The Thursday Scramble: Round 1

Here we are!  Footy is back, we have had two real games but tonight is the game we care about most and that is the start of the Fantasy season! All that preseason work comes down to this weekend, when that West Coast v Gold Coast game starts on Sunday evening our teams are locked and loaded for the year and we then only have our designated number of trades to navigate your team through the rest of the season. So as we head into that first lockout tonight with Richmond and Carlton, it is time to Scramble!!

So what did we learn?

Whether you have watched every preseason game or you have just skimmed a few articles it is time to put everything you have learnt into practice. Here are a few of the things that I will be using when framing my team for this season.

• Take some of the AAMI games with a grain of salt.
  We all know that the AAMI and practice games are often all we get to see of a team before they roll out in round 1. But we also know that this is often a time for a coach to try something new, or for a star player to get a bit of an easier workload or for the rookies to get more of a go to try and put their hand up for a debut. So just don’t expect the same results from players that we saw in those games. By all means they are a good guide, but look at the game as a whole and not just at what a player did in isolation.
• Don’t put all your eggs in the round 0 hype.
  Very similar to the AAMI game in a way that this is a sample size of just one game for these four teams that played last weekend. If you just used that game as your guide then you would put a big red line through Nick Daicos, but we know that this isn’t what we are likely to get from him all season. Similarly, just beware that those that had big games aren’t likely to do that every week either.  I guess what I am saying here is that don’t get upset when you don’t get 100+ from Matt Roberts every week.
• Sydney are going to tag
  Will Day came into a lot of sides over the weekend but when you break that game down he did much of his damage in the first half before he got the tag from Jordon (and also before it rained). But this tells us to just be careful when selecting a captain (but no doubt Calvin is already all over this).
• There are lots of Rookies, but who to pick?
  Did I hear Warnie say Rookie Crisis??  Well not sure that there is one and as always a few have bobbed their heads up at the last minute and demanded that we pick them.  I am certainly not going to pretend I am a rookie expert so head on over to Fry’s article from yesterday and that will tell you all you need to know. And if you like what you read, then consider subscribing to Fry’s Patreon, he knows what he is doing and could be invaluable to your success.

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times…

Every season we see coaches panic and crack it after one of their players fails. Don’t worry about it. It is only round 1 and that is what we have trades for, to fix up those mistakes. But… don’t be too excited to pull the trigger. Make sure you deep dive into why that score happened. Was it a role change based on game situation, was it a tag, was it an injury niggle. Once you know the cause of the lack of points production, you can then make a more informed decision about what you should do with that player and your team.

If you look back at the articles done on the winners in recent years, very rarely do they start in the top 100 and stay there. More often than not they will be quite low and then rise their way to the top through strategic trading. As the old saying goes, you don’t win the competition with your starting squad, you have to trade your way to it.

Injuries gonna happen

This year we have seen more injuries to star players in the preseason than I can remember. Whilst this does mean that many of the starting squads are a little more similar, it is about how and importantly when you get those stars back into your sides once they return. So that could be the differentiator for your side this year, did you jump back on Bont when he came back for his ‘blow out the cobwebs’ game or did you jump on when he gets his first 120 after injury. There is no magic formula on when to bring someone in.
Similarly, if you cop an injury in the first couple of rounds, just wear it, move to the next best option and go from there.

Just coz a rookie is named…

It is at this time of year we all pour one out for our good mate, Relton Roberts.

Just because a rookie is named last minute in the team out of nowhere, it doesn’t mean that you should put him in your team. If you haven’t heard their name mentioned over the last month, there is probably a good reason for it.

Just coz a rookie scores over 75…..

When you see a rookie go nuts this weekend that we didn’t expect, be careful before shuffling everything on Monday to get them into your side. We have seen it before where a rookie goes big out of nowhere and then the next week they score a 10 and never to be seen again after that. Trust your research. This doesn’t mean you can’t pick them, but make sure it isn’t just a big score you are basing it on, make sure they have that role going forward and like everything else, is it something that you think is sustainable for them.

Things to Remember

– Rolling Lockout of Players! This is very very important.  Your Blues and Tigers will be Locked into position TONIGHT. So make your final choices there. Similarly it will lock each player as their games start. This includes things like emergencies and captains as that player is locked.

– Leagues. Make sure your leagues are full and all sorted before the weekend. In the past leagues that weren’t full have been filled with ‘random’ people once the round is underway.

– Don’t try and use a loophole on a rookie that is on an extended bench on Sunday because you think they might not play.  If they do end up getting a game you could get a captain score that is horrifically low if they get a vest. So play it smart!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the fact that fantasy is back from tonight and we have another 24 rounds to try and completely destroy our teams to the point we can’t wait to see the back of them in August (well, those of us that aren’t in hat territory).

Enjoy and see you next Thursday morning!

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.