Chook’s Rooks – Round 18

As someone lucky enough to have stepped foot on all of the continents this planet has scattered about, (well, all bar Antarctica but I’ve seen Aliens vs Predator so I can pretty much tick that one off the list, too) I feel somewhat qualified to say that much of the best this world has to offer is right in our own backyard. Not our actual backyards – weed-riddled, unmowed grass strewn with empty stubbies is not the best this world has to offer. What I mean to say is, Australians can search far and wide but fail to find gems the equal of those right under their nose. I better get to the DT-related bit before I drop any more awkward rhymes, tired clichés or drift from proudly patriotic to red-necked idiocy. It’s just that, as I scour the back sixes of AFL teams, looking for a suitable replacement for Heath Shaw, I start to think I may have been ignoring the gem right under my nose. As a Melbourne-supporter with a particular interest in rookie-priced players, my backyard includes one Stef Martin. Whether he’s the best backman the DT world has to offer is debatable, but he’s certainly in the mix after a string of high-scoring games since round eight that has seen him rise to 10th in the list of top-performing defenders and ahead of a seemingly profitable run home. On Sunday, Martin was one of the few Demons to do any damage on the DT scoreboard against a dominant Hawthorn, chalking up 101 points to follow his 113 the previous week. In fact, Martin has had five hundreds in his 10 games since round eight, dropping under 90 just twice in that time for an average of 98.8. They’re not the kind of numbers that’ll excite the Calvin’s Captains research team, but impressive all the same for a utility-type player whose output was expected to drop with the return from injury of first-choice ruckman Mark Jamar. Instead, having Russian back on board has helped strengthen Martin’s scoring potential and consistency, making him a legitimate trade target despite having risen by more than $200k already this season. A soft schedule during the DT finals that includes West Coast, Richmond, Gold Coast and Port Adelaide, and Martin’s status as something of a unique pick, adds even more allure. A risk? Maybe, but so is flying to foreign shores. Oh, hang on, what was that? Fisher’s dropped to almost $300k? For real? But I’ve just written the whole bloody intro bit about that Gwen Stefani bloke from Melbourne, Warnie. I made up this whole “the best shit is right under your nose” kinda metaphor thingy and everything. $300 grand? Really? Okay, whatever you say, Warnie.

Guys, forget Martin. Get Fisher.

Three-or-more gamers

This could’ve been the Stanley Show for the second week in a row after Danny defied his club’s tweet about possibly missing out against his old team to score his first century this season, but no one likes a re-run unless it’s Monkey Magic, The Mighty Boosh or early-season Scrubs. Stanley’s partner in crime of recent weeks, Nick Lower, failed to deliver in round 18, managing just 66 points in the Western Derby. Lower had plenty of company in the under-performing category, with several Freo stars unable to reach their averages, but Tendai Mzungu wasn’t amongst them, scoring a healthy 83. The biggest rookie-priced scorer of the round was Geelong’s Allen Christensen, who knocked out a 113 to follow his 120 from round 17, making him a better seventh mid than teammate Jimmy Bartel right now. Elsewhere, it wasn’t a terribly high-scoring round by the rookies, especially when compared to the massive numbers pumped out by the premiums, but it didn’t really matter with very few rookies making the starting line-ups of most teams at this time of the year, at least not when Port Adelaide have the bye anyway. The injury to Matt Suckling left some teams short in defence; here’s hoping you were able to fill the hole with someone other than Paul Puopolo, Josh Toy, Nick Duigan or Daniel Talia, with each of those blokes – who all have at least 30,000 owners – failing to crack the half-century. It wasn’t just the defence that struggled to produce the points, however, with other popular forward picks like Luke Tapscott, Tom Lynch, Isaac Smith and Cam Richardson all making a minor impact in round 18. You’re not going to find any long odds on Richardson winning this year’s most disappointing DT rookie award. In fact, I might as well call the engraver now.

Two gamers

Carlton midfielder (for DT purposes) Wayde Twomey is the only rookie-priced player to have featured in the past couple of games, but there’s not much point trying to talk him up. I could have every set of steak knives in the world and still be unable to sell you this bloke, as his job security and points potential just don’t endear him to Dream Team coaches determined to use their final few trades on a sure thing. I can’t even talk up Ian Callinan for the forty-third time this year, with the Adelaide multi-positioner due to miss the next two weeks with an injured hamstring.

One gamers

It doesn’t get hugely better down here either, with second-year Blue Marcus Davies, a defender, the only rookie-priced player to feature in his first match of 2011 in round 18. Davies failed to break through the 50-point barrier in any of his five games last year, (and subs vests weren’t even around back then), although he managed a 58 against the Bombers on Saturday night. He might come in to calculations next week as a downgrade target for those with bucket-loads of trades, although he’ll be useless cover for the likes of Bryce Gibbs and Heath Scotland, of course, when Carlton have their bye in the penultimate week of the DT finals.