The Thursday Scramble: Round 11 Bye Week 1

Well I promised they were coming and now here they are, the Byes have arrived, all 5 of them! So what the hell do we do now!  Of Course, we Scramble!!

Can this game get any harder!

One of the key things you need in the byes is Green Dots and Warm Bodies!  This is now something we are struggling to have.  Zach Reid and Cooper Simpson were a couple of guys that we were going to be relying on during the bye period but now of course we don’t have them and we need to blow a couple of trades sorting them out.

Of course everyone that we trade in is going to have a bye at some stage and we don’t often like to do much other than cash up in this week, but given the circumstance we find ourselves in with these guys missing for the whole bye period then we have to move them on. However, this can give you some great options to set your team up for the rest of the byes.

As with everything, let’s use this as an opportunity. This year I haven’t worried as much about my bye structure as previous years given the change to the format and for the large part my team has come through to a point where I could have survived the bye period (not now with these two guys out). But if you aren’t set up quite how you like, you can move these two guys to help strengthen up your structure.  Now you have a few ways you can go.

The first way you can go is to use these two as a downgrade and then put the cash on someone else and trade up. Absolutely nothing wrong with this strategy and it is one we have used over and over again. But just remember, that premium you are bringing in is still going to have a bye to come.  If you have enough premiums in round 12 that you should be ok, then you could use this chance to build a bit of a Warne Chest to go shopping next week.  Realistically you were going to be playing these rookies this week anyway (yes I know Reid can score big but for this argument he is still a rookie), so why not downgrade them to some other rookies, bank some cash and then you can use that to do two upgrades and one downgrade next week or even three upgrades next week when you can start to shop for guys that have already had their bye and will have that clean run home. What this can do is really set you up for the remainder of the byes.

Another good option for this week is to do one down and then maybe two to some solid mid priced options who have low BE’s and also have had a bit of a role change.  Look at someone like O’Halloran who is getting more mid clock thanks to Callaghan’s injury and has the last bye round.  Ideally if you are going to play this strategy it can be a bit of a risk, but you can use these stepping stones throughout the byes to get you that little sugar hit as well as make some good money which will then aid you in doing further upgrades later in the bye period.

Mid Season Draft

So last night we saw the mid season draft take place and this is certainly a place we should be looking at shopping if the right circumstances arise.  These guys will come into the game at basement prices and if you think of a club like Essendon who have been decimated by injuries they could be the ones to look at.  All we need them to do is get full games and score some points and then we can trade them out as we get to the back end of the byes as we look to have our fully upgraded teams.

Best 18

While we are in this five week period we have the best 18 rules which means that we can drop our four worst scores (which includes donuts) from our team that is on field. So you can ‘hide’ some of these injured guys like a Horne-Francis or a Macrae if you didn’t trade them last week. The downside of that of course is that it is cash that you aren’t investing in points but if they come back quick enough then that will make up for it hopefully.

Just remember, it is the players on field or emergencies that are replacing on field non-playing players that count, if you have 6 playing defenders and your bench player gets a 100 then that is lost just like it would be on a normal week.

Things to Remember

• Look for the Blue Dots.  Remember that the blue dots are the guys that are on their bye this week and they are the ones that you need to move to your bench.
• Clean up the Red Dots. If you have some long term red dots then this week is the chance to fix them up. Move them sideways to another rookie that is playing this week if you can and then they will at least be a heartbeat on the field for you and get you some points.
• Not all Green Dots are equal. Just because someone is a green dot it doesn’t mean they are good. As the boys talked about on the podcast this week, it is more the number of premiums you have on the field, not just guys getting a game.

Best of luck for the byes, you will have some weeks where you will drop a heap of rankings and others where you will skyrocket so don’t panic. Everyone has different strong weeks and your aim is to come out of the byes in a better position than when you started.

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.