Footy Tragic

BUDDY HELL

It was a weekend of fantasy frustration, this time coming from the Hawthorn camp.

On Thursday night we would’ve all been delighted to hear the news that Buddy Franklin was playing against the Gold Coast and that Sam Mitchell had been named also, even though it would’ve made sense for Hawthorn not to play him since he’s played every game so far this season.

Well, as it turned out, neither of them ending up playing.

Sam Mitchell pulled out on Saturday with ‘soreness’ and Buddy was said to be ‘sick’ 90 minutes before the game.

I believe the Buddy situation. I know the conspiracy theorists don’t, and that’s fine, but I genuinely think he was going to play.

But, the Sam Mitchell one makes me angry. He was never going to play. Luckily I had planned for this to happen, and I hope everyone else was ready too, but it still doesn’t make up for the fact that Hawthorn just messed with everyone’s minds on Thursday night.

Nick Maxwell knew he wasn’t going to play, because he put Sam Mitchell on the bench in his Dream Team.

What was the point of naming him, Hawthorn?

They were playing the Gold Coast. Mind games wouldn’t have affected the result of that match.

This is one of many instances this season.

I’m not just talking as a selfish fantasy footy player, but just a general fan of the game.

A lot of people, kids especially, go to a game to see their favourite players, and a lot of them travel a long way. I know I’d cry if Trent Cotchin was a late withdrawal (not really).

A lot of the time, it’s genuine, I’m willing to cop that, but when it’s a case of just naming that player without any intention of playing him, I just don’t think that’s right or in the spirit of the game from a fan’s perspective.

Anyway, enough rambling.

Looking back on my article last week, I sincerely apologise if you brought in Matt Wright or Chris Judd.

The other guys did well though, especially the Carlton trio of Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs and Kade Simpson.

Marc Murphy, obviously, was the pick of the lot. Heath Hocking went to Chris Judd, so Murphy basically didn’t have an opponent all game. I reckon it was the best game of his career, with 37 disposals, 2 goals, 163 DT and 187 SC in a clear best on ground performance. With Gold Coast and St Kilda to come, Marc Murphy looks like the ultimate point of difference. I know Dan brought him in a few weeks ago, so well done.

On to some other individual performances;

Just quietly Brock McLean is in career best form. I’ve always liked him, and just like Shane Tuck at Richmond (who’s now the ninth best Dream Teamer in season 2012), there is always room for a genuine ball getter that sticks to his role. Ever since the bye, McLean has averaged 106 DT and 109 SC. They’re elite fantasy numbers.

I wasn’t joking when I said a couple of months ago that I’m going to seriously consider Toby Greene for my Dream Team next season. Statistically he’s the best 18 year old AFL player ever, and to go with his 38 disposals, 2 goals, 146 DT and 165 SC performance on the weekend is a season average of 27.4 disposals, 94.4 DT and 94 SC. He’s averaging more disposals in the AFL than he did at the National Champs last season. The only question mark is GWS’s tendency to rest players, and I think they’ll still continue to do that next season, but I have no doubt he’ll top the ton in averages next season. He’s just a freak.

The usual suspects were good on the weekend, in Dayne Beams and Gary Ablett, but other than that there wasn’t a whole lot to celebrate.

Aaron Sandilands was very good in his return, and subsequently his price dropped massively due to his poor score in round 11 due to injury. If you want another point of difference, and you have a trade up your sleeve, bring in the big guy. He’s cheap, and should be the #1 ruck over the next two weeks to give you that edge. His round 23 match up against Jake Spencer is enough encouragement for me.

Good luck for your preliminary finals this weekend, unless you’re playing me!

This round was one of those rounds where if you escaped all the little hurdles along the way, you would’ve done very, very well, and if you got hit hard, or even just got a taste of it, you were going to head backwards in a big way.

Personally, I went backwards, having to carry Steve Johnson, Brent Stanton, Steele Sidebottom, Lance Franklin, Greg Broughton, and Mitch Robinson, but I went OK considering. I think there were many in a much worse position, and the late withdrawal of Sam Jacobs would’ve hit hard too, considering the ruck coverage is non existent.

