The Friday Scramble: Round 4

Another week another injury to a key player and another injury to one of our key cash cows. But are we all surprised that one of them happened? We have also had our first lot of price changes in the limited trade formats of the game. We have also seen positional changes in the Ultimate Footy format of draft. In the words of a great Victorian cricket commentator… “It’s All Happening”. So with all that in mind we have plenty to talk about and as always… plenty of Scrambling to do!

Oh No Gazza!

Well he came into the season after a hammy injury and at the start of the last quarter of the game on the weekend (when he was doing very well) his hammy went ping again! Unfortunately Chris Scott has said that this one is a bit more serious than the previous one and he is listed as 3-6 weeks. I think they will be cautious with him given his age. There are a couple of things that this means to us as Fantasy Coaches. Firstly, he needs to be traded. Now you can trade him up or down, but something you may want to consider is whether or not you wait another week and trade him to Danger as he is likely to drop in value again this week. This is being discussed around the place as a valid thing to do.

But secondly what this also could mean is that Sam Menegola will get to spend more time in the midfield again. For those that have suffered through his scores over the first couple of weeks in the season this would be a welcome outcome of Gazza’s injury.

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What to do with Liam Ryan?

Well at first we weren’t sure how long he would be out for and we all considered holding him to be a valid strategy given his fantastic breakeven. However, now we know that he will be out for 10-12 weeks he is a must trade out. At this stage of the season we can’t afford to have a non-playing rookie sitting on your forward bench. There are too many cash cows available at the moment. The other side of this is when he is ready to come back in around about round 16 we may be looking for one of the last few downgrade targets and with his price he could be a good choice and we know that he will play and score well so you could use him as good solid bench cover.

Enough is Enough

At some point you need to all it and say Enough is Enough. But when is that time? Some have already gotten rid of their premium players like Hibberd, Zach Merrett and Rocky. Now I am not going to sit here and blame anyone for doing that. Each of these guys was costing you points.

Now I constantly hear people talking about how much money they have lost etc when a premium drops in value. Last I checked it isn’t the value of your team that determines the winners it is points. If you don’t trade plan on trading someone out then he could drop all the way to $1,000 and it doesn’t matter, as long as they are still scoring well, who cares! (sidenote, yes I do know that if they have dropped that far they have probably been scoring -100’s, I have exaggerated for illustrative purpose)

If you lose $30k on a premium because of one bad score it doesn’t matter, as long as they come back with a big score after that it is all good. Sadly those three blokes I have already mentioned haven’t returned to premium scoring. Of the three I am still holding Hibberd in a couple of forms of the game and Zach in another. But Rocky had to go (I didn’t start with him but would have traded him out if I did). I can tell you know I don’t plan on trading either of the two other blokes out because I have them in RDT and SC and I don’t want to waste a trade with a sideswap at this point in the season.

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Selection Table

Here are some of what I consider the highlights of the Selections for  this week.

• A rookie shuffle at Adelaide Murphy out with a hammy for what they say is one week and Fog is back in. I am holding Murphy here.
• Taylor Adams out injured for the Pies, also with a one week hammy. For those fed up with him it is an excuse to trade him. Personally I would hold.
• Josh Kelly is out with a groin and is listed as TBC. That’s never a good sign. For me until we hear exactly how long I would hold I think. Rumors that it is only one week. So don’t do anything rash just at the moment.
• Toby Greene finally returns.
• Jack Higgins has been omitted after just the one game as Caddy returns. This is actually good for us (well if we didn’t pick him up last week) as this means he will come back later when we are really in need of a downgrade.
• Nic Newman returns!  He must have been round doing Horse’s lawns and some painting to get his way back into the side.
• JJK is very draft relevant and he returns and in that same game we see Jack Bowes from the Suns come in.
• Cam O’Shea is back as the Blues lose Marchbank through injury. I would be very warry of picking up Cam but realistically he could hold that spot until Marchbank returns.
• Powell-Pepper is out through his club suspension. I suspect it will be Amon that will come in out of the players Port named.
• David Mirra has been named again on the extended bench for the Hawks. I would be wary about trading him in.
• Angus Brayshaw is finally back in for the Dee’s.
• Rhys Stanley has been named again for the Cats and is listed as first ruck. That will please those that took him in drafts.
• Jack Steele and Hunter Clark headline the ins for the Saints this week.

Draft Position Changes in Ultimate Footy

For those of you that play the UF format the first lot of position changes hit on Wednesday. The players that were affected were Lachlan Murphy, David Mackay, Christian Salem, Tim O’Brien, WHE, Devon Smith, Alex Sexton, Jack Billings and Lachie Fogarty.

Things To Remember

• One poor score doesn’t make a season but if they suck for 3-4 weeks in a row then you can legitimately get rid of them if you want.
• Check your player’s matchups. When deciding who to play on ground it is always worth checking who they are playing.
• Rookies are inconsistent. No ifs buts or maybes about it. They are inconsistent scorers and there is nothing we can do about it. Just hope and pray you get the right one on the ground.
• If the first three weeks area anything to go by, Geelong will have a late change!

 

That will do us for this week. Make sure that if you are in Adelaide or Perth that you have your tickets for the DT Talk Live shows that start next week in Adelaide and the following week in Perth. They promise to be fantastic nights where you can get together and have a few drinks with fellow Fantasy nuts. If you are heading to the Adelaide show make sure you say Hi.  Whilst I am talking about saying Hi, a bit of a shoutout to my local footy team, the Towns, who got up in their first round for a win last week. Good job boys, hope that is the start of a great season ahead.

Because of the DTTalk Live show next Thursday night I may have a little bit of a shorter Scramble for you with a bit less on the selections, but don’t worry I will give you all something for your Friday questions! Until then, cheers and have a great weekend!!

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— DT Talk (@DTTALK) April 12, 2018