View attachment 38757
The third iteration of my lineup.
I feel this version is a fair bit more balanced than the others. Starting with the backline, I've swapped out Crisp, Whitfield & Sinn for Hall, Hewett & Coleman. Hall's last half of 2021 is ignorable (he's undervalued) whereas I felt Crisp is probably priced to his maximum at present. Whitfield changes place with Hewett (who should be more durable) and I'm hoping that Hewett's role at Carlton is SC conducive like the way he finished off 2021 too with the Swans. Having Coleman at D5 gives me comfort as he can easily be swapped into a forward role if the defender rookies present themselves and forward rooks don't show. I must admit I didn't see too much of his end to last year & that I'm going off the guidance of others around here.
The midfield hasn't changed too much, although Mitchell Walsh & Dunks have been swapped out for Miller, Tracc & Brayshaw. I've also added Jye Caldwell to M6 as I feel that if he can get an injury uninterrupted run he presents great value at 266k. In saying this, if another gun rookie mid I've left out stamps themselves during the preseason matches then he's an easy downgrade & frees up some more cash. Tracc & Brayshaw both feel like value for me as I see them improving on last year's averages although I don't think either are topliners in terms of season's best mids. The only injury risk on this line is Caldwell I feel. Neale I'm trusting to be good to go by Round 1 after last year's debacle.
Now to the forwards. English, De Goey & Gresham make way for Heeney, Butters & Willie Rioli. Rather than relying on English as ruck coverage, I'll have to see how Marshall goes at earning a DPP to cover both Darcy & McInerny. Butters replaces Gresham as the injury risk along the forward line and I think that Willie Rioli is a forgotten gem along the east coast. West Coast is mooted to be introducing a game plan that moves the ball faster forward & I think that he'll be a great beneficiary of the change. I've no concerns over his fitness & body as he's a naturally fit human and come back looking in good nick. There's a stat somewhere that he covered the second most k's of any Eagle in their GF win. In any sense, I think he's worth considering. I'm betting on Heeney, Butters & Conigs (if he lasts, or any of em for that matter) filling in F4, F5 & F6 come season's end.
Realistically, this side needs 10 players upgraded (3-3-1-3) although the midpriced players I'm banking on needing upgrading are Hewett, Coleman, Caldwell, McInerny & Rioli. All should score well enough in the interim. There's not much money left over to upgrade to better rookies so that may pinch come Round 1, but I feel the balance of what I have here is pretty good. Going light in the forward line gives me the chance to have a look at which players may get a change of position and be worth pursuing up forward.
I guess this is a very midpriced team as there are only 5 rookies starting on the field. I like it & think it'll stack up.
The third iteration of my lineup.
I feel this version is a fair bit more balanced than the others. Starting with the backline, I've swapped out Crisp, Whitfield & Sinn for Hall, Hewett & Coleman. Hall's last half of 2021 is ignorable (he's undervalued) whereas I felt Crisp is probably priced to his maximum at present. Whitfield changes place with Hewett (who should be more durable) and I'm hoping that Hewett's role at Carlton is SC conducive like the way he finished off 2021 too with the Swans. Having Coleman at D5 gives me comfort as he can easily be swapped into a forward role if the defender rookies present themselves and forward rooks don't show. I must admit I didn't see too much of his end to last year & that I'm going off the guidance of others around here.
The midfield hasn't changed too much, although Mitchell Walsh & Dunks have been swapped out for Miller, Tracc & Brayshaw. I've also added Jye Caldwell to M6 as I feel that if he can get an injury uninterrupted run he presents great value at 266k. In saying this, if another gun rookie mid I've left out stamps themselves during the preseason matches then he's an easy downgrade & frees up some more cash. Tracc & Brayshaw both feel like value for me as I see them improving on last year's averages although I don't think either are topliners in terms of season's best mids. The only injury risk on this line is Caldwell I feel. Neale I'm trusting to be good to go by Round 1 after last year's debacle.
Now to the forwards. English, De Goey & Gresham make way for Heeney, Butters & Willie Rioli. Rather than relying on English as ruck coverage, I'll have to see how Marshall goes at earning a DPP to cover both Darcy & McInerny. Butters replaces Gresham as the injury risk along the forward line and I think that Willie Rioli is a forgotten gem along the east coast. West Coast is mooted to be introducing a game plan that moves the ball faster forward & I think that he'll be a great beneficiary of the change. I've no concerns over his fitness & body as he's a naturally fit human and come back looking in good nick. There's a stat somewhere that he covered the second most k's of any Eagle in their GF win. In any sense, I think he's worth considering. I'm betting on Heeney, Butters & Conigs (if he lasts, or any of em for that matter) filling in F4, F5 & F6 come season's end.
Realistically, this side needs 10 players upgraded (3-3-1-3) although the midpriced players I'm banking on needing upgrading are Hewett, Coleman, Caldwell, McInerny & Rioli. All should score well enough in the interim. There's not much money left over to upgrade to better rookies so that may pinch come Round 1, but I feel the balance of what I have here is pretty good. Going light in the forward line gives me the chance to have a look at which players may get a change of position and be worth pursuing up forward.
I guess this is a very midpriced team as there are only 5 rookies starting on the field. I like it & think it'll stack up.
Version 4.
Most noticeably this team shifts to an even more mid priced lineup by culling McInerny and substituting him for Luke Jackson & downgrading Brayshaw to Duncan & swapping him forward. The money saved there has allowed me to:
- Upgrade Gould to Kemp (who looks like potentially being a Rd 1 starter) & shift Perez to the pine.
- Upgrade two standard rookies to Horne-Francis & Ward, pushing Hobbs to the bench. The 4 premo midfield seems ever fashionable at present. More on the midfield later in my final thoughts.
- Moving Duncan forward shifts a rookie off the field, leaving Comben at F6 and a decent chance at game time this season.
- Upgrade J.Williams to Hayes, who himself looks like getting an opportunity this season with Port's ruck position more open than previous seasons.
The main premise of this side's structure is to get those crappy rookie scores off the park as early as possible. There are still plenty of rookies on the field, but I only want the best of the best on the park & bench.
Luke Jackson clearly won't be a top ruck this season and probably won't even be a Top 10 forward with the DPP changes after 6 or so rounds but he adds some flexibility to the team. If Hayes looks like playing and scoring better than Comben then Jackson gets moved forward & Comben to the ruck bench. Hopefully the lost points for when Jackson is in the ruck are made up across the rest of the ground with the better rooks providing better scores.
The restructure means JHF & Ward come into the mids, although Caldwell slides up to M5 in the process. I don't think I can spruik Caldwell enough than what I currently have. Essendon clearly want him as their #1 inside mid and at 266k he's worth a risk. The risk is obviously his body holding up, which it never has from u/18's to now. Shiel picked up a quad or groin injury at training yesterday & Stringer has been restricted for a short while now. I think he'll get a decent run in the guts to start the season. Ward is in a fair few Hawks fan's Rd 1 sides and should score well off a wing if he plays there. JHF has been discussed ad nauseam & has to come in.
I'm not sold on Butters & he could change to Tarryn Thomas (although I'd need to find a few more dollars as the well is dry). Butters' durability is a sticking point seeing as I'm also running Duncan, Heeney, Conigs & Rioli up forward. There's a fair few players who I haven't heard match sim reports of so I'm flying blind a little as to how well they're all going. Will need to scour the internet over the next few weeks to reassure me the plan I've cobbled together is solid.
All in all, this side will need 10 upgrades without nailing a midpriced flier, although I'm hoping Hewett, Kiddy or Jackson could score well enough to fill D6 or F6 respectively by season's end.