Chook’s Rooks – Round 14

A big shout out to our Stiffy rookies this week. By Stiffy, I mean multi-position – you know, the ones you swing back and forth from midfield to forward, etcetera, to cover doughnuts. I’m calling them “Stiffies” in honour of David Stiff, who has had as good a “multi-position” existence as anyone I can think of. His first position, that I know of, was as a national league basketballer. He played for the Tassie Devils in his first year and then, probably as a result of being in that success-starved environment, went on to be the winningest player in NBL history. Six titles with three teams, baby. His current position is as the high-performance manager and psychologist for reigning premiers Collingwood. I can’t see how it could get much better than becoming a sports professional when your professional sports career has ended. Making Stiffy the ultimate multi-position master, however, is the fact that he’s also dipped his toe into the entertainment industry. Yep, Stiffy has had a position in a movie, and not just any movie but the storied Star Wars franchise, playing Chewbacca’s wookiee mate Salporin. He played a wookiee! Anyway, back to the footy and those props for our Stiffy rookies. Hawthorn mid-fwd Isaac Smith was the most prominent, scoring a monster 100 in his team’s annihilation of Essendon on Friday night, backing up a big 90 the week before. There are few things more frustrating in Dream Team than a rookie playing two games and then, teetering on the verge of their first price rise, spending a few weeks in the seconds or on the injured list. That was the case for Smith, but he’s certainly made it up the coaches he kept waiting in the past couple of rounds. The other big mid-fwd success story this week was the debut of Ian Callinan, who knocked out a credible 89 for the Crows. That’s a great first-up effort which suggests a decent ceiling for the midfielder, especially when you take into account it came against the country’s top team on their home turf. The def-mids came to the party too, with Port Adelaide’s Ben Jacobs and Essendon’s Dyson Heppell putting a couple of poor scores behind them to register a 90 and 80 respectively. Heppell’s def-mid teammate Michael Hibberd let some coaches down with a limp 51, but it was Fremantle mid-fwd Tendai Mzungu who caused the most mischief of the Stiffy rookies in round 14, pulling out right at the last minute to leave his coaches completely unsatisfied.

Three-or-more gamers

Having given Smith and co their dues, this week’s rookie wrap couldn’t be without a mention of Hawthorn midfielder Shane Savage, whose 128 against Essendon took him to almost 300 points for the fortnight. Now up to a touch over $340k, Savage has made nearly $250k for those who took the punt on him early doors. Three other DT-listed centres cracked the century mark in round 14, namely Bulldog recruit Ed Barlow, Geelong up-and-comer Allen Christensen and Gold Coast rising star nominee Dave Swallow. Brisbane mid Rohan Bewick has finally got his price rolling in the right direction again with back-to-back 70s, and Cam Richardson owners will be hoping the Roo can do the same after scoring 59 in his first game since round 5. While three players criminally scored single-figures this week, and none of them were named Karmichael, the biggest disappointment of round 14 was probably Melbourne high-flying forward Jeremy Howe, who fell back to earth with a 39 in a week that he would’ve been deputising for Franklin/Riewoldt in many a team. That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook, Shaun McKernan (7), Cristian Howard (6) and Jasper Pittard (3), it just means you’ve got extra company on the HMAS We Hate You So Much Right Now.

A couple of defenders who appear to have peaked are Hawthorn’s Paul Puopolo, who was tried in a forward role this week, and Fremantle’s Nick Lower, who has kicked on for at least four weeks since the last time I said he was cherry ripe (just to spite me, I’m sure). Anyway, Puoplo made just $1,500 this week and has a breakeven of 59 going into round 15, while Lower leaked some cash and needs 88 to avoid losing more. That said, they both are excellent candidates to hang around your team for the long haul, with Lower looking good for 70s and 80s in a midfield role that’s likely his for a little longer yet, given the Dockers’ injury crisis, and Puopolo providing middling scores but the prospect of a DT grand final match-up against the Gold Coast.

Two gamers

I hope you’ve got some money under the mattress for your upgrades this week, as the downgrade options – in the two-game bracket at least – are pretty unappealing. Sydney forward Lewis Johnston got his second game courtesy of Ted Richards’ late withdrawal, but he failed to have an impact on the DT scoreboard, registering a measly 35 points. Bear in mind the opposition was the second-placed Magpies. Also in action on Saturday night was fellow second-game forward Patrick Karnezis, who managed 54 points for Brisbane before being subbed off in the third quarter. That’s two vests in two weeks then, after starting as the sub in round 13. It’d be nice to see what he can do in a full game, because his scoring rate has actually been decent. Your final option of the two-gamers who played last week is Western Bulldogs defender Jayden Schofield. He crawled to 45 points against the Gold Coast, following his first-up 29.  think I’m still bitter at Bulldogs backs after they screwed me so frequently last year, but no thanks.

One gamers

We’ve mentioned the long-awaited debut of Callinan in the opening salvo, although it bears repeating that 89 points against Geelong at the Cattery is one of the more promising first games of DT we’ve seen this season. Let’s hope the points continue to flow. Callinan, who, now I think of it, would make an excellent wookiee, wasn’t the highest scorer of the one-game crew, however, with that honour falling to Port Adelaide fwd-ruck Matthew Lobbe, who notched 95 points. Lobbe has attracted a $120k price tag due to having appeared three times at AFL level before this year, and he looks set to add to that tally with incumbent ruckman Dean Brogan announcing his retirement this week. It’s good timing for those looking to exploit Drew Petrie’s ruck eligibility now that Sandilands has reinjured himself, and I’d expect Lobbe will have a few thousand new owners mispronouncing his surname by the weekend. After Lobbe and Callinan, the scoring drops off significantly and this week, oddly, the subs vest had little to do with it. Of the six remaining round 14 debuatnts, only Carlton defender Rhys O’Keefe (28) had to don a vest, and he had plenty of game time to impress future suitors after coming on in the second quarter for injured teammate Michael Jamieson. Forwards Josh Mellington (Freo, 50 points) and Mitch Brown (Geelong, 48), midfielder Hayden Jolly (GC, 45) and backs Joel Wilkinson (GC, 40) and Niall McKeever (Brisbane, 31) were all able to avoid substitution, but failed to register a significant score. There’s always next week, fellas.