Position Rate My Team - SC Now Open

[Darkie]

Think I'll take a stab at it before the New Year:

DEF: Montagna, Rance, Adams, Laird, Scharenberg, Berry (Newman, Ryan)
MID: Danger, Pendles, JPK, Treloar, Fyfe, Beams, McGrath, Myers (Barrett, Pickett, Graham)
RUCK: Goldy, Sandi (Witts)
FWS: Dahl, Macrae, McCarthy, McCluggage, Balic, S. Bolton (D. Cameron, Eddy)

Not sure about rookies yet.
Starting combo for the DEF could change with the pre-season games. Adams most likely to drop out with his injury history.
Like having Sandi to complement Goldy, means I can spend more across the squad especially with my mids.
Prefer to start 5 (what I feel to be "genuine") premiums in the midfield plus Beams who I feel to be the best of the discounted players.
Not many discounted players as I feel some of them are injury prone and awkwardly priced.

Not a lot to dislike here mate. My side is similar (10 premiums overlapping) with the main differences being fairly line-ball calls in my view.

Witts is probably the one who jumps out - I'd suggest he really needs to be playing and scoring as a semi cash cow to be worth picking on the bench. If Sandi goes down, you can likely bring in a Giles or Boyd, or even a Witts, at that point unless you get very unlucky - so I'm not sure I'd tie up that cash by starting Witts. If you think Witts will play and make cash, that's not a bad strategy, although from my experience it is hard to make cash from an R3, and then hard to justify extracting that cash from playing ruck cover! You might find that if you go, e.g., Sandi to Gawn at some stage, Witts becomes season long cover for you, rather than a cash cow ... just depends on what you're picking him for.

Adams and perhaps Treloar look the most marginal selections to me, so agreed on your thinking re Adams. You've got a lot of proven, pretty durable top scorers in there though, along with a bit of value, so this looks like a pretty good balance to me. Subject to fitness and bye considerations, I would be pretty happy with this as a starting side. Good luck.

 

[30BucketsofRo]

Not a lot to dislike here mate. My side is similar (10 premiums overlapping) with the main differences being fairly line-ball calls in my view.

Witts is probably the one who jumps out - I'd suggest he really needs to be playing and scoring as a semi cash cow to be worth picking on the bench. If Sandi goes down, you can likely bring in a Giles or Boyd, or even a Witts, at that point unless you get very unlucky - so I'm not sure I'd tie up that cash by starting Witts. If you think Witts will play and make cash, that's not a bad strategy, although from my experience it is hard to make cash from an R3, and then hard to justify extracting that cash from playing ruck cover! You might find that if you go, e.g., Sandi to Gawn at some stage, Witts becomes season long cover for you, rather than a cash cow ... just depends on what you're picking him for.

Adams and perhaps Treloar look the most marginal selections to me, so agreed on your thinking re Adams. You've got a lot of proven, pretty durable top scorers in there though, along with a bit of value, so this looks like a pretty good balance to me. Subject to fitness and bye considerations, I would be pretty happy with this as a starting side. Good luck.

Cheers Darkie, appreciate the feedback and will take that on board

 

[Ben's Beasts]

Think I'll take a stab at it before the New Year:

DEF: Montagna, Rance, Adams, Laird, Scharenberg, Berry (Newman, Ryan)
MID: Danger, Pendles, JPK, Treloar, Fyfe, Beams, McGrath, Myers (Barrett, Pickett, Graham)
RUCK: Goldy, Sandi (Witts)
FWS: Dahl, Macrae, McCarthy, McCluggage, Balic, S. Bolton (D. Cameron, Eddy)

Not sure about rookies yet.
Starting combo for the DEF could change with the pre-season games. Adams most likely to drop out with his injury history.
Like having Sandi to complement Goldy, means I can spend more across the squad especially with my mids.
Prefer to start 5 (what I feel to be "genuine") premiums in the midfield plus Beams who I feel to be the best of the discounted players.
Not many discounted players as I feel some of them are injury prone and awkwardly priced.

Wow. Out of your 14 'keepers' which include Beams and Sandi, I have 13 the same in my current side.

Fair to say I like it a lot!

