The Friday Scramble: Round 9

If having a bye for a couple of teams isn’t bad enough, we have suffered injuries and some random omissions!  I know we say it every single year, but this could be the most difficult season us Fantasy coaches have faced yet.  But really, this isn’t anything new for us, we have had to deal with it all before.  So let’s jump straight into it and scramble our way through another Friday!

What do you do if you have……

Tom Rockliff

Unfortunately this is an all too familiar feeling for long term Rocky owners, he seems to do this to us at least once a year.  So you would think we are used to it by now.  There is obviously different answers based on which format you are playing.  The facts are that we know that he will be out for 2-3, and to be honest, if it is going to be just 2-3 this is the best time of the year for him to do it since they have their bye in 3 weeks.

If you are playing AF, then I wouldn’t have any hesitation in trading him out, with two trades per week you can afford to do this, but make sure that if you have a plan to get him back at some stage that you make sure you have the cash to do so.  In RDT and SC, I would seriously look at whether or not you can afford to hold him.  Remember those comps play league games across the bye periods and AF doesn’t.  So you may want to have him in your R12 lineup.  Also with limited trades, you don’t want to trade him out and then back in again.  This could use up 3 trades depending on how you do it.

Dan Butler

Trade him straight out of you side in all formats.  He has reached his peak in terms of his Break Evens and given he has a groin injury you don’t want to have him sitting on your bench as at this stage I am not sure how long he will be out for.

Sam Powell-Pepper

This is an interesting one, I am sure that we all planned to trade him out this week too another rookie and cash him in.  However, given we haven’t really had a heap of rookies coming through lately and those that have been coming in haven’t been getting regular games all the time, you may want to keep him.  Reason being, he will be playing in all of the other bye rounds and we should be fairly confident that he will play all three weeks now that he is having a rest this week.  Obviously I wouldn’t be doing this if it causes you to take a donut this week, but just don’t rule out the option.

Brett Eddy

Being on a bye isn’t anything new for him, he hasn’t played in weeks and is on a permanent bye!  So you shouldn’t rush  to trade him out just because of Port’s bye this week.  He has been kicking plenty of goals in the SANFL but it is the fact the AFL team have been doing well that is keeping him out.  I always suspected he was a bit of insurance for the AFL side, and with Trengove playing a role up forward, this may just keep Eddy back in the SANFL for a few more weeks.  So if you want to trade him out it wouldn’t be the worst decision as I can’t see him being a reliable option during the bye rounds.

Harley Balic

This is hard to judge, we haven’t been given a return date, so it could be two weeks, but equally it could be 12 weeks.  I think that given we all have issues on the bench with people not playing, we should probably look at trading him out.  That is what I plan on doing anyway.  The disappointing thing about that is that he had plenty of money to make us still as his BE in both RDT and SC was in the single digits.

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What to fix First?

With so many of our supposed safe rookies being out this week (Butler, SPP and Balic) many will face the question of what is the most important thing to do, trade out one of our premo’s that is out, like the Pig Rocky, or do a regular downgrade and upgrade on these blokes.  Whilst maximizing points is the name of the game, you also have to have your eye on the prize at the end of the season whether that be the overall win or a league win.

Let’s say you trade Rocky out to someone that is going to score you say about 100 instead of trading out a non playing rookie to Myers. If Myers scores a 70 you have only gained 30 points, yes you will have a heap of cash in the bank to use, but if you want to get Rocky back you may be reluctant to use all the cash.  If you are trading Rocky straight to one of the piglets in Mitchell or Merrett then that is a different story as you would have been planning to get them anyway.  But you still need that plan to get Rocky back  in.

So if you are going Rocky to one of the uber premiums then no problems, but if you plan to use his cash to go to a cheaper player and up grade a rookie in the same deal, just have a look at how many points you think you will gain in the long term by doing that.  That strategy makes it far harder to get Rocky back.  I personally don’t like that second option as you will be chasing points all season, particularly when Rockliff come back in and you don’t have him or one of the other piglets to show for it.

As I said above, in AF I would trade him straight to one of the other top guys, but in SC and RDT there is plenty to be said for trying to hold him (assuming good cover) and continuing on your up and downgrade path.  This is particularly relevant if you kept Treloar on the bench last week, you simply swap him on field for Rocky and you are in really not much of a worse position than last week (yes I know Rocky is good for about 30 or so more points than Treloar but at least you haven’t burnt a trade in the process).

Selection Table

More than a few shocks for us this week, however, we did know about a few of them on Wednesday and early Thursday.

One that we didn’t know was that George Horlin-Smith would be out.  But with his last two scores in the 60’s he hasn’t been getting enough of the footy for either us or his coach.  With just an 81 and a 100 to his name in terms of decent scores, you may want to use this opportunity to move him on.  Picking Matty Boyd was always a risk.  He is an older player who is susceptible to injury or a rest, this time it is the former, I’m not sure how long he is out for at this stage, but even if it is only one week, I would doubt that this will be his last week off for the season.  In that same game we see Mitch Wallis come back in.  He may not be someone to look at for the classic games, but in a draft league you may want to see if he is available.

It’s A Miracle!  Nic Newman held his spot!  I tell you I am sure that there would have been a riot of fantasy players outside Horse’s office if he got dropped.  Good to see Dane Rampe back too, once again, someone you might want to have a look at in draft leagues.  Toby Greene returns from suspension this week and we lose Coniglio for 10 weeks.

Up at the Gabba Beams is back, which will be a relief for those that had him and Rocky, just swap em over!  But in that same game we see two debutants from the Crows in the much anticipated Hugh Greenwood and also Jordan Gallucci who was pick 15 in the draft.

Treloar returns after just one week out and we also see the return of Alex Neal-Bullen.  This will please a lot of coaches that held him, but this is still an extended bench game, so just be careful, he may not get a run for the Dees this week still.

Power and Suns players

In case you have been living under a rock and this is your first time to DTTalk, these teams both have the bye this week.  But remember it is NOT BEST 18.  It is a regular week with regular scoring for all 22 positions on your field.  So depending on how heavily you loaded up on these guys you may be in a bit of trouble this week.  But with every problem comes opportunity.  Next week you may want to pick some of these boys up as they will play right through the three bye weeks.

Things To Remember

• A blue dot or line next to a player on your field this week means they are on a bye.  So move them to the bench or out of your side.
• A Lot of people have Rocky, so don’t worry and think that it is only your team that is ruined, many others are in the same boat.
• There are only two trades this week as this is not an official bye round, it is rounds 11, 12 and 13 that we have these.
• Keep the bye rounds in your mind on each and every trade you make at the moment.  You need to be ready for them.

There you have it folks, another Friday of trade anxiety ahead as we all work out what to do.  Whatever you decide to do with your teams this week, just remember that you won’t always get every trade right for that first week, sometimes they take a couple of weeks to pay off!  Sorry this week was a little short and there was no AskDunny, I’ve been a bit crook the last couple of days and it is still lingering.  I hope your teams all have some great scores this week and I look forward to seeing you all next Friday when we have a full compliment of 18 teams playing again.   Cheers @pkd73