Good Trade, Bad Trade: Round 15

Never have I been so happy to see a score over 2000 since about 2008. Back then in my ‘old school DT’ I was happy with a score of 1800, so was ecstatic when I saw 2000!  With the par score this week a whopping 2319, round 14 was a welcome return to the normality of the 2000+ that we expect week in week out from our teams. But don’t start getting cocky thinking your dream team can escalate to the heights of the Spanish football team; suspensions, injuries and sackings (albeit an irrelevant one) come out of nowhere to bring our dream teams back down to Earth with a big giant THUD, and become about as popular as the Italian football team. Can we trade our way out of trouble or is it finally time to hold the trade button and cop that expected donut?

 

What’s up Doc?

And cough. Andrew ‘Carrots’ Carrazzo  ($373,000, b/e 22) is the most popular trade this week. By a country mile. 1 in every 5 trades involves bringing in the Blues midfielder. Out of the top 10 most popular trades, Carrazzo features in Seven of them ( and ironically not the most popular trade).  The most popular players (in order from most traded to least) to exit a team for Carrazzo are Bugg,  Clarke, Goddard, Hargrave, Ellis, Darley and Morris. Carrots has had a stellar season ( for a defender anyway) averaging 104.4 (without the 1), placing Carrots as the second highest averaging midfielder ( and still 9th including the 1!) Let’s hope for the 20,000+ owners he doesnt go back to his negating ways and one Bryce Gibbs gets a more attacking role.

Other notable ins to dream teams this week are bubble boy bulldog Tom Campbell ($85,800, b/e -62) who defies my bench fodder theory from last and keeps getting a guernsey. Hopefully he can keep this up as Big Orren (the most popular trade this week) and Redden don’t look like playing anytime soon.Rookie cat and tackling machine Jordan Murdoch ($98,700) comes in as the third most traded player this week. My gut feeling is that Murdoch’s job security isn’t that good, but I said that last week about Campbell, so expecting him to prove me wrong . At least we have another week to have a look before considering him.

 

Losing the seven dwarves

This round we are likely to see see the likes of Martin (sleepy), Franklin (Bashful, cos he gave up twitter), Goddard (grumpy) Sexton (Doc, he’s injured) Murphy (happy he’ll be back next week) Crozier(sneezy)  Walker (dopey – in so many ways) on our benches for one reason or another. Due to the popularity of some of the forwards there is a high chance people will be facing a donut. Do you trade away? or do you sit tight and cop it? Well the word is that buddy is OK and will be rested as a precaution, so should be back next week, Martin is only going to miss 2 weeks for sleeping in, while Walker is out for 4 weeks and Crozier likely the season if history is anything to go by (Luke Shuey 2010). Finding an alternative for Crozier or Sexton would definitely be a good idea, unfortunately Chook advised us there isn’t a whole lot to go to, and their chances of regular games are slim. in my mind, Martin, buddy and Goddard are all untradeable, as they are only out for 2 weeks maximum. While this is my humble opinion, many people dont agree with me! Goddard is the most traded player out this week, with Carrots to Goddard the most 4th popular trade. Goddard has been on a steady decline in the past month his highest score being just 81. Now he gets 2 weeks to think about what he has done (maybe check out Blacktown?) which tips him over the edge for many coaches. before you go writing him off straight away, Goddard is still averaging the 4th highest average for a defender and is well, Goddard. He is owned by 162,000 of coaches for a reason. Trade him out at your own risk.

 

Well as the season goes on, there is going to be  less to talk about in trading (also because everyone will have less trades!), so I will do my best to keep this relevant and informative!

 

what’s your strategy to tackle the new carnage? Are you going to gamble on new blood to get that upgrade?

 

Discuss it all here!

 

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