Review of my train wreck season.....much like Carlton's :-(

[OzRulesFootball]

Ok, I been meaning to review my season for awhile but will start here now that final round teams are announced and I'm finally going to be put out of my misery for this terrible season. I played supercoach before but never had I really looked into it before the 1st round and done any homework. Never done any good because I'd always picked my team with about 30 minutes to spare before round 1.

This season however I decided to atleast do some homework so to have not ended in top 10k is nothing short of wooden spoon season in my own eyes given I actually did some homework. Even as I type this I am still not sure exactly what is most important mistakes. I sense it might be the initial squad needs to be got right from the start so the 24 trades after that is to improve the squad, not to fill holes in a leaking ship. With that in mind I will start my thread off with list my initial squad of 30 players and progressively review my 24 trades in the coming day or weeks. Hopefully by end of thread I will have a better understanding of what I did wrong to have such a terrible season. I know I had some bad luck with injuries but that does not account for season going so wrong. Anyway my approach right now is to view a season as being 54 transactions. 30 initial ones to make up a squad and 24 more over the following 23 rounds to make the scoring team on field be as best as possible. I have a feeling my initial squad I did not treat each spot as putting enough thought into and some spots in initlal 30 were lazy choices.. which to me I sense would be like making a wasted trade.... Anyway enough rambling.. here is my initial squad with players from same MRB gathered together within each ground positions.



DEFENDERS
Goddard 585K DEF/MID
Deledio 569K DEF/MID
Carrazzo 506K DEF/MID
Scotland 573K DEF/MID
Morris 113K
Boumann 113K


Smedts 113K DEF/FOR

Lake 287K
Mohr 125K

MIDFIELDERS
Gibbs 559K

Watson 575K
Goodes 587K FOR/MID
Magner 95K

Masten 311K
J.McDonald 107K
C.Smith 117K
D.Shiel 113K

FORWARDS
N Riewoldt 473K
Martin 536K FOR/MID
Hale 407K FOR/RUC

Fyfe 566K FOR/MID
Chapman 549K FOR/MID
Watts 407K

Dangerfield 435K FOR/MID
D.Smith 132K FOR/MID
Tomlinson 159K DEF/FOR

RUCKS
Kruezer 418K
Redden 113K
S.Rowe 107K FOR/RUC

Stephenson 107K

no round 11 bye ruckmen




Some of my intial thoughts going into season was I wanted a flexible squad position wise because I know 30 players is not a big number to cover for injury times. So this effected structure of my squad to pick links between forward and ruck..... defense and forward... and midfield/defense etc etc which I've shown the players above that can play multiple positions.

I also aimed to pick a few players that I thought were under priced but expected or very much hoped to be premiums. These players I earmarked for doing that initially were Kruezer, Riewoldt, Lake,Masten and Watts. Sadly at end of season I think I did not get that right and it has cost me. Watts and Kruezer been dissapointing as not come on as I expected in their development. Riewoldt I guess he did ok but at end of season missing last few games really been a downer.

My ruck divison been a disaster.... Kruze not scored as I hoped....Rowe ended up sadly with cancer scare but atleast in real life he will be ok now. I got seduced into Redden and Stephenson talk leading into round 1. Originally I was going for Leunberger and Kruezer to be my 2 rucks. I changed that after GWS and Sydney played and added Redden and used money saved to add someone to backline of better value (can't remember whom now).

Anyway originally thoughts were Leunberger and Kruze main rucks with Hale to be link back up from forward line and hoping to add Roughead later in season with thoughts I could upgrade Rowe via cash cow status around round 7 to 10 ish... That all went out the door when Brock McCauley started getting ruck duties much more than Hale in 1st couple of rounds. Hale not scoring as I hoped because of this and I thought my plans for him were going out the door due to Hawks coaching staff going to play McCauley a lot.... Hence I traded Hale out for Sandilands in rd 2. DIZ ARRRR STER Sandy killed me with late withdrawals soon after and Hawks then ditched McCualey soon after meaning Hale was back to what I thought he would be... so my 1st trade into season was all for nothing AND... then Sandilands got injured to rub massive salt into wound.......THE ONLY comforting thought is Leunberger whom I originally planned to be a keeper ruck and swapped for rookie Redden ended up with injury ravaged season anyway but as Redden was useless to my cash cow plans or playing on field there was no gain anywhere in how my ruck divison thinking planned out or panned out....

more to come in later postings...

