The Thursday Scramble: Round 7

A good week for once with some solid scoring for a lot of teams but there were also some traps and learnings (we will get to that). Of course there were a few fails (again we will get to that) and of course an injury or two!  So of course, it means we need to Scramble!

Beware the Loophole!

A valuable lesson was learnt by many coaches, thankfully the new rule in Fantasy saved people. Those SuperCoaches amongst us, it did not save them however.

I took Daicos’ score on the Thursday night and I thought long and hard about who I was going to use.  The thing that I look at first is, who is on the emergency list and do I have anyone that is injured and definitely won’t play. My first preference is always to use the loop in the ruck line, but when I saw that ZZ was listed as an emergency I was very worried about it (and with good reason it turned out). In Fantasy I had Noah Anderson (yeah, not happy about it but too stubborn to trade him out) and in SuperCoach I had Jordan Dawson, both of whom were guaranteed as out. So that is where I went with my loops.

But what if there was another out and you needed a real emergency on that line I hear you say.  Well, I had thought about that too. Given our plethora of playing rookies I knew that I would have someone if I needed them. Now remember, you can have more than one emergency on each line and you don’t have to designate 4 emergencies.  You can have just one if you want across your whole squad. So the way to play this is, remove emergencies from another line that you know you won’t use, here the ruck line would have been the one I would have used. This gives you an emergency card to keep up your sleeve. Then, if you do happen to have a late out or a player under 50% (in fantasy) and you need another emergency, just put that E on another bench player in that line. We know that the rule is that if you have multiple you get the lowest scoring E. However, if you have two late outs and two emergencies you will get both scores. It would have just meant that you would have had to go the nerd play and keep an eye on all the teams and late outs as the weekend progressed.

So, my lesson here is, make your loop as bullet proof as you possibly can and then you should be ok, but if you are taking a risk, make sure you back door you can use to escape the situation.

The Bont and Butters debates

There has been a lot of discussion this week about what people should be doing with Bont and with Butters. Let’s look at each one.

Bont. Bont is a bit banged up which was evidenced by having his knee looked at during the game last week, a game in which he was tagged to within an inch of his life by Mullin. He didn’t score well which has sent his BE in both forms of the game skyrocketing and he will lose money. However, you have him.  And that is the key thing here. Yes, one valid option is to trade him out, take the cash, invest it in a growth asset elsewhere and then get Bont back in again when he drops in value. There are two issues that I have with this plan. Again, it is a very valid plan.  However, my first issue is that you probably used a trade to get Bont in, then you are going to use one to get him out and then another one to get him back in again and no matter which format you play, there are finite trades at your disposal. Secondly, I always revert back to what Selby says, and that is for each premium you trade sideways you are going to be one trade behind the other teams who are cashing in a rookie and upgrading another one. Now, yes, you could downgrade Bont and upgrade someone else in your squad, but really when you look at that trade, you are just going sideways with rookies and sideways with premiums. Ultimately, if you are going to want him back in your side at some point, do you not just ride this week out (I am assuming he is named and likely back in next week if he isn’t) and then when he is fully fit again you have other premiums around him and a much stronger team.

Butters. This one seems even more crazy to me.  Butters is healthy, pretty much at the peak of his powers and is scoring well. The issue of course is that Mullin tagged Butters last year to two horrific scores for owners. So like Bont you could trade him out to avoid this score. But, just like all the arguments above, you are going to be jeapordizing the rest of your side’s growth. The thing is, believe it or not, apart from their upcoming bye week, Geelong and Mullin are going to be playing every other team and what that means is there will be a premium copping that tag each and every week. So from that perspective are you going to trade them out too? Add to that the Jordon tag is also active meaning each week there are likely two that are going to cop it.

So, before you trade one of these guys out, think long and hard about what it means for your team overall and the cadence at which you are going to be able to upgrade your squad if you are side swapping.

Quick Thoughts

Tsatas?  In Fantasy, No, in Supercoach, Yes.  I hate loading up on Bombers, but he has a good role. The main issue in AF is that his price is already too high.
Angry Anderson? Yes. He is one we need to have.
Trade out McAndrew? No not yet for me. I would be holding him still either in R2 or R3.  one of either is fine. If you can get both Grundy and Gawn another while holding him that is ideal. If he is your only option to get Grundy in, then do it, but I would wait another week for Gawn.

Things To Remember

• Just the one Friday game this week, but be alert, next week we are back to two.
• As mentioned above, make sure your loops are set and safe.
• Make sure every trade you do is moving your team forward.

Some great games last week. Hopefully this week’s games are just as good. Enjoy the round and 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.