Lockout Hindsight

With basically a whole week to reflect on some of our selections, and in my case, a couple of what now look like obvious mistakes, it is a battle not to slip straight back into pre season mode and complete 50 trades during the lunch break and another 40 throughout the day when the boss isn’t looking, with some coaches potentially overcompensating for a slowish start. What coaches like me need to ask is, are we just making matters worse? It’s only 1 damn game! Or can we tactically use this information to strengthen our team for future rounds?

My biggest Captain Hindsight’s

With Dylan Shiel coming off an interrupted pre season, I was stupid to think he was ready to play a full game at the top level and hence, missed McDonald’s 98 as my emergency on the bench. Old Mac is a seasoned player who has completed a pre season and has a body that is used to playing a tough team like Sydney. This is a move I can do nothing about and I know Shiel will be awesome, so it’s all good, but I shouldn’t have started him for obvious reasons.

A lack in faith in the ability of the GWS rookies to score on the big stage, and an even greater fear of their ability to cement themselves as a regular caused me to take a very conservative approach to my team structure and I placed Kennedy and Bugg as my forward and defender emergency. This move has obviously left me with a fewer premium players on the ground than those gutsy enough to start those players, as well as being at least a couple of hundred points off their pace. Now although I won’t be taking the drastic measures of chasing the scores of these players by selecting someone on the ground who won’t score round 1, I can’t help but have an increased confidence in their ability to contribute at least 60 points on a weekly basis (possibly causing a reshuffle in my team to give them a more permanent role on the ground, and make some money from a mid pricer who is currently sitting there.)

So, due to the lockout, this information is gold because it provides us with insight, before the dreaded hindsight kicks in and it’s too late. Will data gathered from 1 game cause an overhaul in your camp? Can the viewing of just 1 game cause you to lose faith in all your research and previous structure?

Amid the excitement, it would be easy to place too much faith in these rookies to perform at such a high standard week in week out so a complete restructure loading your ground up with these guys is dangerous, however tweaks are definitely understandable and warranted in some (more conservative) squads.

Wake up call

After weeks of staring at your team, your eyes start to see only what you want them to see and usually it’s not until you look at it after full lockout you think, What the hell? A wake up call for me came after a dude purchased his copy of the cheat sheet and Tweeted me saying “where’s Goddard mate” and for the first time in weeks, I saw my real team! Changes won’t likely be major, but destroy doesn’t look the same without Goddard and I want to get him back where he belongs. Things are much clearer for me now the pre lockout panic is over!

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