The Friday Scramble: Round 9

One down… Two to go.  And those two rounds can’t go quick enough!  The only positive about this week is that we can now start to pick up the premo’s that had round 8 byes.  Hopefully you have been able to build up a bit of cash so that you can just upgrade this week!  There is plenty to think about this week.  And it doesn’t seem fair that in a week that is so important we only have a couple of days between games!  What is this.. Monday footy then Thursday footy!  Well at least there is footy I guess… anyway, back on track.  We have plenty to think about this week so let’s get straight into it!

Loopholing along with Calvin

I am sure that I wasn’t the only one that put a VC in play last night trying for a big score from one of the big guns in the game.  Always nice of the AFL to put Collingwood in these loophole eligible games… gives us a few options, pity none of them really fired up for us!  Let’s look at how they went and what you should do if you chose them.

Beams 107DT 104SC – No.  Neither of these scores are enough to take his scores as your VC.

Pendlebury 101DT 128SC – No in RDT or AFL Fantasy.  That is not enough.  However, in Supercoach, you might consider taking it if you don’t have someone stronger still to come (read: G Ablett).  Personally I would go with Ablett if I had him, otherwise 128 might be considered ok.

Swanny 79DT 79SC – A horror night for Swanny.  I rarely saw him and he just couldn’t get it done.  Clearly neither of these scores are even close to what you would need.

Dangerfield 135DT 152SC – Yes.  This is the score to take.  No problems at all with taking either of those scores!

To be honest I can’t think of anyone else in that game that you would have picked.  So if you want to keep any of those scores then as usual put your C on someone not playing which is of course made easier during the bye rounds!

To think about the rest of the options for captain and what an expert thinks… check out Calvin’s Captains from earlier in the week.

Premo Picking

So given we have now had the first week of the byes we can now start to pick up those guys with no concerns whatsoever.  They won’t miss again (unless they get a visit from the General) and should be snapped up.  I just want to have a look at a few that you may have thought of and a couple you may not have.  Now clearly the Collingwood and Adelaide guys from last night are all in this boat and as a result you would have to have picked them up yesterday, so not much point me covering them off here.  I may mention a couple of them next week.

Joel Selwood is surely on a lot of radars this week now that he has had his bye.  Personally he is on my radar too, but I will be holding off for one more week.  He has a high break even in all forms of the game and comes up against the Dockers in Perth.  If he cops the Crowley tag then he could be in trouble as last time Crowley kept him to under 40 points which would see a massive price drop.  Even if he doesn’t he will still probably drop in price this week.

Steve Johnson is in some good form at the moment and as a result is being looked at by a lot of people.  He is also very expensive though.  Like Selwood he is a chance to get tagged by Crowley too so this could be a factor, we know they are good mates from their game at Simmonds last year.  His BE isn’t huge but it isn’t low either so he may be one to just wait on another week too.

Trent Cotchin was on a lot of people’s radars at the start of the year and rightly so, coming off a poor season where he had an injury that was hampering him we thought he would be cherry ripe.  Well that hasn’t been the case and he has been struggling a bit this year.  He is averaging 102 in DT but we would probably have expected more than that.  He will probably maintain his price or drop a touch this week, however, his form isn’t enough for me to recommend picking him this year yet.

Brett Deledio has been in and out of the team of late and hence hasn’t been at his best.  Priced at $510k he is cheap enough, but his BE of 152 in RDT tells me that he will only get cheaper in the coming weeks.  Personally I like Delids, but with his Mid only eligibility and lack of form I would pass for now until I see something to tempt me back again.

Gary Ablett Yes he is expensive, Yes he has a largish BE… but it is Gary Ablett.  You have to pay a lot for the best and there is always every chance he will get his BE.  The one caveat that I would put on him is that he will more than likely cop the Tom Curren Tag.  Having said all that, if you have the cash and you want him then do it.  You may not have enough cash next week if some other drama hits!

David Swallow.  I know there are a lot of people out there that aren’t on the David Swallow bandwagon and are actually looking at trading him out.  Currently he is the 8th highest ranked defender in RDT and I personally see him as a guy that will be very steady for the rest of the year.  Priced at $440,400 he isn’t the cheapest, but he is far from the most expensive defender.  I think he is definitely worth picking up.

 

Downgrade Options

This is a little harder than the upgrades!  We are still struggling to get some good juniors to bring in.  But… I am not going to pretend to be all over this.  So I would highly recommend that you rewind to earlier in the week and have a read of Jeppa’s Juniors from Wednesday.  As with all my advice make sure you are keeping the bye structure in mind.

As if this game isn’t hard enough!

Can you believe it?  I certainly can.  Selection has made this game just that bit harder with some of the guys we were relying on being dropped or injured this week!  Nick Robertson from Brisbane was in a lot of teams and many were planning on using him in the byes as good back up.  He has been omitted this week and it may be time to pull the trigger on him a week earlier than planned.  His BE isn’t all that low and if he can’t hold his spot in the team then he isn’t really that much use to us anymore.  I was going to trade him out after this week, but this may just speed things up a bit!  As Roy mentioned on the podcast this week, Kade Kolodjashnij is out with a knee injury.  This is a blow to us as he wasn’t ready to be traded out this week.  However if he is going to be out for next week as well as this one then that really spells trouble as we need warm bodies on the field this week and next.  I am still not sure on what I will do with him.  If I can get 20 other guys on the park next week I will probably look at holding him.

Things To Remember!

•  Trades Stick Today! – Reverse Trades won’t work in RDT and SC today.  So do your planning outside the system before you hit that Confirm Trade button.  In AFL Fantasy, as long as you didn’t do a Double Trade that involved last nights game you can still reverse trades if you need to.
• Keep R10 in mind – When doing your trades make sure you aren’t hurting your team for R10 by trading in guys that haven’t had their bye yet.
• Plan ahead – there are a couple of debut’s this week that may prove to be downgrades in the upcoming weeks with Lennon and Claye Beams coming in.  I won’t get them just yet, but watch them as you may need them!
• I hate bye rounds – Once again only one game on Sunday to watch.

Good luck this week everyone.  Half way through the rubbish bye rounds!  Hopefully you can field more than 18 this week and you are planning for next week.  Be prepared for more vest trouble over the weekend as we are relying on guys that are massive vest risks to fill out our team.  It is one thing for our bench guys to be getting a vest, but it is a whole new ballgame when our playing guys get one!

Keep an eye on twitter for any late news today.  As always I will forward what I find out so give me a follow @pkd73 and have a great weekend.