Chook’s Rooks – Round 7

Illness, work and the utter devastation of selling Tom Scully on the eve of his breakout 130+ point game have conspired to make this the shortest Chook’s Rooks of all-time. Lucky, then, that it’s been a week of little importance in the rookie world.

Three-or-more gamers

Still with me? I gotta admit, I’d have already stopped reading a post purportedly containing rookie advice if the author just told me they’d sold Tom Scully last week too. To be fair, though, the Melbourne midfielder’s 134 against the Western Bulldogs could be deemed at least slightly unexpected considering he matched his SEASON average points per game in the final quarter alone. Anyway, Scully’s score is now the single-game benchmark for the 2010 crop, even outdoing serial high scorer Michael Barlow‘s 128 in round one. Lots more cash coming his way, then, with a new breakeven of -9. James Podsiadly was the other superstar of the round, with his third hundred in five games earning the Geelong forward a BE of -32, despite already rising $180k. Coaches will have to wait a while for the next price rise, however, with a sore JPod shelved this week for Matthew Stokes.

At the other end of the scale, Scully’s teammate Jack Trengove has the highest breakeven with 65 and looks set for only marginal rises from here on in, but I’ll be %$&ed if I’m selling him just yet after the Scully debarcle. He did have 66 at the half last week before tailing off. I’m tipping that Ben Nason in the backs and Scott Gumbleton in the forwards have almost reached their ceiling too, but such predictions will no doubt herald Gary Ablett-like scores for the pair of popular rooks. The only rookie currently in the red zone (BE higher than season average) is Sydney midfielder Lewis Jetta, and his BE (62) is only marginally higher than his average (58), so a huge drop is unlikely anyway.

Obviously my decision to sell Scully last week was actually based less on what I thought the No.2 pick had left to offer and more on making sure I didn’t miss the Ben Howlett train. As we’ll see, this week the appeal of the two gamers is far less tempting…

Two gamers

It had looked as if we’d have three two gamers to consider as downgrade targets this week, but that rookie killer, General Soreness, has claimed another victim in Fremantle defender Dylan Roberton. That leaves West Coast’s Lewis Stevenson, a $94,500 midfielder, and Adelaide’s Matthew Jaensch, an $77,800 forward. Jaensch’s price and forays into the midfield are his pros, but a 38 last time out is the con. Stevenson might tempt coaches looking to offload a Jetta/Trengove/Bastinac/Morabito type, given the lack of midfield downgrade targets on the immediate horizon (Gary Rohan‘s coming along, but you’ll pay close to $140k for him) and the promising 79 he pumped out last week. I’m not going to say do or don’t, given my current form in such matters.

One gamers

Melbourne forward Danny Hughes was the top-scoring debutant in round 7, making the most of the chance that cropped up when Ricky Petterd sustained a long-term injury. The fact that he kept his spot despite the inclusion of Jack Watts this week is promising, and Liam Jurrah is still a long way off, but the Dees will be looking at Austin Wonaeamirri and Cale Morton soon enough. Three backs – Pearce Hanley, Jeromey Webberley and Brad Sheppard – played their first games of 2010 in round 7, the first of which has already been dropped, although the latter two offer some potential. We’ve mentioned Gary Rohan, whose price and poor first outing is off-putting, but could shape as a decent downgrade if only for the fact that there’s not a great deal else around. Shit, suddenly Stevenson is looking a little tastier to this trade-crazy DTer!