The Friday Scramble: Round 16

Injury city! Round 15 may have been great with no more byes but instead we were hit with some major injuries with none bigger than big Max Gawn! On top of that we still are missing Cripps. Now whilst Gawn is currently named, his status isn’t completely confirmed.  Unfortunately this week will be a bit of a shorter read due to work and other circumstances but all that means is more time for you to Scramble!

Panic Stations!

The selection and injury gods haven’t been good to us this week. This week will test the best laid plans of all coaches. We all expected to come out of the bye rounds with fully upgraded teams massive scores. That was a bit naïve of us really!

Big Maxy Gawn
So at this stage Max has been named in the side but as we know it is a Sunday game and that means we will get final teams tonight at around 5pm eastern time. At that point we can make our trades and our plans. But don’t be surprised if he is still in that squad. I can’t see him playing this week to be honest, I am fully expecting him to be a late out. If he is named out tonight (and maybe even if he isn’t) then in AF definitely trade, but in RDT and SC we need to be wary of trades. If you have 6+ then you can trade him. Just be ready to hold whoever you trade him to. As we know it can be hard to get him back in. Given how big he can score and how up and down the alternatives are you may be able to hold him, take the donut and still outscore any other option you could bring in over the remaining part of the season. As always, in a limited trade form of the game this is a valid option.

The best option of course is to bring someone in your forward line that you can swing up into ruck to cover him. If I can find a way to do it then that is probably what I will do.

So if he is named in and you are expecting him to be a late out what do we do with him? Well at this stage I am going to hold him in RDT and SC, try to get that swing and hope for the best. If I end up with a donut then so be it. Remember there is still the slim chance that he actually plays.

Who to trade him to? Well the obvious choice is Scott Lycett he has been on a tear lately and with Ryder still in the SANFL  he should do well. Up against the inexperienced O’Brien he should continue to score well this week. Other options are to go with Goldy or Stef. Either of those two would be ok but once Gawn returns none of them will be in his league.

If you plan on cashing him in and using the cash elsewhere you can certainly do this but do so while being prepared to hold whoever you bring in.

Crippa
Another one of these annoying injuries that we all thought was one week and has now turned into three (if we include the bye). Once again if we knew it was going to be this long last week we probably would have traded (think Rocky).

Anyway, what do we do with Crippa? Well I think in AF it depends on if you have any luxury trades available. In AF and SC you have to almost take the theory that you have waited this long with him you would hate to trade him out and have him come back next week. For me (as a Cripps owner) I will be holding him this week in the limited trade forms of the game.

Caleb Daniel
Must trade. This is a fairly simple one. We know he is going to be out for at least 4 weeks and with just 8 weeks left in the Fantasy season we can’t afford to hold him. The options that I will be looking at for him include Dusty Martin, Rowen Marshall and Scott Lycett. All of these guys have been scoring well and with Lycett and Marshall you have the added benefit of the R/F swing (only in AF for Marshall).

Rookie Carnage!

So much for trusting some of the rookies to get us through the next few weeks. We then go and see Brett Bewley, Josh Begley, Joel Garner and Oskar Baker all dropped. This is always a massive risk with relying on rookies at this time of the year. If you have the opportunity to now upgrade them take it. If you have a choice of upgrade one of these guys or side swap one of the guys above, I would take the upgrade (except for Caleb Daniel as he will be out for 4 weeks).

Begley and Garner were always a risk but I don’t think too many of us thought that Baker or Bewley were in too much danger. If you can trade Begley and Garner then I would. But in regards to Baker and Bewley I would say these might be ok to hold as they are possibly a good chance to come back in soon.

If you can’t get to an upgrade with one of these guys then look for a downgrade to another rookie player and make some cash out of it.

The Scale of Hardness!

It is that time of year where Calvin has given us his Scale of Hardness! No one can colour in a spreadsheet like Cal and he has 5 colours in it this year. But seriously this is a critical tool for your trading on the way home. With just 8 more opponents each not every team has an even run of it. So you want to be picking up players that have an easier run home and avoiding those that don’t.

Cal will continue to update this on the run home so be sure to check back before you finalise your trades each week.

Things To Remember

• Don’t Panic. Particularly with Gawn, most of the competition have him and most will have plenty of issues to deal with.
• Trade in blokes that would be prepared to hold for the rest of the season. You can’t always trade them back out again.

Apologies for the short Scramble this week everyone, bloody busy and hope to be back to normal next week. Hopefully you haven’t all copped too many of the issues this week. As we all know this game is a little bit of skill and a hell of a lot of luck! Catch you all next Friday when we don’t have so many issues to deal with!!