Speaking of rucks, you’d be pretty happy if you had to play Jon Giles this week. It looked like a favourable match up from the outset, having to go up against Cameron Wood, but Kevin Sheedy did say pre-game that Dean Brogan was due back next week, which should see Giles return to his average scoring.

Scott Thompson is the big story. As I’m writing this, the Match Review Panel’s decision will be handed down any minute. As I said when it happened, I didn’t think there was anything in it at all, but that means he’ll probably get five weeks. My form in ‘Match Review Panel Lotto’ isn’t great. My one big issue with the way these incidents are judged is the fact they’re analysed in slow motion. Play that in real time and you’ll find Scott Thompson doesn’t have much time to react at all. It’s become a farce. The effect it has on fantasy footy is big too. Well, first of all it meant Steve Johnson played one second of the entire match, and secondly Scott Thompson is very popular.

If you have Brent Stanton also, well then that also adds to the pain. Not only has he been in some terrible form, it now looks like he’s pinged his hamstring. I don’t see how he doesn’t miss weeks, but I’m no doctor. On the contrary, it might not be a bad scenario if you have Sam Gibson on the bench. On the show we talked about a tweet we received during the week asking if it were plausible to start Sam Gibson over Brent Stanton. At first instinct you naturally laugh, but then we sat down and thought about it, and it didn’t sound so stupid! In hindsight, it was brilliant, and Sam Gibson was sensational. He’s proven now he can find the footy at the top level, so you should have no hesitation in starting him if you need to.

I’m going to have a guess here and say Scott Thompson would be the first player ever to have 40 disposals and not break the Dream Team ton. It’s quite incredible really. Five free kicks against doesn’t help, but there was no uncontested possession and tackling action from ‘ST’.

On the other hand, Andrew Swallow played the perfect game, laying an amazing 17 tackles (just two short of the record set by Jude Bolton). He’s quietly had an amazing season, and I think we’re starting to see the next generation of fantasy football premiums rise up this season.

Andrew Swallow is one of them, with Brett Deledio, Dayne Beams, Trent Cotchin, Steele Sidebottom, Andrew Gaff, Tom Rockliff, Jack Redden, Brad Ebert, Keiren Jack, and a few others.

That’s why I’m really big on the ‘eight starting midfielders’ idea, so we can get more of these guys into our teams and have more scope to pick the next ‘breakout’ players.

Toby Greene watch; another lazy 35 disposals. He is so, so good. Even though they got smashed by a far more superior outfit, it was great to see the young GWS players really stand up. Adam Treloar continued his stellar debut season, and Tom Scully arguably had his best game in the orange.

The Collingwood premiums delivered as we expected them to, and even Travis Cloke got in on the action which would’ve been a massive relief for his long suffering owners. Dane Swan kicked a lazy five goals, and I’m almost ready to call a back to back Brownlow sweep for Swanny (although my heart says Cotchy will take it out).

Keiren Jack continued his stellar form, and also delivered a very handy 158 SuperCoach score. He did feature in Kristian’s Kaptains, so I hope you jumped on board!

Gary Ablett also stayed true to his history against the Swans. His stats are ridiculous. If you take out his injury affected score last year, his last six games against the Swans have produced a Dream Team average of 144 and a SuperCoach average of 180!

Nathan Fyfe returned to the park and slotted straight back into the swing of things. His kicking was a little rusty, but I reckon that had more to do with the game itself. It was not one to be remembered.

That’s about it for the wrap this week!

Well another week has gone by, and another week where Dan is edging ever so close to me.

I’ve pretty much accepted the inevitable. He will most likely beat me this season, which is sad. I’ve run out of trades, but I still think my team is slightly better while it remains healthy.

I haven’t really kicked up much of a fuss this season in regards to complaining about my team, but I’ve been absolutely murdered by injuries, players getting dropped, and suspended. Luckily no one’s gone to jail yet.

Normally I’m a pretty astute trader, so it’s unlike me to run out of trades so early. Looking back, half of my trades have been sideways, which is really depressing. Also take into account the fact I didn’t trade until the end of round four. The year that could’ve been….