 

[Nk29]

First run:

D: Shaw, Adams, Hodge, Thurlow, McGrath, Scharenberg (Berry, Hibberd)
M: Dangerfield, Bontempelli, Fyfe, Heppell, Beams, Swallow, S.Selwood, Powell-Pepper (Myers, Barrett, Freeman)
R: Goldstein, Martin (Strndica)
F: Dahlhaus, Macrae, Lynch, Wingard, Bowes, Balic (Pickett, Sier)

$3,400 in the kitty

 

[Darkie]

Ok Eagling,

I will throw my current lineup.. absolutely in experimental mode atm (no danger!)

D - Laird, Adams, JJ, hodge, rooks - ryan, newman, ?, ?

M - Sloane, Fyfe, Tictch, Cotch, Jobe Watson, Murphy, Beams, Swallow - myers, powell pepper, freeman

R - Gawn, Sandi, Strnadica

F - Dahlhaus, Heeney, ryder, pickett, turner, black, tim smith, bowes

66k remaining

plan of attack is to premium up the forward and backlines first. Hopefully the mids/sandi can score enough until I can bring in some of the big boys - and i'd be prepared to swap out a jobe/swallow/murphy to do so if timing/cash was right.

Hi Torress - a couple of thoughts on this side:

- Your backs looks quite risky to me. JJ is not proven in my view, Adams misses a lot of games, and Hodge could be an inspired choice or a major headache with missed games. I'd maybe pick your least favorite of those and switch out for someone a bit safer.

- Your mids have a bunch of M8 type players in my view. Generally I don't want to pick my ultimate M8 in my starting side unless they are super cheap - they're usually easy to pick up cheaply later on, while filling M1-M3 is harder to do mid-season because there are fewer players who can score at that level, and they typically cost more. I think the risk with the midfield you've got is that you end up with a number of negative PODs, or need to use sideways trades, which can be a bit of a luxury. I'd keep Beams but try to trim one or more of Titch, Murphy, Watson, Cotchin. Even Sloane doesn't leap out as a great starting pick for mine, unless you think he has an "angle". I'd much prefer one less premium mid and a bunch of additional elite players in that line, plus another good rookie.

- I see no issue skipping Danger so long as you have good captain options, although with this side I'm not sure you have that. I'm using guys like Rocky, Pendles and potentially Shaw and Goldy for this purpose. Selwood could be another option with a good ceiling - he also seems to score better when Danger goes big, so he might provide you with a bit of a hedge (albeit that he may be a better upgrade target most years).

- Your rucks and forwards look good to me.

Good luck mate.

 

[Deeman1]

First run:

D: Shaw, Adams, Hodge, Thurlow, McGrath, Scharenberg (Berry, Hibberd)
M: Dangerfield, Bontempelli, Fyfe, Heppell, Beams, Swallow, S.Selwood, Powell-Pepper (Myers, Barrett, Freeman)
R: Goldstein, Martin (Strndica)
F: Dahlhaus, Macrae, Lynch, Wingard, Bowes, Balic (Pickett, Sier)

$3,400 in the kitty

Hi Nk,

Structure wise I think it looks good.

My only observation is that you seem to have a high number of players with ??? marks over them, Hodge, Thurlow, Adams, Beams, Swallow, Martin, Wingard just to name a few.

You being a Geelong man, would know more about S Selwood than most, but I'm not sure about his selection, I'm not sure that he will score well enough to make the cash to justify his selection. My only suggestion would be Selwood down to rookie and sure up one or two other selections.

Good start, well done

 

[Deeman1]

GV Vikings Draft 1 (of many)

Rance, Adams, Laird, McDonald, McGrath, Scharenberg, (Newman, Ryan)

Dangerfield, Kennedy, Treloar, Fyfe, Beams, Foote, Berry, Powell-Pepper (Myers, Freeman, Sier)

Goldstein, Sandilands (Strnadica)

Dahlhaus, Macrae, Caddy, Ryder, McLuggage, Black (Pickett, Eddy)


$15,500 left

Idealy I would like to get Rance up to Shaw, but will depend on rookies availablity. More concerned about structure at this stage, hopefully rookies will take care of them selves closer to start of season.

 

[Prochard]

GV Vikings Draft 1 (of many)

Rance, Adams, Laird, McDonald, McGrath, Scharenberg, (Newman, Ryan)

Dangerfield, Kennedy, Treloar, Fyfe, Beams, Foote, Berry, Powell-Pepper (Myers, Freeman, Sier)

Goldstein, Sandilands (Strnadica)

Dahlhaus, Macrae, Caddy, Ryder, McLuggage, Black (Pickett, Eddy)


$15,500 left

Idealy I would like to get Rance up to Shaw, but will depend on rookies availablity. More concerned about structure at this stage, hopefully rookies will take care of them selves closer to start of season.

