Assessing the Damage: Round 4

Injuries

Gary Ablett

The big news this week is Gary Ablett and his knee. After scans on Monday, the club have said he is likely to miss 2-3 matches. Gazza tweeted that he hoped to be back earlier. Anyway – here’s our problem… to trade or not to trade?! Sensible Dream Team coaches will hold onto him. Why? If he is only out for a couple of weeks, then it’s not worth a trade. At this early point in the season, we have bench cover so we should just use them. Why should we trade him? Well, it is a knee and what happens if he is out for more than 3 weeks… nearly $600K sitting on your bench, and potentially 60-odd points per week playing a rookie. He may come back underdone. This will be a big call. For me, I am considering trading him… but it would be to Swanny or Pendles. For me to do this, I’d have to lock that in before the partial lockout. Adds another element to the whole decision making process.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/133831/default.aspx

Andrew Carrazzo

Calvin is seething, along with the thousands of Dream Team coaches with bringing in Andrew Carrazzo and only returning a sausage (1 point). Anyway, you’ll need to trade him as he will miss at least 8 weeks. If you have some cash, maybe a jump up to Scotland could be an option… otherwise, how about Greg Broughton?! Haha.

http://www.afl.com.au/News/NEWSARTICLE/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=133719

Others

Also we saw season ending injuries to Robbie Gray (ACL) and Gary Rohan (broken tibia). Sydney ruckman Shane Mumford was a late withdrawal last weekend due to an infection from an injection. He is in doubt this week. Michael Hurley will miss two weeks with a hamstring injury. Bernie Vince will miss up to a month with a hand injury. Plus he’s not happy with Dream Team coaches tweeting him about it.

Suspensions

The main worry from the MRP findings this week is Steve Johnson who will miss this week on a rough conduct charge. Even with a guilty plea, he will still face the week on the sidelines. The other suspension details can be found here, but if you have Justin Koschitzke or Lindsay Thomas, you’ve probably given up on DT already for 2012.

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