On to the footy, and some of you would’ve known I made Brent Stanton captain at the last minute. DON’T ASK ME WHY! Was it the thrill? Chasing points? I don’t bloody know. All I know is it was my worst decision of the season.

It was a brain fade, a lesson learnt, whatever you want to call it. I don’t understand my thought process at the time. I wasn’t drunk.

Dane Swan, I am sorry, and you will be my captain for the rest of the season.

And Brent Stanton, you suck. Where are these 150 scores you promised? OVER IT!

I intended to watch the entire game, but I could only handle on half of Stanton and the temptation to go out and hopefully find a nice girl was too great.

Stevie Johnson helped ease the pain, until I checked his final score in the middle of the dance floor and I was instantly depressed. He was on track for a record breaker. I still don’t know what his injury is, but hopefully it’s not too serious.

Hands up if you own Scott Pendlebury, Dane Swan, Dayne Beams and Steele Sidebottom. The Pies can get smashed and they still rack it up. They love giving each other the ball, it’s awesome.

I don’t know what hand injury Patty Dangerfield had, but whatever glove he was wearing, it worked. Michael Jackson’s perhaps?

I was genuinely worried about the Andrew Raines tag on Gary Ablett. Who was I trying to kid? The guy’s a superstar for a reason. Andrew Raines, pfft.

Andrew Carrazzo went to Matthew Boyd on Saturday night, and boy did that just ruin everything. They both couldn’t score. Why would you tag Boyd over Ryan Griffen? Someone, please explain. Oh, it’s Brett Ratten.

Will you ever pick Shane Mumford anymore/ever? I doubt I will in the future. He’s just a walking disaster right now. Can score like the best of them, but unlucky things just happen around him.

Brendon Goddard is frustrating the hell out of me. I was at the Richmond game, so I didn’t watch, but you don’t even have to watch to know he isn’t doing enough.

Trent Cotchin is amazing. I very much doubt the fact he won’t be in my team next season, based on just pure principle. He is just awesome to watch. The man love is at an all time high.

What’s there to say about the Fremantle vs GWS game? Hmm not much, apart from the fact I’m ruing that I picked Adam Goodes over Matthew Pavlich at the start of the season. Super Pav just gets it done. He would’ve been nice and unique too.

That’s it folks! Discuss away.

DISCLAIMER: If anyone mentions the Richmond vs Gold Coast game, I’ll ban you off the site personally….

Only joking.

But it wasn’t a very good weekend, so again, I write this wrap pretty angrily.

Personally, in Dream Team, I went UP! I know right? Amazing!

The bad news is Dan is catching me, somehow. His team looks god awful.

I also traded in Colin Sylvia this week. Unfortunately he did well, so I couldn’t nominate him for my ‘wiener award’ (or now affectionately known as the ‘Duffield award’) which is the only reason I got him in.

The most frustrating part of the weekend was how LUCKY people got with Lee Spurr being a very late in, and then he got a bloody ton!

To cap it off, Greg Broughton was subbed off for no reason whatsoever apart from Ross Lyon’s crap coaching by sticking him in the forward pocket while Paul Duffield was prancing around kicking the ball into the stands!

Honestly, Greg Broughton would be a star player anywhere else. I’m starting a ‘Greg Broughton to Richmond’ campaign.

I’m sorry if you traded in Chris Judd after my advice. I didn’t take into account the fact he gets excited by pressure points. He did play one awesome game though, so you had that to enjoy.

The guy that keeps on giving is our man Dayne Zorko. Other sites may have told you about James Magner and Tom Couch and Darren Pfeiffer, but we spot the GUNS, and that is what Dayne is. He is a legitimately fantastic AFL player.

Speaking of Tom Couch, what did you guys think? He really struggled after half time, and spent the entire second half in the forward pocket because he couldn’t run the game out. He did lay nine tackles, but his disposal was way off the mark.

Toby Greene continues to dominate. I’m going to argue he is the best 18 year old player in the AFL I’ve seen, statistically anyway.  I’d be scared to think what he’d be doing if he played for Collingwood.

