The Thursday Scramble: Round 7

Lest We Forget.

I want to start this article just taking a moment to reflect and pay respects to all the servicemen and servicewomen who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our great country to provide us with the freedoms we enjoy today. Also I want to express my thanks to all those currently serving and those who have served.

Now, on to the scramble!

So the early byes are done! Hoorah! Does that make our lives any easier? Hell no!  There are still plenty of things that we need to worry about this week. Nowhere to hide any of those rubbish scores this week as it is no longer best 18!  Time to Scramble!!

What about last night?

So, did you have the VC on Max last night? He had a huge first quarter but then did slow for a bit and I was worried that he was injured or something had happened to him, but no sooner had I sent my tweet to see if I was the only one that had noticed, he took a contested mark and kicked a goal. From then on he was fantastic and top scored in AF and SC. In all forms of the game you would be taking that as a VC score. You all have Max right?

Jacob Hopper can’t seem to take a trick. Finally comes back in from injury and he then pings a hammy. Doesn’t help those that have him in draft leagues! (like me).  Petracca was held to be very quiet for much of the game after a tag from Pickett but thanks to a good last qtr and a late goal he ended with a good score. Oliver got off to a slow start but also got better as the game went on but he is still struggling to get some good scores.

The Byes are done!   Or are they?

We are done with the early mini-bye rounds finally. So we can all sit back and relax right?  Hell no. This is the first of just 5 rounds before we get to the midseason bye rounds which start at round 12.

Have you had a look at how your squad is looking before round 12 for the byes? That’s ok if you haven’t but it is time to start thinking about that and importantly it is time to start planning your trades with that in mind.  Our first bye round has Sydney, GWS, North and Brisbane.  This could be a bit of a danger round with a lot of teams having multiple Sydney, North and Giants players in them. So if you are planning to bring in someone like Gulden this week just look and see if you have Grundy, Heeney, Jordon as well as Xerri, Fisher, McKercher, Powell and Tom Green.  That is a lot of premiums that you could be missing out on in that week.  Personally my team is going to be in a bit of trouble so I need to make sure that I avoid bringing in anyone that is a part of that bye.

The moral of the story I guess is that it is never too early to plan.

Phew, I need a rest!

We have seen some resting going on already this season and before we get teams tonight we already know that the hugely popular Harley Reid is going to be rested. This is a bit of a kick in the pants after his great score last week. But we know that we all need to be prepared for things like this and particularly with the rookies, the clubs will try and protect them given the heavy workload. Do we trade Harley?  No is my answer. I will be holding him and covering him from my bench.

Time to Cash In?

As we are now officially in upgrade season we need to find some players to cash in. Often these players will stand out to us and the simple rule is generally once a rookie’s breakeven reaches their average it is time to go. But I have a few things I also look at as a part of this.

Whilst I generally stick to the breakeven game above I will also look to see what the scoring level of a player is. If the player has been scoring in the 60+ range then I will consider them to be ‘not my biggest issue’ and they can wait if I have other problems like injuries, suspensions and underperforming mid pricers that are going to lose more money.  Also, I will prioritise someone that is going to lose cash over a ‘bench injury’ so if I have someone that isn’t likely to hit the park for me and they aren’t playing, they aren’t a priority as they aren’t going to lose me any money and can wait.

Also, don’t force a downgrade if you don’t need to. Sometimes there will be someone that you want to get rid of but there isn’t an obvious downgrade target for you to go to. Unless the player you want to trade out is going to lose you a heap of money then you may be better off holding them to eek out another $500 or so rather just bringing in a bottom price player that is never going to play. If you do that you can get stuck with someone that is just going to rot on your bench and take up a valuable space for the rest of the season.

Things to Remember

• There are two games today still and we won’t get weekend teams until after this afternoon’s game.
• Harley Reid is being rested. Take him off your ground
• All your players count, no hiding in the shadows this week!
• A few more DPPs on offer now but as I said the other week, Don’t simply trade a guy in because of DPP.

Have a great ANZAC day holiday today and for those making it an extra long weekend (like me) enjoy the weekend and if you are at LIV golf in Adelaide I might see you there!

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.