Footy Tragic

With the (real) draft less than a month away, we thought it would be good fun to get together with some of our readers and create a Footy Tragic Phantom Draft.

Essentially, 18 participants take an AFL team each, and are left with the responsibility of choosing which players to draft to their club.

We will run through the draft pick by pick over the course of the next couple of weeks, but of course, we need some recruiters first!

So below is a list of all 18 teams. Please comment below if you are keen to join in and which club you would like. I will update the below list of clubs with their recruiters as I have confirmation of their interest.

Some people will be given a 2nd club, but this is due to a few clubs taking virtually NO good picks to the draft.

Ideally, we will kick off the draft by mid-way through next week. But, we could start earlier if we fill all 18 spots quickly.

Obviously you will be allowed time to make your selection (catering for work/social/other events), but please post your pick (once it is your turn) as soon as you can. A brief description on why you selected the player would be nice too!

If there are any questions, let us know below.

Cheers

Adelaide: DIG

Brisbane: Ben Sowden

Carlton: Lemming

Collingwood: Toooovs

Essendon: James Miller

Fremantle: Jdthursty

Geelong: Budda230

Gold Coast: Maanco

GWS: Kristian Pisano

Hawthorn: Buddysurkidsdad

Melbourne: James Clarke

North Melbourne: Neenie21

Port Adelaide: Gravy Train

Richmond: Wormburner

St.Kilda: Toby Brocklehurst

Sydney: Gholizadeh_9

West Coast: Browns13

Western Bulldogs: Gghippo

With trade week now upon us, Footy Tragic will be keeping you abreast of all breaking trade rumours and confirmed trades.

Our very own news-breaker (for want of a better term), Kristian, will be posting any news and trade confirmations on this thread as it happens.

So make sure you keep checking www.footytragic.com for all your trade info, and follow @footytragic for all the news as it happens.

And do you want your own say on trade week, or have any rumours of your own? Then let us know bellow in the comments section and be part of the conversation.

Thanks

The team at Footy Tragic

COMPLETED TRADES

1. Richmond’s pick 14 to Greater Western Sydney for pick 15 and Steve Morris.

2. Collingwood receive Marty Clarke, Jamie Elliot and pick 67 for pick 25 from Greater Western Sydney.

3. Jack Gunston, pick 53, and pick 71 to Hawthorn for picks 24, 46, and 64 to Adelaide.

4. Pick 1 in U/17 mini draft and pick 31 to Gold Coast for pick 4 and Gary Ablett compensation pick to Greater Western Sydney.

5. Pick 20 to Greater Western Sydney for pick 25, Terry Milera and Ahmed Saad to St.Kilda.

6. Fremantle’s Rhys Palmer compensation pick to Greater Western Sydney for pick 20.

7. Pick 2 in the mini-draft and Luke Brown to Adelaide for pick 10 and Phil Davis compensation pick to Greater Western Sydney.

