I feel like the backs/rucks are rather difficult to nail. 2 premium rucks means I'm going cheap in the backline which doesn't look great (i've only been looking at 3 premiums and the rest rookies). Giving up a ruck means I can bring in another defender however I see appeal in both Gawn and Grundy so it's difficult to select one over the other and then it's also difficult to select Meeks v Hunter too (Flynn the first lock for me).
This is one of the hardest thing for a DT player to accept with SC, that the backs are a full tier above and much more consistent because everything they do has value.
I'm the total opposite, I think the defender premiums are incredibly easy, to the point where even though I like a fair few value plays it's just hard to bother risking them.
Honestly just doesn't feel like you can go wrong with Laird, Daniel, Stewart and Ridley. I still think Short, Mills and Crisp are also strong plays.
(Good) backman with good roles are gonna see an average spike I reckon. If you go hard and nail the right ones I think you can afford to go cheaper in the mids and fwd. Not much value down back worth chasing that I can see
Backs seem really safe to me as I've said above. I do think there is a lot of value though also in play. Clark, Doch, Williams, Duggan, Houston, Rich, Dawson and Bowes to me could all easily also push the high 90s to 100 mark this year and make it a genuine 20 person premium group. I think it's going to be a real case of throw a blanket over everyone this year and that the only guys who throw spanners in the work is anyone who can outpace the others. I think Lloyd, Laird and Ridley have the best case of doing that. Docherty is probably next on my list in that he's genuinely done it before but I think times have changed a bit there.
The real question is whether chasing the value and the extra risk is really worth it, can make a case for an extra 5 points for the group I mentioned above which definitely makes them good enough starting picks. Houston and Doch are the two I keep being drawn to, Houston didn't take to the midfield role and didn't deal well with being flipped among positions but I think this year he'll have a pure rebounding role and he really suits the new rules, burn marks are strong here for me though. Doch also suits the new rules really well and despite the preseason the major issue of his knee is now in the 2 year basket which tends to be a big point.
Just as well the premiums feel great this year because I can't remember a rookie group this bad.
