View Neenie21′s Team
Round 10 Score: 1,872
Current Overall Ranking: 12,652
Trades Left: 6
Remaining Salary Cap: $139,900

Dear Neenie 21,

Thank you for submitting your team. Overall you have done a very good job constructing your squad of 30 players. To have 26 of our 30 players score points in Round 10 is an excellent effort. Add Michael Barlow this week and assuming Cameron Hitchcock passes a fitness test on his shoulder you will have 27. In addition, Rob Warnock and Matt Lobbe are showing solid form for the Northern Bullants and West Adelaide respectively, which leaves little Relton Roberts from Richmond the only dead duck in your team.

Melbourne Demons Training Session

I feel your pain with Roberts as I went for the Podsiadly / Roberts combination as my 8th and 9th forwards prior to Round 1. After Round 10, Podsiadly is my number 1 forward based on averages while Relton Roberts is struggling for form and has gone from playing AFL football to VFL reserves for the Coburg Tigers in the space of just seven weeks! Roberts has been clearly my worst selection since John Meesen in 2008. Meesen holds the unenviable record of being the only player I have ever selected who has gone through an entire season without scoring a single point! At least Roberts has played two games, despite the fact they were far from impressive.

Back to your team Neenie and let’s focus on your next 12 rounds. I’m very concerned about your lack of trades remaining. It will be a tough ask trying to avoid a donut over the next 12 rounds with only six trades up your sleeve. Your solid squad of 29 players will help you get through but I suspect your team will be running on fumes by Rounds 20 – 22 unless you go into conservation mode over the next four weeks.

I can see that you have used your 14 trades thus far wisely, but I strongly encourage you to hold fire for the next month. Even if Hitchcock does not get up for this round, avoid the temptation to bring in cover into your forward line.

Another reason for not trading is I cannot see any real stand outs to bring in this week that have played two games. Nathan O’Keefe and Daniel Stewart could turn out to be handy back up options, but I’m far from sold on both of them. The fact that O’Keefe is 193cms and Stewart is 200cms also concerns me because young developing key position players / ruckman take longer to develop than midfielders. Having said that, if anyone out there can think of a compelling reason to bring in one of these two players I’d be happy to hear it.

Good luck!