8. Will Sierakowski to North Melbourne in exchange for pick 58 to North Melbourne.

9. Ivan Maric to Richmond in exchange for pick 37 to Adelaide.

10. Tom Lynch to Adelaide in exchange for pick 37 to St Kilda.

11. Brent Renouf to Port Adelaide in exchange for pick 33.

12. Jordan Lisle to Brisbane for pick 29 to Hawthorn.

13. Jarrad Boumann to Hawthorn for pick 56 to Greater Western Sydney.

14. Picks 29, 58 and 71 to Fremantle for picks 38 and 56 to Hawthorn.

15. Chad Cornes, Dean Brogan and pick 69 to Greater Western Sydney for pick 49 to Port Adelaide.

16. Brad Ebert and pick 45 to Port Adelaide for pick 28 and pick 49 to West Coast.

17. Mitch Clark to Melbourne for pick 12 to Brisbane.

18. Peter Yagmoor and pick 50 to Collingwood for pick 47 to Brisbane.

19. Mitch Morton to Sydney for pick 79 to Sydney.

20. Luke Power to Greater Western Sydney for pick 69 to Brisbane.

21. Josh Hill to West Coast for pick 49 to Western Bulldogs.

22. Dayne Zorko and pick 47 to Brisbane for pick 34 to Gold Coast.

23. Matthew Warnock to Gold Coast for pick 52 to Melbourne.

24. Ben Hudson to Brisbane for pick 70 to Western Bulldogs.

25. Pick 26 to Gold Coast for picks 32 and 34 to Geelong.

26. Picks 27, 31 and 68 to Adelaide for pick 24 to Gold Coast.

27. Lewis Johnston to Adelaide for Tony Armstrong, pick 35 and pick 68 to Sydney.

28. Tom Walsh to Sydney for picks 35 and 68 to St.Kilda.

29. Josh Jenkins and pick 41 to Adelaide for pick 31 to Essendon.

30. Nathan Bock compensation pick to Gold Coast for pick 26 and Nathan Krakouer compensation pick to Richmond.

DRAFT PICKS BY CLUB

Adelaide – 27, 41, 46, 64, 89
Brisbane – 8, 12, 30, 47, 69, 88
Carlton – 22, 44, 62, 80, 98
Collingwood – 50, 65, 67, 83, 101
Essendon – 19, 31, 59, 77, 95
Fremantle – 16, 20, 29, 58, 71, 74, 92
Geelong – 32, 34, 48, 66, 84, 102
Gold Coast – 24, 86
GWS – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 56, 85
Hawthorn – 33, 38, 53, 82, 100
Melbourne – 36, 52, 54, 72, 90
North – 18, 40, 76, 94
Port – 6, 28, 51, 87
Richmond – 15, 26, 55, 73, 79, 91
St Kilda – 25, 35, 37, 43, 61, 68, 78, 96
Sydney – 21 (Tom Mitchell), 42, 60, 97
Bulldogs – 17, 39, 49, 57, 70, 75, 93
West Coast – 23, 45, 63, 81, 99

IN’S AND OUT’S BY CLUB

Adelaide
In: Luke Brown, Josh Jenkins, Lewis Johnston, Tom Lynch, #27, #41, #46, #64, Mini-Draft #2 (Brad Crouch)
Out: Tony Armstrong, Jack Gunston, Ivan Maric, #10, #35, #53, #71, Compo pick (end 1st round)

Brisbane
In: Ben Hudson, Jordan Lisle, Dayne Zorko, #12, #47, #69
Out: Mitch Clark, Luke Power, #29, #34, #52, #70

Collingwood
In: Marty Clarke, Jamie Elliot, Peter Yagmoor, #50, #67
Out: #25, #47

Essendon
In: #31
Out: Josh Jenkins, #41

Fremantle
In: #20, #29, #58, #71
Out: #38, #56, Compo pick (end 1st round)

Geelong
In: #32, #34
Out: #26

Gold Coast
In: Matthew Warnock, Mini-Draft #1 (Jaeger O’Meara), #24, Compo pick (end 1st round)
Out: Peter Yagmoor, Dayne Zorko (both QLD zone), #4, #27, #32, #50, #68, Compo pick (1st round), Compo pick (2nd round)

GWS
In: Dean Brogan, Chad Cornes, Luke Power, #4, #10, #14, #56, Compo pick (mid 1st round), Compo pick (end 1st round), Compo pick (end 1st round)
Out: Jarrad Boumann, Luke Brown, Marty Clarke, Jamie Elliot, Terry Milera, Steven Morris, Ahmed Saad (all prelisted), #15, #31, #49, #67, Mini-Draft #1, Mini-Draft #2

Hawthorn
In: Jarrad Boumann, Jack Gunston, #33, #38, #53
Out: Jordan Lisle, Brent Renouf, Will Sierakowski, #24, #46, #64

Melbourne
In: Mitch Clark, #52
Out: Matthew Warnock, #12

North Melbourne
In: Will Sierakowski
Out: #58

Port Adelaide
In: Brad Ebert, Brent Renouf, #45
Out: Dean Brogan, Chad Cornes, #28, #33, #69

