Footy Tragic

St.Kilda vs Richmond:

St.Kilda:

• Nick DalSanto was clearly one of the better Saints, and probably their best midfielder. He is the in-form Saint midfielder at the moment, and extra pressure will be mounted on him now that Lenny is gone.
• David Armitage seemed to really step up this game – there is little doubt that he can play at AFL level – the question is how good he can get. With Lenny injured, he is the only true inside-mid on the Saints’ list. Will this help or hinder him?
• Lenny Hayes – I’ve already mentioned him twice… As you are surely aware, the great man went down with an ACL injury, which will put him out for the year. I am gonna miss this man in 2011!
• Daniel Archer was serviceable in his first AFL game, but I don’t think he will be playing again next week as Kosi will likely be back.

Richmond:

• Brett Deledio warmed many hearts as he played a BOG game to the tune of 103 DT points. He played an awesome game on Goddard, not only stemming his influence, but racking up plenty of ball himself. With Connors starting this week on the field (rather than as a sub), it meant Lids was able to play the whole game as a midfielder.
• Shaun Grigg played what was probably one of the best games of his career. He played through the middle and won plenty of ball – he is great in-and-under and also works hard outside packs. He could actually be a very good sneaky selection if he can keep this form up!
• Nathan Foley was again pretty quiet and still looks to be recovering from whatever disease it was he had last week. He was better as the game went on, but I’m sure plenty of coaches will be getting pretty sick of him. I reckon he will come good over the next couple of weeks, although if you keep him you will likely cop a bit of a hit to his price.
• Jack Riewoldt was subbed off before even touching the ball, and yes, that zero gets counted, with no sub coming in! He should be back next week if the coach forgives him for the abuse he gave him for being subbed.

North Melbourne vs Collingwood:

North Melbourne:

• Brent Harvey was pretty good – he pretty much carried the whole team at points of the game, which is exactly what he said in an interview after the game, stating that young players such as Wright and Hansen need to lift, or else he will be going to the coach asking them to be dropped! Ouch!
• Todd Goldstein is an impressive ruckman, and one who can drop forward with great effect too. You probably wouldn’t consider him with the other clear ruck standouts this year, but is certainly worth watching for future years.
• Liam Anthony would have frustrated many when he started as a sub, but the fact he still managed 64 DT points in under a half game of football was pretty impressive.
• Robbie Tarrant played much more of a shut-down role in this game, meaning we didn’t see the huge stats like last week. Expect more scores like this week than last week this year.

Collingwood:

• Dane Swan is the epitome of what is good about this new sub rule – with more time on ground he is consistently racking up bigger numbers than we have ever seen before! 40 possessions, six tackles and a goal is about all I really need to say about his game!
• Scott Pendlebury fell short of the magical 40-disposals by only one, but it didn’t stop him from being best on ground. He dominated through the middle, and what is more important is how well he used the ball. Should be a clear favourite for the Brownlow this year at the rate he’s going!
• Darren Jolly was woeful – on a day where Collingwood dominated all over the ground, he just simply couldn’t get near it! More than half his points came from hitouts, further exemplifying the lack of work he did around the ground.
• Andrew Krakouer would have disappointed many when he was named the Collingwood sub. However, this is at least one of the good things about having a player that EVERYONE else has – anything he does doesn’t really matter anyway…

Port Adelaide vs West Coast:

Port Adelaide:

• Robbie Gray was one of the few Port players threatening to steal the win from the Eagles with his classy work around goals. He finished with four goals, but it clearly wasn’t enough.
• Jason Davenport – why oh why is this guy the sub and not getting regular games? He is an absolute livewire, and whilst he may not have the greatest disposal, he is a hard worker and always creates a good contest up forward. Only played half the game to score his 55 points.
• Domenic Cassisi unfortunately injured his leg and will miss the next six weeks of the season. Trade-worthy I think.
• Matthew Broadbent played one of his first games where he looked like a solid dream-teamer, although the fact his opponent was let totally off the leash and dominated, put a bit of a blight on his game.

West Coast:

• Andrew Embley was given free reign through the midfield by Port and he did exactly as he liked. Although he has a tendency to turn it over a bit, this was a terrible move as he ended on 32 possessions, 11 marks and four goals. Best on ground by a country mile!
• Dean Cox backed up his dominant round one with another great showing – this time with Naitanui playing to give him the chop-out he badly needed last week. He smashed Brogan both in the ruck and around the ground.
• Luke Shuey was fantastic again – in a team widely known for this poor disposal efficiency, Shuey is the opposite, and they therefore continually try to get it into his hands. He is very creative and certainly manages to find quite a bit of the ball – looks capable of being an elite DTer one day soon.
• Quinten Lynch – why do they keep playing this guy? With both Cox and Naitanui in the team, he offers exactly nothing. They would be much better playing a kid with a bit of speed or skill.

