tbetta’s Bullets: Round 19

• 2833

That was Round 19’s highest score, to a team by the name of DT Cubed Redux. Now I don’t think anyone keeps track of the records for highest score in a round, and if they do I couldn’t find it, but I can guarantee you that that’s the greatest total there’s ever been in Dream Team (now confirmed). And there were only 7 games this week!

I’ve been asked a couple of times already ‘What’s a par score in a week like this?’. I never thought I would say this, but…. about 2500 was a score you’d be happy with, and if you had anything less than 2400, I wouldn’t be bragging. That’s how HUGE this week was.

But I can hear you thinking ‘You say that every week!’. Well, here’s some proof. There was a huge 10 players to score 150 or more points this week – the most for any other round this year has been 3, in Round 10. What an explosion!

As Coach Carter once said “Those, are some stats, for yo ass.”

• Cat-astrophe

With headlines like that, it’s a wonder I’m not employed by the Herald Sun… The Cats ran riot against the Demons on Saturday, setting all sorts of records, in both AFL and Dream Team. They had the equal-greatest amount of goals ever recorded (37), and came tantalisingly close to breaking their own record of 239 in a VFL/AFL match. But the Dream Team records are the ones that interest us here at DT Talk.

For starters, it’s the most 150+ scores for one side in a single match with 4. Individually, Joel Selwood moves into 7^th on the Highest Scores list (since 2005 – he also owns 3rd spot), while Stevie J ties himself (and Dane Swan, just this week) at equal 18^th with another 171.

We’ve only ever seen one game as dominant and as fertile as this, in Round 10 this year when the Hawks played the Bulldogs.

Courtesy of Dream-Stats.com

As you can see, very similar games towards the top of the table. But as you go further down, you can see that 17 Cats score 80+, while only 13 Hawks achieved this feat. We went on and on about how amazing the Hawks scoring was back in Round 10… But check out the Cats! They had a grand total of 2236, dwarfing the Hawks effort of 2045! This equates to a player average of 102 from the Cats compared to 93 from the Hawks in Round 10, as shown in the graphics.

Quite simply, this was the most incredible Dream Team game ever played, and likely to be played for a long time. It’s not often a team wins by 186 points, while winning the disposal count 510 to 286. Once-in-a-generation type numbers.

• 

A few weeks ago, I did an extended Breakers to underline just how bad that week was for scoring. Given the world-record week on hand, I think it’s only fitting that we have an extended Makers for Round 19.

The only criteria is that each player selected must have at least 10% ownership – I want to show you how well a REAL team could have scored in a week like this.

 

BACKS
Enright (156)	Goddard (152)	Gibbs (144)	Scotland (110)
Broughton (102)	Heppell (97)	Fisher (92)
MIDS
Selwood  (178)	Swan (171) ©	Pendlebury (141)	Bartel (127)
Boyd (126)	Ablett (118)
RUCKS
Cox  (155)	Petrie(79)
FWDS
Johnson (171)	Pavlich (122)	Krakouer (108)	Fyfe (106)
Chapman (100)	I.Smith (90)	Darling (88)

With Swan as Captain, that’s a grand total of 2904…. And that doesn’t even include Gram, Stanton, Priddis, Dal Santo or Swallow, or even McEvoy or Knights, who aren’t popular enough to qualify! It also is fairly realistic – with Heppell, Darling, I.Smith and Krakouer all originally rookie-priced players contributing to that theoretical total. Massive, massive week… anyway, here are a few notes on some of the bigger scorers for the week:

As I said earlier, Joel Selwood’s 178 was granted a place in the record book, which is the best way to find yourself mentioned in the Makers. What makes it even more damaging is his uniqueness – not many held him through his latest suspension, keeping him in only just over 10% of teams. He gathered a career-high 43 disposals, while also laying 11 tackles – Jelwood is back.

Steve Johnson can probably consider himself unlucky scoring 171 and not earning the big photo this week. He had a massive game even by his lofty standards, collecting 34 disposals and slotting a lazy 7 goals. Interestingly, it’s the 2^nd time he has scored exactly 171 points this year.

How strong the link between good form and good scoring is! St Kilda has had a fantastic month and a half, so it’s no surprise that Goddard is back playing like the gun we all know he is. Yes, it was against the Suns (which never gets much love from myself), but he was also my Captain, so I couldn’t help but notice his 152 point performance. He had 59 to quarter time and the writing was on the wall from then on, despite the Suns tightening up on him. This is his 5^th ton in a row, which has pushed his price above 400k for the first time in a long time.

 

• 

1. Moloney 0
2. Ben Jacobs 0
3. Waters 39
4. Suckling 63
5. Griffen 47

There were many bizarre things to come out of the Geelong-Melbourne clash, but the tale of Brent Moloney has to be the weirdest of all. Never before have I seen an AFL player fail to register a stat in a half – not even a free kick against! The ultimate donut – a row of 0’s in the stats column, until you get to TOG. Ling deserves all the praise he gets for keeping the Melbourne Vice-Captain and early Brownlow fancy statless, forcing the Demon to be subbed out at half time.

Ben Jacobs may not have played this week, but that is exactly why he’s in the Breakers. With Adcock and Deledio out with the bye, many of us had to call on the young Port defender-midfielder. But he was a Friday withdrawal with reported quad soreness, forcing the hand of many coaches relying on him for the first time in weeks. Personally, this was the cause of my 2^nd donut of the year.

Throughout the week there was a lot of chat in the forums about the better option in defence, mainly between Fisher, Waters, Suckling and Birchall. Waters was a tasty prospect, with a low BE, no byes and an enviable ride home, but he ended up scoring only 39 in the Eagles slim win over the Bulldogs. He was subbed out in the 3^rd quarter with what was rumoured to be lingering elbow soreness – he was spotted during the week copping a knock at training and there was speculation he might not play. I know I talked him up last week, but with his continued injury concerns, it’s probably best to play it safe this late in the game.

After missing last week with a back complaint, Suckling eased back into many teams with an underwhelming 63, improved with a junk-time goal. To be fair, the conditions didn’t help at all, with the sloppy footy keeping the Hawks to one of its lowest team totals for the year. Suckers’ price is now down to 343k, with a BE of 132 this week – meaning we have a bargain on our hands in a couple of weeks.

Ryan Griffen is one of the most consistent bat-raisers this year, but this week’s 47 is a great example of why he isn’t apart of more than 9,448 teams – when he’s good, he’s just good and not great, but when he’s bad, he’s very bad. That’s his fourth score of 75 or less this year – very significant when you consider he’s tonned up 13 times.

• Going Clutch

The single most important round for your Leagues is upon us this week – a win or a loss this week has never had such dire and concrete consequences. We are without Bulldogs players this week, which means Boyd goes to the bench, as does Griffin, Murphy and Giansiracusa if you have them (Higgins should have gone a long time ago).

Consider your trades wisely this week – a trade now to secure a win (and maybe a double chance, for example) could be worth 2 in finals.

Looking ahead to this week’s games, we have some tantalising Dream Team games on hand. We have Cats vs Suns – if Geelong can smash a hardened side in the Dees, what can they do to the Suns at Skilled? Then Swan, Pendles and the rest of the Pies will travel to South Australia to take on cellar dwellars Port Adelaide. And if that wasn’t promising enough, Hawthorn clashes with the Roos on Sunday, which shapes as another tasty fantasy offering!

Pencil in another huge week Ladies and Gentleman!

Until next week.

 

 

Twitter: @tbetta9