Richmond
In: Ivan Maric, Steven Morris, #15, #26, #79, Compo pick (2nd round)
Out: Mitch Morton, #14, #37, Compo pick (end 1st round)

St Kilda
In: Terry Milera, Ahmed Saad, #25, #35, #37, #68
Out: Tom Lynch, Tommy Walsh, #20

Sydney
In: Tony Armstrong, Mitch Morton, Tommy Walsh
Out: Lewis Johnston, #79

West Coast
In: Josh Hill, #28
Out: Brad Ebert, #45

Western Bulldogs
In: #49, #70
Out: Josh Hill, Ben Hudson

NEWS AND RUMOURS

13/10/2011, 11.18AM  – Hawthorn is the front runner to secure Tom Gillies’ services.

13/10/2011, 11.15AM  – Addam Maric to North Melbourne most likely won’t happen for another 2 days.

13/10/2011, 11.14AM  – Melbourne has entered the race for Mitch Clark. They have to convince him to come down to Victoria.

13/10/2011, 11.13AM  – Mark Seaby has flown to Port Adelaide to complete a medical.

12/10/2011, 11.56AM  – Greater Western Sydney are pursuing Rick Ladson.

12/10/2011, 11.55AM  – Cale Hooker’s manager says he believes he will stay a Bomber, as well as Jason Gram a Saint.

12/10/2011, 11.53AM  – AFL has rejected a major four way deal involving Jaeger O’Meara going back to Greater Western Sydney.

12/10/2011, 11.51AM  – Adelaide are after Richmond’s Bock compensation pick, but the Tigers have flatly refused.

11/10/2011, 3.50PM – Kangaroos have said Campbell, McIntosh, Warren and Urquhart are all required players and that they are not after Jason Gram.

11/10/2011, 10.23AM – Adelaide list manager David Noble says the club is progressing slowly with the Tigers in the trade for Ivan Maric. He also said if they can get the right deal for Tony Armstrong, he will be traded. Kurt Tippett is also ‘untouchable’ and is a required player under new coach Brent Sanderson.

11/10/2011, 10.19AM – Greater Western Sydney have reportedly found a ‘loophole’ in the mini-draft system, and will look to snare Jaeger O’Meara for themselves.

11/10/2011, 10.13AM – Alan Toovey has effectively walked out on Collingwood after contract negotiations have broken down. He will seek a trade, and if that doesn’t happen he will most likely enter the draft.

11/10/2011, 10.12AM – The Saints have said to have put Jason Gram on the trade table.

10/10/2011, 4.26PM – Marty Clarke and Jamie Elliot to Collingwood for pick 25 should be made official tomorrow.

10/10/2011, 4.24PM – Essendon will trade Henry Slattery and Ricky Dyson if there is a suitor.

10/10/2011, 3.31PM – Port Adelaide footy manager Peter Rhode says the club is confident they can work a deal for Brad Ebert, but admits they’re unlikely to get Jon Griffin. He also mentioned they had discussions regarding Hamish McIntosh, but he said that was also unlikely.

10/10/2011, 3.29PM – Gold Coast are keen to get involved in the mini-draft, but not sure if pick 4 will get it done.

10/10/2011, 3.28PM – Paul Bower and Setanta O’Hailpin have both requested a trade through a lack of opportunities.

10/10/2011, 3.16PM – West Coast’s Neil Daniher says they’re not happy with what Port Adelaide are offering them for Brad Ebert.

10/10/2011, 3.10PM – Essendon’s Paul Hamilton say the Greater Western Sydney mini-draft is holding up proceedings, and expects there to be more activity after Thursday.

10/10/2011, 2.47PM – Fremantle’s Chris Bond says no trade will be competed today. They are still in talks in regards to Mitch Clark, and says Jon Griffin is a required player.

10/10/2011, 12.05PM – According to the Herald Sun, the Crows have rejected Richmond’s second round draft pick offer for Ivan Maric.

