The Friday Scramble: Round 23 GRAND FINAL WEEK!

So… This is it…. No more tomorrows!  The Big Dance.  The Ultimate. The Granny.  There are lots of names that it has, but at the end of the day, this is the one that you want to win (assuming you made it)!  All of the scrambling that we have done throughout the year leaves us at this point.  Hopefully you have a trade squirrelled away and even a bit of cash in the bank.  We will have a look at some of the major permeutations that you might be faced with this week with team selection as well as some of the other issues.

Firstly though, I need to give a big shout out to one of my mates Rob whose team Enormous Trombone won the round last week with a score of 2434.  The only issue he had was that he had already been bundled out of our mates league!

Best On Ground!

By far the most popular questions that we get at this time of year are … Who do I play on the ground??  Well I will have a look at a couple of the players that you need to think about this week.

Dusty Martin – Well after letting us all down over the last month Dusty came up and dominated with a 119.  I bet I wasn’t alone looking at that score sitting on the bench last week!  I expect that he will come out with another ton to finish off the season against Port Adelaide.

Sam Gibson – Here is a guy that has saved our bacon over the last month who had a downer in the Prelim.  Personally I had him on the bench and my opponent had him on the ground so I wasn’t too upset!  I think he has enough credit in the bank to avoid the Green Vest this week.  He is playing GWS this week and should rack them up without too much opposition from the tired Giants (sorry Griff).

Dayne Zorko – Probably the rookie of the year in DT ranks this year.  He withstood early challenges from The Horse and Greeney but he emerged to be the most consistent guy and gets plenty of points.  After seeing him first hand last week for the second time my opinion of him only increased.  Whilst he racked up a nice score last week against my side, this week he has the Doggies at home, so I expect that he won’t drop from that score at all!  He should rack up another ton with ease.

Tom Rockliff – Rocky hasn’t been on his game this year.  Last week he seemed to be playing across half forward and as a result didn’t get a great deal of the ball (they were just lobbing it over his head for goals and it was wet).  He has the Dogs this week and I expect that he should be around the 80 mark for scoring.  If your option is to play him orGibson I would lean towardsGibsonthis week only because of how he has been playing and his opposition.

Travis Cloke – To be honest, you can’t play this guy if you have Zorko sitting on the bench for him.  Cloke has been a shocker of late and up against the Bombers I can’t see this changing.

Mitch Robinson – He is back this week but I wouldn’t get too excited.  Given his form of late I can’t see anything changing.  For those of you that actually kept him last week I would be considering him as an emergency at best.

Emergency Emergency Emergency!

One of the tough decisions this week is where to use your 3 emergencies.  Over the last few weeks we haven’t really had to make a choice as we haven’t had any Ruck coverage.  However, this week those of us that still have Redden sitting on the bench we will have a choice to make.  @RamboTamboDT wanted to know which emergencies were a priority.  To be honest this is going to be a very personal decision.  You need to assess your list and see which ones you think are most likely to be a late out.  I don’t think that I can tell you which Emergencies to pick given you all have such different teams.  Keep an ear out for the late rumours.  If I had Sandi I would be concerned with him and may put the E on Redden but I am not sure how much credence to put on it.

One thing that I think of if I have a bench player in each position is which position is going to cost me most if I have an out.  So you should rank your bench players in terms of points capability.  Don’t put the E on someone that will score a 15 with a vest over someone that could get you 70. 

So the scoring potential and the potential of a late out are the two things that you have to consider.

Don’t Pull Out Late!!!

This is the biggest annoyance of all of us!  Obviously we can’t do too much about it after lockout, but before lockout there are a few things that you can do.

1. Stay focussed on Friday Avo!  Keep an eye on the Twitter Feeds.  There are often a lot of rumours swirling around and hopefully you can pick up on something that your opponent can’t.
2. Make sure you have an Emergency! If something happens after lockout and you don’t have an E on someone when you could have… you are stuffed!  Also remember.  If you put the E on two players in the same line you get the LOWER of the two scores, not the best one!
3. Check out the SUBMARINE.  No point having someone on your field that the Submarine things will have a green vest on.  Check out his article later today to see what he thinks!

TRADE!

If you still have trades left  Well Done!  If you still have some left and don’t think you need to use them… what the hell are you thinking?  You can always improve your team!!

Take a look at your opponents side, use NIX spreadsheet from the article earlier in the week (or keep an eye out to see if he posts an update later today) and use this to work out if you are a bit down in any of the areas.  Then use a trade or two (seriously you have two left???) to bolster your team to be able to match it with theirs!

Things To Remember!

• Pick a captain based on your team this week!  Read Calvins Captains from Wednesday and see what he thinks you should do.  If you are a hundred or so points behind, maybe consider a roughy for your captain.  Who knows… Swanny may be subbed out or Ablett may get lost in the Barossa on the way to AAMI.
• Make the tough calls on Premo’s v Rookies but don’t sook it up if the Rookie stinks.  The Premo’s are Premo’s for a reason, they have produced year in year out.  The Rookie has only played one year or so and may not have the engine to get through to the final siren this week.
• If a player was rubbish over the past month why do you think they will be good now? If you plan on playing someone that has been rubbish of late… read Cloke what makes you think that they will have turned things around this week?  You better have a very good reason.
• Dont take any sh1t from those that didn’t make the GF They are just jealous.  If they laugh at you for getting smashed this week, just laugh back and point out their team wasn’t good enough to make it.
• Beware the sacked coach rule I am not convinced that this will really apply but just don’t be surprised if the Carlton players have blinders this week.

 

Well that is it, I am all scrambled out.  It has been a long season and I hope that this weekend brings you the victories that you have hoped for.  Good Luck in all of your finals.  Thanks for reading my Friday morning ramblings throughout the year.  I have really enjoyed bringing them to you and hopefully helping you all out during the year.  Have a great GF and also have a great off season and see you all next year!  I am sorry that I can’t make the DTTalk drinks tomorrow but I will certainly make the trip over next year.

In the meantime you can catch me on Twitter  @pkd73