The Thursday Scramble: Round 15. Bye Week 4

Just about there! Only two weeks to go. But don’t forget, that means only two more weeks of having 3 trades each week.  So clearly that means it is time to Scramble!!

Preparation is the key!

This week shouldn’t be too taxing on your player resources. Doubtful that there are many Eagles or Hawks on your team. You are likely to have a couple of Crows, probably Dawson and Rankine as well as two or maybe three premium Demons in Max, Trac and Oliver.  Now yes, you probably have some rookies in Pedlar and Lindsay, but they have to go this week!

So if you are ok for premiums this week and don’t have many of those guys, start to liquidate your players from the R16 bye week as that one is going to be quite the challenge.  With the Bombers, Giants, Cats and Lions on the bye we are going to be hardest hit here. If you have the spare trades to use this week start to move on the guys from next week that you don’t plan on holding.  Here we need to play the breakeven game. Most of the Bombers rookies you have will have plenty of cash to make so don’t burn them. Levi Ashcroft is the one that can go if you are still holding can definitely go this week.

If we can prepare well enough for round 16 we should be able to get through it fairly comfortably and we should be able to get a real boost over the rest of the competition.

Can you trade Max??

We’ve read this book before haven’t we. Trading out great premium for a short term gain with a. plan to get them back in again.  Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of this decision.

Pros – Max is on the bye. But we would normally hold someone like that right.  Objectively though Max has a huge amount of cash on him and his BE is up at 130 so there is every chance he doesn’t reach that.  As the guys said on their shows this week he has a run of Witts, O’Brien, Xerri, TDK then RoMar. So there is every chance he averages less than the other premium rucks. So you could get a leg up on the rest of the competition by moving him on.  He can be someone you use to unlock a heap of cash and do a couple of upgrades either this week or next.

Cons – Any time you trade out a premium there is always that risk that you can’t get him back in again. As we all know there are always other issues to face in our team and often we don’t get to do the luxury trade we would like to do.  Just because other rucks have struggled against those guys, remember, this is Max, he is awesome and is likely to smash out a great score.

How strong does your bench need to be?

So we have only two more weeks of best 18 to go.  After that we are going to be back to our full squad which hopefully at that point will be almost full ‘premium’ on field. To get there you have had to probably trade out most of your bench players that have been playing and making you money. And in doing that you are probably left with red dots on the bench. This is going to be the case for many teams.

We have our mid season draftees coming into sides now but in reality you are likely to need to cash these guys in before the end of the season to make a bit of money when we have some more issues in our sides.

Do we need all green dots on the bench, no we don’t. But what we do want to strive to do is finish your on field 22. Once you have done that then it is time to start working on that bench. Ideally you will have a 23rd premium and that premium should be a DPP player.  I will be looking to have that being a Mid/Forward and then if I am able to I will try and keep Tom McCarthy as my defensive bench player.  I can’t see a world in which he doesn’t stay in that Eagles side each week for the rest of the season.

Things to Remember

• Don’t just plan for this week. Have your eyes on the prize being that full team when you are finished the byes.
• If you do trade out a premium like Max. Be prepared to be without him for the rest of the season if everything conspires against you.
• Not long now til Fantasy finals. Don’t forget that and keep your eyes on the prize.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the footy. Hopefully you get through this bye and are well prepared for the next one as that is going to be a tough one!  Catch you all next Thursday!

Dunny

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.