Selling Wood

OK.

So the AFL tribunal stuck to the idea that Joel Selwood was looking at Guerra when he made contact, making it intentional and sticking to the MRP’s ruling of a 4 week suspension. So what? Geelong misses out on one of their many talented midfielders for a few weeks? Who cares? It’s still going to be them and Collingwood at the top at the end of the year with Carlton and Hawthorn knocking on their door. That’s football.

But we don’t play football. We play DreamTeam. And for the 65,000 coaches who own Joel Selwood there is a big problem. You now have  one of your premium midfielders unavailable for 5 out of the next 12 rounds of football, including one round in the all important  DreamTeam finals. So what to do?

There are quite a few options available to us, given the depth of the midfield this year. This is also made easier by the fact that Jelwood is  currently the 9th most expensive player in the comp, the 7th most expensive midfielder and the 5th most expensive of those who have  actually played/would be in anyone’s midfield at the moment. This is good news. It means it is going to cost us very little to change over to someone who is decent. The only issue is you probably already have a lot of the premium midfielders and are wondering who you should pick to fill that 6th spot. Let’s take a look at a few of the different players that you might look at.

Pendlebury or Swan

These two are already gracing almost 250,000 midfield positions DT wide. Therefore, it is unlikely that you don’t have either one or the other. This might be an awesome time to get Swan (or get him back in if you were one of those who traded him out before his first bye) at his absolute cheapest. One can only imagine he will go back up from where he is now (397k). Pendlebury is consistent, and like Swan had a bit of a form slump a few weeks back. Not quite back into the 130’s yet but rest assured he will continue to pump them out. The problem is they have the bye this week, so if you need immediate cover then these guys aren’t for you. But if you are happy to wait a week or have other more important trades to make this week (though I don’t see how) then they might be the way to go.

Murphy. Judd, A.Swallow, Bartel, Chapman, Scotland, Gibbs, Wells, Watson & Kelly.

This list says a lot, it says mostly that the Carlton Midfield has been prolific in it’s scoring, as has Geelong. But it has one main theme. All of  these guys have byes in the DT Finals. It is important to take this into consideration when picking out a replacement for Jelwood. While only Watson has the GF off, the rest of them may cost you a game that you are required to win in order to make it to that final week of Home and Away footy for the year. Judd has been underrated this year in my opinion. I’ve had him from the start and he has produced solidly. Chapman, Gibbs, Bartel and Kelly have all been somewhat inconsistent. Chappy is also facing a bit of a slump (and he’d better pick himself back up soon), Watson is coming back from a Hammy and we haven’t really heard a lot about Wells. A.Swallow might be a good pick, a little unique but he is pumping out the points. But you have to way up the choice of having faith in these guys week in week and versus missing that potential for one of the most important weeks of the year. A lot of them also have DPP, and may be better served playing in the  forward/backline than as a permanent midfielder.

Ablett, Thompson, Mitchell, Shiels, Rischitelli, Embley, Fyfe, Priddis, Bolton

These guys are probably the ones you’ll want to look at. They are averaging high, in form and don’t have that pesky bye during the finals. Fyfe, Bolton and Thompson also have the added bonus that their bye is in one of the MBR’s, so if you are out of the running for the car (Well and truly guilty) then this is quite an attractive prospect. Ablett is killing it. Since his round 9 bye he has pumped out some massive score and is dutifully rewarding the faithful. Rischitelli has also been consistent. Thompson is doing fantastically in a losing side. Mitchell and Shiels are killing it. If Hawthorn keep trying to play possession football then these two will see even more of that little red pill in the weeks to come, and as a bonus they are not only playing Gold Coast this weekend, but also during the Grand Final!!! That has some massive attraction. Embley and Priddis are playing fantastically well, they usually do, but with Kerr getting back into form will they start to lose their impact in the centre? Also to consider is that Boyd and Ablett are the only 2 you will have to spend extra money for by trading out Selwood. And even then, it is only $10,000. So if you are needing cash for elsewhere then maybe Mitchell, or even Fyfe or Embley might be the winner in your equation.

So, things to consider.

• When is their bye?
• How many players will be benched from your team already during that round?
• Can you afford one more to be benched during that round?
• Who will they be playing over the course of the second half?
• How is their form?
• Will their teams performance influence their ability to get the ball (Ablett, Thompson)?
• How much money would you like/need to make out of this trade?

Even still, there are other options than the ones I have discussed. Perhaps you are considering bringing in the 2nd most expensive player
on the DT list at the moment in Michael Barlow ($456,200)for his much awaited return to AFL?? Let us know!