Roy’s Trade Talk: Rd 15

I am receiving a lot of questions regarding how to make a significant jump in ranking or ladder position and this always leads to a discussion about picking a unique, especially on the back of Selby winning cars doing it over the run home. Now I am not a fan of chasing a random unique, but there are a few gun players below 10% ownership that are viable selections and should satisfy the need for a POD.

Trade Targets: Price, BE, Score

• Steele Sidebottom (MID, $736,000) 103, 111. Is often a forgotten man, as many mids who have formally held forward status experience. His form is certainly not reflected by his 7% ownership as he is averaging 114 over his last five and is on a hot streak in his last three for 121. Coaches who trade him in are set for instant reward with a game against the Suns this week where he will be big, especially if he avoids the Touk Miller tag.
• Ollie Wines (MID, $672,000) -76, 102 has flicked the switch on his season and is certainly playing at an elite premium standard. He has averaging 126 in his last three and 108 in his last five which are nice numbers for a price tag under $700K and is good value, as suggested by his BE. He is owned by just 6% of the comp and has a nice run of matchups against the Blues, Saints and Dockers in his next three.
• Tom Phillips (MID, $689,000) 112, 107 is a little gem and certainly qualifies as a POD with only 3% ownership. In the last eight weeks, this bloke has only two blips on the radar, one was a KO and the other he was randomly tagged which won’t happen very often. Discounting those two games he has scores of 107, 143, 120, 121, 114 and 128 which displays a ceiling equal to almost anyone in that time. He is an absolute running machine and would be great to watch as an owner as he goes +6 in the back line, you blink and he is +6 at half forward.
• Jack Crisp (DEF, $691,000) 111, 98 is owned by just 6% and the beauty of this pick is you can get a unique defender who is scoring like a premium. He is averaging 108 in the last five rounds which doesn’t include a whopping 147 which he scored six weeks ago. In that time he has a lowest score of 98 and he is enjoying his time chipping the ball around the back half while an increased tackle count has also been a factor.
• Gary Ablett (MID, $700,000) 98, 90 is an amazing name to be considered a unique selection but that is what he is, owned by just 4%. Obviously the low ownership is more a reflection of coaches fear he will miss games as opposed to any question marks regarding his ability to score. The thought process is that he will be managed leading into finals even if he avoids injury but the temptation is huge given his three round average of 115 and has a great ceiling with two scores over 130 already this year.

• Shaun Higgins (MID, $661,000) 83, 98 is having a career year, particularly in recent weeks where he has been on fire, averaging 113 in his last three and 104 in his last five. Although he is not someone I would consider, he deserves a mention when looking at a POD given he is less than 1% owned and has scores of 119 and 123 in rounds 11 and 12 which are eye catching.

• Brendon Goddard (DEF/MID, $555,000) 87, 102 is certainly a high risk play, but if money is an issue, he is certainly a viable rookie upgrade in the backline that may pay off. He is owned by just 2% of the comp and has three scores over 96 in his last five. He plays his next game at ES where he has three tons out of four games this year and has favourable games in the next month including the Pies, Suns and Dockers.

Rolling 22

Defenders:

Rory Laird
Elliot Yeo
Jack Crisp
Lachie Whitfield
Jake Lloyd
Kade Simpson

Very Settled

Midfielders:

Tom Mitchell
Stephen Coniglio On Notice
Ed Curnow On Notice
Tom Phillips
Dayne Zorko
Josh Kelly
Steele Sidebottom IN
Nat Fyfe IN

Jack Macrae OUT
Adam Treloar OUT

 

Ruck:

Max Gawn
Brodie Grundy

Forward:

Isaac Heeney
Toby Mclean
Justin Westhoff
Devon Smith
Sam Menegola
Tom McDonald

My trades at this stage:

Brayshaw, Treloar OUT
Phillips, Blakely IN

Cheers,
@RoyDT