The Thursday Scramble: Round 16

What can you say. Anything can, and will, happen. As Fantasy coaches all we can do is play the cards we are dealt. Who knows where the games are going to be played or what else might have to change. All we can do is plan for everything to be as the round is laid out for us and then just adjust as we go. It may not be us doing it but the AFL is certainly…. Scrambling!

Trading Strategy

Most people have now either ‘finished’ their teams or they have only one or two spots left to upgrade. The tricky part here is managing those last couple of upgrades with little to no cash generation happening. So you need to consider what we consider a completed team and how you are going to get there.

Best Available

In an ideal world we will always pick up the best player we can using all of our cash. You always look to try and get the player that you think will average the best for the rest of the season. This is going to give you the best possible chance to win your league and also to get the best ranking you can get. However, if you are going to do this you are really relying on having cash generation for each of the spots that you have left. We know that this year getting that cash has been hard and the deeper we go into the season it also gets harder. So if you have two positions that you need to upgrade still you may still want to look for someone that is a little more value with your upgrade trade this week so that you can then use that cash to get the best player you can for that final upgrade.

Playing the Break even game

With just the 8 rounds remaining playing the waiting game with break evens gets less and less valuable. The longer that you wait means that it is more weeks that you have to stick with players that aren’t going to score as much. Now I am not saying this is a bad thing, I did it in Supercoach last week. I had virtually no cash in bank and the player I wanted to trade out had a very low BE and the player I wanted to bring in had a relatively high one so I did wait because I know I will need every cent I have to upgrade the week after too. But the thing you need to weigh up is what is the points difference you are giving up this week to get those better players in the coming two weeks. And with each passing week this gets more and more important. As each week passes the points that the players you bring in have to generate to justify this type of play gets higher and higher.

So while we do justify some of our trades with “we are playing the break even game” there does come a point where that isn’t worth it and you just have to take the bull by the horns and make that trade.

Make the trade while you can

Following on from above, there have always been circumstances in the past where we have all said “I’ll just wait a week to get that player as his price will drop” and by the time we get to that next week there is another issue that we have to deal with. So if you have decided that you want to get Dangerfield in this week but you think he will drop in price and you decide that you will get him in next week, then we get to next week and one of your other premiums is out injured for 4 weeks. You then have to make that trade and it stops you getting Dangerfield, and the lower the value of the “premium” that gets injured the harder it is for you to do an upgrade. So as the number of weeks remaining decreases the more urgency there is to bring in your premiums sooner.

Any niggle in a star player in a bottom 6 side means there is a likelihood that they will get sent for surgery earlier rather than push through to the end of the season as they don’t need to if they won’t make finals.

Should I keep cash in the bank?

This is often a question we hear every season. This really depends on your team and your plans going forward. What you should do (as best you can) is work through your trading plans over the coming weeks that gets you to a point where you have the team that you want to have for the rest of the year before you start just hanging on and tweaking your side. While I still have some positions that need to be upgraded I try and get as much value from my trades as I can and keep some cash in the bank but once I am upgrading that last on field position I will use as much as I need to. Any trades after that point should be sideways swapping premiums that are struggling or injured so hopefully they have enough cash in them that you can get whoever you need.

D0n’t completely destroy your bench.

While we are trying to squeeze every cent we can out of our benches we don’t want to end up with a bench full of players that are not playing and aren’t likely to get a game. We will still need these guys at some point as there is going to be the inevitable rounds where we have a late out that we can’t do anything about or more injuries in a week than trades we have available. The last thing you want is to get stuck with two blokes on your forward bench (and no DPP available to move them around) who are never going to play.

Things to Remember

• Remember to have your loopholes in place if you planning on using the VC Loophole.
• Game times can change at short notice. Keep your ears open to see what is happening.
• Plan your trades ahead but don’t be surprised when you need to change them.

What a crazy week it has been and don’t be surprised if things are going to get even crazier before the season is over. So just have some contingency plans in place as best you can.  Enjoy the weekend of footy and we will meet back here again next week to do it all over again.