Darwin but has averaged 121 in his last 3 this year. On the other hand, Matthew Boyd has played in Darwin several times before and averages 112 there in his last 3 games, with the most recent being in 2010 when he posted a nice 133. He played the Suns twice in 2011 for an average of 130 and finds himself coming off that ripper 162 last week against the Roos. My only concern (sorta) is that Boyd has had low scores of 84 and 94 in his last 4 games this year, but I’m brushing that aside. The weather is forecasted to be a high of 32 degrees during the day (yep I checked like a good pirate) and it may get hotter at night when these two lads get on fire. BOOM! Great creative writing!

A Few Other Seamen

Marc Murphy will bounce back this week I reckon after poor scores in his last 2 games (prick). He has had 126 and 144 in his last 2 against the Crows and will be back to his best this week.
Sam Mitchell usually gets the tag from Crowley but has still averaged 110 on the Dockers in his last 3. He had just 63pts when he was at Aurora earlier this year but did averaged 127 there in 2011. The Dockers are one of his better teams though as he goes for his 6^th straight 100+ score on them this week.
Scott Thompson has averaged 100 in his last 3 games against the Blues but has previous scores of 86 and 88 against them. He only has 100+ score against them in his last 4 games and is a little bit of a worry this week.
Brent Stanton has continued his awesome run with 140 last week to average 137 in his last 3 games this year. He had 135 and 69 on Richmond last year and may cop the tag from Daniel Jackson. The Tigers didn’t give up a single 100+ score to the Swans last week and this one will be interesting.
Tom Rockliff plays the GWS and you’d be thinking he’d give them a DT lesson. Maybe. Will he be sat forward though like last week when he had just 73pts? Tough to call. He did crave up poor teams like Melbourne (130) and the Suns (143) earlier this year, so hopefully he’ll be back this week.

TWITTER FOLLOW: @CalvinDT

Three-or-more gamers

Man, hang around a little longer

Did you hear about the long-time Man City fans who, having stuck by their often-beleaguered Blues/Citizens for the best part of 50 success-starved years, left the stadium in tears with just a few minutes remaining in the final game of the English Premier League season when it appeared that Manchester United would pinch the title, and as a result missed the club’s two injury-time goals and one of the most amazing comebacks in world sport?

As someone who sold Greater Western Sydney midfielder Stephen Coniglio two weeks ago, I feel their pain. I stuck with that bastard* through the bleak first five rounds of the season, but bailed out after he followed a week on the sidelines with a sub-affected 46. At that point, his round-three 73 was his highest score and, while he undoubtedly had some price rises left in him, it looked as if the dollars would be coming in dribs and drabs from here on in.

Instead, Salad Boy busts out a couple of humungous scores, re-igniting his cash flow and winning a Rising Star nomination in the process. Okay, so perhaps 44 years and five rounds isn’t exactly a fair comparison but, like those Man City supporters, I’m bawling my eyes out right now. Maybe that example is just a case of terrible Dream Teaming on my part (in my defence, I did have to start culling mids with round-11 byes, having five of them in Boyd, Thompson, Greene, Shiel and Cogs), but those who suffered a similar fate when they ditched Western Bulldogs forward Tory Dickson last week are genuinely unlucky.

The coaches who held Dickson through his first two paltry scores and extended spell in the reserves, only to finally lose faith last week and sideways trade him to another rookie, didn’t deserve to see him join Coniglio and GWS ruckman Jon Giles as the only century-makers in the rookie ranks. That’s just cruel.

Mr Ed and The Adams Family

Thankfully, most of those who did ditch Cogs or Dickson were rewarded by the players they brought in. While Gold Coast gun mid Kyal Horsley didn’t quite match Cogs or even his own first two efforts, his 95 was notable both for the fact that it suggested his scoring won’t be greatly diminished when Gary Ablett and Michael Rischitelli are in the Suns side, and according to FanFooty’s m0nty, who knows these sorts of things, it delivered us the greatest-ever single-round price increase ($96,000), beating the week Michael Barlow grew by $80,900.

For many coaches, Dickson became one of GWS mid-fwds Adam Treloar or Taylor Adams. After Horsley, these two were the week’s top earners, with Adams’ 72 in his third game seeing his price jump $60,300,whileTreloar’s 95 in his fourth game giving him a hike of $53,700.