 

[Rowsus]

It will be interesting to read your trade by trade assessment.
Just the first 2 thoughts that popped into my head, when I looked at your initial team.
4 Defender "Keepers" and 3 Forward "Keepers" in round 13. Ok, it didn't turn out that way with injuries, but you couldn't know that when you picked your team. It made your MBR's hard to deal with, and restricted your trading in someways as well, unless you were happy to bring more of those in, and get more donuts.
Good DPP strategy, but aside from the fact the 4 Mid/Def you picked are good players, you lost all your Mid/Def DPP advantage by not starting one of them in your Mid. For example, you might have picked Deledio where you picked Gibbs, and chosen another rookie down back.
Thanks for the post, I look forward to the next installment.

 

[OzRulesFootball]

It will be interesting to read your trade by trade assessment.
Just the first 2 thoughts that popped into my head, when I looked at your initial team.
4 Defender "Keepers" and 3 Forward "Keepers" in round 13. Ok, it didn't turn out that way with injuries, but you couldn't know that when you picked your team. It made your MBR's hard to deal with, and restricted your trading in someways as well, unless you were happy to bring more of those in, and get more donuts.
Good DPP strategy, but aside from the fact the 4 Mid/Def you picked are good players, you lost all your Mid/Def DPP advantage by not starting one of them in your Mid. For example, you might have picked Deledio where you picked Gibbs, and chosen another rookie down back.
Thanks for the post, I look forward to the next installment.

Thanks Rowsus... That is a good point you pick up about MRB's....
I remember thinking because I was putting such priority on flexibility of my squad in general that I could tinker with my squad going into MRB's with less trading than a lot of other coaches would have to do. If I remember correctly the reason why I did not place any def/mid into midfield straight away was because I thought by rd 11 I would have traded some of the rookies out such as Magner, Clay Smith etc. and when doing such a trade I would move someone like Deledio to midfield as permanent mid/def link.. which also means the 4 DEF keepers goes down to 3 and Deledio for example would become just 2nd round 13 keeper for midfield. Given that at minimum we were all going to have to accept 2 donuts somewhere in the MRB's the extra keeper down in defense I was planning to likely be one of the compulsory 2 donuts to munch on because i really wanted those Deledio, Goddard, Carrazzo and Scotland to be in my best 22 all season.... As it tuned out in rd 3 Carrazzo went down anyway with major injury and if i remember correctly early in game so almost no score from him in that game to add to torture.

Regarding 3 forward keepers for rd 13.. Yes, that would also effect MRB's but once again as MRB's were over 2 months away I was expecting/hoping the cash cow rookies I upgrade such as Redden and Sam Rowe in ruck area I could move forward keeper Hale to there during the round,, bring in premium ruck that not have bye that same round or just accept 2 donut for MRB's would come from forward or ruck area.... none of it worked as I planned but it was in my initial planning for season.

Regarding MRB's in general I sense overall most coaches would underestimate the amount of donuts that were going to happen in MRB's because I always tend to keep in mind that about 1 in 6 players is injured at any point in time during season... so.. even good planning for MRB's would give a coach 22 players for each bye round if they were a genuis...lol.. I still thought 1 in 6 out of *those* 22 players would *also* be unavailable.. which reduced 22 players going down to around 18 or 19 each of those bye rounds so likely 3 or 4 donuts for each bye round because some players from clubs playing being injured themself.. meaning.. grand total of something like 9 to 12 donuts for MRB's for WELL PLANNED coaches... much worse for those that not given any thought to any of it at all.... anyway....I still right now, not sure how much I let MRB's effect my intial squad and trading for mid season... a little I think.. as in restricting me in my choices.... the compulsory minimum 2 donuts was with all the planets aligned so in big scheme of things I was not overly concerned the MRB's would be a big negative for me in comparison with majority of coaches.. I have a feeling the late withdrawals and injuries during those months meant planning... whether good or bad...threw collectively 90% or more coaches out from what they hoped any advantage could be gained in MRB's and it was just a storm to deal with as damage control. Some coaches did very well which shows in general rankings improving for any coaches that gave even token gesture to making the squad workable for MRB's.. I think the jury is still out on what level of advantage can be gained relative to the the fact the season is 23 rounds.... but in any case MRB's need to be given good thought into next season how to navigate them best.. not just for those 3 rounds but for the how it effects squad for 23 rounds optimally.