GV Vikings Draft 1 (of many)

Rance, Adams, Laird, McDonald, McGrath, Scharenberg, (Newman, Ryan)

Dangerfield, Kennedy, Treloar, Fyfe, Beams, Foote, Berry, Powell-Pepper (Myers, Freeman, Sier)

Goldstein, Sandilands (Strnadica)

Dahlhaus, Macrae, Caddy, Ryder, McLuggage, Black (Pickett, Eddy)


$15,500 left

Idealy I would like to get Rance up to Shaw, but will depend on rookies availablity. More concerned about structure at this stage, hopefully rookies will take care of them selves closer to start of season.

Every premium on this list are of the highest quality from my perspective bar Goldstein, Mcdonald and Caddy.

Tom Mcdonald I can see being a very good and I can understand the interest. He would've been a lock in any other year but this year with so many near certainties in the back line, he's not a primary initial option for me as he would still need to increase his average to be a keeper whereas many others are already other.

Goldstein I strongly dislike. Everything leads to his worst season in half a decade. 1. For the first time in awhile there are signs of his body struggling, which was probably accumulated stress after shouldering R1 for so many years without a break. 2. Goldstein had an obvious decline in scoring whenever Daw played, and Daw seems to have cemented a spot in the best 22 for North. 3. Losing 2 of North's 5 best clearance players (Wells, Dal Santo) We saw what losing Dangerfield did to Jacobss output, pm me for more details. 4. 2015 was clearly a spike year, and he achieved it by destroying some 3rd or 4th best rucks of various clubs. At his best I think Goldstein is a 115-119 ave player, but that's long gone. 5. Both Grundy and Gawn I think are better options than him, some could even consider Witts, Sandilands, Stranadica combo as Witts is looking like Gold Coast's first choice ruckman, but for me Witts will probably be an expensive bench option, meaning Ryder will be omitted.

For Caddy I struggle to see where the improvement will come from. Has always been a physically mature player since being drafted, and his scores directly correlate with his midfield time. From my perspective the Richmond midfield is even more stacked than Geelong's in terms of numbers, and the forward line demands a mid-forward even more than Geelong, can't see an improved scoring environment for him. However, if he does become part of the primary midfield rotation, then he could be a worthwhile pick.

Overall, it's clear that we rate the same group of players. So make sure you dont steal any of my picks in the draft league

 

[Deeman1]

GV Vikings Draft 1 (of many)

Rance, Adams, Laird, McDonald, McGrath, Scharenberg, (Newman, Ryan)

Dangerfield, Kennedy, Treloar, Fyfe, Beams, Foote, Berry, Powell-Pepper (Myers, Freeman, Sier)

Goldstein, Sandilands (Strnadica)

Dahlhaus, Macrae, Caddy, Ryder, McLuggage, Black (Pickett, Eddy)


$15,500 left

Idealy I would like to get Rance up to Shaw, but will depend on rookies availablity. More concerned about structure at this stage, hopefully rookies will take care of them selves closer to start of season.

Every premium on this list are of the highest quality from my perspective bar Goldstein, Mcdonald and Caddy.

Tom Mcdonald I can see being a very good and I can understand the interest. He would've been a lock in any other year but this year with so many near certainties in the back line, he's not a primary initial option for me as he would still need to increase his average to be a keeper whereas many others are already other.

Goldstein I strongly dislike. Everything leads to his worst season in half a decade. 1. For the first time in awhile there are signs of his body struggling, which was probably accumulated stress after shouldering R1 for so many years without a break. 2. Goldstein had an obvious decline in scoring whenever Daw played, and Daw seems to have cemented a spot in the best 22 for North. 3. Losing 2 of North's 5 best clearance players (Wells, Dal Santo) We saw what losing Dangerfield did to Jacobss output, pm me for more details. 4. 2015 was clearly a spike year, and he achieved it by destroying some 3rd or 4th best rucks of various clubs. At his best I think Goldstein is a 115-119 ave player, but that's long gone. 5. Both Grundy and Gawn I think are better options than him, some could even consider Witts, Sandilands, Stranadica combo as Witts is looking like Gold Coast's first choice ruckman, but for me Witts will probably be an expensive bench option, meaning Ryder will be omitted.

