The Thursday Scramble: Round 24 – GRAND FINAL edition

After 197 games we have just 10 to go for the season (noting that only 9 count for us in Fantasy), and it all comes down to one weekend with premierships, rankings, hats and a car still on the table to play for.  Add to that farewell games, suspensions and injuries, for one final time in season 2025 it is time to Scramble!

Just when we thought the weekend was over….

Much like me you probably settled in on Sunday night and started to plan for your team and how it would look in the final week of the season, but then those plans were thrown in to disarray when old mate Hard Watch Rankine as Warnie likes to call him popped up in the news with a certain suspension hanging over his head now. So any luxurious trades you were thinking of making are now out the window and we need to look at what we are going to do with him.

For me there is one obvious choice if you don’t have him already and that is Jezza Cameron because in my opinion the Cats are going to try and feed him the footy as much as they can to see if they can get him close enough to be able to reach the 100 in the final series. And with the match up of the Tigers where we have seen players score well against them this season he should be done that we can rely on for a decent score this week. But it is really going to come down to how much cash you have and what your DPP situation is like.

If you have plenty of cash it would probably be a best bet to move one of your Mids down to the forward line and get yourself the best mid you possibly can for your cash. One way you could do this would be to trade out Tom McCarthy if you have him on the bench then you will be more than cashed up to get someone great in.  Look for those that have the great match up and of course someone high in both Calvin’s Captains and Roy’s Weekly Top 5 Trade Targets would be ideal.  If Grundy is back I would be moving heaven and earth to get him in if you can manage it through DPP with that juicy Eagles match up.

Another option that might require a bit of fancy DPP work would be to get the new $2m man Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera in but the only caveat I would put on that would be if the Giants look to tag him given they must win to ensure they make the finals.

Should you go Matchup Hunting?

While you should be getting in the best players you can, the idea of this is to go matchup hunting.  Obviously the Scale of Hardness is the key here. But with the Cats playing the Eagles you may want to consider that there is a chance that the Cats will “rest” players in game with this being essentially a dead rubber and they just have to get over the line and lock in second (or first if the Roos knock Adelaide off). So someone like Holmes, Stewart or Miers is a chance to spend a bit of time on the bench resting up.

Adelaide are the only other team that might do that with their fate all but sealed as they may limit the game time of someone like Thilthorpe who has had neck issues or maybe a Dawson (but he will be hunting Brownlow votes)

However, the converse argument to that is the games that mean very little could see some massive scores with some bruise free footy. We all remember the 200 that Nick Riewoldt put up in the final game a few years back.

So just make sure you are taking all these things into consideration when you are making your trades for this week.

Playing the odds

As I have mentioned a few times if you are in a Grand Final this week and you are the underdog, don’t just try and match your opponent off if your uniques aren’t up to scratch. Go for the glory and try and hit a 6 over the grandstands. No point just letting your GF fizzle out to the inevitable loss. Swing for the fences and bring in someone who has a big ceiling and see what you can get out of them.

This goes for you also if you are looking at pushing for the hat and you are just outside the top 100. Use the stats to see who is likely to score big but is lowly owned in that top 100 and bring them in. Again, no point crying next week if you haven’t given it your all this week for the win.

Have a bit of fun with your C and VC and see if you can use that to get a boost on the competition. There will be some left field options out there and maybe zigging when everyone else zags might be the right play.

What a season!

Hopefully you have all had a fantastic season. I believe it has been one of the toughest one in a long time mainly because cash generation has been so hard! I can’t recall a season like this one that had so much trouble generating funds to try and get our teams upgraded. It seemed that every time we had someone look good they either got injured or dropped.

In the RDT and SuperCoach games we saw the introduction of the Flex position. I was skeptical at first but after the season I haven’t minded it. It was good to have there meaning you could risk an extra rookie on field knowing that the worst one would get dropped out. It also gave you the opportunity trying some different strategy and you could have that third ruck (which was invaluable in SuperCoach where Rucks were rewarded so heavily).  I know that SuperCoach isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I like to try and cater to everyone here.

Things to Remember

• Gold Coast v Essendon does not count! So don’t load up on them this week thinking you get a double game week. You won’t.
• There are TWO games on Friday night so don’t forget about this when you are considering your looping options.
• Make sure you check your VC and C’s before Thursday night’s game to make sure you don’t leave it on the wrong player.

Thanks!

Thanks again for jumping on board with me this season and I really hope you have enjoyed reading the Scramble as much as I have enjoyed bringing it to you. Enjoy your off season, but before you go please drop a comment below on the sort of things you would like to see here next season.

Again it has been a pleasure trying to help you this season and hopefully you have found my advice useful.

Have a great summer and see you all back again ready to go in February!

Cheers
Dunny

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.