The Thursday Scramble: Round 7

These rounds bob up here and there throughout the season and last week was one of them. We saw some ridiculous coaching decisions (looking at you Adem Yze) and some injuries cutting players down hurting our scores like Sam Darcy and Ollie Wines during the games (thankfully Sam has escaped the worst) and on top of that just some really awful scores (RoMar, looking at you here).  So there is only one thing left to do and that is Scramble!

What to do about some of the big issues

Now if you do have Rowan Marshall and he pumped out that awful run of scores we have seen for the last three weeks, we would ordinarily say, let’s move this bloke on. But realistically we haven’t seen too much better from the others. Xerri seemed to return to his old self again last week and Max has been pretty reasonable of late, but these are the sort of moves we make later in the season. Unless you have a real issue with your current rucks I would say hold on to them and just fix up everything else in your team first.

We also saw a horrible decision to stick Luke Trainor into the vest by Yze last week. This balooned his BE up to 58 in AFL Fantasy and ordinarily this would be a trigger to trade him out. But I am going to hold him as firstly he is playing Melbourne this week who he should score well against and also we have already been told he won’t be the sub. And even if Yze is lying to us they are the first game so we will know before the first bounce.  Speaking of Sub affected games, what about Saad El-Hawli. Poor bloke came on and got a -1. Now, thankfully his BE was already incredibly low and has ended up at just 27 for his BE so he is another hold this week assuming he gets a game which I am pretty sure he will.   What I am trying to say here is that whilst we often hang our hats on the Break Even game, don’t panic on some of them when there are specific reasons as to why they had there poor scores.

Tom Stewart. My god has this guy had some airtime on the various podcasts this week. He has had an awful start to the season from a consistency standpoint. However, when he has played he hasn’t exactly been a picture of consistency either. Of his three full games we have a 108 a 95 and a 60. Now if you have him you may as well hold him. He may be one that can come good. And he has the pedigree that we know he can score and can score well. But we simply haven’t seen it yet. But, if you don’t have him, stay away, stay a long way away. To be honest I want to see 3 solid weeks from him before committing. I know that means he will cost more but firstly I need to see him play 3 games without an injury and second he needs to make it worth while!

Just keep this in the back of mind….

I know we have only had two full rounds over the last two weeks but we only have 5 more rounds until the next set of 5 rounds of byes are upon us.  I know, seems like more rounds with byes than there are normal rounds this year!  You certainly don’t have to panic about it just yet, but I would certainly be starting to just have it in the back of your mind and as I have said in previous years, if you are tossing up over two or more players to trade in, perhaps have a look at which one suits your bye structure better. Not saying that should be the only factor but it is one that you should be considering.

Things To Remember

• Don’t forget there are two games on Friday this week with the usual Essendon v Collingwood but we also have Fremantle v Adelaide that night so don’t fall asleep at the wheel on this one!
• You should be upgrading your team furiously at the moment as we are all in a race to get the best team we can so one up and one down should be the order of the day.
• Don’t chase last weeks points, we all know how that ends… but do bring in Nick Daicos.

Hey folks, sorry about the shortness this week, just smashed at work with the short week and all so hopefully back to normal length articles in a couple of weeks when things calm down a bit.  All the best for your teams this week and of course even if you don’t get up for the Dawn Service, spare a few minutes just to sit quietly and reflect on the Anzacs and what they sacrificed for us.

Lest We Forget

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.