For Caddy I struggle to see where the improvement will come from. Has always been a physically mature player since being drafted, and his scores directly correlate with his midfield time. From my perspective the Richmond midfield is even more stacked than Geelong's in terms of numbers, and the forward line demands a mid-forward even more than Geelong, can't see an improved scoring environment for him. However, if he does become part of the primary midfield rotation, then he could be a worthwhile pick.

Overall, it's clear that we rate the same group of players. So make sure you dont steal any of my picks in the draft league

lol, you know as well as I do, that its a dog eat dog world out there...

Thanks for the feedback. I guess compromises need to be made, I guess if I can find a cheaper rookie than Foote in M6, then it would "free up" enough cash to turn Caddy into Lynch and McDonald to a more reliable player, but we will have to wait and see.

The only other Ruck I would be interested in would be Gawn, but I'm not sure I would be able to free up enough cash to get to him.

Thanks for the feedback again.

 

[yakka]

First crack for the year.
Backline I'm happy with for the moment 3 guns & 3 rookies.
The mid concerns me with 3 starters coming back from injury.
Popular ruck trio. The forward line is where I'm changing players the most..
Not completely sold on this team..

 

[Ricky Bobby]

View attachment 2137
First crack for the year.
Backline I'm happy with for the moment 3 guns & 3 rookies.
The mid concerns me with 3 starters coming back from injury.
Popular ruck trio. The forward line is where I'm changing players the most..
Not completely sold on this team..

I'm not completely sold on this team either. I think you mids with Hep, Beams & Swallow look a little under strength (I think at least 1 or 2 of these will need to be upgraded durning the season). FWIW, I think you need to choose one of either Beams or Swallow (but not both) and look to bring in at least one more of the big boys as another captain option.

Your rucks of Grundy & Sandy also feel like both may need to be upgraded during the year. If you think both will be in the top 2-3 rucks, then fine, otherwise I would look to upgrade one of them to a top 1-2 ruck.

Fwds look ok, but I'm not convinced by Elliot at $291k at F5. At this stage it looks like there are a good selection of Fwd rookies, so I would be tempted to replace Elliot with one of these and put the funds towards one of the upgrades mentioned above.

 

[yakka]

Thanks heaps for the feedback.
Totally agree with you on the midfield issue I have..
Haven't heard much on Beams preseason so far, so he potentially be upgraded to a premo.
I heard that Swallow is having a good crack at preseason this year and looks to be over his injuries that have hampered him in the past few seasons.
I'm not expecting him to be a keeper, but he should be a reasonable cash cow at the least.
I'm also tempted by his bey round.
The same applies with my other mid prices.
I know that most people are going with guns and rookie's, but I'm really tempted by a lot by all these mid price players coming back from injury eg. Bob in the backline,J-Bomb,Swallow & Beams,Sandy,Roughy and Elliot.

 

[jarrad_]

doc-adams-laird-howe-pittard-mcgrath newman and ryan

danger-pendles-treloar-fyfe-foote-brodie-powellpepper-myers barrett,fisher and graham

gawnstein strnadica

dahlhaus-macrae-mcluggage-knight-ainsworth-bowes eddy and deluca

thats as guns and rookies as i have ever been feels weird not having ANY midpricers

 

[Prochard]

doc-adams-laird-howe-pittard-mcgrath newman and ryan

danger-pendles-treloar-fyfe-foote-brodie-powellpepper-myers barrett,fisher and graham

gawnstein strnadica

dahlhaus-macrae-mcluggage-knight-ainsworth-bowes eddy and deluca

thats as guns and rookies as i have ever been feels weird not having ANY midpricers

My first impression by the lack in quantity of premiums is that you must have a truck load of cash left. Don't like your structure but premium choices are solid.

 

[30BucketsofRo]

Have come up with 3 combinations with current prices.

1 -
DEF: Monty, Laird, Adams, Rance, Scharenberg, Berry (Ryan, Newman)
MID: Danger, Pendles, JPK, Hanners/Treloar, Fyfe, Beams, McGrath, Myers (Barrett, Pickett, Graham)
RUCK: Goldstein, Sandi (Cameron)
FWD: Dahl, Macrae, McCluggage, McCarthy, Balic, R. Knight (Bolton, Eddy)

Looks like a balanced line-up with upside in players like Adams, Treloar and Knight. Adams and Knight could be risky picks though.

