Good Trade, Bad Trade: Round 11

Well that time of the season has finally arrived, the time we have all been dreading. The multi bye rounds. These three weeks are a bit like exams.  You plan out weeks in advance your study timetable. You study all curriculum and previous exams, you feel confident that your preparation has been meticulous. You cruise into the exam room, with a bit of swagger ready to annihilate the exam . Only to find out that you crammed for the wrong exam. You push the panic button. F#ck I hope its multi-choice!

Captain Carnage, reporting for duty.

No matter how much planning we could do for these rounds, it was never going to be enough. No one could predict who was going to be available, who would be injured and who would be suspended (I’m looking at you, Beau Waters). This week we are faced with probably the most difficult week of the three, as it appears that a lot of people are planning to cop what ever comes their way this week and look to trade in the coming 2 weeks to players of a previous bye to cover future donuts. While most are preparing for carnage of multiple donuts, others are also looking at injuries to key players such as  Christensen, Scotland and Pendlebury. Hopefully the DT gods smile on us and allow Heppell, Enright and Swan to get a guernsey this week and ease the pain. I’m not a religious man, but this may the week where I look to a higher power for some guidance (and someone else to blame)

To trade or not to trade

As posted earlier this week on here by tbetta and Chook, unless you have an LTI, You. Do. Not. Trade. Any trades you make this week to non rd 11 players, you will just wear in the coming rounds. This week, my team The Running Man, is genuinely pushing shit up hill. As mentioned above, this was the week where I was  planning to wear the most majority of donuts and look to improve my team in the coming rounds. In a best case scenario, I will now be eating 5 donuts (bye players and a Pendles injury). This includes a trade of Christensen(probably to Didak)  and the likes of Horsely,Hepell , Redden, Big O and Hall all getting a game. If any these players were to get dropped and Jelwood also miss ( nothing offiicial, just a gut feeling after a groin tweak against the giants), well it’s time to hit the panic button, and look at what trades can get me out of this!

As I have already used one trade for Bundy, I will look to off load a couple of  giants like McDonald and Adams and bring in a pair of Mitchells’, Tom (pending selection) and Sam. While I am fully aware I will still wear these donuts in future rounds, I think there are still some positives to trading this week

1. I’m still improving my team. Cashing out rookies close to peaking, bringing in rookies with a good reputation and should play some games (hugely speculative, but the kid is a gun, and Parker’s injury may be the opportunity he needs) while Sam Mitchell is a proven gun who will hopefully pick up his form for the second half of the season. No sideway trades (bar the LTI)
2. I’m replacing rookie scores with premium scores during the bye rounds. Instead of Adams 60’s, I could get Mitchell’s 120’s ( I could also get Mitchell’s 60 too, but a risk I’m willing to take)

The above trade plan is a worse case scenario if I wear 7-8 donuts. If I can help it, I will only be trading the 1 LTI. It’s always good to have a plan B when the shit hits the fan and you start pushing it uphill without a paddle. Have you got a plan B when the carnage hits? or are you cruising?

The most popular….

According to Assistant coach, the most popular trade this week is Pendlebury to Ablett, but  it only equals 2% of all trades. These two also represent the most traded out player (Pendles, 6.7%) and the most traded in ( Ablett, 6.4%. )Obviously hard to gauge on a Wednesday night, but it’s all I got . Ablett’s 182 on the weekend gave everyone a reminder who this bloke is, and then made them slap themselves in the face because they traded him out in the first place…Pendlebury on the other hand is not so understandable.  With Physiotherapist Jakub giving his 2 cents on Pendle’s injury, I thought I would give my 2 cents as an Exercise Physiologist (not a Physio, as some bloke on twitter thought, and tweeted me asking for treatment of his knee). While Pendles has been diagnosed with a ‘cracked tibia’, I believe it isn’t as bad as it sounds. If it was, Pendles would of been a) stretchered off and b) red vested immediately NOT given a half of football ( to amass an SC ton?????) and then vested as precautionary (source here) once the magpies were cruising. Yes the tibia is a primary weight bearing bone of the lower leg and exactly why it cant be that bad, if he had cracked it properly, he would not of run out a half of football ( and dominated). In a worst case scenario, you would hold him this week and through his bye and see where he is rd 13. If the prognosis is worse, you can trade him and you only wear ONE donut for your patience. this can be represented by a simple formula:

Pendles > 1 donut

Be Patient people! This bloke has only missed 6 games since 2007 so is durable as they come. Injuries to Ablett and Swan this year should be a good precedent as to why you should hold him!

 

That’s it for this week. Hold your trades if you can, and do what you need to do to get through the rounds (take time off work, join a cult/religion, anything you need to do)

 

do you have any amazing strategy? Share below!

 

follow me on @jimbobholder in the twittersphere