The Thursday Scramble: Round 1

All right, Round 0 is now behind us and we are good to go for the Fantasy season! As much as some us didn’t like the idea of Round 0 it certainly helped us out making a few decisions and unfortunately we saw a couple of popular selections go down with injuries and we got some scores that we may not have been expecting. So what does this do to our teams, well it just means we still have to Scramble!

Time for Final Decisions

After getting our free look at 8 of the teams last weekend we are now having to lock in that all important starting squad. We certainly learnt a lot from round 0 and I think a few of us ‘got lucky’ with some of the decisions that we now have to change. Now this obviously came as a couple of guys went down with season ending injuries which is terrible for Doc and Coleman and we wish them all the best in their recovery. But this really solidified the decision for those that were considering their options between Coleman and Z Williams.

We also saw some rookies put their hands up. Not many people thought that Howes from the Demons was going to get the game time and scoring that he did against the Swans. We also got a good look at Caleb Windsor and I certainly liked what I saw from him. This certainly helped me and I know it helped others too. His score wasn’t mind blowing, but the kid did not look out of place on the field.

And what about Brodie Grundy, The RuckPig showed us that without Ladhams he can put up a very handy score. I only wish that we got to see Xerri in round 0 as well.

Other things that I just wanted to mention from round 0 that I observed

• Whilst we have Z Williams now locked in to a lot of sided, he did slow down his scoring towards the end of the game, this may have been because Carlton were on top but with two years out he could have also hit the wall. Don’t be surprised to see him thrown the red vest on occasion, we just need him to make his points before then as he isn’t a full season keeper at this stage.
• Heeney looked great and saw 58% CBA’s but there was a quote I heard somewhere from Horse that he did think about parking Heeney forward which is not what we want to hear. So just be careful
• Gold Coast won’t get to play Richmond every week (I can’t beleive that I have just written that), Let’s be honest, for much of the game Richmond weren’t great and the Gold Coast did as they pleased. So just keep that in mind when you are selecting the Suns players that scored well last week.
• Just watch the tactics that teams are employing against Max Gawn. The Swans seemed to run into him and bump him around every chance they got which wore him down as the game went on. Hopefully this doesn’t become a trend but it is certainly a possibility. (I am still going to try squeeze him in my side).
• Lastly, don’t excpect the big scores from guys like Roberts, Howes and Windsor each week. We know it is a raffle each week to see which rookie is going to score well and which isn’t, don’t beat yourself up if you get the wrong rookie in the on-field lottery.

Price Rises and Round 0

I know this has been covered in mulitple podcasts this week but I just wanted to give you a little reminder of how it works.

Now when you are making decisions, just remember that all these scores from Round 0 are included in the price changes for all these players even though their scores don’t count in your individual scores for the season. So for someone like Howes he will have a very handy price increase after his next game thanks to that big round 0 score.

Things are a bit different depending on the game you are playing so just take note:

AFL Fantasy. The round 0 score will stay in the price rise cycle (albeit at a lower weighting as each week passes) for 5 weeks. So someone like a Gulden will have that low score in their calculations for a while. However, its impact will lessen over time. With AFL Fantasy, those players that played Round 0 and also play in Round 1 will have a TWO price rise impact after this week. If they play round 0 but not round 1 then they will still have a price rise after round 1.

RealDreamteam and Supercoach. In these games the scores from round 0 will be in the regular 3 week rolling average price cycles that those games have. But because those games don’t change prices until after the players have played 3 games, that round 0 score will only be in the rolling average for 1 price change then it is gone.

I will admit I don’t know how the pricing works in Bolter as yet (Selby has probably explained it but I have probably forgotten).

So I guess all I want to do here is make sure that you are all aware (as best I can describe it) what the impact Round 0 scores will have on the players prices after round 1.

Round 1 Important Notes

Get your teams filled before the first game, just in case the system tries to auto fill your team with randoms who happen to be in that game and are then locked in your team. Nothing worse! So just put people in that are going to be playing later in the weekend so that you can still change them around.

Get your leagues filled. Usually at some stage over the weekend the leagues will be set for the season and if you don’t have the required number you will be filled randoms or merged with another league, so if you don’t want that make sure you hit up your mates to join before the timer runs out (which is usually mid weekend at some stage)

Leagues!

Hey folks, I have created a few leagues for you to all put me to shame in again this year!  So feel free to jump in, but as always, I ask you only jump in one per Game format so that it gives others a chance to play against fellow Thursday Scramblers.

AFL Fantasy

The Thursday Scramblers  NUFS2TTN
Let’s Scramble  TXS5YSLL

RealDreamteam

Thursday Scramble  743959
Scramble Time  567428

Supercoach

Thurs Scrambling  258654
DTTalk Scramblers 665610

Bolter

Time to Scramble  771310
Come Scramble with Me 538214

Things To Remember

• All Carlton and Richmond players will be locked tonight! So make sure you have them where you want coz you won’t be able to change them tomorrow
• You don’t win the comp in round 1! So many times the ultimate winner has been in the 20,000+ range after round 1 (so there is hope for Warnie and Calvin!)
• Don’t be shocked when your player doesn’t replicate the huge score we saw in a practice game. They are just that, Practice Games.
• As the weekend rolls through each team will be locked as their games begin, so your options will get less and less as the weekend goes by.

So here we are, the start of another Fantasy season. Best of luck to everyone, have a great season and importantly remember, this game is there for fun (oh and to win a Car or a hat, but mainly fun) so don’t get too stressed over it. For those playing against me in leagues, I look forward to beating you all (but if I don’t just don’t tell everyone!). Most of all though, enjoy having the footy back and get out there and support your team and have fun.

Dunny

A passionate Port Adelaide Fan who simply loves footy! That is how I would describe myself. Catch my weekly article "The Thursday Scramble" with all the last minute things to think about for the weekend Follow: @pkd73.