Anyway guys, I apologise for the much shorter wrap, back to uni this week, but make sure there’s plenty of discussion to be had below!

Well another round is out of the way.

It’s a bloody tough gig moving up in the rankings at the moment.

Personally, I’m going backwards, and I really don’t know how. My team is good!

Oh well.

Teams are starting to really look similar

It’ll be the teams that have depth now that will start to rise to the top.

We’ve now found out Buddy Franklin is out for three weeks, Beau Waters is out for up to six weeks, Dustin Martin and Brendon Goddard still have a week to go on their respective suspensions and for those that still have Ryan Hargrave, well it doesn’t seem like he’s in the Bulldogs best 22 anymore.

Depth will be tested to the extreme this week.

Personally, I’m not going to trade Franklin for the time being. I’m in a situation where if I’ve got cover, well then that’s good enough. Trades are too precious, and there are still eight rounds to go.

The round just passed was a frustrating one, and again, there is the issue with late changes.

Beau Waters and Steve Johnson were the two big late changes, and a lot teams would’ve had both of them.

In Waters’ situation, it was fair enough, he was genuinely injured (unless they knew before Thursday), but surely Geelong knew all week long they had no intention whatsoever of playing Stevie J.

It’s incredibly frustrating. What is the point of playing mind games with Gold Coast of all teams?

I’m not even going to believe Scott Pendlebury is playing this week until I see the final teams 90 minutes before the game.

Clubs are getting away with blatantly lying, and it’s not good for the game.

Anyway, a few observations I made from round 15;

- Opposition teams are now targeting Dayne Beams and Steele Sidebottom instead of Dane Swan. Beams got the Carrazzo tag on Friday night and he was completely shut out. Aaron Joseph did a run with job on Dane Swan, but it wasn’t really that tight until the last quarter where he clamped down.

- Six weeks ago I had the chance to bring in Shane Tuck as one of my points of difference. Since then he’s averaged 119 DT. It really hurts.

- Colin Sylvia is back. He’s playing a full time midfield role now, and as much as I dislike him sometimes, he’s a bloody good player and fantasy scorer.

- Dayne Zorko is an absolute superstar; enough said.

- Toby Greene is ridiculous. It’ll be hard not to pick him in Dream Team next season.

- Never, ever, doubt Gary Ablett. Everyone was whinging about his score at three quarter time! Unbelievable….

- Paul Chapman is become increasingly annoying not to own. He was meant to be old, slow and injury prone.

- Matthew Pavlich has quietly hit a serious patch of form.

It’ll be an interesting week coming up I reckon. I don’t think we’re quite done with the carnage.

I apologise for the lateness of this article folks. The Euro Final took a toll on me and now the Tour de France and Wimbledon aren’t helping either. I am very much sleep deprived, so if the following doesn’t make sense, you were warned.

I decided to not have a life this weekend, so I managed to watch almost every game, sadly. Only two of them were good, and you can say Adelaide vs. Richmond doesn’t count, because that game was a pure nightmare for me. The North Melbourne game was the other entertaining one.

The rest of the games were terrible. I’m not sure how I managed to stay awake through them. Screaming at Ryan Hargrave, Steve Johnson and Jed Adcock to get a kick was possibly my only motivation, if that’s what you want to call it.

Speaking of getting kicks, Jamie Elliot doesn’t need them. Just lay 15 tackles a week mate and you’ll forever by in my good books.

I faced the decision of playing one of Jamie Elliot or Jason Porplyzia this round. I chose Jamie Elliot. At half time of the Adelaide game, Porps was sitting on 23 and I was quietly fist pumping to myself about what a genius decision it turned out to be as Elliot was swiftly moving his way up to the 100 mark. A 74 point second half to Porps later, the decision I spent tossing and turning over all week meant sweet **** all. That story sums up Dream Team 2012.

Oh and what about making Ablett captain over Swan? Who else did that? Good one KP. Never did I think Dane Swan scoring 172 IN MY SQUAD would be the most gut wrenching feeling ever. I might trade out one of them so I never have to make that decision again.

