G'day Diabolical,
I'm actually struggling more than usual this year, to finalise my team. Too many players I don't want to leave out, and more that I just want to squeeze in!
While Gawn and Fyfe are the most popular players, I don't think too many people see them as their go to C/VC options, particularly Gawn.
The maths would have us believe, that 24% of teams have none of Danger, Dusty or Titch, but the logic is flawed. A Team without say Danger is more likely to have Martin, than any random team. My guess would be more like 3 or 4% of teams have none of them, and those are teams that aren't showing much thought or experience, I would think.
Your maths is right, there are 8 options, and I agree with your logic, that starting all 3 stretches the dollars a bit too far. You are either left with throwing 3 or 4 Stepping Stone hail mary's, or only starting 11, maybe 12, Keepers. Where do those teams find 18 Rookies!
I have both Gawn and Fyfe, but they are not in my immediate C/VC plans. I have taken Dusty, Mitchell and Sloane as my early C/VC strategy. Sloane's high ceiling (he was 2nd to Danger on the 130+ scores list last season with 9 scores), makes him a great VC option, and the other two have draws that fit nicely as C choices, if Sloane fails.
It would certainly seem to be dangerous to start without all 3. You nearly need one of them to fail, completely, for that strategy to work, otherwise you might use 1/4 of your trades just trying to get them in!
If anyone was of the opinion that Gawn, Fyfe, and one those 3 constituted a good, healthy C/VC plan, then I would advocate getting as many value Keepers into your team as you can. To push home any advantage that might eventuate, if that plan looked like working, you would need to be able use a number of trades to get the other two, or press home your advantage, by completing your team as quickly as possible, and hoping one or both of the missing 3 fail.