2 -
DEF: Shaw, Monty, Laird, Adams/Rance, Scharenberg, Berry (Ryan, Newman)
MID: Danger, Pendles, JPK, Hanners/Treloar, Fyfe, Beams, McGrath, Myers (Barrett, Pickett, Graham)
RUCK: Goldy, Sandi (Cameron)
FWD: Dahl, Macrae, McCluggage, McCarthy, Balic, Bolton (O'Kearney, Eddy)

Again, I feel this to be a balanced line-up. Difference is that Shaw comes in to squeeze out one of Adams or Rance, giving the defence a bit more of a perceived edge and Riley Knight is sacrificed for a true rookie priced player.

3 -
DEF: Monty, Laird, Adams, Scharenberg, Berry, Mitch Hibberd (Ryan, Newman)
MID: Danger, Pendles, JPK, Hanners, Treloar, Fyfe, Beams, McGrath (Myers, Pickett, Graham)
RUCK: Goldy, Sandi (Cameron)
FWD: Dahl, Macrae, McCluggage, McCarthy, Balic, Bolton (O'Kearney, Eddy)

Just the 3 premo defenders with Shaw being squeezed out to fit in both Hanners and Treloar. I actually feel like the premo combination in this line-up would outscore the above 2 premo combos (think Fyfe would outscore Shaw as they are a similar price) but it does mean my mids are effectively set with potentially only 1 upgrade on-field (depending on Beams), which gives me a pretty rigid set of mids.

Adams/Rance and Hanners/Treloar I see as toss of the coin picks, leaning towards Adams over Rance due to midfield time (despite injury history) and and Hanners over Treloar due to scoring history. Could go either way really. Of course, these premo combinations are dependent on rookies available.

Feel free to let me know what you think as I really can't split these teams, your opinions would be appreciated as it gives me another perspective. Happy New Year!

 

[Darkie]

^ A few thoughts on your three sides, 30Buckets:

- I think it's quite a lineball call, but I'd put number 3 in third position and toss up between 1 and 2. Based on the names as you've listed them I'd take 2, although I think 1 is the better structure until we know more about the rookies, who will ultimately determine it.

- My understanding is that Myers is a best 22 mid - you'll obviously have your own view on this! - in which case you'd presumably want him on field. In structure 3 you could switch McGrath and Hibberd, eg, and play Myers over Hibberd, to achieve this.

- I don't know much about Knight but it seems he may need a full time mid role to score well enough to justify his price. He's played 10 games so far, with a max of 75. He'd likely need to average that or better to be a good pick, which seems a big ask unless the cards really fall his way. With that said, your forward line looks a lot better with a decent rookie filling his spot. I'm not sure I rate McCarthy either ... He averaged around 75 in the first half of 2015 when he was kicking a lot of goals (and not many behinds), so he might be a higher JS slow burn cash cow. I guess the point is that I don't love either of those two names specifically, but I like what I think you're trying to do, in making that line a bit more solid, if you're only going two premiums deep there.

- Hanners is an interesting pick. He looks to have only had two injury stints in six years, and averaged 114 for two years running. He's now typically very consistent, but with a little lull mid to late last year to suggest he may have a bit of upside yet if he's fully fit heading into the season. I've barely seen him picked, but he looks like quite a viable alternative at around Treloar's price.

- Comparing structure 3 vs 2, I think the premium trade-off is actually Shaw vs Hanners/Treloar (rather than Fyfe). With that said, I think the rookie trade-off is probably the aspect to focus on.

- In terms of your mids being rigid, I wouldn't worry about that aspect per se. If there's one line I'd be happy to "lock in" (ignoring structure, rookie attractiveness and so on), it's the mids ... They're the highest scorers (ie, the highest priced, and therefore the hardest to bring in mid-year) and, critically, the most predictable names from year to year in my view, so starting a lot of the best ones is perfectly viable as I see it, so long as you're not compromising cash generation, eg. You've also picked generally very proven high-scoring names - it's not like you've got Bont, Cripps, Titchell types in there. If Hanners and Treloar (who would be my least favourite of your mids - presumably yours as well) both go 110+ again, I think the only names I could see being big negative PODs against you would be Rocky, Ablett and maybe Selwood for a stretch of games. Given you have room for one of them, and that two have injury concerns, I'm not sure you're giving up too much there, assuming you really like the def- and fwd-eligible rookies.

It looks like you're already very well-progressed in your planning. I'd probably try to resist the urge to tinker too much p) until we know more about the rookies, who will be the key for deciding on structures.