You know what else is bad? Brendon Goddard. This guy has escaped criticism all season, but now I’m onto you man. I am actually happy he got suspended for two weeks. Even though Steve Morris won’t score that well, at least he cares. Yeah OK, my Dream Team’s at that point. Players that care will get a gig. If I had the trades Goddard would be out for Tom Couch.

I still love you BJ. Just do something when you come back, please?

Dusty Martin haters, OUT! He’s back. Enjoy the ride. Make him your eighth forward at your peril.

How about my man Toddy Goldstein? He’s just rolling right now. H-Mac is no threat to him.

Just quietly, has anyone seen Chris Yarran’s prices? Anyone. anyone? Cheap as chips.

Who doesn’t have Beau Waters? Please share some pain with me. His 50 point quarters are like being stabbed in eye. Why can’t he just suck for one game and give us non-owners a reprieve. I love to watch West Coast. I don’t want to hate them.

Ohhhh, another thing really bugged me on the weekend. Last week the Bulldogs let Pearce Hanley run around by himself to just murder anyone else who doesn’t have him. I’m cool. He’s pretty unique. My boy Dyson Heppell plays them, so surely he’ll do the same thing right, being an outside midfielder? No of course not, Liam Picken goes straight to him. You should’ve seen me curse. Thank goodness Jobe was in Superman mode, so the Dogs had no other choice but to put someone on him and let Dyson scrap something semi-respectable.

I missed the Sydney vs GWS game. It sounded like a cracker.

Since when does Jed Adcock get tagged? Seriously, Melbourne. You know you’re obsessed when you count missed points. For all the Adcock owners out there, he was robbed a handball and a tackle. I expect those six points in the mail.

I swore I never would, but I was so close to pulling the trigger on Colin Sylvia last week as a back up forward/mid. Well he’s back in the midfield now, and Melbourne has a great run home. An average of 90 is not beyond him.

Finally, it was good to see Sam Gibson get a decent chance. I think he’ll stay in this team. He was very solid. Not outstanding, but he did nothing wrong.

Anyway guys, I think that’s all covered. Again, I’m sorry if nothing I said made sense, especially the last few paragraphs, because Ana Ivanovic is now on.

Well the byes are over! Let’s rejoice!

We’re back to normality and hopefully you all have completed your teams in the process.

How good does it feel to have all your guns back on the field?

Personally, my focus has shifted solely to my Dream Team. It’s the only one that stands a chance. I’m gunning for overall, but it’s obviously a massive long shot and I’d need a lot of things to go my way.

I currently sit at 891^st overall with a complete team and four trades left for long term injuries.

I’m really happy with the way my team has turned out but I think I’ve also been really unlucky along the way having to sideways trade Marc Murphy, Paul Duffield, Adam Goodes, David Zaharakis and Nathan Fyfe. Apart from Fyfe, those other guys were relatively unique which hurts more.

The only issue I have with my team is the backline. It is a little shaky but then again so is everyone’s really. With the way this season is going, you can’t rely on anyone.

Anyway, this is it…..

BACKS: Brett Deledio, Brendon Goddard, Greg Broughton, Jed Adcock, Brian Lake, Dyson Heppell, Ryan Hargrave (Steven Morris, Sam Shaw)

MIDS: Dane Swan, Gary Ablett, Brent Stanton, Matthew Boyd, Sam Mitchell, Scott Pendlebury (Taylor Adams, Sam Gibson)

RUCKS: Dean Cox, Todd Goldstein (Orren Stephenson, Jarrad Redden)

FORWARDS: Dayne Beams, Lance Franklin, Steele Sidebottom, Steve Johnson, Dustin Martin, Mitch Robinson, Dayne Zorko (Jason Porplyzia, Jamie Elliot)

At this time of the year it’s all about captain choice, depth, and your unique players.

The likes of Greg Broughton, Jed Adcock, Dyson Heppell, Ryan Hargrave, Brent Stanton, Sam Mitchell, Todd Goldstein, Dayne Beams and Steve Johnson will decide how I go for the rest of the season.

Fingers crossed….

Anyway on to the round just passed and it was a fairly sombre one again. We were all carrying around three to four donuts each thanks largely to Hargrave and Pendlebury plus we also had to deal with Sam Gibson as the sub, and Sam Shaw just having an absolute stinker.

