Welcome to another edition of Cal’s Scale of Hardness.

You can get weekly updates (and 10 rounds at a time – or by downloading the full season document) of the Scale of Hardness over on our Patreon page. Along with weekly…. extra podcasts, a LIVE Sunday night show, Calvin’s Captains, Roy’s Roll’ 22, Jaiden’s epic stats and a shitload more. This will feature on DT Talk on the second Thursday of each month (I forgot last week… sorry).

For weekly updates to the Scale, consider joining our Patreon. Members on the $10 tier will get updates with some commentary on each position and what I’m seeing along the way, with some popular players broken down at the same time… if your not on board, you’re missing out.

The scale is starting to take a real ‘true form shape’ after nine week’s of data. This epic masterpiece now should help with a little bit of direction as we approach the byes.

Remember, this isn’t the bible. It’s close… but it’s here to help you with those 50/50 calls when it comes to making trades, as you try to project what might happen in the coming weeks.

DEFENDERS

Easy run: GWS Giants and Port Adelaide

The one to have a look at is Lachie Whitfield (DEF/MID, $795,000), 7^th most traded in player this week, he’s coming off 105 and 130. His draw is unbelievable and if you can find the cash, then he is a guy worth targeting and will reward you instantly this week with anything from 120 onwards. He will also serve you well over the byes.

Hard run: Geelong

If you are like me and are looking to bring in Mitch Duncan this week, I wouldn’t be too put off by what you see. Firstly, Duncan’s heat map reads like a MID and last week he started back before spending 55% of his time in defence and 45% time FWD…. basically just runs around doing as he pleases. I’d read him more as a MID than a DEF.

MIDFIELDERS

Easy run: Essendon and the GWS Giants… by a mile

This is nuts. Look at all the green! More green there than a Bob Marely concert.

The whole GWS crew of Cogs, Green, Kelly and even my useless mate Callaghan will have great days coming up. Targeting these guys will only help you in a big way over the tricky bye rounds to come. I honestly expect them to average 10+ points more than what they are now over this period, and that’s being conservative.

Essendon are in the same boat. Zach Merrett is flying the flag solo at the moment in the middle with Parish and Setterfield on the sideline… but who comes in to help? Expect to see a boost in CBAs from Caldwell who had a team-high 71% last week and even the likes of Warnie’s mate Ben Hobbs (mentioned below) and add to that, Jake Stringer as well.

Hard run: Bulldogs and Kangaroos

Look… there isn’t much here to see, but the runs for these teams are a little trick over the next few weeks. Players like Bailey Smith (trade target) and Jack Macrae (who sucks) might find the match-ups a little tougher than normal. All this means is, over the byes when you’re taking the best-18, especially in round 12 (v Geelong) and round 13 (v Port)… don’t expect 120+ scores from these blokes.

Marcus Bontempelli on the other hand… the scale doesn’t tend to apply to players like this.

RUCKS

As much as I love the scale and what it represents, I wouldn’t be using this to dictate trades at this stage with the ruck department. Some teams don’t even have qualified ruckman.

Max Gawn (RUC, $754,000) though is certainly so value at the moment and he’ll get a huge boost on his score when he plays the Power this week. They rank #1 easiest for rucks, so expect him to have a day out against them. It’s also worth noting that he only attended 42% of the CBAs last week, but as we know with Max… he can get the job done all over the ground.

HOT WEEKLY PLAYERS

HARRY SHARP – most traded in

Look… you’re not getting in Sharp this week because he has the world’s greatest draw coming up. You’re getting him because of his -7 break-even and the fact he has the round 12 bye with only three other teams.

BEN HOBBS – Warnie’s mate

Last week, with Parish out… Hobbs attended 0% CBAs. Yes, he has a good run. Yes, he will get a small bump in MID time and yes he’s cheap… $524k. But he is a FWD only and obviously comes with a risk. I expect Caldwell and Stringer to be the main guys filling the voids, but he does have a round 14 bye and can be traded targeting those players coming off their byes in rounds 12 and 13. Over 1,100 coaches have jumped on board so far.

WHERE’S THE FORWARDS?

This question will be asked and no, I haven’t forgotten them. Firstly, you can get that over at the patreon when you download the whole document… but this is relevant to DRAFT only. At this stage of the year we should be targeting FWDs, who lay in the middle.

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