The Thursday Scramble: Round 1

Finally, Real footy is back and now things feel complete as we have had a few games, but now the real stuff is here!  Fantasy Footy is finally live and ready to go with our very first lockout tonight.  There is no better time so Let’s Scramble!

Opening Round Thoughts….

So we have had our annual cheat code round otherwise known as Opening Round.  I call on you Andrew Dillon,  for the love of god can you please kill off this ridiculous thing and just give us a proper round 1 like we are all wanting. Play your four games in the Northern states, but how does having games everywhere else cause such a problem.

Anyway, off my soap box now. So it is time to look at what we learnt and what we are going to put in to place going into the season.

Nas Wanganeen-Milera isn’t the lock everyone thought. He was tagged and this did detract from his scoring and it will be surprising if other coaches don’t follow suit. Expect him to cop more attention as weeks go on.  This doesn’t mean you can’t start with him or that we won’t get him in, just beware that this is a possibility.

Nick Daicos showed us that he is still going to be up there as one of the must haves this season, just keep in mind that early bye.

Brodie Grundy has put his hand up to say “what about me” as many have been looking at old mate English.  Either of them are going to be great selections.

Dan Houston showed that he can still football! He got plenty of the ball as Collingwood were allowed to do as they pleased across half back by the Saints.

There was a number of rookies/cheaper players that locked themselves into our teams like Jai Serong, Jagga Smith, Lachie Jaques and Jack Carroll. The only thing I will say here is don’t get too concerned if the rookies don’t back up their good opening round scores. By their very nature they are going to be inconsistent.

But there are still some issues that haven’t been resolved. With RoMar being knocked out we didn’t get to see a full game of how he will work together with TDK. We saw a bit about how some coaches are going to use their 23rd player with Horse using Papley sparingly and we saw Pendles be used as a bit of a sub with just 55% TOG. With 5 guys on the bench to rotate, there will be a lower rotation for some players as we know the coaches won’t want their stars off the field for too long.

Reminder on what Opening Round does to Prices

In both Supercoach and AFL Fantasy the scores from Opening Round do impact pricing of players. However, we don’t see any price changes this week in AFL Fantasy, they are held over until after round 1. In AFL Fantasy scores stay in a rolling average for 5 weeks and this score will be the one that has the least impact and will be ‘devauled’ first and roll out first.
In Supercoach we have the three round rolling average and players don’t move until after three games. So we will see some players change scores after round 2 if they have their bye in round 3 or 4. With scores only being in for three rounds, this score will only impact one price movement really.

So, just remember these scores are the ones that will have the least impact on pricing for the whole season.

Leagues

Leagues will need to be filled by the end of this weekend. If your league has some spots remaining just remember that they will be autofilled with random teams by the end of the weekend. So hustle along and get those leagues filled with your mates or people from the community.
If you have a league that needs to be filled, post them in the comments below and we can all fill them together.

Rolling Lockout Reminder

Just a reminder and a thing to think of for new players. As we are used to now, all players are tradeable and movable until their game starts. So this will be most impact for you on your rookies, make sure you are very sure about where they are on your field/bench before their games start.
Also, be very aware of your VC and your C and where they are placed as the games start.  Obviously you will read Calvin’s Captains and everything you need to know will be there.

The other key thing is to have your plans for the weekend and your final team, but make sure you have a few options. We will know teams tonight so set your team but just have one back up in mind in case there is a late out. But hopefully, now that we don’t need to worry about subs, there should be no changes post tonight’s teams.

Things to Remember

• If you haven’t heard of a rookie’s name all preseason and then they get named this week, think twice, three times and four times before you pick them.  Relton Roberts… never forget.
• Trust your research. You’ve had a big preseason, don’t throw it all away.
• Remember it is a game for fun (and yes some prizes, but mostly for fun as 99% of us won’t win anything).

Good luck this season everyone. Enjoy the season and hopefully you all get what you want out of the year whether that be a Tundra or winning your league or just improving your rank over last year.  See you all next Thursday!

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.