The Friday night game saw some Cats favourites back in form and the return of Allen Christensen. He had a massive influence on the game when he was subbed on and looked really good. With a couple of low scores floating through, his price will be really tempting in a couple of weeks even for a bench position with his dual positioning being so handy.

Was I the only person that thought Andrejs Everitt’s Super Coach score of 86 was insane? I mean, yes, he came on and kicked a clutch goal but did he really have the same influence on the game as say, Paul Chapman (95 SC) or Jimmy Bartel (97 SC). The scoring system is just too random for my liking.

Call me crazy but I was about to make a last minute trade in of Tony Armstrong on Friday night. I ended up spending the extra cash and going for the safety of Dyson Heppell. At quarter time I was cursing. From memory he was on about 40 Dream Team points and looking awesome. The way he just died in the second half though made me slightly happy. I still think he’s a decent pick though.

Matthew Boyd was terribly disappointing on Saturday. He went head to head with Daniel Rich and had his colours lowered. He was a pretty popular captain choice as well.

Brian Lake was on 71 Dream Team points at half time and was looking like he was on for a massive afternoon. He finished on 78. I missed the second half of that game but apparently he had a leg knock and wasn’t the same after it.

The good news to come out of the Bulldogs capitulation is the fact Ryan Hargrave will surely get a game next week.

The Bulldogs didn’t decide to man up on Saturday, so some popular Lions players had a field day in Tom Rockliff, Pearce Hanley, Dayne Zorko (so awesome) and Jack Redden. Jed Adcock was the disappointing one, but the ball was hardly in the Lions back half.

Dayne Beams continued his stellar form, while Beau Waters continues to stab everyone who doesn’t have him in the heart. Jamie Elliot had arguably a match winning, 51 point last quarter, so if you own him, he isn’t going anywhere soon.

I really like Brad Sheppard’s form right now as a bit of a mid-priced roughie in your backline if you’re strapped for cash.

Greg Broughton was frustratingly sent to full forward to tag Dustin Fletcher. I mean, please Ross, have you not made us angry enough? I’ve heard next week Greg will be playing in the ruck. Thank goodness I didn’t watch that game otherwise I reckon I would’ve needed a new TV.

I think if you haven’t already, it’s time to get rid of Jon Giles. Just let go. As long as Dean Brogan’s in the team, you’re just going to be leaking points to everyone else who has Ivan Maric or Todd Goldstein.

Speaking of Goldstein, he was brilliant. He beat Sam Jacobs hands down. I really can’t see how McIntosh gets back into the North Melbourne team when he’s fit. Goldstein is a better ruckman than Hamish right now and we know that when they play both of them it just doesn’t work.

Sam Gibson was the sub, but I reckon he’ll play next week. Cunnington and MacMillan would be dropped before him.

That’s it for this week folks!

So another bye round is in the can.

It was probably not as detrimental as the round 11 episode, but this one certainly had its own ups and downs.

Adam Treloar didn’t get near the footy on Saturday against Richmond, but luckily a lot of people were in the same boat, riding his 21 DT and 7 SC scores. If GWS remain to true to form, Treloar will be ‘rested’ this week.

Ryan Hargrave was a late withdrawal for the second time this season and we are yet to know why. It was an absolute killer. I thought he was more popular than he actually is, but he’s only in 24.93% of Dream Teams. All he had to do was limp out there and get a lazy 50 or 60 and I would’ve gone up another couple of hundred spots. With the way the game was played yesterday he was sure to rack up his first ton in quite a while.

Sam Gibson played his first game against the Suns on Saturday night. It was not looking good in the first half. He looked a little out his depth and struggled with the pace of the game, but after half time he looked more comfortable and seemed to have settled in pretty well. He ended up with a decent score, and he should continue to stay in that team. I expect him to only get better from here.

Footy Tragic’s own Dayne Zorko has completed an outstanding month of footy without being sub-affected. Yesterday was the cherry on top, as he was the Lions clear best player over the four quarters. He finished the day with 24 disposals, 9 marks, 7 tackles and 3 goals. It was just the type of game we know he’s capable of, and now the question is whether he’s good enough to be a starting forward for the run home. I definitely think so.

