The Thursday Scramble: Round 5

Gather Round is upon us and most importantly we are turning our backs on best 18 for a few weeks now.  Meaning no hiding for your poor scorers and this can only mean one thing! Time to Scramble!!

Going down like Bowling Pins!

What a week of injuries and non performers!  So here are my brief thoughts on most of the key people this week.

Will Day – Unfortunate for the guy who can’t catch a break but realistically I don’t think anyone that started him was going to keep him for the season so really trading him now was probably in everyone’s plans anyway.

Izak Rankine – He has been named but don’t be too surprised if he is a late out or ends up with a red vest.  It is a calculated risk to take.  At least if he is a late out we will know before the start of the round.  Remain vigilant.

Dan Houston – Two weeks suspension isn’t ideal but having said that his scores haven’t been blowing us away. So trading is probably the right move in all forms of the game.

Nathan O’Driscoll – This one hurts, NOD was scoring really well as well as making money. He was doing exactly what we wanted a mid pricer to do  but alas, the length of his injury means he is a must trade. But given we are at round 5 and upgrade season is on the brink of starting, you should be looking to upgrade him using some cash that you have made from downgrading someone this week.

Luke Jackson – Not as bad as first thought apparently. Hopefully he is back in 1 or two. He is probably one that you can hold if you have other issues to deal with. But if not then I’d trade him. From all reports it was a high hamstring which is the worst kind.

Joel Freijah – He was smashing it early but last week saw a downturn in his scoring has really made him a hard hold. With his BE I would highly suggest trading him.

Tristan Xerri – He has had a bad couple of weeks which has all happened as he has had that hamstring awareness injury. He is a tough call as to what to do. If there were two or three other rucks smashing it out of the park you could trade him but really we aren’t seeing anyone consistently smashing it. For now, I will be holding him as I hate trading in the rucks but also because I have other bigger issues to fix and while he is playing then I say ride it out.

Byes are done so now what?

So we are past the bye weeks and our focus now turns to upgrading our team. This is probably the final week before we hit the full upgrade season. We are already seeing a few players reach their peak or get very close. So it is time to start looking at who you want to trade out and who your trade targets will be.

Start looking at the break evens of the premiums you are after so that will help you target the guys as they reach their low point in price and similarly keep a close eye on the rookies as they can reach their peak out of nowhere!

Also, keep a close eye on the chatter around dual positions which come into effect next round. These could make some decisions much easier for you.

Gather Round Comments

A few things to think about for Gather Round this week

Norwood Oval is NARROW. So just keep that in mind and I did hear something during the week that indicated that defenders have scored well there in the past. I have no back up for this, I just recall it being on a podcast.  But the boundary on one side is actually a straight line so it can get a bit tight and congested there.

Barossa oval is one that hasn’t been used before and I don’t know much about it. So this will be an unknown for everyone.

It is going to be warm here in Adelaide this weekend with temps of 31 on both Saturday and Sunday so just keep that in mind that it will be energy sapping for the players and spectators alike, so make sure you are well hydrated if you are going to the games.

Things To Remember

• All 22 on field players count this week so no hiding those poor scores so just take a bit more care when selecting your rookies on field.
• With all teams playing just be careful with your loopholes as we don’t have those bye players that we can fall back on so make sure you are keeping the fixture in mind with all decisions.
• Stay glued to Fry’s rookie article as we are still seeing a few new rookies coming through.

That’s it for me, sorry for the short one yet again, unfortunately the next couple may be the same as work is hectic at the moment.  All the best to your teams and if you are coming to Adelaide for gather round I really hope you enjoy yourself. We do cop a lot of stick from the eastern states, but it is a pretty good place to live!  Catch you all at the footy!

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.