The Friday Scramble: Round 18

What a season! We had the agony of seeing Cogs go down on a 0 (and no you don’t get your emergency score) but then the ecstasy of the Massive score from Josh Dunkley. This game can be so cruel to us at times. But this is what makes it so much fun…. right? It is at this time of the year that we need to just roll with the punches because they will come thick and fast! With all of these Giants getting injured it is a good thing we now have two trades per week in AF. Things are getting difficult in the other two forms though as we battle with a limited number of trades remaining. All in all it seems like a great time to Scramble!

More Injuries!

The inevitable questions that we get at this time of the season is “who should I trade out?” and “Which one is a bigger priority to trade”. Well I am going to try and shed some light on these questions for you here and give my synopsis on what to do.

I know this will sound a little obvious but in AF just trade out your injured premiums. If you have more than 2 injured premiums then look at whether you have cover on any of those lines. Then trade out the guys on the lines with no cover. If you are still in trouble then trade out those that have the longest injury diagnosis. Like I said, this is all pretty straight forward.

Stephen Coniglio – Wow I feel for those that traded from Josh Kelly to Cogs. What a shocking break for you. But nothing much we can do about it. Cogs is now gone for the rest of the Fantasy season so he has to be traded. Unfortunately he lost a heap of value due to that 0 score but there are quite a few options for us to consider in the midfield. The key is to consult Roy’s Rolling 22 and Cal’s Scale of Hardness.

Nat Fyfe – Just like Calvin did on the live show last night I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that Nat was out with an infection on his elbow! Just when I think that I am getting a full squad on the park we lose Nat to that. Hopefully he will only be out for the one week. In AF you can certainly trade him out if you don’t have any longer term issues that you need to deal with. In RDT and SC I say hold, that is what I will be doing. At this time of the season if we don’t hear that it is going to be multiple weeks we need to hold in those comps as we run out of trades.

Scott Pendlebury – He has been named this week but we all know that he had some surgery on his finger during the week and no matter what they say about him I won’t be at all surprised if he is a late out. But at this stage I would leave him on your field (unless you  have nothing specific to do in AF). Just be sure to have some solid bench cover in place.

Nic Naitanui – What a terrible turn of events for Nic. Just as he was getting back he has gone down again with an ankle injury. If you did bring him in then you will need to trade him out again. But really he is only going to be in draft teams at the moment. If it is a keeper league then hold him but if not then just cut him loose to the waivers.

Darcy Moore – Many were keeping him as long term bench cover but given his history with soft tissue injuries we won’t be likely to see him again this season. Trade him out.

Michael Hurley – Another season ending injury, and once again more of a draft consideration than classic. Unfortunately, it is another forced trade out. There isn’t much else you can do here.

Brad Ebert – Ebert is out for illness? Hmm…. PCL is what I had heard and the official injury list has him out as indefinite with knee as the reason. So he is another must trade.

Ollie Wines – Wines was probably pretty close to selection but his thumb was just too bad to play. I don’t expect him to be out for long, I suspect he will return next week. He has scored reasonably well in the last couple of weeks but not great, so if you have nothing else to do then trade him to someone playing and scoring better.

Are there any Silver Linings?

Patty Cripps – We were all a little worried about Cripps this week even though he has an unbelievable record against the Suns. We were worried about a tag from the newest tagger on the block in Scheer. But with him omitted then we should expect a monster from Cripps. He is a great option for your captain. In RDT and SC he would be a great VC option.

Returning Players

There are a number of players making their returns this week and whilst they may not be in the top 10 players in their position you may need to look at some of them as value but I am sure that most of them are in draft teams.

Dyson Heppell – Heppell’s return will be great for draft owners but it doesn’t really help us much.
Xavier Duursma  – Great to see him back in the side as he gives you some cover on two lines. However, I wouldn’t go trusting him on the field anywhere.
Taylor Adams – Adams comes back and whilst people don’t have him he may have an effect on Adam Treloar. This is something we are concerned about but it certainly isn’t worth trading Treloar out.
Logue and Bewley return for the Dockers, just great to have some bench cover back!
Tom Liberatore – Libba returns to the extended bench but don’t go putting him back in your side anytime soon though. With the way that Dunkley and Macrae have been going we can only hope that Bevo doesn’t change that to put Libba back in.
Caleb Daniel returns if you were someone that held him across his injury. If not, I would give him a week to get back up to speed.

New Players

In AFL Fantasy we are always looking to try and make some money  any way we can and if you have been lucky enough to not have any major issues you may be interested in trading one of your dead bench spots to one of these guys if they get a game (The first two seem locks to get a game). In RDT and SC of course it is prudent to wait until game number 3 but if you need the cash and with only 6 weeks left you may just need to take a punt on someone that is a warm body.

Will Snelling – Great to see another of the mid season draftee’s come in for a game. However, just be careful if you pick him up, there are no guarantees as to how long he will stay in the side.
Doulton Langlands – Named on the field.  This is a good sign but make sure you keep an eye on the final teams though, wouldn’t be the first time we have been caught out by this. However all the press suggests he survives the cut.
Rhylee West – Can’t say I know too much about this guy but he is named on that extended bench so don’t be surprised if he misses.
Francis Watson, Bailey J Williams and Matthew Allen are all new for the Eagles but all are on the extended bench too (which is in number order so no hints there). Wait for final teams.
Darren Minchington is another on an extended bench (the Hawks this time) but I don’t think he will make the cut.

Dropped??

Eggmolesse-Smith is out unfortunately, we all knew that his time in the team was limited and the Tigers haven’t been very friendly to us so far this year.

Strategy

With all the injuries and other concerns this week I don’t think too many of us will be trading for strategy but if you are then it will be all about strengthening your side for the finals. The only reason you wouldn’t do this is if you are going to struggle to win your matchup this week and this means trading to match a unique in your opponents side or bringing in your own unique to try and get that edge.

I have heard some talk this week about people using trades to strengthen their bench rather than take a mid pricer or rookie off field. For me it is a simple choice, get the rookies and mid pricers (or underperforming players for that matter) off your field as soon as you can then worry about the bench. A better option is to trade a bench player up to a premium giving you an extra one on each line so that you can set your lineup based on matchup (in AF) or loophole players on and off the field (in SC and RDT).

Things To Remember

• Past performance isn’t a true indication of future performance. Basically, we don’t care what they have averaged, it is what they will average with the opponents they have still in their fixture.
• Just 2 more weeks til league finals. Get yourself into them and the top four if you can.
• Don’t despair with all these injuries. Odds are there are plenty of other coaches in the same predicament you are.
• Trades in RDT and SC are like gold this time of year. If you can try and hold at least 3 for the finals in those comps. Things only get harder from here!

Bit of a different format for you this week but there was so much going on with players in and out this week I thought this was the best way to tackle it. Whilst there were some massive scores last week imagine how much bigger some could have been if Cogs played the game out! But that is the game right? Look to try and improve your team each and every week and don’t dwell on what might have been, look for the opportunity that having to trade a premium out gives you. I think that this year I am seeing so many more unique teams this year due to all of the carnage we have seen and the evenness in some of the lines.
Until next Friday have a great weekend!