 

[Darkie]

doc-adams-laird-howe-pittard-mcgrath newman and ryan

danger-pendles-treloar-fyfe-foote-brodie-powellpepper-myers barrett,fisher and graham

gawnstein strnadica

dahlhaus-macrae-mcluggage-knight-ainsworth-bowes eddy and deluca

thats as guns and rookies as i have ever been feels weird not having ANY midpricers

My first impression by the lack in quantity of premiums is that you must have a truck load of cash left. Don't like your structure but premium choices are solid.

I think I can see what's going on here: Jarrad has a number of the highest priced players on their lines, and in particular has invested a lot in dear on-field rookies.

A few thoughts on this side:

- The pure GnR approach is good in that it reduces the risk of you picking list-cloggers, although it can sometimes mean you don't have enough value in your side. That's especially true if you don't pick some of the more discounted premiums, and I think you've gone for some very solid, but mostly full-priced, options here.

- My personal view is that Sandi and Beams are gifts - they clearly fit the "guns" label, they just happen to be mid-priced as well. If they don't get injured (or perform much worse than their histories would suggest), you could face a sizeable negative POD to both of these players once you account for the cash other coaches have saved. If they do get injured, you've probably saved a trade in the vast majority of good coaches, so I guess that's the trade-off.

- My view is also that Doc, Gawn and Danger will all underperform their prices this year - if that ends up being the case, that reduces the "value" element further. I think all of your discounted players are likely to be popular, so there's not as much of a gain there in a relative sense. Someone like Rocky or even a Thurlow type might be a way to get a bit more value in, if you can find a name or two that you are bullish on as a discounted POD.

- Your structure is obviously reasonably unbalanced in terms of premiums ... although you seem to be well across who the watchlisted rookies are, and conscious of the importance of this for structure, so that's fine as I see it.

- I'm not sure whether you see your specific rookies names as relatively settled, or whether you've primarily picked a lot of dearer rookies to act as a placeholder. If it's the former, it's probably worth noting that (unless I've missed someone), noneof the high draft pick rookies from 2016 were good cash cows. Guys like Wells and Kerridge (experienced players at a rookie price) were excellent for cash generation, but the likes of Weitering, Oliver, Parish, Mills, Hopper and Milera (dear rookies who were high draft picks) were all underwhelming. At this stage I'm putting a bunch of dear rookies in as placeholders in my side, but 2017 will have to be a very different year from 2016 if the high draft picks are going to be good cash cows ... So I don't expect to ultimately select many of the McGrath, Foote, Brodie, McCluggage and Bowes types, even though they're all in my picker side for the time being.

- If you do trim some of the dear rookies, that could allow you to both get more keepers in and improve your cash generation prospects. Beams and/or another forward keeper would be options I'd be considering first based on this side.

Good luck.

 

[jarrad_]

thanks alot darkie much appreciated

good points about kerridge and wells but there are no comparable players in that bracket this year unfortunately except for myers and thurlow myers is obviously a no brainer where as thurlow hasnt been that good a scorer yet but could be now due to retirements

and on paying the first round pick tax its better to have them in now than try and ruin your structure trying to get them in i.m.o obviously if cheaper options become available i will pick them but they all have pretty good j/s which is why i suppose you pay the extra money

 

[30BucketsofRo]

^ A few thoughts on your three sides, 30Buckets:

- I think it's quite a lineball call, but I'd put number 3 in third position and toss up between 1 and 2. Based on the names as you've listed them I'd take 2, although I think 1 is the better structure until we know more about the rookies, who will ultimately determine it.

- My understanding is that Myers is a best 22 mid - you'll obviously have your own view on this! - in which case you'd presumably want him on field. In structure 3 you could switch McGrath and Hibberd, eg, and play Myers over Hibberd, to achieve this.

- I don't know much about Knight but it seems he may need a full time mid role to score well enough to justify his price. He's played 10 games so far, with a max of 75. He'd likely need to average that or better to be a good pick, which seems a big ask unless the cards really fall his way. With that said, your forward line looks a lot better with a decent rookie filling his spot. I'm not sure I rate McCarthy either ... He averaged around 75 in the first half of 2015 when he was kicking a lot of goals (and not many behinds), so he might be a higher JS slow burn cash cow. I guess the point is that I don't love either of those two names specifically, but I like what I think you're trying to do, in making that line a bit more solid, if you're only going two premiums deep there.

