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The Thursday Scramble

The Friday Scramble: Round 18 Part 1

We have reached the split round. Does this make things easier or harder? Are you excited by loophole options or are you worried about them? There are plenty of things that we need to consider for round 18. Don’t jump in without thinking about it, there are plenty of scrambling things to worry about!

FridayScrambleSo we find ourselves at the second of the two bye periods.  Thankfully for us playing DT or SC we don’t have to worry about having players missing as the AFL have kindly made this one a split round.  Personally I would prefer this to happen for both of these periods each year.  However, I don’t work at AFL house so this probably won’t happen.  Anyway, what this means for us is that we now have plenty of things to talk about this week.  Whilst we don’t miss players though, it doesn’t make this round particularly easy.  It means you have to have your witts about you.  Don’t do anything stupid.

Loophole and Split Rounds….

So, as we know a split round means plenty of loophole opportunities this week.  Remember it isn’t just your captain that you can loophole you can take a punt on a 50/50 guy to see if they score ok.  However…. there are rules and caveats you must beware of.  So here are a few of my thoughts.

1. How deep do you go?

One thing you may be thinking about doing is seeing how someone goes who is a questionable player.  This could be someone like Shane Kersten.  What you may consider is putting him on the bench with the E on him.  If he is better than your other option, then put the non playing guy on the ground and your other option on the bench with no E.

2. What a Captain

Clearly there is the regular Captain Loophole that Calvin has discussed in his Calvin’s Captains Article.  So you all understand this one, put the VC on a guy this week and if he s ok, then bring on a non player and give him the C with your actual player on the bench with the E.

3. Big Risks

The massive issue here is that you may not have enough bench cover to do any of this!  If you decide to do any loopholing, particularly with Emergency loopholing, the risk is that you actually need your emergency the following week due to either selection issues or late withdrawals.  This will be even riskier if you need to make any trades in the first week as you may get caught out.

Your Captain choice or the Non Playing guy you plan to use MUST be playing in the second week otherwise he will be locked in.

To get a look at all of the options and how you can do it right and wrong make sure you check out Calvin’s Article as he has some great examples.

LOCKOUTS!

This is pretty straight forward this week.  Here is how it plays out in each of the different games.

  • Real Dreamteam – All first week teams will be locked out on Friday night with the remaining teams locked out on Friday night next week.
  • AFL Fantasy – As for RDT with all players from first week teams locked out this week and the rest next Friday.
  • Supercoach – No change at all with the regular rolling lockout.
  • Ultimate Footy – Check with your league commissioner or rules as each league may be set up differently.

Important information on REVERSING TRADES!!

In Real Dreamteam and Supercoach once the First Friday Lockout hits this week all trades will be NON REVERSIBLE until the end of the round.  So any trades you make next week will not be able to be reversed!  So be very very careful next week.  Of course we will remind you here at DTTalk, but just be careful.

In AFL Fantasy we have been told that as long as it doesn’t involve a player from the first week you should be able to revers your trades.  Also as long as they aren’t part of a double trade.  Personally I won’t be taking any risks here and will only pull the trigger when I am completely sure of what I want to do.

The most important piece of advice I can give you here is that if you are only doing a trade involving players that are playing in the second week DO NOT TRADE THIS WEEK.  Anything can happen between now and then, there may be an injury at training or anything like that. It simply isn’t worth the risk.

Selection Surprises and PIG DOWN!

Well it wasn’t a surprised, many people suspected that Aaron Sandilands wouldn’t play this week and we had it confirmed yesterday afternoon when he didn’t board the plane out of Perth.  In AFL Fantasy with your two trades a week, it is time to go.  However, in the limited trades versions, if you have plenty of trades then pull the trigger, but if not and you have cover you may want to save your trade.  We also found out yesterday that Dane Swan would be out for 4 weeks.  In all versions of the game then this is the time to trade him out.  He is out of form and an absence of 4 weeks (3 games) is enough to grade him out.  Andrew Walker is out for the rest of the season, so there is another trade you may need to make.  Popular bench cover Cameron Shenton has been omitted this week.  So if you were going to use him as a cover for Swanny then it won’t work for you.  However Adam Treloar back will help some teams out a heap!  In news that will make Footy Rhino ecstatic is that Michael Hibberd returns this week to bolster many a backline!  Goddard returns from suspension and Ryan Griffen returns from injury.

#AskDunny

I don’t think that SJ is that much of a unique as I think quite a lot of teams have him.  However, there aren’t many teams without Beams so that is likely to be more unique.  Obviously this would be a purely luxury trade.  As long as you won’t need that trade next week then that is fine.  Personally I wouldn’t make it this week, I would be more likely to do it next round if you wanted to.  Clearly your Sandi to Martin trade was a good one!

I must say I am not all that sold on Mike Pyke  he is only averaging 63.  Whilst he had a 92 last week that is his first score over 60 since round 3.  So no he isn’t an option if you are looking to bring him in.  But if you already have him, then yes I guess he would do as bench cover.  Now that we know that Sandi is out, downgrading him is one option you have and you could go down to a Cegler who seems to have cemented his spot in the Hawks side or you could go to a Jamar.  If Sandi is your other ruck with Martin then you should be looking to upgrade him to the best Ruck you can get.

Clearly your best option here is to keep those two guys as your bench cover if you can and upgrade Ellis and McGovern.  I am assuming you are in AFL Fantasy here where trades aren’t an issue and you have a STACK of cash then go for it.  This would give you a very solid bench that you could rely on for big scores as we get closer to the business end of the season.  After having a chat to Suckling last week at the Adelaide Oval he promised me he would be doing his best for his AFL Fantasy coaches. (disclaimer: promises may or may not have been actually made)

  Things To Remember

  • If You Plan to use the Loophole.  READ CALVIN’S ARTICLE. – Loopholing isn’t for the feint hearted.  Make sure you read the article and plan ahead.
  • Careful with your Trades. – If you are planning on trades this week I would only make necessary ones in the first week just in case of players being dropped in the second week’s matches.
  • Retirements give Opportunity – As the retirements start to flow in, for those that leave immediately this opens up spots in teams for our rookies to get more exposure.  So keep an eye out as those guys on your bench that haven’t been playing may now start to get a game on field.
  • Don’t try and outsmart yourself – You don’t want to stuff up with no one else to blame (it happened to me last week!)

So only a few games to watch this week but I am sure there will be something that sparks our interest.  I think I have pointed it out enough so far, just be very careful with your teams this week and watch where you place the non playing guys from this round as it will have a massive bearing on your teams for next weekend.

I know there has already been a lot of love for Maxy and Lenny with their retirements this week, but it would be remiss of me not to mention Dom Cassisi from my club.  He averaged 102, 95, 98 and 90 from 2008 thru 2011 but the amazing thing was that in that time he averaged 6, 8, 8 and 8 tackles per game!  He was a tackling machine and even averaged 1 hit out per game in 2011, not bad for a little guy!  Anyway, all of these guys have been great players and Lenny and Dom have even been in my teams in the past (sorry Maxy).  Enjoy your retirement guys.

AFL RECORD SUBSCRIBERS – If you subscribe to the AFL Record on Ipad or wherever else you can do so electronically, check the first couple of pages from last week.  You need to unsubscribe after the first weekend of this round and then resubscribe after next weekend’s round otherwise you will be charged twice for the one issue.  All the details were in last issue.

Cheers til next week guys, @pkd73

 

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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.




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