Gold Coast vs Carlton:

• Michael Rischitelli was easily the most consistent player for the Suns (maybe because he is used to playing for a rabble?), and whilst he never dominated, he was clean and effective and won his fair share of clearances.
• Gary Ablett was really interesting to watch. You could see him often doing his whole ‘give it to me’ thing, but then realising he was captain and instead attempting some ‘selfless’ footy, which just didn’t work for him. Judging from this game, he should have a reasonable year, but their weren’t many GC disposals to be sharing, so there will likely be plenty of sub-100 scores to start the year.
• Zac Smith was fantastic! For a guy who has become somewhat of an enigma due to his disappearing act in the pre-season, he has so far looked capable enough of being the second ruck in some teams without any worry.
• Charlie Dixon was the other star of the show – he was mega impressive in the pre-season and again looked good here. He will go down in history as the first goal-kicked for the Suns and already looks a promising size up forward. Whilst big numbers shouldn’t be expected in his debut year, the Suns certainly have some talent on their hands with this kid!

Carlton:

• Chris Yarran – I owe it to him to make some comments about his game this week, after the defaming I gave him last week. He played like someone who had been given a few good talkings to by the coach and worked really hard to put himself in the right positions and use the ball well. And whilst scores against Gold Coast should be taken with a grain of salt, this game was certainly a step in the right direction!
• Bryce Gibbs had another great game, punishing the 14 coaches that don’t have him. He spent most of his game through the middle, but was often playing behind the ball, giving him stacks of marks and kicks as he started the Blues’ rebounds out of defence. Expect a similar role through the year, similar to those of Goddard and Hodge.
• Bret Thornton again played his role up forward and it was an effective one. However, I am going to stick with my pre-season feel on this one and say that he WON’T be a consistent scorer this year – he has been played these last two weeks to stretch weak defences, but against stronger teams I don’t think he is talented enough to pull in the big scores.
• Kade Simpson was probably one of the real disappointments – it’s always frustrating when a team has a day out and one of their stars just doesn’t get into it. It wasn’t anything to be panicked over though – just disappointed.

Fremantle vs Geelong:

Fremantle:

• David Mundy was epic in the middle with 29 touches and 12 marks. He is an incredible user of the footy, but has always had a big issue with taggers, so it was a positive to see him work through the attention he got from Ling. Whilst probably more a SC option that a DT one, there is no denying he is an absolute jet!
• Matthew Pavlich was better than last week, spending most of his time in the midfield. I have never been a huge fan of him in this role, although he does manage to rack up occasional big scores. Here he only managed 95 points from 28 disposals, which is pretty poor.
• Greg Broughton has so far been playing a pretty defensive game this season, which would certainly be hurting his owners. He played quite deep this game on Johnson, which hurt him, yet he still managed 21 possies. Worth keeping though I think.
• Paul Duffield is another whose scoring will be giving people grief. I certainly think you should keep Duffy if you have him – the dockers want the ball in his hand and it was evident in this game they were trying to get him in the good ball-winning spots, so you at least know they want him to have the ball! The trick is just opposition attention as what happened here.

Geelong:

• Corey Enright backed up his round one score, meaning he will likely be a pretty common trade target this week with plenty of coaches wanting to offload one of the plenty underwhelming backman options. Nothing much has changed about Enright’s role over the time, so all I can really say is that he’s doing it well!
• Stevie Johnson was very good early in the game before fading through the third quarter. We haven’t yet seen all the promised midfield and half-back time that was on show through the pre-season, but it is at least good to see him pulling in a reasonable average so far this year.
• Paul Chapman was very good in his first game of the year despite his limited pre-season. Personally I was hoping for an average start to the year so I could pounce on a cheap Chappy in a few weeks, but unfortunately that doesn’t look like happening!
• James Podsiadly was extremely quiet in his first game back, with only two touches. One would hope that he can get a bit better, otherwise he will be back where he started, in the VFL.

Western Bulldogs vs Brisbane:

Western Bulldogs:

• Ryan Griffen was fantastic for the Dogs, showing off plenty of cool tricks and using the ball very well. He looked uncatchable at some points as he weaved through packs and into the forward-50. He has a habit of inconsistency, so it will be interesting to see how he backs it up next week.
• Tom Liberatore was great again, competing hard inside the packs like an old pro and working hard off Daniel Rich as he stood back and watched. I think he has well-and-truly stuck himself inside that Doggies lineup and won’t be leaving for some time now. If he doesn’t get the rising star nod this week, something is clearly wrong!
• Matty Boyd played his typical hard at it game, with several brilliant clearances and inside-50s thrown in for good measure. Great to see him bounce back after a slow start to the year in round one – now I’m looking forward to seeing him against the Suns next week!
• Barry Hall was subbed off at the start of the third quarter, which Rodney Eade said put Barry on the ‘angry pills.’ I guess that at the age he is, Hall will be rested as much as possible when the result has already been decided. Personally I wouldn’t even be slightly tempted by him this year.

