Buster Gonads started with:
Super Premiums/Premiums - 7 (Goddard, Fisher, Ablett, Judd, Cox, Franklin, Pavlich)
Guns - 1 (Deledio)
Young Speculatives - 3 (Gibbs, Selwood, Krakouer N)
Returners - 8 (Drummond, Cornes C, Raines, Houlihan, Skipworth, McIntosh, Chapman, Higgins)
Rookies - 11
Simplifying the numbers, Buster started with 8 Premium/Guns, 11 Midprice/Bargains and 11 Rookies. I think his success comes down to sticking to a plan, having patience and discipline, and bit of great judgement thrown in as well. 2 of his 3 YS's turned into Guns (Gibbs and Selwood), 1 of his Returning players turned into a Premium (Chapman), 1 turned into a Gun (Drummond), and he got good service from another 4 of his returners (Cornes, Houlihan, McIntosh, Higgins). He was pro-active in fixing early mistakes (Raines), followed a similar to path to Blue Thunder with his cash cows, in that he didn't wait to milk every last dollar out of them. If there was a down grade target available, he was prepared to milk a cow 2, 3 or even 4 weeks before what some coaches might think was ideal. He traded Ablett out when he got injured for 3 weeks, and got him back at the first opportunity (5 weeks later). He pretty much played the game EXACTLY how I have read nearly every SC Blogger say they will play the game. The one difference was that he stayed the path! He wasn't distracted, sidetracked, or lulled into unnecessary risks or gambles. He didn't panic, and thought a few weeks ahead, without having things written in stone. He took chances, he opted for Didak over Riewoldt in round 13, when most Coaches would have taken Riewoldt. It turned out to be a great move. Didak went 163, 136, 132 in the next 3 rounds against Roos 96, 107, 96! He managed to bring in the right players, at the right time (Hurn, RO'K) which is the luck/good judgement we all need. He got ahead with good POD's, kept some back-up trades up his sleeve, and closed down the avenues of attack his nearest opposition had. Textbook SuperCoaching!
