The Friday Scramble: Round 11

Wow, this game just keeps on throwing us curveballs. This week is a critical week as we are on the verge of the byes, we have players still questionable as to their status and we seem to have run out of rookies!  Like many I am of the opinion this is one of the harder seasons we have had in a long time.  Just means more Scrambling!

Mid Season Draft

So on Monday night we saw a Mid Season Draft for the first time in a long time. I know that many people have been looking forward to this for a chance at some new players at some bargain basement prices. Whilst this is true and we have some new players in the game, however, I am not as excited. I don’t think there will be too much in it for us. I can’t see too many of these blokes getting a game. There are only a few that I see getting a game are De Luca from Carlton and Sutcliffe from Port and even then I don’t think they will provide a great deal of scoring. Ryan Gardner has come in this week for the Doggies but like the others, I don’t expect much of an impact and certainly I don’t expect scores that will make us trade them in. I do hope I am wrong but I don’t have my hopes up.

Most clubs took players for the future and with a view to next season. Personally I am not in favour of this as it isn’t replacing players that are injured or out for the rest of the year which is what I thought it was supposed to be. Personally I would prefer a mid season trade period as those players have been in an AFL system and would be in a much better position to play.  Anyway, enough of me ranting.

What I wanted to stress here is don’t get too excited.  If 3 or 4 of these guys play it would be fantastic but don’t expect any big scores out of them.

Pick	Player	Club	Position	Price	2019 Average	Comp
1	Joshua Deluca	Carl	MID	$240000	103	WAFL
2	Mitchell Riordan	GCS	MID	$170000	79	NAB League
3	Kyle Dunkley	Melb	MID	$170000	102	NAB League
4	Michael Knoll	Syd	RUC	$170000	88	SANFL
5	Lachlan Hosie	NM	FWD	$170000	82	SANFL
6	Ryan Gardner	WB	FWD	$170000	49	VFL
7	William Snelling	Ess	MID	$207000	128	SANFL
8	Jack Mayo	St K	FWD	$170000	57	WAFL
9	Cameron Sutcliffe	PA	MID	$356000	70	SANFL
10	Pass	Haw
11	Dillon O'Reilly	Fre	DEF/FWD	$170000	56	WAFL Colts
12	Pass	Adel
13	Marlion Pickett	Rich	MID	$170000	48	WAFL
14	John Noble	Coll	MID	$170000	92	SANFL
15	Pass	GCS
16	Cody Hirst	Syd	MID	$170000	99	NAB League
17	Pass	WB
18	Pass	Ess

One Week To Go!

This is our last chance before the bye period. We have one last chance to get our teams set up before the first of the bye periods hits in round 12. This is the time to start preparing and making sure that you will have enough players for round 12. That is our first hurdle.

As we have said in the past you only have to have 18 players but remember they have to be on your field and this means that you need to manage your team carefully if you want to maximise your score across the three rounds.

With any trading you do this week make sure that you are considering your moves across the bye period and how you can set your team up.

My strategy is to always have a good number of players in the early bye and then trade in the second and third weeks of the byes to guys that have already had their week off.  It is pretty basic really but I know some do go into the round trying to balance across each week but that isn’t going to work for you.

Don’t just try and get to the bare minimum 18 either, if you can get yourself 19 or 20 playing then that is the best way to go as you drop out your worst scores. Always handy if someone drops an 18 on you like we saw with Robbie Young.

Selection Table

Things weren’t quite as bad at the selection table this week, but they still weren’t great! Here are a few of my random thoughts.

No Zac Williams back yet, but we did know that during the week.  He is still a hold for me.
Darcy Moore returns which is great for those that held him. But we did see rookie priced guys Magden and Wills drop out.
Danger finally returns and hopefully he has a point to prove and goes massive!
Darcy Fort has made way as Ratugolea has returned to the side. We always thought this might happen.
JPK is out. Once again, nothing we didn’t know already. Hold.
Lynch, Jenkins and Gibbs all return for the Crows.  Notice any names missing there???  Bloody Matt Crouch!!!!!! After being told he was close last week we can now confirm this was BS as he isn’t back in this week either, not even given the opportunity right up until game time! If we knew he was going to be out for this long he would have been a trade, but we have to hold now.
Rocky is out, even though the team list doesn’t say this. It will be Burton and Lycett in for Rocky and Ladhams. That is my prediction.
A heap of players in for the Bombers including Ridley which will help some coaches but no sign of the Ham!
Setterfield is on the extended bench, not confident he plays.
Two new players for the Dogs in Gardner and West. Not sure if they are worth picking up, particularly with Bevo in charge!!