It's been good you brought the topic of MRB's into my review before I started trade by trade assesment as the context of trades for those rounds before MRB's was always in back of my mind. It will be interesting to myself how I assess each trade with wisdom of hindsight. I will learn lots I think as I go through this review process.

 

[I_am_aweSAM]

Overall, a decent starting team. A few things I would do differently, there are too many midpricers, hale, kruze, masten, lake, Watts, typically you only want 2-3. Also mpp premiums should never go in the midfield. Pick mpp rookies to link up with them.

 

[OzRulesFootball]

Overall, a decent starting team. A few things I would do differently, there are too many midpricers, hale, kruze, masten, lake, Watts, typically you only want 2-3.

The problem for me here with that assesment is I did not assess them to be mid pricers..... I probably viewed Hale that way but his FOR/RUC link with Roughead was something I wanted to be part of my structure as the season went on. So Hale was in essence a player that I always earmarked as likely 22 nd player in my team each week and bench warmer if all my premuim rucks and forwards playing. Lake, Riewoldt and Kruezer I genuinely thought would *become* premiums for me.. I was confident in that so did not assess them as mid pricers in my own mind..I viewed them as under priced players very likely to be premiums for me when season got into full swing.
In hindsight they certainly only been mid pricers but I did not pick them thinking them that way....(those of you that assessed Riewoldt and Kruezer only ever as mid pricers had big head start of me and I assessed wrong)
Masten, yes... he had not established himself even in senior AFL at start of season so he was a pure gamble of someone that might become a premium but I was only confident he would be of value.. he turned out to be mid priced value.. I traded him later in season when I felt his price maxed. Watts was purely a gamble hoping he would develop into a premium. He did not .. at best a mid pricer......

Also mpp premiums should never go in the midfield. Pick mpp rookies to link up with them.

Agree with this now... which is why as season moved on I brought Dan Nicholson into my squad as DEF/MID. He is ok back up for injuries because it allows me if premium midfield injured to move someone like Deledio to play in midfield for that round by swapping Nicholson to backline to hopefully be bench warmer there.. Nicholson averaged 72 for season so been useful back up.. however for start of season.. yes... I think i prefer my rookies in midfield to be mpp if there are any likely types... unfortunately I learned the hard way because I chose Clay Smith, Magner, Shiel and McDonald all in midfield as cash cows and none of them had mpp... bad mistake... I felt that restriction as the season moved on....

 

[Goodie's Guns]

Overall, a decent starting team. A few things I would do differently, there are too many midpricers, hale, kruze, masten, lake, Watts, typically you only want 2-3. Also mpp premiums should never go in the midfield. Pick mpp rookies to link up with them.

A great couple of sentances hear, DPP need to be in the position where we have the least premiums and 3 mid pricers max probably 2 is the way to go with one forward and one back.
Byrce Gibbs was probably a mistake at the start, I know he should have scored a lot better than he has but without DPP and so many different playing roles I would question whether his scoring would be consistant enough to go with the best SC premium mids. Although if he gets his defence/midfield DPPnext year has to be a lock in.

 

[OzRulesFootball]

Byrce Gibbs was probably a mistake at the start, I know he should have scored a lot better than he has but without DPP and so many different playing roles I would question whether his scoring would be consistant enough to go with the best SC premium mids. Although if he gets his defence/midfield DPPnext year has to be a lock in.

