The Thursday Scramble: Round 19

Ok, so who was it that really pissed off the Fantasy gods this season.There is no way I can remember a season where there has been so many forced trades. And I am especially annoyed that two of them are two of the best players from my club!  So, with that in mind, Let’s Scramble!

Did you hold Whitfield coz there is more carnage!

Just like many did with Baz, a lot of people traded out Whitfield last week with the plan to get him straight back in again this week. For most coaches there will be at least one forced trade and possibly more. I pivoted late and ended up holding Whitfield and upgrading HHK to cover him. I am very glad I did that as I have two forced trades this week with Butters (like the majority of coaches) and also I have Laird who is also going to be missing. Other coaches may have Jezza Cameron or Bailey Dale or Karl Amon or Tanner Bruhn who are all out this week.

This is often why we we tell you that trading someone out for just the one week is a massive risk. Of course with these injuries though it will hopefully help you get Whitfield back in if you have the DPP to use to flick players around. Similarly if you haven’t got Baz back you could use this time to get him in too. But if you do still have guys on field you don’t want then you will be stuck with them for yet another week.

Players that teams will be looking at this week will include Wilkie, Josh Daicos, Luke Parker, Izak Rankine, Will Ashcroft, Nas, Holmes. Then if you can get tricky (and have RoMar in your R2) you could do some more DPP and look at one of the rucks you don’t have like a Gawn, Grundy, Xerri or Jackson.

Realistically we should all have enough DPP in our sides now to be able to get pretty much whoever you want into your side. This is one of the ‘bonuses’ when we lose a high priced midfielder.

As I said last week and will say again this week, check the Scale of Hardness for the guys you want to bring in as some of them have a great run.  Also consider the taggers. After this week against Sydney the draw does open up for Adelaide a little with Collingwood, Essendon and Richmond in the following three games. So Rankine and Dawson could go big. You can mount a case for a lot of different players based on their schedules.

One thing that you will need to keep an eye on is Whitfield. There are three key points for us to check off.  Firstly, does he get named in the extended squad tonight? Secondly, does he make the cut on Friday night? And lastly, is he a late out on Sunday?  Make sure you have some bench cover on the off chance that he doesn’t get up for this game and is a late out because the Giants are in the final game of the round so it may be too late by the time to find out if you don’t have anything planned.

It wasn’t all bad news

We did see a great performance by Fitzgerald and if you do have Horne-Francis, then if you can swing him to the midfield you could play Fitzgerald on field with confidence. Melbourne are playing North under the roof so we should see another decent score from him. We are going to have to rely on guys like him on the run home because there is no doubt more carnage to come. So if you are lucky enough to not have forced trades in an upcoming week it is a good time to get your bench in order and try and get some players that are at least playing regularly in your squad.

We have also heard that HHK will be back for this week’s game for Adelaide in Sydney so he will be able to be used as cover for you to get through the week.

Two weeks til finals

Yes, you read that right, just two more weeks of the home and away fantasy season before we dive on in to the finals. So just like the scale of hardness check your matchups and see what you need to do to take home bragging rights/pride or cash in your league this season.

If you are locked away up top of the ladder you should be focussing on getting your team set up as best you can for the finals. But If you are battling to make into the top half finals then have a look at your opponents side and you can use this week’s carnage to trade into either a unique or cover off one of their uniques to give yourself that best shot you can to get over the line.

My Trades

I don’t normally do this but thought I would share this week.  I thinking I might pull a bit of a fast one and with some DPP magic trade out Butters to Brodie Grundy by swinging Horne-Francis to the mids so I can get Fitzgerald on field to cover him then putting RoMar up forward. My other trade will likely be pretty vanilla with Laird going to Wilkie.

Things to Remember 

• Keep a watch on what happens with Whitfield
• Check your C and VC set up and loops before tonight’s game as there a few candidates for VC in this game.
• Get in the best players that you can who you think will score the most points from here on out.

Have a great weekend of footy and let’s hope that the gods smile upon us this week and give us a reprieve with no more carnage!

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.