Never Again!

I’ve learned that I am quite a forgiving Dream Team coach. I have said never again for a lot of players and, year after year I grab them for the value they offer and year after year, they let me down.

WARNIES TOP 3

My top three this year has to be Shaun Higgins, Colin Sylvia and Greg Broughton.

I chucked it out on Twitter that I was writing this article and Higgins copped a lot of mentions. Mr Fragile. Mr Soft Tissue. Mr Tampon. He has to be on the top of everyone’s never again list if you’ve ever had him. I thought he was a genius pick this year. With 76, 109, 126 and 90 in his first four games, he was looking set for a big year. But then we had the first of his injuries for 2011 missing round 6-8, played a decent stint with some good scores and missed Round 19 with a further injury. My mate Aker doesn’t rate him too much… and I should follow him in not every picking him in my team again… he will miss games! He hasn’t played more than 17 games in a season since 2007. Sorry Higgo… never again!

I had a bit of a man crush on Sylvia last year. I picked him up mid-season and he played one game for me before ending up in hospital with some rare toe issue. Weird shit. But he ended up missing 3 games. He did bounce back pretty well and finish the season strongly, but missed the crucial preliminary final match which got me knocked out to one of my mortal DT enemies. This year, I picked him mid season again for around $300k which was great value for what the man can produce. “Colon” has always been a bit loose and when it comes to being disciplined, there was always a thought he might be suspended by the tribunal for doing something stupid… or even by the club for something stupid (possibly his fashion sense). The final straw has been his finish to the season. Getting dropped to the VFL, heaps of awful 70’s and then when he gives us a good game, he is rubbed out for two matches ending his season. Bloody hell Colin… never again!

Third on the list for this year is the glorified back pocket Broughton. I picked him from the start as a ‘premium’ defender who didn’t crack his first ton until Round 10. I dealt with 50s and 60s in this time and finally he came good. Roy and Calvin offloaded him and were pretty happy about that… until he started smashing it up for us with some thumper scores in the middle patch of the year. Oh, but then he was back to being Mr Back Pocket over the last three week with scores of 57, 71 and 51 and has now been iced up for the year. He is injury prone and prone to shitful roles, so Broughts… never again!

(DIS)HONORABLE MENTIONS

I would also have to add to this list guys who were a risk during the season that didn’t pay off. Poor old Jack Grimes has to be up there. While breaking a foot doesn’t make him injury prone (I call that reoccurring soft tissue injuries thanks), he does have a heap of bad luck… despite his Dream Team slutting up ability. Heath Shaw has been told never again a few times and keeps popping back into the Warne Dawgs somehow and costing me a trade through his walnut sized brain. Both of these guys have to much to offer my team, if they could play 22 games… I’d be all over them!

THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE

Also, it is time to go for some of our long serving players. I can’t trust Jimmy Bartel anymore. His scores are all very ho-hum. Jim-bob was the first real Dream Team premium that stood up for the Warne Dawgs, but after some poor leadership (I’ll never forget that game at the Gabba when he was captain a couple of years ago), he’ll be lucky to get a gig at Warne Dawg Park again. Other long time members of the Dawgs, Matthew Pavlich and Nick Riewoldt probably won’t get to go around again with the boys and even after being ‘back’ this week, Alan Didak has probably suited up in his last season in the green and black.

Roy did throw out there on Twitter that Dean Cox may not be the walk up selection that he once was. If he does miss this week, like he is rumoured to, then it could be curtains for him. There is a new brigade coming through – thanks mostly to the sub rule – of premium ruckmen that can go out there and score us big tons.

WHO IS ON YOUR LIST?

Now it’s your turn. Let us know in the comments who is on your NEVER AGAIN list and the reasons. Hit me up on Twitter @WarneDT with a hashtag of #neveragain and I’ll retweet some of my favourites! This is a good chance to vent. It can be very therapeutic… so enjoy and think never again!