Todd Goldstein was excellent for the Kangaroos on Saturday night. In his three games without Hamish McIntosh he’s averaged 114.6 DT and 126.6 SC. For the run home it’s looking like the three ideal ruckmen to have are Dean Cox, Ivan Maric and Todd Goldstein. If you don’t have two of them you’ll leak lots of points.

Andrew Carrazzo hasn’t missed a beat since returning from injury. He was the Blues best player on Thursday night, amassing 118 DT and 132 SC playing the same midfield role he was in the first four rounds. He has the bye this week, and then is due for another massive price drop in round 14, so look to bring him in then in both fantasy comps.

Heath Scotland has annoyed everyone; even those who don’t own him. If you didn’t have him when it was announced he’d be out for a month, you’re thinking ‘here’s my massive leg-up on everyone else’. He comes back after one week out and dominates. If you traded him, well life sucks hey.

Lots of people would’ve been rapt to see Sam Shaw’s game on Friday night on the big stage. All we wanted to see was him put in a good performance, and he did more than that, solidifying his spot in the Crows backline you’d think for a while to come.

There wasn’t a whole lot to come out of this round, which in my opinion is a good thing.

Lots of fantasy sides will be bordering on being complete now, and then the run home begins.

Exciting times ahead!

I’m going to take a different angle this week, because I’m angry.

What a disastrous round….

Personally I dropped out of the top 1000 and to be honest, when you’re copping five unavoidable ‘zeroes’, the interest in the week is hardly there.

I watched two and a half games on the weekend, which for me, is ridiculous. Never have I watched such little footy in a round.

Not only was it terrible from a fantasy footy point of view, the scheduling was disgusting as well.

On Sunday there was one game, which started at 4.40pm; Hawthorn vs Port Adelaide in Adelaide. Really AFL? If that isn’t an invitation to go out and get drunk instead over the long weekend well then I don’t know what is.

It will only be worse this upcoming round. Carlton vs West Coast is wasted on a Thursday night, and then on Saturday night and Sunday we can feast our eyes on Gold Coast vs North Melbourne, Hawthorn vs Brisbane, and Western Bulldogs vs Port Adelaide.

Exciting stuff…..

I think it’s a concern for Virtual Sports in the future as well, because I get the feeling I’m not the only fantasy footy player feeling this way.

The AFL has signalled that there’ll be two byes for each club next season. If it’s anything like these current three rounds, well then interest in fantasy footy will decrease.

If I’m saying this then I can only imagine that the average fantasy coach has probably already given up.

There needs to be a solution. Nobody likes to have ‘zeroes’ in their team, even though everyone else is in the same boat.

Whether only five defenders, four mids, one ruck and five forwards’ scores count in the bye rounds, or we get more trades, or a bigger bench, something needs to be done.

I really like the first idea.

During the bye rounds, starting squads are decreased. Simple. Less scoring players means you have more chance to field a full squad.

We saw last year we had an extra three players in our squad, which I thought worked quite well, and were able to quell a few extra ‘zeroes’.

The other idea I’ve heard is that we get two trades a week, you can use them or lose them, your choice.

Next year a quarter of the season is likely to be made up of bye rounds. We need to maintain the interest. Of course, the hardcore players will still be there, including myself, and the faithful Footy Tragic community, but what about the average punters?

Can they ‘be bothered’ anymore?

It’s a major issue. If they’re not on board, are the sponsors? What about the prizes?

At the moment the game has no ‘flavour’.

Around this year time of the year everyone’s team starts to look the same.

I’ve been banging the ‘eight starting midfielders’ drum for many years now. The midfield is where the diversity will come from.

It’s more realistic to the game of AFL itself and there are more midfielders in the game than any other position on the ground, so why not have more positions available?

The idea has continually been knocked back. I’m not the only one that’s advocated it, and it is very frustrating that it hasn’t ever seemed to be considered.

I think it’s a major issue for Virtual Sports over the off-season.

