Pearce Hanley – Brisbane ($118,600, BAC, Break even: -22)

First two games: 32 vs. Freo (Round 7) and 80 vs. St.Kilda = 56 avg.

Brisbane’s Irish project didn’t look too bad on the weekend. He had one game earlier in the year against Freo where he looked completely lost, but he came back into the team last week and the only time he looked like he had no idea what to do was during the three quarter time melee.

Voss could look to get a few games into him in the run home with Brisbane’s season not looking like it’s going anywhere too fast (well, maybe down). You couldn’t be too sure of his job security though, but I actually think he’s a bit less of a speculative Irish experiment – he might not turn out too bad. However, if you really need a cheap back option you can still get Andrew Strijk for $2500 less and he has a much better chance at playing the year out, so despite having one price rise I couldn’t recommend Hanley over Strijk.

Jarryd Blair – Collingwood ($94,500, MID, Break even: -69)

First two games: 67 vs. West Coast and 74 vs. Port = 70.5 avg.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 05: Jarryd Blair of Collingwood kicks the ball during the VFL Second Elimination Final between the Casey Scorpions and the Collingwood Magpies at Teac Oval on September 5, 2009 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Lucas Dawson/Getty Images)

I was always a big fan of Blair. I wasn’t sure if he was “AFL material” but that assessment was probably wrapped up in silly pre-conceived notions about height and build. I was still hoping that someone would give him a chance somewhere and Collingwood gave him that chance on their rookie list (breaking the mold of midget on ballers to win Morrish Medals, but miss out on making an AFL list).

Blair is a tough midfielder who will get in there and do the grunt work. He’s got good discipline and has been given a couple of tagging jobs so far, but it also hasn’t stopped him from putting up respectable enough DT numbers. Collingwood don’t have much of an injury list (only Maxwell and Dick of note), so he’s doing well to be in their team right now. I’d tentatively recommend him, as he’s playing a role and doing well so far. If you really need a bit of cash or even just some rookie coverage in the midfield there might not be much more coming along.

Trent Dennis-Lane – Sydney ($89,500, FWD, Break even: -27)

First two games: 44 vs. Richmond and 51 vs. North = 47.5 avg.

The mature aged recruit from Subiaco was set to be one of the most popular DT forwards at the start of the year, but his pre-season was a bit of a fizzer and then he copped an injury early in the NAB Cup. He didn’t look quite there in his first game against Richmond, but was a little bit more comfortable against North on the weekend.

The worry I would have with TDL is that he’s got his spot in the side with Jetta and Rohan currently out of the side. Rohan is listed as having a one week ankle injury, but apparently Jetta had a ripping game for Swans reserves on the weekend. In Sydney’s run to the finals they’ll have a few forwards to come back into the side (Bradshaw, Jetta, White, Rohan) so it could be a completely different looking Swans forward line. There’s a few too many variables with his job security for my liking. Even though he didn’t do too badly against the Roos there’s an entire forward line structure not in the Swans 22 at the moment. I wouldn’t put a line through him, by any means, but you’d have to be wary of that.