The Thursday Scramble: Round 3

Have we ever seen a season like this?  Yeah, probably, but each year we think that right? Anyway, we have injuries to deal with as well as poor form and we are starting to see some trends emerge that will help us determine the way to go. We should be well trained in these kinds of issues, but never the less, let’s Scramble!

Two Big Injuries

If you had both Gawn and Steele on your rosters this week you must have been wondering what ladder you walked under. But it happens to everyone at some stage during the season where they have a premium get injured early and another one then injured late in the game but it is pretty unlucky for both to happen in the one week causing two forced trades. As always, don’t see this as a problem but an opportunity.

These two guys are both expensive enough that trading them out can help you do a bit of restructuring to get in some of the guys that are performing and will make either some instant points for your side or some much needed cash.

In Supercoach and RealDreamteam (Sportsdeck) this ‘issue’ couldn’t have come at a better time. With prices in those games not having changed yet, you haven’t lost anything through Max’s early departure and also those players that are on fire haven’t risen. So the sky’s the limit for you. You could look to trade him down to a cheaper Ruck that has had a good scores like Cameron and then the use the remaining cash to get a mid pricer up to someone like Nick Daicos. Or of course, you can just go straight from Max to one of the other top rucks you don’t have like English or Marshall.  Thankfully Steele played the game out so you can trade him direct to a mid premium, like above, you could trade him down to a mid pricer and use that extra cash to upgrade someone else.

In AFL Fantasy you have had some price movements and unfortunately Max’s mishap has seen him drop in value, but it doesn’t mean you can’t use the money to improve your side still. You don’t have to go for the top ruck but go for some value and upgrade another player like a McKenna or a Callaghan. Same things go for Steele, you could downgrade him to a Setterfield and then upgrade someone else making your team stronger and also getting in guys that are going to rise in value.

What I am trying to say here is that this early in the season there are a heap of options for you to use to get the best value you can out of these injuries.

One annoying injury

So even before we get teams tonight we know that popular selection Jacob Hopper is out for the Tigers. This may have come at a good time as he didn’t have a great round 1 but was ok in round 2 against Adelaide. Some people were just looking for an excuse to move him on and this could be it.  Once again, he is classed as a mid pricer by some and you could either drop to a rookie you missed or move to another mid pricer, or better yet, include him in your Max or Steele trade and put the extra cash on his head up to a premium.

Have we missed the boat?

I got a question from @soosthui23 or Sean Ostayzen on twitter asking “Has the Chandler boat sailed?”. This is an interesting one because he has now had two price rises and has gone up $128k in AF but the key is that he still has a Break Even of -21 meaning that he still has more to give. He looked really good to the eye test last week for the Dees and he does seem to have some job security based on that. But as Fry told us the other day, this is the last chance to get him. The only other option you have up forward that is cheaper is Pedlar but his BE is up at -4 so everything is relative. Personally I don’t like paying this much for someone I am trying to make money from but if you have no other rookies that you need to grab then go for him.

A Sideways and a Rook or two Rooks?

@chrislaw_WA otherwise known as Christo’s Crackers on twitter tells us he has major FOMO missing out on Ziebell (I jumped on him last week and am a very happy owner) so he wants to know if it is too early to trade Rozee to Ziebell and fix one rookie or fix 2 rookies. For me the answer here not completely clear cut. Ordinarily you would look to fix two rookies, but this does depend on which two you are looking at that you need to bring in (and which two you want to boot out). This would be normally my number 1 advice. As would also be sticking by your pick of Rozee. Last week I would write off.  The Power were woeful against the rampaging Pies (gee that hurt to write!) but it is true, they were terrible and add to that Rozee did spend some time on the bench getting a concussion test which also hurt his TOG% (only 80%) and his scoring. But, I do like Ziebell and particularly as we all widely speculate that he will get defender status at round 6 which will be invaluable given the issue we have down back and the overflow of forwards we can bring in.

So, my advice, I think I have to stick with the fix up of the two rookies first, particularly if they are on Fry’s must have list of rookies. Rozee will come good and you can get Ziebell at a later stage but the Rookies won’t be this cheap for long and you want them in and out of your side in a few weeks, once you miss a price rise with them they are gone.

Quickfire Questions

• Henry McFootballhead  Laird/Oliver and Worpel or Daicos and Ziebell.  No contest, go with Daicos and Ziebell for mine.
• @SinceUBeenGawn   Which two to jump off first? Macrae, Sheed or JHF.  I know we aren’t happy with Macrae at the moment, but he has a bigger chance of coming back and going well for you, so I say the other two.
• Lindsay Blight  Best Macrae upgrade target of Laird, Oliver or Brayshaw.  Laird for me. Round 1 was a once off.  Second best for me is Oliver.
• Tyler Bennett  Which two of Gulden/Setters and Day/Ziebell to grab.  If money is no object I say Gulden and Ziebell.  Ziebell will be a better scorer than Day and Setters hasn’t played a top side yet.
• James Speechley  Is Luke Ryan a good optoin from McGrath.  I don’t mind Ryan, he will be the top scoring Docker defender come season’s end for me.
• David Furmark  Mate, your question is best answered by our Rookie Guru Fry.  But of your list I think that Phillipou has the best JS.

 

Things to Remember

• I think just about every league finally kicks into gear this week so get amongst it and dial up the banter.
• We saw a few late outs last weekend so keep your ears open and be ready to jump on the changes thanks to the rolling lockouts.
• If you have a one week injury it isn’t always a must trade if you have some good cover (like many held Kelly and played Hollands once he had the good score).

Have a cracking weekend of Fantasy Footy and hopefully you can come home with a few wins.  We are starting to head towards the end of our fix up season and it won’t be long until we are in upgrade season when our focus will change slightly.  Good luck and see you all next Thursday (if not at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night!)