Don’t get too attached to your team this preseason

I, like just about every other Dream Team coach here signed up to DT on February 1 and had a team locked in within the first day. Since then we have been tweaking parts of it as we learn more about the different players and their roles in 2011.

I’m a little over it actually!

I have been happy with what I’ve got at the moment. With a fairly general ‘Guns N Rookies’ team, I’ve been able to get the premiums I have wanted and am confident with the rookies I’ve selected. But just about every day, shit hits the fan. Early in the preseason, everyone would have had Ben Jacobs as a DEF/MID link. From there, more and more players who have been on the radar have gone down with injury or suspension – or may not be quite the ‘bargain’ they seem.

Drew Petrie has screwed with my head. His Round 1 suspension, coupled with his Round 3 bye has him now out of the Warne Dawgs. It’s an interesting dilemma as there aren’t many blokes who are capable of averaging 80+ priced under $210K. You should have cover for him in those first 3 rounds… because you wouldn’t be picking any bench players who WON’T be playing. The GC bye in Round 1 will hurt a bit there. For me, I won’t be selecting him.

Another worry for my structure is the 6-10 week bicep injury to Ian Callinan. The mature age recruit has massively fucked with my structure. He was locked as my 9th midfielder and due to his MID/FWD eligibility, was a very handy selection to provide the DPP link for only $80K. I was toying with the idea of starting 3 ‘rookies’ on the field. With less players to have faith in, I will be probably changing that idea. Maybe Jarrad Irons from Port Adelaide is a midfielder worth keeping an eye on to replace Callinan at that price. Watch this space.

Every cloud has a silver lining and hopefully for Callinan and our Dream Teams, he can be a good mid-season downgrade target. If we see him in about Round 7-8, then we will be all over him being a guy at basement price to cash in one of our rookies with.

The Crows copped a few injuries in their NAB Challenge game against the Blues. While Tippet wasn’t in my calculations, it may just open the door for Shaun McKernan or Daniel Talia. Bah, but who knows?!

There is a part of me that wants a lot of these ‘gimme’ picks go down to make people think a bit more and force us to be a bit more unique. The Fantasy Freako is a great read and it’s true value will be in 2 weeks time when all NAB Cup/Challenge scores are done… which again makes me think it’s not worth touching my team until I receive the last mailout?!

Next week’s NAB Challenge matches will be interesting to follow as it’s the last hitout for clubs before the season starts. Traditionally most teams have gone in with their best 22 in these games. That info will be priceless. But that’s still a week away!

So, I’m not getting too attached to my team at the moment. I know there are more and more bad things around the corner. Injuries, suspensions and the fact that we aren’t seeing ‘official’ teams as yet will throw a lot of things up.

Don’t forget, we will be coming at you LIVE on Thursday night at 8pm EDT in a Special DT TALK Event!