Gibbs certainly been a mistake in hindsight. My reason for choosing him was hearing Ratts in pre-season talking Gibbs up for much more *genuine* midfield time but it never really happened and once again he been the player used for spare parts roles and as such never really had roles where his best scoring chances will happen. The problem part of this game is in part you sometimes got to take note of what coaches of real clubs say and asess how it is likely to effect a players scoring patterns. i knew Gibbs lost his DEF/ONB link but I thought even without it if he was in midfield much more he would become a good enough scorer to be worth say a M5 type role. I remember seeing him get over 40 possessions against Sydney I think last year so I imagined possibly more such games if given time in midfield in 2012....Ratten's pre-season talk unfortunately mislead me on Gibbs..... oh well...

Gibbs was 559K at start of season when I chose him.. He's 521 K now so the drop in price shows it been a clear cut loss as a transaction.

 

[I_am_aweSAM]

With Gibbs, I think you should try and avoid such players in your initial team. With premium selections, I try and select the top 3 in each line and then use my final 2-4 selection for underpriced prems or genuine midpricers, such as Hayes and Lake this year. Gibbs is a kind of middle of the road selection which neither offers lots of value or massive upside, I tend to leave those selection dilemnas for my upgrades which takes a bit of the risk out. Easy to say in hindsight of course.

 

[OzRulesFootball]

With Gibbs, I think you should try and avoid such players in your initial team. With premium selections, I try and select the top 3 in each line and then use my final 2-4 selection for underpriced prems or genuine midpricers, such as Hayes and Lake this year. Gibbs is a kind of middle of the road selection which neither offers lots of value or massive upside, I tend to leave those selection dilemnas for my upgrades which takes a bit of the risk out. Easy to say in hindsight of course.

yeah, apart from ruck division disaster my biggest regret is not getting Ablett in initial squad. I just think I underestimated the need for gun midfielders... I think that is where I was lazy in my choices... because there is so many midfielders... I did not get too chosey... I just picked a few I liked that I thought would score at least what they were priced but as season gone on I regretted not having the midfielders that score 120+ often...I got some later in season but scoring damage already been done and dusted by then. I think you give good advice about top 3 in each line being a good starting point.

 

[Rowsus]

Overall, a decent starting team. A few things I would do differently, there are too many midpricers, hale, kruze, masten, lake, Watts, typically you only want 2-3. Also mpp premiums should never go in the midfield. Pick mpp rookies to link up with them.

That's a rule that applies later in the season. Nothing wrong with starting with them there!
If I remeber correctly, Jays starting team had 4 or 5 DPP's starting in his MID this year, and he moved them to FWD/DEF as he traded players in.
I reckon if Jay can start with some there, it can't be too bad a strategy!

 

[Goodie's Guns]

Overall, a decent starting team. A few things I would do differently, there are too many midpricers, hale, kruze, masten, lake, Watts, typically you only want 2-3. Also mpp premiums should never go in the midfield. Pick mpp rookies to link up with them.

The problem for me here with that assesment is I did not assess them to be mid pricers..... I probably viewed Hale that way but his FOR/RUC link with Roughead was something I wanted to be part of my structure as the season went on. So Hale was in essence a player that I always earmarked as likely 22 nd player in my team each week and bench warmer if all my premuim rucks and forwards playing. Lake, Riewoldt and Kruezer I genuinely thought would *become* premiums for me.. I was confident in that so did not assess them as mid pricers in my own mind..I viewed them as under priced players very likely to be premiums for me when season got into full swing.
In hindsight they certainly only been mid pricers but I did not pick them thinking them that way....(those of you that assessed Riewoldt and Kruezer only ever as mid pricers had big head start of me and I assessed wrong)
Masten, yes... he had not established himself even in senior AFL at start of season so he was a pure gamble of someone that might become a premium but I was only confident he would be of value.. he turned out to be mid priced value.. I traded him later in season when I felt his price maxed. Watts was purely a gamble hoping he would develop into a premium. He did not .. at best a mid pricer......




