Due to the coronavirus, the annual St Kilda v Port Adelaide game, scheduled for round 11 on Sunday May 31 in Shanghai, has been moved back to Australia but it will be played in a different round.
The match will be played the following round (12) on Sunday June 7 at Marvel Stadium. This means that the Saints and Power will have their bye in round 11 rather than round 12 making the bye rounds look a bit different in 2020.
While this isn’t new to Fantasy coaches as this is how it looked a couple of years ago when the Power played the Suns in China, it will change our thinking as the neat three week bye period is extended to four rounds.
What does it mean for Fantasy coaches
Fantasy Classic coaches selecting their initial side may look to fade Saints and Power players. Last time there was the standalone China bye, it was still normal 22 scoring and two trades leading in.
Treating them as upgrade targets would be the go as the basic bye strategy coaches follow is to offload players with a bye coming up for someone coming off a bye. The first bye round (round 12) is always a tough one as everyone has a bye coming up, but remember, we still have three trades to use. Now, with the St Kilda and Port Adelaide players playing right through the ‘main’ multi-bye period, they’re playing an extra game than players from the other 16 clubs. Using your three trades to get in three STK/PTA players is going to be common strategy.
Could it be that we look towards Jack Billings, Seb Ross, Jack Steele, Travis Boak and Tom Rockliff to bring in the midfield over that period? Or is it not starting with Dan Houston (I’m not recommending this) because of the early bye adds to the ‘risk’? Maybe Rowan Marshall has FWD status by then? Or we could even move on a mid-priced ruck such as Sam Jacobs to him a bit earlier if needed? There’s plenty to think about.
Basically, you’d have to second guess any premium players you’re picking… however, if they are value (Houston, Roberton… maybe Rocky, especially with that early draw), you will have to weight it all up.
For Fantasy Draft coaches, St Kilda and Port Adelaide players should be moved down you draft order slightly. Maybe it’s a slight overreaction, but you don’t want to be drafting someone who will be missing one of your games. If you’re playing through byes, it could make them more valuable, but looking at the statistics of league set ups, the majority have byes off.
If you have already drafted, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start planning for cover for that week. Maybe look to Essendon players as they have the Suns in round 11. Or could it be a Bulldog up against Carlton on their Fantasy favourite home deck, Marvel Stadium?
Definitely something to think through for Draft regardless of whether you have drafted or not. Having suitable cover for any Saints or Port players is important. Or, you can throw caution to the wind and throw the round if everyone in your league is off them… who knows, you could end up with a bargain on Draft day.
Hmmm… this might have to be a topic on an upcoming podcast!
Listen to the AFL Fantasy Podcast with The Traders at Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
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Cheers
March 4, 2020 at 8:49 am
There is two topics right there
1. China game cancelled
2. Defence
We may not need to listen another hour of the same people in the fwds we heard them all.. how wicked is that!!
Warnie
March 4, 2020 at 3:25 pm
Conversations flow wherever the conversations go!
Cheers
March 4, 2020 at 3:41 pm
I sure did left a question about defence for second week in a row.. and that got complete looked over. And still on the fwds were traders after 40 mins. Brayshaw rozee wingard same people over and over with same questions got boring real fast. So conversation went boring cheers…
Warnie
March 4, 2020 at 3:58 pm
We get hundreds of questions, apologies that yours was missed. We try to get through as many as possible and if there are similar questions (ie. a lot asking about structure and one of the key parts of that is forwards), so we bundle some up to cater for the masses.
BTW – You’re going to love Calvin’s article on here tomorrow.
Grateful
March 4, 2020 at 4:59 pm
Imagine complaining about receiving free advice for Fantasy.
Thanks for your advice Warnie. Keep up the good work
dulcify56
March 4, 2020 at 2:51 pm
Warnie, with this game being rescheduled to round 11 how will this impact the Shiva leagues?
Warnie
March 4, 2020 at 3:24 pm
Means I probably won’t be drafting any Saints/Power players… unless I feel like I’m getting them as bargains.
adrx2019
March 4, 2020 at 7:13 pm
Warnie, I don’t understand why this clown wants you to talk about defence… It’s not really an intriguing topic for discussion!
Plainly, each vanilla DEF is set ! Houston (D1), Doc (D2), Roberton (D4), H.Young (D5), Gould (D6). Where the only issue is too start Cerra, H.Clark or Ridley in that remaining spot or pay up for a premium like Crisp.
What is so tough about that. That critic needs to sort it out. Even with Young’s ‘injury’ there is capacity for contingency plans in Brander, Greaves, Butts or even within Fremantle itself with Tobe Watson.
Cheers
March 4, 2020 at 9:32 pm
Haha you do know young is injured but gl hahaha adrxmuppet2019
Euman
March 4, 2020 at 9:33 pm
So is young playing or not?
Charlie
March 4, 2020 at 10:02 pm
Hayden Young is having his training loads managed according to AFL.com.au. Nobody really knows if he’s fit too play or not only him and his trainers know.
Solly
March 5, 2020 at 10:38 pm
So in Draft, with bye rounds off… is Round 11 a bye for us, or will we get DNPs for our Saints/Power players? The “Season 2020 – Key Dates” section on the AFLF site states only Rd12,13,14 as byes.
Solly
March 5, 2020 at 10:51 pm
Edit: We also still have fixtures for Round 11 in our league.
Fairly definitive then. It’s a round with a bye in it, but it’s not a bye round according to the byes: on/off setting.
Warnie
March 5, 2020 at 10:54 pm
DNPs. It sucks, but that’s how it is. Was the same a couple of years ago when PTA played GCS in China. They had an earlier bye round.
Solly
March 6, 2020 at 12:06 am
Worth their weight in gold come R12/13/14 in Classic!