The game will simply not grow, and will probably not survive if it just goes along as the ‘same old’.

It may not be great for the hardcore fantasy player, but the key is to keep everyone interested for the entire season.

Nobody likes having the same team as everyone else and nobody likes to take ‘zeroes’, so fix it.

I would love to know your thoughts guys.

What an amazing round of footy it was!

There is so much to talk about in fantasy footy that it is hard to know where to start….

What about Buddy’s 13 goals and AFL Dream Team record-breaking performance? A lazy 204 Dream Team points if you don’t mind. Let’s not forget he was on four points with a few seconds left in the first quarter. It was looking like a very quiet day for Buddy, until he went ‘bang’ x13. If you had him captain, well all I can say is congratulations, you would’ve surely had an epic round. It would have been a spectacle that was doubly special to watch.

What about Sir Gary’s return to form last night? An AMAZING 53 possession game equalling the world record! 53 POSSESSIONS! It is fair to say, I don’t think I’ll ever NOT have him captain ever again. ‘Kristian’s Kaptain’s’ is officially extinct. Having Pendlebury captain this week instead flushed 127 points down the drain. Instead of being ranked 628^th, I’d be 262^nd, just because of a little decision like that. The agony fantasy footy gives you….

Stevie Johnson continued his history of ‘beating up the kids’ with a lousy 146 DT, 156 SC performance. He bucked the trend of fantasy stars not performing against GWS as we all suspected he would.

It was AGAIN a week of underperforming premiums. Even if you had all of Ablett, Buddy and Stevie J, you still could’ve had a very average week….. *puts hand up*.

Joel Selwood went off injured very early in the game and it looked like he wouldn’t return, but limped around to get a 62 DT and (this is why I despise SuperCoach) 104 SC. How does that happen? I’d love someone to explain.

Scott Pendlebury also went off injured early in the game last night, but returned to have a very fine first half. That was all we saw of him after that, he was red vested with a 59 DT, 95 SC (again) game. Thanks skipper!

A lot of people would’ve made Steele Sidebottom their captain this week, only for him to collapse amidst all the expectation. 68 DT and 74 SC simply doesn’t cut it against the hapless Suns.

‘Creepy Crowley’ has become arguably the most feared tagger in the competition. He just gets the job done on opposition midfielders and his victim this week was Scott Thompson. He just couldn’t get anything easy at all.

Brett Deledio continued his streak of outstanding form, now with nine Dream Team tons in a row, and ten Super Coach tons in a row! Mr.Consistent.

I was shot down on the show when I said Ivan Maric was a decent captain option. 116 DT and 111 SC later, it’s a score I’d have taken every day of the week going by how some other premiums have scored. If he hasn’t consolidated his position as the #1 ruck in fantasy world, I think he has now.

In the run home, there could be a ruckman to have a say about that though. If you weren’t aware, I traded Jon Giles to Todd Goldstein this week on the back of the news Hamish McIntosh needed knee surgery. We all know how well Goldstein went last season when he rucked solo, so I thought, for a trade that will cost me no cash, it was a worthwhile one. Dean Brogan will be back for the Giants after the bye, and he was #1 ruck at the Giants while Giles started forward. On the other hand, North Melbourne has said McIntosh will be out for six weeks, but with the way they’re travelling on field, and McIntosh’s knee history, are they really going to rush him back this season? It’s doubtful.

Another guy I traded in this week was Sam Mitchell. It was risky considering he was a little out of form, but he’s a proven champ, and showed that on the weekend. He is still cheap as chips, so he’s a great option to bring in for an upgrade.

There’ll be backline carnage over the next few weeks. It was announced yesterday that Heath Scotland will miss at least the next three weeks with a calf injury. The calf strain is the ‘old man’s injury’ and they have a history of playing out longer than originally diagnosed.

The other popular defender that is in trouble is Beau Waters. He laid a high hip and shoulder on Jack Redden that got him in the face, and with his 90 carry over points, it looks like he’ll spend a couple of weeks on the sidelines. We’ll find out at around 4 o’clock tonight.

That’s all for KP’s Wrap this week! Make sure there’s plenty of discussion below!