Agree with this now... which is why as season moved on I brought Dan Nicholson into my squad as DEF/MID. He is ok back up for injuries because it allows me if premium midfield injured to move someone like Deledio to play in midfield for that round by swapping Nicholson to backline to hopefully be bench warmer there.. Nicholson averaged 72 for season so been useful back up.. however for start of season.. yes... I think i prefer my rookies in midfield to be mpp if there are any likely types... unfortunately I learned the hard way because I chose Clay Smith, Magner, Shiel and McDonald all in midfield as cash cows and none of them had mpp... bad mistake... I felt that restriction as the season moved on....

That's a rule that applies later in the season. Nothing wrong with starting with them there!
If I remeber correctly, Jays starting team had 4 or 5 DPP's starting in his MID this year, and he moved them to FWD/DEF as he traded players in.
I reckon if Jay can start with some there, it can't be too bad a strategy!

Yeah I should have explained my point better, alright starting with them there but ideally you want to get premium mids filled in the middle and your DPP in there second position.

 

[I_am_aweSAM]

That's a rule that applies later in the season. Nothing wrong with starting with them there!
If I remeber correctly, Jays starting team had 4 or 5 DPP's starting in his MID this year, and he moved them to FWD/DEF as he traded players in.
I reckon if Jay can start with some there, it can't be too bad a strategy!

Not sure about your reasoning there mate, typically mpp premiums will outscore their def/fwd counterparts but will be outscored by the mids so if at all possible they should be started in def/fwd positions. It is less important to have mpp links at the start of the year as we should have full squads so I wld rather have no mpp link than start a def pmium in the mids. You can always trade in a mpp rookie in rd7 or so to open up the link when injuries start to deplete your bench cover. However putting a mpp prem in the midfield locks in a trade therefore reducing the flexibility that mpp brings to the team and also reduces scoring capacity until you move them out of the mids for a true midfield premium.

 

[Rowsus]

Not sure about your reasoning there mate, typically mpp premiums will outscore their def/fwd counterparts but will be outscored by the mids so if at all possible they should be started in def/fwd positions. It is less important to have mpp links at the start of the year as we should have full squads so I wld rather have no mpp link than start a def pmium in the mids. You can always trade in a mpp rookie in rd7 or so to open up the link when injuries start to deplete your bench cover. However putting a mpp prem in the midfield locks in a trade therefore reducing the flexibility that mpp brings to the team and also reduces scoring capacity until you move them out of the mids for a true midfield premium.

The reasoning behind it is this. Early in the season you have so many rookies, it doesn't matter if Deledio starts Back or Mid. Later in the season, as your side fills, you don't want Deledio taking a Mid spot from a Priddis etc. Deledio in Mid isn't robbing you of points early, as you only have 14 or 15 premiums, and 7 or 8 rookies starting. While flexibility isn't as important early with DPP's, if you're going to have 4 Mid/Def why not get one in the Mid? He will be playing with SOME rookies there, unless you started with 6 premium Mids, so he is not taking a spot from a Priddis.
I'd love to see Jay's starting team to illustrate the point. He only had 1 Mid premium, but had other DPP premiums nearly filling his Mid from memory.

 

[OzRulesFootball]

Thanks Rowsus and I am aweSAM.. you guys debating this really helps me work out the merits and pitfalls of some things I wondered about or tried this season. Great discussion about this point of using DEf/MId types in midfield before the rookies numbers diminish in numbers as we progressively get more premiums into our squads.
Love this depth of discussion... Keep it coming... love to hear Jay's thoughts on it aswell

 

[Rowsus]

Thanks Rowsus and I am aweSAM.. you guys debating this really helps me work out the merits and pitfalls of some things I wondered about or tried this season. Great discussion about this point of using DEf/MId types in midfield before the rookies numbers diminish in numbers as we progressively get more premiums into our squads.
Love this depth of discussion... Keep it coming... love to hear Jay's thoughts on it aswell

It's one of the great things about this site. Good SC discussion without any sniping.
I'd really love to hear/read Jay's thoughts on this, too.

