The Thursday Scramble: Rd14

Wow what a curveball we were thrown last weekend with the shifting of the Tigers and Eagles game. I bet that stuffed up a heap of your trading plans for this week. Well you aren’t the only one and with 8 teams on a bye this week we are looking at the biggest Scramble week we have seen for some time!

Could we be going Under 18?

As I talked about last week we now have only 10 teams to choose players from this week. This will make it very difficult to get to 18 players this week. But don’t be surprised if we see a number of teams not get there this week. We aren’t all as lucky as Calvin with all his green dots!  I just want to chat here this week about a few players and a few thoughts on what we should do with them this week and if it is worth trading them to get you to 18.

Dayne Zorko. Just what we don’t need in the bye weeks and that is a suspension. He has had some great form recently but is it a good time to trade him? Ideally if you wanted to get rid of him last week would have been your best bet. However, if you still have him and want to trade him it wouldn’t be the worst idea. If you have a look at the Lions team you will notice that Lachie Neale returned in their last game which now means we have Neale, Zorko and Lyons all competing for the midfield possessions. When there was just two of them there were plenty of points to go around, but now with all three it is just that little bit harder. If you want to use this to justify trading out Zorko then go right ahead. We are generally against side swapping players but given that we were given extra trades in all formats of the game it can also be justified that way.

Brodie Grundy. You have held him this long with his injury, you may as well hold him one more week through his bye. Initial reports had him ready to go when we got to R15 and he was going to be missing this week anyway. The time to trade him was two weeks ago.

Jodan De Goey. If you are an owner just be prepared to be without him for the next two weeks thanks to that one week suspension. Just when we finally get the role and the good score from him we see this suspension. If you are planning to trade him because he will be out then this is the week you must do it. No point holding him for the bye this week and then trade him before his suspension game.

Jai Newcombe. If you didn’t go early on him last week I say get on board this week. As a bottom priced rookie he looks very settled in that team and the obviously brought him in for a reason. A performance like last week should see him stay in the side for a few weeks to come yet.

Heeney. The Heeney of the last week was a big concern for owners, but he has had some good scores of late. If you are desperate for an upgrade to get to 18 then he could be someone to look at, but I would lean towards holding him.

Luke Edwards. If only the Eagles were playing this week. This guy looked brilliant and is on the bubble for R15. You could certainly look to take him early this week even though he is on the bye in a bit of a cash grab, but that is the problem, he isn’t going to play. But for those of you playing the longer game his cash could be the difference for you getting that better premium.

As I said last week and as many others have said since, battling to get to 18 may not be worth it. Take stock of your team and make it better, don’t just bring someone in for the sake of getting to 18 players this week. The 40 points you may gain this week could be overshadowed by the points you can earn over the last 9 rounds by making your team better this week.

Selection Table Issues

Just a few bits here that you should keep in mind with your trading this week.

Flynn v Reeves. These two guys play in the last two games of the round with Reeves in the only Sunday game. Many coaches had planned to trade out Flynn to Reeves in R13 and had already spent the cash they were going to make on other upgrades (I know I certainly had). But with Reeves being a late out thanks to that Ankle injury the day before at training it meant we had to throw out the trade plans and start again (Remember how I am always saying you need to have multiple plans in place). So this week with the Hawks having that last game it may be a gamble. (this whole section could of course become redundant if he isn’t named tonight at all!)

Darcy Moore. Another season ending injury for a player. Unfortunately a forced trade but given he is on the bye this week anyway it will certainly help you with your plans to get that elusive 18 on the field.

Non Playing Rookies. Hands up who still has Tyler Brockman or Tom Fullarton in their side. I know I have one of them still. This is one of the problems we have in the bye periods and that is that these guys have been happily sitting on our benches for weeks but now is the time we really need them. They haven’t made us enough money to justify being traded out but we can’t afford to keep them in our sides. My advice here is that if you can effectively side swap them to a rookie that is playing this week (and hopefully beyond) then you would be well justified in doing so. Not only does it get remove a position waster from your side it also allows you to have some growth in a player for a few weeks at least and hopefully provide you with some level of bench cover for the remainder of the season.

Value vs Guns. With the simple lack of cash generation available to us this season we may need to compromise to get to that elusive completed team. I know that in Supercoach I really want to bring in the Bont this week, but if I do that then I am limiting what else I can do going forward and it certainly makes it harder for me to do a double upgrade this week. So looking at someone a little cheaper may be what you need to do if you have no other way to get the cash you need.

Danger and Duncan. Just have a good look at their break even’s in your game of choice as in most forms they have high BE’s and whilst they are attractive and would look good in your side, in a season where we are chasing value you may just want to hold off for another week or maybe two before you bring them into your side.

Things to Remember

• Anyone with a blue dot is able to be your captain and can be moved around right up until the start of the last game of the round.
• This game is a marathon and not a sprint. Set yourself up for the rest of the season.
• If you don’t care about rank and only play for leagues then the previous point means even more. With 4 trades in all formats this week it is an ideal time to make some bold moves in your side.

This looks to be one of the toughest weeks of Fantasy that we have seen in a very long time. As always, don’t panic about your score as it will possibly look very ordinary but just remember there are a heap of other teams that will be in exactly the same boat as you.
I am looking forward to coming to you next Thursday when we have full teams available again and we can look forward to our run to the Fantasy Finals which aren’t very far away now at all!