10/10/2011, 11.18AM - Essendon are rumoured to be interested in Addam Maric from Melbourne. Surely they need midfielders and not small forwards?

10/10/2011, 11.16AM – Mitch Clark’s manager, Colin Young says his likely destination is Fremantle.

10/10/2011, 9.53AM - James Hird says he can’t imagine the Bombers being too active this week.

10/10/2011, 9.49AM – Brisbane will want a first round draft pick in exchange for Mitch Clark at a minimum. They are interested in acquiring Adelaide forward, Kurt Tippett.

10/10/2011, 9.35AM – North Melbourne coach Brad Scott says they will not be entering any talks regarding Hamish McIntosh. He also says he doubts they’ll be entering the mini-draft. It’s very unlikely any North Melbourne players will be moving on, including Matt Campbell and Lachie Hansen.

10/10/2011, 9.29AM – John Longmire says the Swans will have an ‘open mind’ in trade week. They are interested in getting Tony Armstrong to the club, but also said it doesn’t look likely that they’ll be participating in the mini-draft.

10/10/2011, 9.21AM – Gold Coast say they’ll be looking at getting some more mature-age players into their list to help their young players in season 2012. They also admit that they’ll be looking at ways to snare Jaeger O’Meara.

10/10/2011, 8.36AM – Essendon football manager, Paul Hamilton, says they will try and improve their list through the trade/draft period, focusing on the midfield, as we all would have thought.

10/10/2011, 8.30AM - Melbourne forwards, Matthew Bate and Addam Maric will also look at finding new opportunities.

10/10/2011, 8.27AM – Richmond forward/midfielder, Mitch Morton, will be looking to secure his third home this week. Any potential deal will most likely involve Greater Western Sydney.

Hello Footy Tragics,

Well, the 2011 Grand Final was a beauty wasn’t it? Hopefully everyone had a great day watching the Cats win their third flag in five years – an amazing effort.

But of course, with the conclusion of the season comes all the chatter and rumours of trade week, and the day where hope comes back to our clubs – the AFL draft. And at Footy Tragic, it is the time where we start to plan for our 2012 Dream Team and SuperCoach seasons.

Starting this week on October 10^th, Footy Tragic will be back up and running with daily content. Kristian and Dan will be running through all 18 clubs, giving you in-depth analysis on who your club needs to recruit in the draft, as well as discussing the players who may step up or be given more opportunity in 2012 (DT/SC smokey anyone?).

Kristian will also be running a daily blog on the site throughout trade week, giving you all the rumours, breaking news and all the trade details as they happen. Log on to www.footytragic.com to have your say and share your own rumours and opinions with us. This blog will be running all day every day until the conclusion of the trade period.

Once all the clubs start getting back on the track in early November, Toby will be there, giving you weekly articles detailing all the training sessions from each club – who trained well, who has put on the kilos and who looks like they could be playing in another position come round one next year.

And of course, with the draft in late November, Kristian will give you his own phantom draft, detailing what players he expects to land at each club and why. Dan and Kristian will then spend the following weeks talking about the AFL’s newest recruits and who they believe could be the Dyson Heppell of season 2012.

And this only takes us until Christmas – and I assure you we will be back again in January, with plenty more Dream Team and SuperCoach advice to ensure that you have can assemble the best team of all your mates.

Be sure too to follow us on Twitter for any breaking news (or for just our own general commentary):

@FootyTragic

@TobyBrocky

@FootyTragicDan

@KristianPisano

We look forward to you joining us over the off-season and hope you enjoy joining in the discussion with us on www.footytragic.com

Hey All,

Firstly, the Captain’s article won’t be running on the site today (Tuesday), but will be up on Thursday instead (alongside Kristian’s TAC cup article). Unfortunately, all three of us struggled to fit in writing the article amongst other commitments.