 

[I_am_aweSAM]

The reasoning behind it is this. Early in the season you have so many rookies, it doesn't matter if Deledio starts Back or Mid. Later in the season, as your side fills, you don't want Deledio taking a Mid spot from a Priddis etc. Deledio in Mid isn't robbing you of points early, as you only have 14 or 15 premiums, and 7 or 8 rookies starting. While flexibility isn't as important early with DPP's, if you're going to have 4 Mid/Def why not get one in the Mid? He will be playing with SOME rookies there, unless you started with 6 premium Mids, so he is not taking a spot from a Priddis.
I'd love to see Jay's starting team to illustrate the point. He only had 1 Mid premium, but had other DPP premiums nearly filling his Mid from memory.

That certainly clarifies it a bit, but still not something I would choose to do. If you were to instead replace one of your def premiums with lids then you would have salary cap room to select another mid premium which should outscore the original def prem by 20ppg so by the time you upgrade you have cost yourself 140-200pts.

 

[Rowsus]

That certainly clarifies it a bit, but still not something I would choose to do. If you were to instead replace one of your def premiums with lids then you would have salary cap room to select another mid premium which should outscore the original def prem by 20ppg so by the time you upgrade you have cost yourself 140-200pts.

Not to labour on the discussion, but by playing Lids in your Midfield, you have actually replaced a Mid rookie with a Def rookie. You have usually spent all your cash, or most of it, so the difference in your score is the difference between the 2 rookies, assuming they both play in your starting 22, which would seem to be a 50/50 proposition in round 1.

 

[Damoz]

Not to labour on the discussion, but by playing Lids in your Midfield, you have actually replaced a Mid rookie with a Def rookie. You have usually spent all your cash, or most of it, so the difference in your score is the difference between the 2 rookies, assuming they both play in your starting 22, which would seem to be a 50/50 proposition in round 1.

I noticed that too, and eventually put all Defenders (With DPP) in the Defence, because there wasn't that many whom were really good and Premium this year. Deledio, Goddard, Scotland and Carrazzo are all in the Defence in my Team, even though they are DPP Status. I thought that it's best to get proper Midfielders, and leave all of the Defence in the Defence.

 

[OzRulesFootball]

Ok. my intention next in my review is to assess the 30 initial transactions that make up my initial squad. The 24 trades I'll leave for later as I feel I want to really thoroughly review how many of these 30 transactions are a WIN or a LOSS to steal some of the thinking I saw from seeing movie Moneyball in middle of this year.
A WIN I'll define as contributing to my team in role as I paid for him but naturally if a player increased in value but only played 5 games in whole season and I wanted him to be part of my best 22 I'll will call it a LOSS as a general example of my assesment.



Deledio 568 K now which is a drop of 1 K but he played virtually all season and averaged 117 so I got what I paid for with this transaction. Tick

Goddard 482 K now which is drop of 103 K. Averaged 102 for season but I paid to get better results than that. LOSS

Carrazzo 458 K now. Drop of 48 K. Missed quite a few games with injury and had to trade him out in round 5 when he was 481 K and never got back. Sadly another LOSS but count this one as just bad luck, not bad recruiting.

Scotland 485 K now. Drop of 88 K. Missed some games after injury in first few rounds. Medical people mislead me and got scared 573 K player would be out for awhile so was traded in round 3 when he had *not* dropped in price and never got back. In anycase did not get what I paid for and consider a LOSS and questionable whether it was bad luck or bad management.

Morris 328 K now. Paid 113 K to be a cash cow and traded him in round 12 when 286 K value and 173 K profit.
WIN

Boumann 113 K now. Paid 113 K and was last defensive cash cow I could fit in my squad but I conceded to myself this was a mistake in round 4 as it did not look like he was going to play enough games. LOSS. Recruiting staff hang their head in shame at wasted transaction.The young staff member that was part of recruiting staff that recommended him got his marching orders on the same week.

Smedts 269 K now. Was hoped he could be a cash cow but ended up not getting enough ground time to develop as quickly as we would like as a versatile utility. Stayed patient with him and kept on list all year. Increased in value by 156 K but just did fill his main role as cash cow or contribute enough when backing up for injured players. If that 156 K increase in value had happened by middle of year would have been a good result but have to categorize as a LOSS. As he was a speculative pick no one on recruiting staff lost their job on this choice.