- Hanners is an interesting pick. He looks to have only had two injury stints in six years, and averaged 114 for two years running. He's now typically very consistent, but with a little lull mid to late last year to suggest he may have a bit of upside yet if he's fully fit heading into the season. I've barely seen him picked, but he looks like quite a viable alternative at around Treloar's price.

- Comparing structure 3 vs 2, I think the premium trade-off is actually Shaw vs Hanners/Treloar (rather than Fyfe). With that said, I think the rookie trade-off is probably the aspect to focus on.

- In terms of your mids being rigid, I wouldn't worry about that aspect per se. If there's one line I'd be happy to "lock in" (ignoring structure, rookie attractiveness and so on), it's the mids ... They're the highest scorers (ie, the highest priced, and therefore the hardest to bring in mid-year) and, critically, the most predictable names from year to year in my view, so starting a lot of the best ones is perfectly viable as I see it, so long as you're not compromising cash generation, eg. You've also picked generally very proven high-scoring names - it's not like you've got Bont, Cripps, Titchell types in there. If Hanners and Treloar (who would be my least favourite of your mids - presumably yours as well) both go 110+ again, I think the only names I could see being big negative PODs against you would be Rocky, Ablett and maybe Selwood for a stretch of games. Given you have room for one of them, and that two have injury concerns, I'm not sure you're giving up too much there, assuming you really like the def- and fwd-eligible rookies.

It looks like you're already very well-progressed in your planning. I'd probably try to resist the urge to tinker too much p) until we know more about the rookies, who will be the key for deciding on structures.

Once again, Darkie, brilliant stuff!
Hanners is an interesting one, I think a lot of people see him as a upgrade target or are avoiding him completely due to the knee injury from the GF. However, in his last 2 seasons his first halves have been outstanding at close to 120 while tailing off in the second half to be closer to 105-107. He ran very well in a time trial 2 weeks ago so that suggests he has been able to keep his fitness up. Even if he isn't able to complete a full pre-season (in terms of sideways movement), I think he should still be primed to go for season proper. His consistency recently is what I find so attractive and I really want consistent excellence from my premium mids which is why I have avoided guys like Cripps and the Bont as we're not quite sure that these guys are capable of yet. It is a lot safer and easier to jump on these guys if they break-out than to start them and run the risk of a mediocre return.

I love Rocky and he is one player who's injury history doesn't worry me as he is capable of those massive scores. I would have him over Treloar and Hanners but I won't be starting him as I want to see the impact that Fagan will have on the Lions in terms of game plan and the role Rocky plays. Don't want to spend 600K for him to be playing up forward getting 80's and 90's. Ablett I feel is just not reliable enough anymore while I see Selwood as a upgrade target.

Yes, the structure and the premium names we can choose are dependent on the rookies available to us. From my research these rookies I have chosen would have a fairly good chance of starting Rd 1 but we still need to see what pre-season series will throw up. I also need to consider the bye rounds as I feel they are such a crucial part of the SC season.

Cheers again, Darkie!

 

[waynes]

By GrainFedBeef
Not sure you need both Giles and Ryder as back up for your rucks. History has shown (to me) trying to prepare for disaster in your rucks has results in further pain, as the back up doesn't deliver.

Ryder may be different. Giles is too much money. Bank the $180k and spend elsewhere and be prepared to trade Sandi to Giles early if he goes down, or just be prepared to do a early cull (maybe of a failed mid price player) and upgrade Sandi if he is injured or under performing.


By Darkie,
The main thing I'd say about this side is that I think you have comfortably too many midpriced players.

If you can reduce the number of players priced between, say $220,000-500,000, I think your side would be much stronger for it. As an indicator, you have 10 names in that bracket, and I have 4 - and I'm still wondering whether I have too many!

If a player doesn't have a record of scoring at premium level, and isn't going to outscore their price by around 30-40+ per game (which is a tough ask), then they typically won't be a good keeper, and they probably won't be a good cash cow either.

You probably want to maximize the number of players that are in one of those two categories - your good keepers are what it's all about in the end, and the good cash cows are what help fund extra keepers as they mature.

Good luck!
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Thanks Darkie and GrainFedbeef for your constructive feedback to my team submitted on 22/12 I have Giles in my team as a backup and also as a sort of cashcow but will consider this strategy versus upgrading to an extra premium mid, already considering some further minor changes since submission (replacing Laird for Howe, and perhaps SelwoodJ for JPK) to balance up my byes.