Trade period fantasy footy gossip

Adam Treloar

Conjecture has raged about what prompted the Collingwood Football Club to push Adam Treloar out the door but DT Talk can reveal that it stems from concern about his conduct in the club’s fantasy football draft league.

Treloar was infamous at the Holden Centre for offering outrageous trades and fooling fellow fantasy coaches about injured players.

The club has admitted that months of discontent followed Treloar’s attempts to trade himself out of his draft side after he injured both his hammies in the notorious ‘silly salmon’ incident of 2018.

Treloar told his opponents that he would be “right in a week or two” despite months on the sidelines.

Further criticism involved his behaviour during the draft itself, including autopicking three years in a row and forcing the 5-7-1-5-8 to wait an entire minute each pick.

The commissioner explained that it is messy to expel a coach from a draft league, particularly when they are the admin of the league’s Facebook Group and WhatsApp chat.

List manager Ned Guy, however, agreed that trading Treloar to another club was the best solution for everyone involved.

Josh Dunkley

Luring Josh Dunkley away from the Western Bulldogs looks near impossible and trade analysts have been scratching their heads why Essendon would attempt it.

The star midfielder has two years left his contract and the Bulldogs have no need for draft picks with a bid on NGA prospect Jamarra Ugle-Hagan expected early in the first round.

It has now come to light, however, that Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro owns Dunkley in a keeper league and was fed up with his best captain option playing out of position.

Dunkley was used in the ruck this year and spent long stints in the forward line, with his fantasy points suffering as a result.

Dodoro has guaranteed Dunkley that coach Ben Rutten will play him solely as an inside midfielder, which should see his fantasy average return to at least 110.

It is not the first time Essendon’s trade strategy has been influenced by Dodoro’s fantasy team though.

Dodoro also owns Devon Smith and threw pick 11 at the Giants in 2017 before pressuring former coach John Worsfold to play the tackling machine predominantly in the guts.

Jeremy Cameron

It is no stretch of the imagination to think that the Geelong Football Club could have been 2020 Premiers with Jeremy Cameron in their forward line.

Yet the club has reservations about sending their first round picks to Greater Western Sydney now that the Giants have matched their free agency offer.

Geelong holds picks 13 and 15 but, although list manager Stephen Wells believes Cameron is easily worth both, fantasy coaches at the club have raised concerns about how GWS would use them at the draft.

Senior Cats have been dismayed that GWS picks promising midfielders with their first round picks, only to use them in the forward line and drop them in and out of the side.

The poor job security has caused headaches for classic coaches and resulted in donuts.

Fantasy fanatics in Geelong would prefer the Giants debut their young guns early and throw them into the midfield so they can flourish as cash cows.

GWS has countered that Jackson Hately and Jye Caldwell will still be excellent value options at their new clubs, but Geelong is not convinced by their inflated prices.

Zac Williams

$900,000 a year for Zac Williams might seem ludicrous, but not in the eyes of Carlton list manager Nick Austin.

Austin’s fantasy classic team was on track for a top 100 cap this year, but his season was derailed by misfortune in defence.

Austentatious Austeitis Pubis paid up for Nick Haynes before he was tagged for 25 in Round 12 and traded in Bachar Houli for 38 and 55 to finish off the season.

Austin told the Blues that his top priority would be recruiting a defender to play in the midfield so fantasy coaches would have a lock in defence to start 2021.

When asked why Carlton is paying almost a million dollars a year for a player who might not have the tank to play in the midfield all game, Austin countered that Lachie Neale hit $900,000 in classic this year and that is what he hopes Williams can achieve.