The changes you have mentioned above are solid, as is your strategy of keeping $50,000 in the bank for your final trade.

Personally, I’d take Hargrave over Enright.

Good luck mate.

Joel Corey, Brent Stanton, Brad Sewell and Marc Murphy are all viable options priced under $392,000. For further information about Joel Corey, check out Dan’s “Player of the Week” article.

Also, I’m thinking Peter Burgoyne is unlikely to make the final 22 this week. I watched their game last week and I’m expecting them to be unchanged. Hartlett, Logan and Salter appear to be locks. Davenport is the only player who may get dropped.

The changes at St. Kilda have thrown a massive spanner in the works for many teams this week.

also, now that i have riewoldt, lovett, montagna and goddard out i dont know whether i should go through with option2.
i was thinking if purgoyne is named in final 22 then i would do the same thing but instead of purgoyne i would upgrade lovett. think that is alright? and what would you do if purgoyne doesnt play?

Geelong throw Mooney in the ruck or Carlton put Brett Thornton forward and they’re masterstrokes, Melbourne put Warnock in the ruck and it’s tanking.

I think i will go with the option of not getting swan because of the points you raised.
i dont like the fact that i will have no trades for the last round of finals, if i make it – i think that is terrible for trying to win finals. (i am trying for overall ranking and finals as im in bigfooty div3 and saints div1 so both are in top 20 leagues and would love to win one of them)
i’ll just pray swan doesn’t do ridiculously like it seems he will and that the gun i pick up instead does well. who would you suggest i get?
i also am unsure who i will get as a defender i just said enright for the meantime but i will definitely look at players like hargrave before lockout.

Surely you mean Robert. I certainly dont like the idea of the Demons playing Matthew in the ruck.

You make a valid point and the two options you suggested are both viable.

I guess it comes back to your priorities. Is your main focus private league glory, or the highest overall ranking you can possibly get?

My recommendation is more suitable if you are aiming for private league glory, because I’m setting your team up for a big week 1. By bringing Swan in for week 1 of the finals, you are sending out a strong message to your opponents that you are the man to beat.

Assuming you win week 1, you could then hold fire the following week by not trading (with a weeks break), then load up your team for week 3 of the finals. You could potentially do another 2 for 1 trade here to get a premium 7th defender, but that would leave you exposed in Round 22 if one of your premiums gets injured. The flipside is that this is the most aggressive approach you could take and promises the highest return if it pays off.

On the other hand, your suggestion about saving approximately $100,000 by bringing in Pendlebury, Hayes, Corey etc. rather than Swan, and spending the extra money on your 7th back is also valid. In my opinion, this is a more conservative approach, but it too has merit. I’m not a fan of Corey Enright though. I think he is an ordinary player who gets carried along for the ride in a very good Geelong side. Ryan Hargrave would be my choice.

At the end of the day, it all comes back to making the right call, at the right time. Without the luxury of a crystal ball, we cannot be 100% sure which call is the right one. Having said that, we can weigh up all the available information and make an informed decision based on the facts. My advice to you is go with your gut instinct and back your own judgement. As the old saying goes:

“There are two things in life you never get back: time & opportunity”.