Reptile strikes again

Popular defender Brandon Ellis was on the receiving end of a “run, block, run, block, block” fatality combo from Reptile in round seven, copping Richmond’s green vest for all but the final 10 minutes of its win against Sydney. Ellis scored just six points, making it the equal second-worst case of green vestage for a rookie this season, matching Sam Kerridge’s six in round three and only marginally better than Billie Smedts’ four in round five. Israel Folau scored just four points in round three as well but, unbelievably, he wasn’t a substitute in that game.

Anyway, back to Ellis. His abysmal score not only resulted in a loss of $21k this week, but bumps his breakeven up to 82. Add in the fact that he shares his bye round (13) with popular premiums like Brendon Goddard, Brett Deledio, Matt Suckling and Grant Birchall, and it’s clearly chopping block time. Personally, I’ll be trying to upgrade Ellis, rather than make a downgrade trade, but that’s not an option for some so here are the boys on the bubble…

Two gamers

Something for my broken back?

If not Ellis, then you might be looking to move on GWS defender Tommy Bugg, who’s scoring has dipped in recent weeks, with a view to avoiding an inevitable price drop soon or a doughnut in the first multi-bye round, round 11. In any case, defenders are definitely in vogue, and a cursory glance at the list of rooks who played their second game in round seven reveals a seemingly positive state of play – five of the eight are backmen! Scrape the surface, though, and it’s actually pretty effed up, especially if you’ve got the MBRs at the forefront of your thinking when making trades. It all depends on the structure of your team, of course, but a lot of teams are stacked with round 11 and round 13 backs, (think Bugg/Waters/Hargrave/etc for rd11, and Goddard/Deledio/Suckling/etc for rd13), pretty much ruling out downgrade trades to three of those five rookie defenders in Jacob Brennan (West Coast, rd11 bye), Cameron Delaney (North Melbourne, rd11 bye) and Beau Wilkes (St Kilda, rd13 bye). That leaves Fremantle’s Lee Spurr and Collingwood’s Peter Yagmoor, whose rd12 bye is likely to be less doughnut-inducing than the others. Of course, you need everyone playing in those multi-bye rounds to avoid zeroes, and the job security of both these blokes is questionable at best. The Magpies, in particular, are set to welcome back several players over the next few weeks. Spurr’s spot in the Fremantle side looks more solid, and I’d be very surprised if he didn’t get another go this week, but I’m less confident in predicting an extended run that sees him through the MBRs. Having said that, (I’m forever on the fence, if you hadn’t worked that out yet), there’s not much in the way of defender downgrades on the horizon (none of last week’s debutants were backmen, and North’s Will Sierakowski, named as an emergency last week, shares the rd11 bye), so Spurr looks to be your best bet. It’s just a bet with longish odds, is all.

One gamers

Dayne Train arrives early

Brisbane mid-fwd Dayne Zorko was the headline inclusion of last week’s first-timers, but donned the green vest against Collingwood, scoring 26 points from eight possessions when given his chance in the second half. I really wish coach Michael Voss had held him back until round nine, meaning he’d be ripe for the picking immediately after the Lions (and Giants) complete their bye in round 11. A couple of midfielders – West Coast’s Ryan Neates and North Melbourne’s Brad McKenzie – and a couple of rucks – Adelaide’s Josh Jenkins and GWS’s Andrew Phillips – rounded out the round-seven debutants, with all but Jenkins having their scoring stunted by Reptile. Yep, even Phillips copped a green vest, for those that dismissed the Sub Marine’s pick of a ruckman as a starting sub. Jenkins was reasonably impressive but, like Phillips, won’t help avoid a doughnut if you were thinking of taking him, Giles and another premium into the MBRs as part of a three-pronged ruck strategy, as they share the same bye as Giles. These byes are freakin’ ridiculous!

It looks like there’ll be a lot of Ellis-to-Spurr action this week. Are you going that way, or have you got something better in mind? Let me know in the comments or on twitter @ChookDT so I can copy your cunning plan. Cheers!

*Just posturing, Cogs. I can’t bring myself to hate you when I know you’re going to be a permanent fixture in my Dream Team campaigns from 2014 through to 2022.