The Friday Scramble: Round 9

Last week got off to a pretty good start but then it all went south. Hey, no-one ever said that this game was easy! It is the way we structure our teams that gets us through this sort of carnage that can happen mid round. It shows us just how important it is to get the right rookies as bench cover and not just anyone. This will become even more important as we Scramble our way to the byes.

3 Weeks To Go

By my calculations we have just three more regular weeks of footy before we get to our first bye round. Now for those who are new to the Fantasy games in those weeks we only count our 18 best scorers on field. Now we will go through more about the byes in a coming week. But what I wanted to mention to you is that you need to just make sure that you are taking into account the byes with all of your trades going forward from this point.

To find out how you are placed for your the byes you can use the premium components of the various games to see their bye checkers. This helps you see how many players you have available each week.  Just a quick hint though, most players look to have more players in their team from the latest bye round so that they can be traded to the players that have had their byes in the early rounds.

More on this in coming weeks.

Chasing Scores

This is probably the most dangerous thing that you can do in this game. Last week we saw some big scores from some players (and not before too soon from some). But it is always a massive risk to trade in someone because just because they have done it one week it doesn’t mean they will d it again. The other issue with chasing a score is that the player has usually risen in price. And whilst they will have a low BE, unless they can replicate the scores for the next week or two then they will plummet in price.

So just beware of chasing some of these guys that had some big scores this week (or any week for that matter) as it doesn’t always mean they will have another one.

Trading Premiums is Risky!

Hands up who traded out Danger last week?  I am sitting here with my hand firmly in the air. I played the BE game and whilst I didn’t lose money on the deal I did lose out on points. But those that did it (like me) now need to use another trade this week to get him back in again. Now whilst I was lucky here and I didn’t have too much carnage to deal with and was able to get Danger back in.

But what this does is it just shows us that this is why we continually say not to trade out our guns if it is likely to be just one week (even though it wasn’t any in this case). We can get burnt here and that is what happened. So perhaps next time this type of situation comes around we need to be a bit more solid and not make the trade out.

Be careful with Matt Crouch. He may be a late out but if you are worried about it try and bench him and not trade. Last week with an injury was his only score under 100 so he certainly is quality.

#AskDunny

I am thinking Brayshaw is a must trade this week, whats your thoughts on Yeo? To me he seems to be building, along with WCE into some form. Thinking Brayshaw to Yeo, or maybe Zorko which one? Other trade is Petrucelli to Dunkley. Cheers

— Kingzy1Kenobi (@gorilladz) May 16, 2019

I guess firstly I agree that Brayshaw hasn’t been great lately. But I have him in RDT and I will be keeping him. I know he has been frustrating but I will be still looking to trade out rookies that I have on field. But if you are set on trading out Brayshaw then Yeo isn’t a bad option. He has a very achievable BE and is averaging 114 over the last three weeks thanks to the 146 in round 7. After his slow start to the year which included three in the 70’s from rounds 2-5 he has picked things up. I like him more than Zorko despite Zorko having two in the 130’s in the last two weeks. I just don’t trust Zorko not to start getting a tag.
I do like the other trade. Dunkley seems to have a good role change and a great pick up. You must have had a good Warnechest to make these moves.

Is Drew cooked, he looked very slow in the last 1/4 last week and big PA changes coming. Trade if out this week to Dunkley?

— EQUINE INVESTING (@EquineInvesting) May 16, 2019

I think Drew is certainly very close to needing to be traded. I reckon that despite Wines being out he is starting to hit the wall a little. I don’t mind trading him out either this week or next. The main reason I would keep him is because they are playing GC this week. But I will be trading him very shortly myself.

What to do with Cognilio & Walsh? Which one to Trade first?

— Johnny Kao (@JohnnyKao9) May 16, 2019

Yeah this is a tough one. I have both in RDT and SC and I have Walsh in AF. But I actually don’t plan to trade either out just yet. I think Cogs can turn things around when he returns, it has only been two poor weeks and the four previous weeks to that he averaged 115. So I am saying it is a hold for Cogs if you have cover for him this week (hopefully it is only one week). Now as for Walsh, this has been the big topic for the last fortnight now. Personally I am going to hold him until after the R12 bye and trade him then if I can. He is scoring int he 70+ range and if you can trade him without bringing a rookie on field then it isn’t the worst move. But I am going to focus on the weaker rookies on my field first. However, if you have your heart set on trading one of these guys out then I would trade Walsh up to an uber premium rather than trade out a premium in Cogs if you have that cover. If you don’t then trade Cogs given he isn’t playing this week.

Selection Table

HUGE night at selection with axes being swung everywhere! Here are my brief thoughts on a few of the key changes:

Beams is back! This will certainly please owners and in particular Draft owners.
Jelwood returns finally after last weeks little game of Ducks and Drakes
Darcy Fort is named and not on an extended bench this time!
CONSTABLE!!!! What the hell more could this kid have done! Clearly you bring Joel back in but really! He had a great game. Do we trade? Well it is getting hard to keep him with this sort of job security.
Ham is out again. This seals the deal with him, his Job Security is just not there.
Devon is out with injury and will be missing for an undetermined length of time. So that along with his form will see him an easy trade out.
Connor Blakely is finally in which will please those that have him in  draft.
Butters is back in the extended Power squad which is good for those that held but he does have a big BE.
Nank and Ross are both out for extended time so they are must trades.
Whitfield and Mumford return which will be a big relief to many coaches. Get them back on field.
Hately is back in the team again. In SC and RDT he is on the bubble so will be a huge trade in this week.
COGS!!!! Bloody hell. Another Giant out with an injury and a premium one at that. As I said in my answer above, if he is only out for the One you can hold but if anything comes out that makes it look like two then you could trade in AF and it would be a 50:50 decision in RDT and SC.

Things to Remember

• Rookies you trade in need to have some good Job Security as you will be relying on these guys in the bye rounds.
• Make sure you have some good backup. You never know when you have a late out. Make sure that you have some emergencies.
• As I mentioned first up today. Make sure you are starting to make sure your trades suit your bye strategy.

Big week ahead with lots of changes at selection. We saw last week that a great start to the round doesn’t mean much as it can all fall apart! If one of the popular players goes down don’t panic as most others will have them too so everyone will get the poor score.

Good luck everyone and catch you all next Friday.