#AskDunny

if you were looking to go one up one down with Constable and Scrimshaw is is best to grab a premium now to get points on field or wait til after round 12 and grab a round 12 premium ?

— Steve (@stephenc24) May 29, 2019

Good question Steve. I know a lot of people are looking to not upgrade this week given we have the byes upon us next week. Personally I am not against upgrading. Remember that anyone that you are going to bring in will miss at some point in the next few weeks. If you decide to just hold this week and do nothing then you are going to be a week behind everyone else that is upgrading and you will have rookies on your field a week longer.

However, don’t just go ahead and bring anyone in without thought. So from my perspective I am perfectly fine with doing some upgrading this week but you should be trading in players that have byes where you are strong with numbers or players that have the same bye profile as the ones you are trading out.

The circumstance that I am very comfortable with making a trade is where you can get rid of a rookie and bring in a premium. The biggest issue we have in the bye periods is rookies getting dropped or just not playing. If you have a premium in their place then you are far more likely to have them when you need them.

So I hope this helps you Steve and everyone else. I think continuing your trading strategy is a good thing if you do it sensibly.

Do you think we hold Rocky if he is named? As I am thinking of holding him anyway and just treating it like an extra bye week with him. Holding him for the long term@after the byes

— Dale (@dpc888) May 29, 2019

Well whilst he has been named we know that he won’t be playing this week but if you plan to keep him in your team through to R23 then your plan is perfectly fine. In AF you could trade him out this week with a view to getting him back in R13 but as we all know it isn’t always easy to get a premium back in once we have traded him out.

Is everyone stuffed having mainly Round 13/14 players. Or just me having not put any effort into byes this year

— Michael (@mgvet) May 29, 2019

This is a problem that many have. Particularly R13 where Collingwood, Geelong and the Eagles are all on their byes. At this point I have 20 avail in R12, 17 in R13 and 20 in R14. I am really happy with that spread because it means I should be able to easily field 18 in each round. As I have said before if you have most of your players available in R12 then this is a good way to be, you can then trade these guys out after R12 and bring in guys from the R12 bye. So I expect that you should be fine. If you were the other way around then that would spell a bit of trouble. If anyone is in that situation you may want to trade hard this week to try and reverse that.

RDT Question… Would you at this juncture trade both Walsh & Stack this week so that you can get Whitfield/Gaff & Rookie Baker? Trading Clark/Parker/Setterfield – does not give me enough to go either Whitfield/Gaff.

— Grish9 (@GrishmB) May 29, 2019

I had every intention of holding Walsh all season when he started so well. However, circumstances changed and I ended up trading him out a week or so ago and it allowed me to get Fyfe into my side. So I don’t have any issues with this plan from that perspective. You are bringing in an uber premium which is what you want. The other side of the trade is a little concerning. You are trading out two guys that are getting a consistent game for one that will play and one that has questionable job security. If we weren’t on the eve of the byes I would say no problems.

Have a good look at your byes and your side and look at how many players you would have if Baker wasn’t playing. If you will be ok if he isn’t playing then go for it. But on the whole I do like that trade.

Things To Remember

• In case I haven’t mentioned it the Byes are up next week!
• Don’t compromise your team just because of the byes, don’t settle for someone you wouldn’t be happy to have in your side if the byes weren’t coming up.
• Don’t Panic! Everyone else is in a similar situation to you (or worse if your name is Calvin).

Hopefully your trade plans haven’t been destroyed by the selections. Don’t stress too much about the byes, if you have a good plan in place you should be fine as we negotiate our way through them.  Good luck this week and I will catch you all next week!