The Friday Scramble Round 12 (MBR 2)

1 down and 2 to go!  That is pretty much the way that all of us DT coaches are looking at things this week.  Hopefully you managed to survive not only the bye carnage but also the regular style carnage this week where we were either without or were left high and dry by Zaha, Sandi and Dids whose total score amongst the 3 of them was 16 (with no help from Zaha). The main problem with this is that I know a lot of teams actually traded one or more of these guys in last week!

It was a bit of a depressing weekend, not only because there were only 6 games to watch, but at the start of the round the Dreamteam Analyzer had me sitting on 2009 points, but as each game passed and our players got nowhere near their predicted scores that number kept coming down!  Anyway, we know that this is just an estimate, but it is nice when you outperform the predictions.

But just when we thought the depression had ended we saw team selection and we had guys like Hall, Sexton, Morris and Giles all out!  This made a bad week even worse!  Particularly if you are like me and have (and were relying on) all 4 of these guys!!  So, all this proves is that no matter how much planning you do, you are never going to win or outsmart the game!

It’s a Trading Frenzy!

Now last week I said that you shouldn’t trade unless your trade met a number of criteria.  Based on that I know there were a lot of teams that did trade… actually I don’t know anyone that didn’t.  One guy here at work actually did 3 trades.  The main point that I was trying to get across was that during this 3 week period you shouldn’t be trading just to get rid of a donut.  The trade needed to be improving your squad in your push to premiership glory.

Now that we have had one of our bye rounds it is time to really start to get your year end squad in place.  If you are upgrading you should be looking at those guys that have already had their bye.  Similarly for downgrade options too.  However, as Chook told us on Wednesday there aren’t too many good downgrades around at the moment.

Hopefully the guys you are trading in don’t get dropped next week (thanks Sexton).  Whilst we all look at every single reason why a player should have good job security, there is just one big unknown and that is the Coaches!  Based on the game last week there was absolutely no reason why Hall or Sexton should have been dropped.

Many people have asked me how many trades you should have left at the moment.  My thoughts on this is that you need to be comfortable that you will have enough trades to get you through to the finals and then about 4 at least for the finals.  So for me, I am planning on having 8-9 left after next week.  However I have seen a guy at work that has 14 trades left at the moment and another guy that has 5 left.  So there are a lot of people out there with different strategies.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because we had the Eagles v Blues last night we have a Partial Lockout in effect.  Whilst this does let us use our Captain Loophole (if you don’t know what this is see Calvin’s Captains) from Wednesday night (and if you didn’t use it you are too late anyway).  MOST IMPORTANTLY THOUGH…. Trades are NON REVERSIBLE TODAY!

 The Magic Spray

I reckon that every club will want to give the Carlton Doctors a call.  Firstly Kreuzer‘s knee had a miraculous recovery and he played after being out with a knee on the Thursday night.  Then we are told that Scotland is out for about 4-5 weeks only to see him back after 2 weeks.

Earlier in the season we saw Ablett and Swan both come back after 2 weeks when most had them sitting out for about 4.

Why do I bring this up.  Well it is just a gentle reminder to be very careful with your trading out of your premiums when it is reported that they are injured.  If it is listed as a 2-4 week injury and you can afford to keep them on your bench then do so particularly if the prognosis for them is a bit wishy washy.

The opposite is true when you have a guy like the Big 211 out with Turf Toe for the second time.  This is going to be a long one and they are saying 10 weeks, so in that case you can’t wait around.

Mind your Captain!

Now I am sure that you all had a crack at the loop hole last night with your VC on either Cox or Robbo.  You probably put your C on one of the non playing players.  So make sure that you go back in and check your team today.  If you were happy with the score of your VC, then leave the C on your non playing guy (but based on the scores of the popular picks Cox and Robbo you probably don’t want to keep them).  However, if not, then make sure you select another guy as captain.  I would suggest Boyd would be your best bet (even though he is playing against my team).

Things To Remember

• Check your LineUp – With the Bye Changeover this week make sure you have benched those guys not playing.
• TRADES ARE NO LONGER REVERSIBLE – If you have heard it once you have heard it 100 times this week.  So there are no excuses!
• Low Scores are Cool – Yes… you just keep telling yourself that.
• Pray for no more Carnage! – There has been enough carnage this week with the outs and the bye’s, let’s just hope that there won’t be any late outs or injuries!

There we have it.  I am not sure what you can actually do to ensure that you have a good score this week.  I thought I had the right formula for the Bye’s but then everything fell apart!  So trust your judgement and back your plan to see you through.  Remember, after next week things all return to normal and you don’t want to have destroyed your team for just one or two weeks worth of wins.

As usual I will be tweeting across the weekend from @pkd73  I will be hitting Melbourne this Sunday and will be at the Hawks v Bris game at the G and then am heading down to Etihad to see the Power v Dogs game.  So I won’t be watching my DT scores, which I think might be a good thing given the state of my team this week!

Have a great DT weekend and good luck!