However, we do have some exciting news in that we will be having Jay, the current overall leader in SuperCoach, on our Grand Final show this Thursday night. He currently sits in 1st place by 69 points, and with $50,000 as the first prize for SuperCoach, he is no doubt a nervous man! We will be having a chat to him about his strategies this year and what has gone right and wrong for him to get him where he is.

Check out his team here: http://supercoach.heraldsun.com.au/?p=other_teams&tid=124&lid=1

We will also spend some time on the show having a reflection on the season that’s been, discuss the teams and Captains, look at our best 2012 midfield options, whilst also chatting about some of our off-season content for the site.

To give you some basic info on off-season content, I can at least start by saying we won’t stop posting articles once the season ends as we know how important a big pre-season is for Dream Team and SuperCoach. We will focus heavily on the drafts and trade periods, whilst also analysing all 18 clubs in the competition – what do they need, who could they draft and who will get an opportunity in 2012. We will also have weekly reports on each clubs training sessions once they get back on the track later this year, making sure you know exactly what is happening down at each club as they prepare for next year. More details are still to be confirmed, but I hope you are all just as excited about this as we are!

Hope you can tune into the show this Thursday night and check out our interview with Jay! As usual, 9pm on Channel 31.

Cheers

Footy Tragic

After last week’s record-breaking round, where the top scorer in Dream Team scored a ridiculous 2833 points, we thought we’d try and find a historical team that could knock off that high score. So we went all the way back to Round 7 of 1992, nearly a decade before Dream Team even started, to see if we could do it.

This round was significant for a couple of reasons – firstly, Jason Dunstall made the highest ever recorded Dream Team score when he kicked 17.5 against Richmond, finishing him on a whopping 243 DT points. Also, Geelong recorded the highest ever score in the history of AFL – one goal more than what they did last week to Melbourne.

So it’s fair to say some big scores were pumped out this week – mainly by power forwards, with Dunstall, Ablett and Lockett kicking 36 goals between them!

We tried to keep the team as realistic as possible, selecting a mixture of rookies and premiums, as well as picking some of the ‘must-haves,’ despite their average scores (see Jim Stynes). Check out the first segment from our show last night where Dan details his theory behind the team in depth.

Amazingly, this team still falls 51 points short of beating last week’s highest score, which is simply ridiculous! Let us know below what you think of our team, and let us know if you can think of any other rounds in the history of the game that could beat our team, or even the winning team from last week!

Defence

Paul Roos (Fitz) 152

Barry Stoneham (Geel) 135

Dennis Carroll (Syd) 130

Glenn Jakovich (WC) 106

Ken Hinkley (Geel) 85

Ben Hart* (Adel) 59

Andrew Dunkley* (Syd) 53

TOTAL: 721

Midfield

Anthony Condon (Haw) 124

Ben Allen (Haw) 123

Wayne Campbell (Rich) 122

Chris McDermott (Adel) 111

Mick McGuane (Coll) 109

Peter Riccardi* (Geel) 88

TOTAL: 677

Ruck

Jim Stynes (Melb) 75

Steven Handley* (Geel) 109

(Essendon bye – Handley covering for Paul Salmon)

TOTAL: 184

Forward

Jason Dunstall (C) (Haw) 243 x 2

Gary Ablett Snr. (Geel) 183

Tony Lockett (St.K) 143

Stephen Kernahan (Carl) 118

John Hutton* (Bris) 106

Anthony McGovern* (Syd) 95

Brenton Sanderson* (Adel) 69

TOTAL: 1200

*Denotes Rookie

OVERALL SCORE: 2782

Well we’ve been teasing you all for long enough – finally it is time to announce that ‘Footy Tragic’ – a brand new AFL Dream Team and Supercoach show – will be going live from this Thursday at 9pm on Channel 31.

The show will run weekly throughout the year, where Dan, Kristian and Toby run through all the pressing Dream Team issues and what the best solution is for each. They will discuss teams, rookies, premiums and occasionally make mention of Dane Swan.

