Dream Team Extra: Rd 2

 

Welcome to the inaugural Dream Team Extra, where we take a sometimes light-hearted look at issues that have come out of last weekend’s round of footy and newsworthy snippets that have featured in the media during week that may be relevant to your Dream Team for Round 2.

Mummy v Seaby

This official tweet from the Sydney Swans was a momentary heart-stopper for me…

We don’t like our premium rucks sharing the load, which of course results in sharing points as well. For recent evidence of this, see Goldstein v McIntosh and Leuenberger v Hudson. Not, not in the legal archives – North Melbourne v Essendon and Melbourne v Brisbane, Round 1, Season 2012. For the record, here are their numbers from their respective games.

	DT	Kk	Hb	Mk	Tk	HO	FK F/A	G.B
McIntosh	56	7	4	5	0	10	1/2	1.1
Goldstein	56	5	5	1	4	18	0/2	0.0
Hudson	71	5	12	1	3	19	1/1	0.0
Leuenberger	64	3	6	2	3	22	0/1	1.0

Like I said though, it was only a momentary heart-stopper. Mummy’s a big unit and should be able to take a few grabs in the square, so as his coach, I’m fairly confident that he’ll be able to kick a goal or four when he’s resting up forward. Fellow DT twatters out there have also expressed the same thought. However, if he struggles for goals, we can expect a below average score from the behemoth this weekend.

The Magna Got Broke

We cringed when we saw Jimmy Magner’s ankle fold awkwardly when he was brought down in a tackle by Mitch Golby last weekend. We feared the worst when he took an eternity to hobble off the ground. Now we dread the possibility that he’ll miss this weekend with that sore ankle. This is a cause for some concern as he scored a brilliant 103 while the Dees were being savaged by Brissie.

That was a Barlow-esque performance that left us wetting ourselves in anticipation of a possible M6 keeper for 2012. The good news is that he’s not on Melbourne’s Injury List and he looks a tough-as-nails kinda player, so I reckon we’ll see him run out this weekend. On a side note, Jordan Gysberts is written off for 4-6 weeks and Tom Couch may get his opportunity sooner rather than later.

Parker Rolled

Mid-priced breakout candidate Luke Parker took a hit from J-Mac and will sit out the next 2-3 weeks with a broken jaw. If you have him in your MID, he’s probably an integral part of your structure at M4 or M5. Whether you decide to trade him out or not really depends on your bench cover. If you can cope with a few weeks without him, I suggest you hold on to him and ride it out as he looks like a handy DT type who is likely to average in the high 80s or possibly 90s this season.

Watch List

Following on the injury theme, a couple of names caught my attention on the AFL’s Injury List. Freo’s Lachie Neale and Lee Spurr are due to undergo fitness tests this week. Both were pretty solid in the NAB Cup, so keep an eye on them for a run in the next few rounds, particularly Spurr if one of your rookie defenders looks like going backwards in value (ahem… Morris?).

Broughton-gate

I am one of the 13% of coaches who I selected a certain Greg Broughton in my starting squad. I was eagerly anticipating a fresh start from him in 2012 after he spent all pre-season training with the Freo midfield group, while being touted by Ross Lyon as a midfielder and then watching him put in a strong NAB Cup performance running through the guts. Suddenly it was 2011 all over again as Lyon sent him out to shut down Stevie J while the Dockers held off Geelong for a hard-fought win.

After recovering from the fetal position, I took stock and checked some of the commentary in the Twitterverse. @WarnieDT reasoned that Broughts usually fares poorly against the Catters as he gets the job on Johnson. Fair point, so let’s give him one more chance. I’ll categorically say one thing though: I do not want to ride the Broughton roller coaster again this year! So for me, if he doesn’t clock in 90+ points this weekend, I’ll be burning an early ‘fix it’ trade to swap him out. Take this with a pinch of salt though, ‘cos I’m sure you can detect a bit of rage on my part.

Buddy Good Times Ahead?

Let’s finish off on a positive note. Well, positive if you’re a Buddy owner and/or Hawks fan and somewhat negative if you’re not a Buddy owner and/or Geelong fan. Key defender Matty Scarlett is out for smacking Ballasnipe in the chops. Surely this means a guaranteed bagful of goals and general running amok for Franklin against an under-manned Geelong defence? Well, don’t get too carried away. History says he’ll do fine, with an average of 91 in 10 games against the Cats, but I wouldn’t be sticking the ‘C’ on him in expectation of an 8 goal, 25 possession outing. Steady, but not spectacular, is how Budzilla is likely to go in Monday’s blockbuster.

 

Anyways, that’s the rub for this week. Good luck with your Dream Team and I hope you crank out a huge score. Feel free to add any news bits, rants, raves, etc below to keep the grapevine growing. We’ll be back next week in the arvo slot as @Aki_DT‘s Dream Team Stock Market makes it’s long-awaited return next Thursday morning – it will be an epic read, so stay tuned!

 

Any questions, suggestions, general chit-chat or handy gardening advice for next week’s Extra?
Hit me up on the Tweetvine: @TeeTeeDT