Lake 367 K now. Increased in value by 80K. Was member of defense virtually all year and averaged 82. We rated him to do better than that so even though we got what we paid for I don't consider it a win for recruiting staff as we hoped for even better result. However, he also is not a loss. So consider it a tick as satisfactory. Probably a D7 for 287 K price paid can't be called a loss.

Mohr 301 K now. Increase in value by 176 K. Recruited to be cash cow and as we moved him on in round 11 trades for 298 K have to count as a WIN as 173 K profit at that stage.


That covers the initial 9 transactions for my defense.

Goddard and Boumann the clear losses as 2 transactions.
Morris and Mohr the clear wins as 2 transactions.
Mixed result for other 5 transactions recruiting the defensive structure of my initial list.
Dissapointing in general is how I rate this. The midfield will be far worse....
That is next...

 

[OzRulesFootball]

Midfield.....

Gibbs 521 K now. Dropped 38 K on what I paid for.
A LOSS as a transaction. Was mislead to expect he would be
playing genuine midfield roles. Lazy choice. Should have put more thought into prime midfield choices.

Watson 573 K now. Drop of about 2 k. Got what I paid for. Stalwart of midfield all season. Tick but not a win result as not increase in value as a transaction.

Goodes 422 K now. Drop in value of 165 K. LOST this transaction because Goodes got injured for first time in his stellar career. Traded out in round 7 when his value was 553 K. Just bad luck but I guess you push your luck when a player has gone so long with no injuries. A Loss is a LOSS.

Magner 212 K now. Was a 95 K rookie choice Traded him in round 7 when his value was 281 K. A profit of 186 K as a cash cow at that stage is a small WIN for recruiting staff.

Masten 415 K now. Recruited him as 311 K value transaction. Was sure he would be value choice but not sure to what extent.By round 13 I was convinced enough to say to myself he was 427 K value then and not likely to add me any more value. He probably played his role whilst waiting to get genuine prime midfielders in my squad. 116 K profit is probably a small WIN again but need bigger wins that this to win Supercoach.

McDonald of Giants was blind freddie 107 K easy choice to start season off. However he is now 261 K but suspensions etc. meant he did not play enough games early enough so his price increase was too slow for my liking. I traded him out in round 10 when value was 310 K and profit of 203 K at that stage. A WIN but blind freddie could have chosen this so recruiting staff should not be too pleased with themselves on this one.

Clay Smith... oh boy.. this was cruel experience... played first game.. gunned it for a rookie BUT had full body cramp and virtually after this it was all downhill as medical and coaching staff so concerned for his wellbeing his games and ground time restricted massively to be of any real value for cash cow role we chose him. Really sad because had high hopes for him. Paid 107 K for him 302 K now but been a very slow increase in price that his cash cow status to upgrade later was ditched as an idea and was simply used as back up for injuries but his own bumpy season meant he could not fill that role either and as he can only play midfield it became a costly LOSS as a transaction. This transaction really hurt me as I really thought he was a good cash cow choice. When you get it wrong in midfield and can only play midfield and averages 51 for season it is a train wreck transaction. Did not see this oncoming train at all.

Dylan Shiel 388 K now. Traded out in round 8 when 308 K and intially paid 113 K to recruit him as cash cow. Profit of 195 K when traded. An ok WIN but nothing to boast about when just a pure midfield rookie.



Gibbs , Goodes and Clay Smith did me no favours as midfield choices.
Sadly even though a few cash cow made me profits as WIN transactions the fact that none of them were multi position rookies has been a harsh lesson as it restricted my trading choices and ability to move players around.
Transactions for midfield I learnt have to be treated like GOLD. I just felt I mucked this up big time by not putting enough thought into it. Ablett and Murphy types I should have been willing to pay the price to get them from the start of season and get off to a good start for season. I spent more money on premiums in forward and defense and neglected midfield with lazy choices.This is the engine room in real football and Supercoach. I will put much more thought into how I pick my midfield next season. Have to be willing to pay for guns and get the ones that don't miss games. Easier said than done as Murphy season showed.