Rowsus, I would love your thoughts and projected yearly averages for Swan and Goddard.
I have reservations picking both. I expect both to be half-forwards who rotate in younger, rebuilding midfields. Both going on 30+ and declining their output, physical ability to play 22 games and role within the team.
Goddard at $550k I see as offering no value. But if he is a top-8 fwd lock in terms of total point --- he is still worth starting. If not, he is not.
Swan, unless he starts off great (though I suspect he builds into the year) is either a stepping-stone player that you need to start off well, or is a top-8 keeper...or is a mid-range waste of a trade?
Any thoughts?
Happydays, they are definitely 2 players everyone would love to have the answer to that question on.
Goddard seems to be in a slight decline, and I guess it could continue. I have him pegged for 20 games at around the 98/game area. That probably makes him a top 8 Fwd.
Swan represents an even bigger problem. We know he can start a season slow, and build into it. Having said that, "slow" for him was 112/game, then coming home the latter half of the season in 130. He's coming off another shortened pre-season, so we can expect him to start slowish again. The problem is, he's starting at such a low price (86.4), that he could quickly and easily become a regrettable omission. "Slow" might be 90's, with the odd 110 thrown in. To further complicate the issue, you have last years "fake out" to deal with as well. He started 89, 65, 70 then throws in 116, 122, 143 in his next 3 games. This convinced a great number of us that Swan was back. Very heavily traded in around the byes, he never cracked 100 again for the season. In fact he only averaged around 78 after that 143! So here we are stuck with so many decisions. Do we jump on the 2nd best SC player of all time, at a seemingly ridiculous price? Do we wait for a positive sign, and risk him quickly rising in price, putting us at a distinct disadvantage to those that started with him? Do we jump on him with the first positive sign, trying to avoid paying too much for him later, only to have him "fake" us out again? If you can answer these questions you have avoided a headache we all face.
Right now, I won't be starting with him. The combination of Collingwood declining, Swan getting more and more wear and tear problems that shorten his preseasons, and his just too dramatic decline last season (yes, I traded him in, and got stung), has me too wary. If I was to guess, I think he may play around 18-19 games, score at around 85-88 early, have a flurry at some stage, then cool off again. Right now I'm thinking he might average somewhere around 90-92, which with only 18-19 games puts him just outside what you might be hoping for in a F6 Keeper.
That opinion could obviously change when we have more info.