The Thursday Scramble: Round 23 – Prelim Finals

So we poked the bear in the last couple of weeks and the bear has attacked!  A couple of big name injuries and now we really do have some Scrambling to do!!

Holes Everywhere!

So we now have some work to do to get our teams in order for this week. We know we have Tim English out with that ankle (some got an early heads up on this as he was seen in a moon boot on the plane on the way home from Adelaide, not sure if he injured it in the game or on a run up to Hindley st Maccas after the game to get a burger at a third of the price he would have to pay at Adelaide Oval) and we also have Charlie Curnow out with an ankle that is apparently made of play doh. Add to that talk today that Harry Sheezel has all but ruled himself out of the game this week. And with Harry playing the last game of the round I think many coaches will be very nervous if he is named to night knowing he is a big chance to be a late out.

So, what are our plans??

First things first. If you have all three of these guys then your next question is ‘what does my cover look like?’. I am going to guess that the line you have the best cover in is going to be your forward line. Many coaches have a guy like Manage or Fyfe or similar who you can swing from your mids to the forwards. So if you have all three and you have that sort of cover, then Curnow is the one that you may need to hold this week. Even if you are running a Jackson, odds are he is on the field and you will need to swing him to the ruck to cover for English and then you need someone to cover Jackson.

One saving grace for both English and Sheezel is they are at least worth some cash and they both pretty much finished out the games on the weekend. So you have a heap of options that you can go to.  Normally I don’t give too much advice in terms of who to go to, but for those asking. To replace English, (and obviously it is going to depend on your cash available) I like Xerri, Marshall if you have some cash available, but don’t count out Max who seems to have gotten over his issues with a big outing last week against Port. However, just beware he does have Witts this week who can slow the scoring a little. Max is cheaper so could be a good option so you can use the cash to upgrade one of the other guys. You could go right down to a Jackson who could be a really good option with word that Darcy is set to miss again. This would generate heaps of cash for you to put on Curnow’s head if you need to.

As for Sheezel, well there I would be going Sinclair as my number one target and then Tom Stewart and with all the Carlton players out someone is going to have to get the footy so Nic Newman is a great pick and they have a good run home as well. If you have cash to spend then you could do worse than Lachie Whitfield who has been on a pretty good run (apart from last week) and knows how to put up some big numbers and fast. If you already had all those guys then I would be looking at a Wanganeen-Milera as your next option. He has Geelong this week who we know give up points.

Now, Curnow. I will put my hand up here. I said a few weeks back I liked him as an option because he was a really consistent scorer and didn’t have too many low lows. Well, a few weeks later that came and slapped me on the ass didn’t it. And to top it off he is now injured, so sorry to all those of you that I conned into picking him. Give we are really struggling for talent up forward and he isn’t worth much you are going to have to make some money from your other trade (whether that be downgrading one of the other injured guys or with a regular rookie downgrade) to be able to get to anyone decent.  Dylan Moore is the one that is close to his price that I like the most and another that could be good is Jeremy Cameron who has the Saints and the Eagles to finish off. others you could consider would be a Daniels who has been scoring really well and also Rankine who has just come back from suspension, however, he didn’t put up any really big numbers against the Dogs in that big win.

I guess the main thing that I want you to think about when doing all of this is that you shouldn’t just be taking the most expensive guy, look at their run over the next two weeks and also look at the structure of your side and look to see what cover you have and how you can utilise that to prioritise your trading to get the most value and the most points on field.

Limited trades?

So if you are a SuperCoach or a Real Dreamteam player (like me) you are probably very low on trades to the point where you may have only the one left. If that is the case and you have just one and have two (or three) holes to plug then the analysis of your cover becomes even more important. Remember you are going to possibly have to rely on that cover both this week and next if these guys don’t come back after this week. So keep that in mind.

If it were me with just 1 trade left and two or more issues then the Ruck is where I would use that trade. That is the hardest spot to plug and the only way that I would consider using a Jackson to move into the Ruck (if you already have him) is to move him to the ruck and then hopefully you have another DPP in the midfield that you can then move forward and this will allow you to recruit another star midfielder (depending on your cash reserves) which you should be able to get more points from than any forward you can bring in as you probably have all the big gun forwards anyway.

Things to Remember

• Just because you are behind in a matchup on Saturday night it doesn’t mean you are out of it. I had a SuperCoach Semi final won until Charlie Curnow happened! My opponent couldn’t believe his luck. So don’t give up!!
• Consult the Scale Of Hardness with your trades. With just two games to go it is super important.
• If you lose your league don’t give up. Keep going til the end of the season. You can still jump up the rankings.

Have a great weekend of footy. Plenty of good games coming up and some big Prelim finals to be won by you. So best of luck to you all (well those of you not playing against me) and see you all next Thursday for the lead up to the last round of the season!

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.