We will also have guests some weeks – make sure you tune in this week as we interview a To-be-announced Bulldogs star. So make sure to stick the date in your diary, and remember, don’t hit the trade button until you’ve watched Footy Tragic – every Thursday night from 9 O’clock on Channel 31.

Untitled from Steve Greenwood on Vimeo.

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Well, there’s been some awesome discussion this week on the site and a few calls for a Poll or two to get the answers from the masses. So please see below for a few polls to help you work out where your team fits in the scheme of things… If you have any other good suggestions for polls, please let me know.

(this first poll is assuming you already have Pendles, Boyd, Swan and Selwood in your mids – the most common combination)

So we each sat down and all had a look at the different strategies – there are three main ones – trade for a premium, keep him, or offload him to a rookie. Each have their own merits and each of the Footy Tragic boys will look at one of the strategies. Let us know which way you plan on going!

Trade him for another Premium (Toby):

It’s happened so many times before that a club has given us an expected time frame on an injury that just keeps getting stretched out further and further… And when is it that we see the majority of these stretched-out injury dates? On bizarre injuries that no-one has heard of, that’s when. So the first question is, what the hell is turf toe? Well, Turf toe is a condition characterized by a painful, red, swollen great toe caused by acute inflammation of the tendons on both the dorsal and plantar surfaces, often seen in those who play American football, Rugby, Beach Soccer, and Tennis (thankyou to the good folks at Wikipedia). Well considering this injury is a slight bit abnormal, there will be plenty of coaches not taking the risk (if it was 4 weeks – hamstring, we would know a bit more about what we are dealing with here). What is initially 4 weeks could become 5, then 6, then Freo have the bye, so it could be closer to two months before we get him back.

So who do you trade him for if you like this idea? Well, it’s pretty simple as there are really only four good options.

Dean Cox ($405,000, Av. 113.62, 35% of teams)– If you don’t have him, then simply you don’t even need to consider the other options. He is currently averaging over 10 DT points a game more than Sandilands, despite the fact he is $5,000 cheaper. Cox has been incredibly consistent this year and is truly playing some of his best football in years – he has only scored under 100 DT points twice (91 vs Freo & 79 vs Hawks), whilst he has also scored four scores in excess of 120, showing his ceiling is still as high as ever.

Todd Goldstein ($383,700, Av. 99.86, 2.17% of teams) – Goldstein has been having a great year for the Roos, having stepped up to assume the #1 ruck mantle in the absence of McIntosh and Hale. His scoring is more consistent than prolific, with only one score under 85 (against Freo) – in fact, he has been getting better and better over the past few weeks, averaging 108 points over the past 5 games. He is great in the ruck, but also does well around the ground and up forward, meaning he has many avenues to scoring, unlike some other big men.

Shane Mumford ($336,600, Av. 83.88, 5.53% of teams) – Big Mummy is a great ruckman, able to win plenty of hitouts, averaging 30 a game, but his other big strength is his tackling, where he averages just under 5 a game – great numbers for a guy his size. The issue with Mummy is his consistency – he has proven he can make some big scores, but his recent form lets him down, only averaging 68 points over the past 3 games. He IS underpriced though and that’s what you would be punting on – he won’t average you 100 points like Sandy or Cox, but he will pull out the odd big score, as well as making you about $80,000 profit which you can use on an upgrade elsewhere.

Sam Jacobs ($306,200, Av. 79.2, 1.39% of teams) – Jacobs will help you make some money as well as giving you some good talent to put on the field in the meantime. Like Mumford, you are investing a bit in potential here – after scoring just 45 points in his first game of the year (back from injury), he has averaged 88 points since and is getting better. Again, he won’t average 100 points, but 85-90 points isn’t out of his range. He is another hitout specialist, averaging 32 a game, but also competes around the ground, averaging 11 disposals – fair, but not amazing.

So at the end of the day, any of these four names could appeal to you for a variety of different reasons – they all have their own positives and negatives. It is certainly a strategic move getting rid of Sandy – you are banking on the injury being a little longer and perhaps you don’t have any DPP link to your forwards. Or maybe you just don’t trust Zac Smith to hold strong against Geelong, West Coast, North Melbourne and Hawthorn – his next four games. Or maybe you have been desperate to get Cox in this year and this is your perfect opportunity.

