Never been one for keeping my starting side secret as there's normally plenty better coaches than myself willing to share.
TheRustyFishHooks $55.4k remaining
Laird, Bartel, Yeo, Lonergan, Brown, Hartley, Adams, Ruggles
Fyfe, Danger, Pendles, Gaz, Rockliff, Mills, Oliver, Kennedy, Gresham, Petracca, Davis
Goldy, Jacobs, King
Dusty, Barlow, Hall, Wells, Menadue, Kerridge, McCarthy, Tipingwuti.
Suppose I'll start with the obvious exclusions. Shaw and Libba, both players have been discussed extensively all pre season so there's really not much to explain. A 600k defender is absolutely insane to me. Libba on the other hand has his merits, with his ownership % so high I'm going to bank on him coming back to around that 90-95 average and end up being a floundering M8 for most sides.
Light defence seems the way to go for me this year, I've had Boyd at D1 for a long time but that last couple weeks with the really poor rookie situation coming to light has forced me to pinch back the 60k and drop him down to Laird. Bartel and Lonergan seem pretty risk free to me if I take the view of upgrading Lonergan at about round 8, hopefully the same time McVeigh bottoms out. Gut instinct tells me Yeo will explode this year, full pre season, plate removed from his hand, and hopefully a more stable role all points in that direction.
Big 5 mids don't need much explanation. Expecting 115-120 from each and every one of them, think it will be a failure if they return any less. Strong (perceived) M5-M8 rookies to hopefully sit there as long as possible as the fwds/defs need to be built up fairly quick.
Won't explain Goldy, has his obvious risks and rewards and will likely end up #1 ruck and best case potentially #1 overall again this year. I've agonised over R2 like most but my gut instinct pre season always pushed me towards Jacobs. I don't buy into the FTB status for ruckman. Crows won 11 in 2014 and he averaged 115. Coincidentally 2014 was his last uninterrupted pre season and 2016 will be exactly that. I expect them to win 10-11 again this year and 110+ from sauce.
The forwards present me with likely my last XvY scenario. My team feels relatively risk free with only Lonergan Hall and Sauce presenting any real risk. The DPP on Hall/Lonergan even reduces the risk further. And there lies the problem, not enough upside.
The alternate is to Swap Dusty & Ruggles for DeGoey and B Crouch. It lets me remove a questionable on field rookie (Menadue) and a Martin with clear off field issues, for 2 highly rated breakout contenders. I've watched Crouch play a fair bit in the SANFL and if his body holds together, he IS a 100 point player, and while I don't know much of DeGoey he ticks all the right boxes. Contested player in an improving side who can kick goals.
Edit: DeGpoy/Crouch option allows Boyd at D1, but with 1.1k in the kitty.
I'll chuck this XvY up in the proper thread but thought I'd chuck it in here to help see the rationale of the team.
Bit of a long winded post so cheers to anyone who takes the time to read and throw some feedback my way.
3 days til footy lads, for anyone that hasn't read Courtesans "The last inch" go and have a read before you start changing things too much.