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The Thursday Scramble

The Friday Scramble: Prelim Finals

Just two rounds to go and we are all Scrambling to get to the Big One!

Just two weeks to go in the season. This means that it is a huge game for us this week as a win this week sends you to the big dance! We have two trades to use in AF and possibly none in the other formats! To me that spells one thing…. SCRAMBLE!!!

Preliminary Final Strategy

To be completely honest, there isn’t a great deal of strategy when it comes to Preliminary Final week. It is simply win at all costs. This means getting your best team on the park at all costs.

One of the keys to your trading is that you don’t need to worry about what has happened in the past, it is all about what the player is going to score for the next two weeks. That is the only thing you need to worry about. And one of the keys to this is who are they playing against? For that one of your best resources will be Cal’s Scale of Hardness. The key is finding the guy that is going to get you the best scores over the last two weeks of the season. This is a great time to pick up a unique player, someone that you ordinarily wouldn’t select. The biggest risk you are taking is that you end up with someone that  you don’t like or sucks for two weeks. If you are looking like an underdog in your matchup then you may as well take the risk as anything can happen!

Other than that there isn’t too much that you can do apart from trying to select a unique captain or trying to match off a unique that your opponent has. We have talked about these strategies for a few weeks now and you should all be across them by now.

#AskDunny

 

Hi Nick, that is a good one and it is a great time to look at trading out these guys that find themselves in a number of teams as it will give you a unique. Of those three I would definitely be trading out Parker as he has struggled, particularly since JPK has returned to the team from injury. Of the others I am afraid that it has to be the Pig, Rocky. He just hasn’t been scoring up to the standard of a key midfielder lately and Stewart is likely to keep pace with the top defenders a bit more.

Wow Gav, do you have the option to trade out both of them? That would be the key if you ask me. But if I had to only pick one then I think it would be Fiorini. I think that he is likely to score less than Parker over the last two weeks.

I wish I knew the answer to that one about Taranto. I am an owner in a couple of formats and I really don’t want to have to trade him out if I can avoid it. Whilst Josh Kelly has been named in the extended squad I won’t be at all surprised if he either doesn’t make the cut or is a late out. I think that this is one of those situations where they will give him right up until the last minute to prove his fitness. The last thing that they can afford is for him to go down with another injury and be missing for the finals.

If Taranto plays then yes I would look at trading out Rocky. But if you are in AF and won’t know if he is a late out then you may need to do the Taranto trade to be safe (depends how worried you are on him and if you have decent cover).

Hi Scott, with both Clarke and Duursma out this week (I assume you are referring to Dylan Clarke) then this is a no brainer. If I am upgrading Duursma then I am going to Houli from that list you gave me. Houli has been scoring well and loves playing at the G.

If Kelly does play (see above) I am thinking that he may not play as much through that midfield as he will be nursed through the game. But if it is going to affect anyone it could be Greene as they have struggled to kick goals and they may want to put him back in that role.

If you have no cover and he is a unique and you are worried that he may not play then make that trade to Zorko. It is a sound selection and it takes out any risk for you. If he doesn’t play and you have no cover you are basically cooked in your final by the sounds of it. Take the no risk approach in my book.

Selection Table

Sam Mengola What a fall from grace it has been for the once must have in our forward line. He has been omitted this week and this will affect a number of draft owners.
Reilly O’Brien returns but Jacobs holds his spot. So it will be  a tag team against Grundy. Not sure how this will go but it may affect Grundy’s score so just beware if you are planning to captain him.
Rory Sloane has held his spot and all reports in Adelaide this week see him playing. Just make sure that you have sufficient cover for him.
Essendon have made wholesale changes with a couple of bench cover players affected in Begley and Dylan Clarke both being omitted. Good news from Clarke out is that it looks like Fyfe will escape a tag.
Duursma is out with a heel injury. So if you have been holding him and relying on him it is now time to move him on.
Dusty returns. Nothing much else to see here.
Josh Kelly returns to the squad. Note that this is only a squad at this stage. So he may not play still as I have mentioned above. Also note that in this game Taranto has been named so you should expect him out there unless you hear otherwise, just have bench cover in place.
Jeremy Cameron is officially out injured rather than being a late out this week. Time to trade.
Brad Scheer is back in the squad for the Suns. If he gets a game it will be interesting to see who he would go to. The way that Worpel has been going of late he could be the one that cops the attention. If not it could be Wingard.

Things To Remember

  • Triple check your side prior to lockout. We can’t afford any mistakes at this time of the season.
  • Check the scale of hardness if you need to get a unique in. But as Roy and Cal have mentioned a few times it shouldn’t be the only factor in a trade you might make. It should be used as a guide if you have a 50/50 decision to make.
  • If you are an underdog, take a risk! You can’t win it if you ain’t in it!

Just two weeks to go so don’t lose sight of the finish line. Make sure your teams are set and ready to go. If you are in the rolling lockout forms of the game then you might want to hold those trades until you absolutely have to make them in the event of a late out. Owners of Sloane and Taranto should take particular heed of this advice (and I feel for you if you have both like I do!).

Best of luck making it to the final, hopefully you find yourself in the big game once we get to Sunday night. I will see you all again next Friday for our last lockout scrambling of the season!

Cheers

Dunny

 

 

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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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