The Friday Scramble Round 20

It seems as though the season has only just started and here we are at finals time already! Hopefully you have made it into the top 8 and if you are in the top 4 then well done! Unfortunately this is when the game gets even harder, we will have players in teams that can’t make finals sent off for surgeries, some players will get rested so that rookies can get a game to see if they are worth holding in the squad for next year. We simply can’t trust anyone. All this means is…. more Scrambling!!

Finals Time

I don’t need to go into it too much here as you all know how it works by now. It is just like the AFL Finals and we all know how they work. So if you finished top four you get a double chance and if you are in positions 5-8 you are in an elimination final. The same thing happens in the bottom half too. If your league has 18 teams then the bottom two sides are done, season over.

It goes without saying that you do everything you can to win your elimination final, you can do this by doing such things as looking at your opponents side and trying to bring in some uniques or matching off their uniques by bringing that player in.

If you are in a limited trade format of the game then you should be looking to trade to win. If you are in a cash league you may want to do everything you can to win and use your trades as once you are eliminated you aren’t going to win any cash!

#AskDunny

Lads I need your help, crisp is a must have in defence, do I trade laird/houli or Stewart

— TeeJay (@tylermartin96) July 31, 2019

Hi TeeJay, Agree that Crisp is a must have at the moment and you have some interesting options there for trading out. All three of these guys have been key players to have during the year but I think at the moment I would be looking at Laird to trade out. His last few weeks haven’t been as great and he hasn’t hit the ton since his bye. The resurgence of Brodie Smith is certainly having an impact here. If you really want to keep Laird then Stewart is next on the list.  Houli is the one to keep.

1 rookie left in backline. Do I go one up/one down and get in a 540k defender, or go double down for a premium defender next week? I finished 2nd in league. And yes, I spent all my money on Whitfield last week…

— Phil (@philwasshere) July 31, 2019

This is an interesting one. It comes down to whether you are worried about your rank or if it is just leagues that you are going for. In this situation if you are worried about your rank then you need to decide how many more points you think that the $540k defender will get you this week over the rookie you have to field and then how many points less than the premium you will bring in next week your new player will get for the remaining three weeks. In this situation I think that you may be better off waiting that week for bigger points return (although this is heavily dependent on who the $540k player is).

Given you are second in your league and if that is all you are worried about you can afford to drop a week and still keep going. If you think you can win anyway with your rookie on field then go for the double down grade to make your team the strongest you possibly can for the remaining weeks. If you think the game might be close you may want to go the other way and trade, but will this make your team weaker for the all important Semi and Prelim finals if you can’t do anything with the $540k guy you get in.

I know I have come to a similar conclusion here in both circumstances but I wanted to give you an idea of my thought patterns here, this won’t be the right answer for everyone and it really is team dependent and the further away from the end of the season we are the answer changes. If we still had 8 weeks to go then I say double down and get the cash for an uber premium. But I think that next week or the week after the points differential will be much less and you would go for the $540k guy to get the win in a knockout final.

Is it worth trading out Newman and Curnow for Gawn and Hunter Clark. Moving Marshall forward.

— Tom Eckstein (@TEckst) July 31, 2019

I actually really like that move if you can pull it off. I think that your scoring is a little safer with Gawn and Clark. Now we do know that Preuss has been named this week and that of course throws a spanner in the works, but I think that when you look at the combined score of the two pairings I think that Gawn and Clark should do better. I simply have more faith in them than the two Carlton boys.

I’m rolling with Grundy and Witts in the ruck and Marshall as a fwd at the moment. I’ve got Witts as a unique (opponent doesn’t have Gawn). Is it worth trading witts to Gawn or trying to upgrade someone like a Stewart or Matt Crouch?

— Ace Miller (@amx_____) July 31, 2019

Ordinarily I would say to get in Gawn at all costs, but at the moment, with Witts’ form and Preuss coming back in combined with the terrible form of Crouch and the below expectation scoring for Stewart, I like this move.  If it were me I would be looking to upgrade Matt Crouch. The difference between his scoring and the top premium mids is a bigger gap than that between Stewart and someone that you would bring in to replace him.

If your opponent has Grundy and neither of Witts or Gawn then who do they have? It must be Goldy??

field hanrahan or langlands?

— Julian Franze (@JulianFranze3) July 31, 2019

Is neither an option??  If you are faced with this choice I think you have been following Calvin’s advice a bit much this year, perhaps latch on to Roy or maybe Warnie.  But seriously this is a no win situation really. For me it is Hanrahan, I just don’t like Langlands v Adelaide in Adelaide.

Got 672k should I be getting toby Greene as an upgrade from Hanrahan or look elsewhere for other players like curnowor hunter Clarke

— Jordy (@jRothfield23) July 31, 2019

Like they say in footy, first give every time. And in this case, your first thought every time.  Greene is clearly having a different role with the injuries that the Giants have and is scoring like a midfielder, I picked him up a couple of weeks ago and haven’t looked back. I think he is a safer option than the other two guys (as long as he doesn’t get suspended of course and with finals on offer I suspect he is on his best beahviour).

Selection Table

Reasonably uneventful week at selection this week from a fantasy perspective I think.  But here are my thoughts on a couple of the moves.

Scott Lycett  is omitted??  What the hell Kenny? I just don’t get his one, they are playing a team without a recognised ruck and they drop their best ruck. If you have him up forward you will need to trade given it is a final.
Bewley has been omitted so you won’t be relying on him for bench cover.
Ryan is out injured but we knew that and is a must trade.
Preuss is back as we all  know and this could be a concern for Max, but all it means for me is no C for the big fella.
Stack is out injured so it is time to cash him in.
Adams has been named again, but I wouldn’t bring him back in just yet.
Hurn’s old man calf is apparently ok (healed faster than mine does!)

There are a lot of other changes but they are the key ones for me.

Things to Remember

• Just because you aren’t in the top 8 it doesn’t mean you give up! Play it out and hopefully improve your rank
• If you are in an elimination final, leave it all on the field, you may need to do something wacky to get the win.
• In Limited Trade formats you may need to use trades to get the win. I would be happy going down to 2 trades left after this round if I had to.

Best of luck everyone. Hopefully you can get the win and push deeper into the finals. I am going to try and jump online tomorrow morning or lunch time to answer some questions, as always I am sorry if I don’t but work does make it hard for me to get on before it is too late to be of any use to you all. Cheers to everyone that does help people out (and to the guy on twitter that answered all the questions that you had when you replied to my tweet).

Catch you all next Friday!