The Friday Scramble: Rd 3

This is it, things get real now!  We finally get to unleash our teams in anger.  Our matchups finally start and bragging rights are now up for grabs.

So what do you need to do?  Well there are a few things that are critical.  Let’s look at the big issues for this weekend.

Are your Rookies set?

Price changes start this week, so if you haven’t got yourself on the big movers then this is your last chance!  The very first thing you need to do is take yourself back in a time machine to Wednesday morning and have a look at Jeppa’s Juniors.  Jeppa took you through everyone that you need to have in your team.

Make sure that you have got them all set and have the right ones on your ground.  This is the tough part, getting the right guys on the ground has been hard in the first two weeks, but I think we are starting to see some trends….  Guys like O’Meara, Wines, Stephenson  and Viney are the guys that we should be looking as our best bets to have on our field.  With all these trades this year you don’t need to sit on those speculative ones.  So if you still have Vlaustin in your line up then you should be trading him out and then looking to use him as a downtgrade target once your other cash cows have fattened up a bit!

Trades done?

Have you got your trades set?  We have the two trades a week now and as such we should be using them.  Everyone thought that the game was going to be so much easier this year with these two trades every week.  Hands up those who think that picking two trades a week has been easy?  Just judging from twitter traffic this week I don’t think that this is the case!

The one bit of advice that I can give you is to be very careful with your trades.  What I would advice is to look at your trades in the following order:

• Rookie Fix Ups – If you don’t have the gun rookies and you took a chance on someone else that hasn’t fired (like Kane Mitchell) then you need to get in the guys that are going to skyrocket in price.
• Premo Stuff Ups – Next you may want to trade out a “Premo” that you have taken a chance on and they just haven’t fired.  One example of this could be someone that is dear to our fellow writer Crutton, Toby Greene.  After last year he was someone we all thought was going to be a gun this year but they just haven’t fired a shot yet.
• Big Price Drops – Well this sort of goes hand in hand with the previous category.  If you have a premo or a mid pricer that is going to plummet in price then this is the sort of guy that you may want to trade out and then pick up again later on when the price is lower.  This is a risky strategy indeed and I would only recommend this if you have no issues with the above areas.  If you can drop a premo like a Toby Greene or a Zorko that is going to drop, you could pick up a mid pricer or rookie, let them go up in price and then use that cash and the price rise to get your premo back when they bottom out in a week or two.
  Many a veteran DTer will tell you that this is just ridiculous and you never trade out a premo, but in this new Gen Y version of DT where trades are plentiful, then there doesn’t seem to be any reason why you wouldn’t do it!

BEWARE:  Be careful at who you pick up or drop.  Make sure that any trade is backed up with solid research and thought.  Just remember, a stack of people traded in Ty Vickery last week.   Whilst we have plenty of trades, there are still only two per week, so if you trade out a premo ahead of a price drop with the view to getting them back next week, just be careful as you may have two other problems that are more immediate next week which mean that you miss them at the cheap price and they may explode pushing their price even higher.  This is particularly likely this week given that any really poor score from round 1 will only be in their price change formula for this week and this week only.

Make sure you check out JimBob’s article from yesterday Trigger Happy.  Plenty of sage trading advice in there! Also keep an eye out at lunch time today for the return of Aki’s DT Stock Market.  He will also have all the BE and price change information that you are likely to need.

Captain set?

Last week many of us (myself included) ignored the most famous pirate in the land and went with GAJ as we were afraid of the Carrots Tag on the Pig.  Well, I for one will be heading back to the fold and following Calvin this week.  If you don’t have Swanny then you should get yourself off the plank and back into the Captain’s headquarters and see what Calvin’s Captains has to say.

Whilst your captain choices over the past couple of weeks haven’t meant too much apart from ranking and the car, many of us are in this for the league wins so now is the time that this will matter most!  If you stuff up your captain choice and your opponent nails it, this can mean the difference between winning and losing your match.  So take some time, do what Calvin tells you, then keep calm and lock Swan!

 Things to Remember!

• Get your Rookies Right – Thinking that it won’t matter if you only make $20k instead of $30k from your rookie before you dump him is not going to help you when in about 10 weeks you fall 5k short of the ultra gun that everyone else has!
• Triple Check your Team before Lockout – I have heard too many stories this year already of people forgetting to make a change or put an E on one of their lines (well that may have been me that one) as lockout arrived.  Make sure it doesn’t happen to you.  On Monday at work when you have been beaten by 10 points, telling them “well I would have won if I had done this” isn’t going to get you the W from Virtual Sports!
• Beware the Hype Player – You all saw what happened to Vickery last week, well jumping on Westhoff just because of 154 doesn’t guarantee it will happen again this week (but I am certainly praying he plays like that again).  These type of players will have a ripper but it will be surrounded by some shockers too.
• Not all Beards Look Good! – So guys like Watts should worry more about getting the pill than their excuse for a facial forest.
• Liven up your “Coaches Box” – Of all my leagues very few have any banter in the Coaches Box!  Have a bit of fun and get stuck into your mates (whilst following the language rules etc of course).  DT is more fun when you know who you are beating and let them have it!

Get stuck into it guys!  This week marks the start of what it is all about, matches against your mates.  I know that particularly my league at work is one where a loss on the weekend will mean you are subjected to ridicule all week!  Also keep a look out for the regular updates of the DT Talk Writers League which will be coming up each week thanks to Anthony.

If you do have another shocker this week, well cop it on the chin and use those trades to keep improving your side and remember…. They don’t hand out Premierships in April!

Catch you all on Twitter: @pkd73