Get Off The Bench: Round 4

Round 4 brings us to the first our our multi team bye weeks.  This is going to really test the depth of most of our squads.  We will all be forced to put some of our Cash Cows onto the field and in some cases some of us may be forced to eat a Doughnut!

So with the inability to select any of the Brisbane, St Kilda or Western Bulldogs players our teams will be bereft of talent such as Voldt, Goddard, Montagna, Gilbert, Boyd, Cooney, Black and Rich.  In their place we have to sift through the remnants of our teams to find the value that we can use to get us a reasonable score to help maintain our national rankings.  Just remember to utilse your DPP’s and make sure that you can maximise the value of the guys you have on the field.  Hopefully you will have some choices to make!!  If so, I hope to help you make them.

Just to recap on last week I asked people to let me know their biggest scorer that they left on the bench and the resounding response was Dion Prestia who racked up a tidy 100 and on the other side of the coin the most annoyance was hurled towards Andy Otten who put in a poor 57.  As for my picks well I got it wrong with Curnow and he gets some love this week but all the other guys I picked scored ok although Lower, Tapscott and Krakouer let me down a bit.

Defenders

This week it is hard to go past one of the early favourites for the Rising Star, Dyson Heppell.  He has put together a good first 3 games with a 78 average.  He is playing Carlton this week, but given his first 3 have been against predicted top 8 sides I see no reason for him to drop his scoring this week.  In that same game we will have Nick Duigan who has also been scoring very well for Carlton, with last weeks 75 coming against Collingwood where the ball was in his area for large amounts of time!  I think he will keep up with his average from the last couple of weeks and stay in the 70’s to 80’s.  Lastly in this game is Jeremy Laidler who has an average of 75 over the 3 weeks and is only in 13,113 teams, I see him continuing on this way and was happy with what I saw of him last week.

DTTalk’s own Brodie Smith was one that I had on the list to do well last week and he didn’t disappoint with a nice 77.  He is up against the Power this week and I don’t see his scoring slowing down.  He had 50 in their opener against the Hawks where he missed the first 10 or so minutes as the Sub but really got things going against Freo and with the injuries that the Crows have at the moment I see him having great job security and his TOG will be up as well.  Whilst on the Crows, Andy Otten was a very popular pick (he is in 35% of teams) at a tasty $142k and so far he has let his followers down significantly wiht a 64 and 57.  He was tipped to play the quarterback role similar to Grimes from Melb as well as spending time in the midfield but so far has not lived up to expectations.  I think he will improve and this week I am backing him to get into the 70’s and possibly beyond.

Of the Gold Coast boys Danny Stanley has been the one that most people have favoured in their teams as he appeared to be the most ready, but he has disappointed with a pair of scores in the 60’s.  Given he is playing up forward in a team that isn’t scoring too well I don’t expect this trend to change in a hurry.  Michael Coad put in a good first up performance where he scored 82 and I think he may have cemented his position.  Seb Tape had a decrease in scoring from his first game and Josh Toy is back and has been named on the field now that Campbell Brown is out of the side and he scored a sub affected 53 in his game.  Just check the teams on Fri night as they don’t play until Sunday so we have the extended bench to worry about.

The Fremantle super rookie for this year, Nick Lower bounced back this week after being the sub in round 2 with 61 which gives him a sub affected average of 67 (he scored 41 before being subbed off in rd2).  So he should certainly be in contention and I expect to see him on many grounds this week.  ALERT: Just be careful here though as he is named LAST on an extended bench for Freo so check this out when teams are finalised at 5pm AEST Friday night.

The Kangaroo boys come back into the game this week with two guys worth a look.  Robbie Tarrant is one that will be worth a look with his first up game of 106, but beware, his second was 39.  Cameron Pederson is the one that will be of interest.  His first up game of 97 was fantastic, but he got dropped so I don’t like his job security long term but he is in the side this week but as with Lower he is on the end of an extended bench.  If you have him and he plays, he might be worth a game.

Others that I would consider are Mark Nicoski, Nick Smith and Stefan Martin.