Good luck whichever way you go!

Stick him on the bench (Kristian):

I’m fairly lucky at the moment to have a ruck set up where I can afford to keep Sandilands without losing too much points wise. Currently I have;

Dean Cox

Aaron Sandilands

Em:

Joel Tippett (ruck and forward DPP link)

Zachary Smith

Drew Petrie is in my forwards at the moment, so I’ll simply swap him with Joel Tippett and start Petrie in my rucks. This also does mean I have to carry Joel Tippett on my forward bench, and that could be disastrous if my other three forward rookies aren’t playing (Jack Darling, Cameron Richardson and Brandon Matera.

Another option I have is to simply play Zachary Smith as my second ruckman. He’s been scoring really well without Josh Fraser in the team, and if you don’t have the ability to swap Drew Petrie into your rucks, well then I think this is a more than viable option. None of the other ruckman really stand out at the moment. The way I look at it is like this;

If Petrie or Smith average 75 over the next month that Sandilands is out, that will equal 300 points. If you trade in another ruckman that is averaging, for example, 90 (unlikely), that will obviously equal a total of 360 points.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, is one trade worth the 60 point differential?

My decision to play Smith or Petrie as my second ruck will most likely be on a week by week basis, depending on match ups and the strength of my forward bench.

Get some cash – trade him for a rookie (Dan):

I’m going to have a look at downgrading Sandilands to a rookie. Not just any rookie but a DP RUC/FWD rookie. There’s a specific audience this advice could help, and that would be people who have Petrie in their forward line, but no link in their ruck division.

The basis of this theory is only a slight variation of what Kristian is talking about – however, Kristian is dealing with coaches that already have that DP link. It’s a bit safer to hold Sandilands and just use that DP link to get you through the next month without the big fella.

If you’re trading Sandilands out, naturally you want to find strength in who your second ruck will be (this advice assumes you have another ‘gun’ ruck, likely Cox). Drew Petrie has the fourth highest DT average for any ruck in the league this year behind Cox, Sandi and Goldstein. Sandi to Goldstein will only make you minimal cash, and compared to Petrie only minimal points.

In SC Petrie is a bit further down the list in 9th, but Sandi, Mumford, Jamar, Ottens and McEvoy are all not playing this weekend, so that bumps him up to 4th active ruck behind Cox, Goldstein and Minson. The similar philosophy applies – you can make a lot of cash by going Sandi to J.Tippett or Lobbe, to basically make Drew Petrie your second ruck.

This cash gives you plenty of flexibility to upgrade in other positions. If it leaves you worried about your forward depth, you can simply upgrade some deadwood (Tapscott, Dixon) to a premium. If you want to be ultra crazy, you could actually then trade J.Tip/Lobbe out for a premium if you’re that set on locking Petrie in as your second ruck for the year. Personally I’d rather keep a DP link for coverage, but if you don’t value the link going forward it’s a thought that could cross your mind, because even though I could see Lobbe possibly getting some games this year he will add very little in points and cash flow for your team.

The advantage of this strategy is that you get to move one of the top ruckmen in the league from your forwards into your rucks and it gives you a bundle of cash to play with. The disadvantage is that planning to get Sandilands back will be a monumental task, so you need to plan for life without him, because even if you plan to get him back you know what they say about the best laid plans when it comes to fantasy footy!

 
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So after what was (without looking up any official stats) one of the highest scoring weeks of Dream Team, how did your team go?? Who were your heros and who were your villains?? And what was your final score (SuperCoach and Dream Team)??

Hey all, we thought we’d push the friendship a little and ask a few little questions… if you don’t mind!? It would be much appreciated if you were able to complete the below! (Feel free to ask questions back – it’s only fair! ;-) )

Note: None of the results etc are able to be linked to any names, emails or profiles!