Midfielders

Put simply there are two words…  Ed Curnow.  I was wrong last week when I said he would be the sub.  He is performing well enough to keep his spot on the ground each and every week at the moment, I can’t see him being the sub any time soon.  His scores of 107, 91 and 100 are Barlowesque!  They are playing the red hot Bombers this week but since he got 100 against Collingwood there shouldn’t be any problems.  Heppell is obviously available as a Mid and as described above is another excellent choice for the field.

One disappointment would have to be Andrew Krakouer, he has been subbed in two of his games for a 96 and a 48, but then when he got a full gig against the Blues he still only managed 48.  I would be wary of him at the moment, if you have Curnow or Heppell, I would play them first.

Stuart Crameri owners (all 7620 of you) would be very happy with his performances, he has a 67 and a 105 and a sub affected 50.  Certainly consider him.

Owners of Jasper Pittard should be concerned as his scores haven’t been brilliant, although he has improved to a 79 last game.  Reece Conca hasn’t performed either, his scores have decreased, but he was subbed off against the Hawks.   Beware that Jarrad Irons has been dropped this week.

Once again on with the Gold Coast boys it is hard to go past Dion Prestia after his 100 in the last round but his previous score was a 56 so don’t be surprised if he doesn’t raise the bat again this week, just check the team as he is on that dreaded extended bench.  David Swallow improved in his second game with an 80 after his 58 so he should be seriously considered.  And Harley Bennell has had a solid start with a 72 and 68 however, he has been dropped this week.

Many of us picked up Andrew Gaff as he was touted as the next Judd by the Eagles but unless Juddy liked to sit on the pine for most of the game this isn’t turning out to be true.  Gaff has been the starting sub in all 3 of the Eagles outings this year and hasn’t had a chance to show us his full potential.  His 53, 36 and 48 are respectable given his TOG.  Lastly Sam Reid from the Swans was doing well with a pair of 60’s but did nothing last week and was subbed off with a lowly score of 12.

Rucks

Zac Smith is our only guy here and I can’t see how you would need to play him on the ground unless you have David Hille who is out at the moment.  You can use Zac with confidence if you need to as he has had a solid 83 and 67 and as Chook told you on Wednesday his price is moving upwards nicely!

Forwards

Both Andrew Krakouer and Dion Prestia have already been discussed above and are also eligible as forwards.

Jack Darling has been a very solid scorer, his 3 games have all scored in the 60’s so he appears to be a sure thing to keep scoring well, although a trip to Tassie may disrupt his average.   Luke Tapscott was amongst the most added last week after two 80’s in a row, but in a game where he should have scored well against the undermanned Brisbane outfit he only managed to get to 57 which surprised me as well as pissing me off as I was one of the ones that added him.  I think he can bounce back this week against the Gold Coast, but he may need to run up the ground a bit to get those touches.

One guy that alot of people have and was rated 20th in the most popular players in DT is Cameron Richardson. He had a reasonable first 2 games but certainly not to the level that many expected.  He had 61 and 45 so I am a little worried about his scoring ability.

One of the more odd selections here would be Jesse White, I must say I don’t know anyone that owns him but he did have a 70 last week which was predominantly due to a few goals.  Not sure that I would play him, but thought he deserved a mention.  Brandon Matera does deserves a mention here as some of us may need to play him, he has a tidy 64 and 45 to his name and is widely tipped as a real talent so expect these numbers to rise as he finds his feet.  Lastly another guy that I don’t know if anyone has is Jayden Pitt who had 76 against the Crows last week and looked the part.  My concern is that this could be a one off, but against the Kangas I think he should be able to get it done and we should find out a lot more about him.

So as I mentioned, there will be a lot of coaches out there that don’t have a lot of choice for the next 3 rounds but to “empty the bench” but if you do have some ability to choose, here are the guys that I would go with in each position…

Backs

1. Heppell
2. Brodie Smith
3. Duigan
4. Laidler
5. Coad
6. Otten



Midfielders

1. Curnow
2. Heppell
3. Swallow
4. Prestia
5. Krakouer
6. Crameri



Forwards

1. Tapscott
2. Darling
3. Prestia
4. Krakouer
5. RIchardson
6. Matera

Good luck this week with selecting those last couple of spots for the field, assuming you actually have people to choose from!

Let me know your thoughts below or tweet me @pkd73 over the weekend and on Monday to let me know who you picked and how you went.