Brisbane:

• Jed Adcock was clearly the Lions’ best player, working really hard to provide an attacking option off half-back and continually took on the game. If he plays this role for the next 22 rounds, he will be a really good pick-up, and a great moneymaker at his current price! The hope is that he can just keep on the park firstly!
• Daniel Rich won a fair amount of ball and used it well, but I was not overly impressed with his game – he NEVER puts his head over the ball, or even goes near a pack. Time and time again he waited outside of packs for the handball-receive, even when it was clearly his turn to go and get it. He will never be a great player if he can’t add this string to his bow.
• Jesse O’Brien was very impressive for a youngster. He played mainly through the midfield and made plenty of good decisions and continually put himself in the right spots to win the ball. Could be a good one to keep an eye on.
• Mitch Clark NEEDS to move to the ruck – he is horrible up forward – he keeps getting lost, run down and out-marked. Whilst some of it has to do with poor delivery into the forward-50, a lot of it is to do with him too. It’s a shame he is stuck here as we know how good he can be when thrown into the ruck.

Sydney vs Essendon:

Sydney:

• Jude Bolton played up forward on a flank again and was fantastic, nearly cracking the double-ton in supercoach (finished on 198). He racked up 25 touches, but his great ball-winning and pressuring skills really help keep the ball in their forward-line.
• Adam Goodes had another good game as a high half-forward. Clearly his fitness is OK as he ventured far up the ground again today to win a lot of his ball. Fortunately he stayed in the contest for all four quarters too, after drifting out of the game last week.
• Ryan O’Keefe has started the year very well with two scores over 100. His pre-season was uneventful and his second half to 2010 turned a lot of coaches off him. However, he is a proven scorer and is playing well so far this year – perhaps he is a good pick after all!
• Andrejs Everitt played his second game in a row as a defensive defender, virtually putting a line through his name for Dream Team this year. If you have him, I think it’s time to count your losses, before they start becoming bigger!

Essendon:

• Paddy Ryder mainly played forward, despite Hille being a late withdrawal before the game. The bonus with Ryder is that he manages to compete and score well in every position, hence making him a very trustworthy and secure selection.
• Dyson Heppell played a lot more time through the midfield this week, which was great to see. He is fitting into the Essendon unit really nicely, so I can’t imagine him coming out of the squad any time soon. He should continue to get better each week too.
• Jobe Watson was tagged this week but still was one of Essendon’s best in the middle. However, it did put fuel to the theory that if you quell Watson, you quell the Bombers. That said, watch him dominate against a Hayes-less Saints next week.
• David Zaharakis was a lot quieter this week after a big start to the year in round one. It does suggest he will be very up and down this year and may be a better option in 2012. No disputing he can play though.

Hawthorn vs Melbourne:

Hawthorn:

• Matt Suckling went BANG in the second half with a hugely impressive game on the HFF. He was part of just about every forward entry for the Hawks and racked up an impressive 32 disposals and 11 marks. It will be very interesting to see whether he can back this up as at his price he could prove a very tempting option!
• Liam Shiels was another young Hawk to impress in their second-half resurgence. For a player as skinny as himself, he is very impressive inside packs and certainly manages to hold his own quite well. The Hawks have known for a while that they have a player on their hands in Shiels, so hopefully we can see him flourish in 2011.
• Cyril Rioli played purely through the midfield and was great. He has so many tricks and so much skill that he is a joy to watch, and now with great ball-winning ability too, he is a joy to have in your dream team. Unfortunately though, he is likely to miss at least a couple of weeks thanks to a punch he put on Nathan Jones.
• Buddy Franklin didn’t look like cracking 20 DT points after his efforts in the first half, giving away a stack of frees and crashing packs rather than marking. Fortunately, his second half was much better as he won a bit more ball and kicked a couple of important goals. Many coaches will be hoping he can start to improve soon! What week does he play the Gold Coast?

Melbourne:

• Colin Sylvia was very good for the Demons, especially in the first half. Wins plenty of hard ball and uses it pretty well. He hasn’t yet been suspended or injured this year either so (touch wood), hopefully it can stay like that!
• Luke Tapscott was again impressive, playing in defence. His booming kick is a highlight and he is certainly sure about himself and his ability. There currently seems no way he will be cut from the team and seems capable of consistently pulling in high scores.
• Jack Grimes was consistent again in defence – his disposal wasn’t so prominent today as he more just threw it on his boot every now and then, but it is good to see how much of a pillar he has become in that defence – rarely loses one-on-one battles and regularly uses the ball well when coming out.

Well… Week two is nearly over, so it’s time to discuss your grievances of the weekend so far…

Did Andrew Krakouer hurt you, did you choose Goddard captain over Swan, or did you trade out Yarran last week??

Please use the below space to let loose, say your bit and get all that anger off your chest – PLEASE refrain from bad language and anything generally considered ‘offensive,’ as your post will be deleted.

Enjoy!

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FOOTY TRAGIC GROUP RANKINGS:

First off, a big congrats to those leading the way on our Footy Tragic DT group. As it stands at the end of round one, the leaders are:

1. Pistol Knight – 2,235
2. Bankstown Fugleys – 2,222
3. Selwood United – 2,219
4. noStars IV – 2,217
5. BBB – 2,215

Well, with one round down and out of the way, I thought this could be a good time to look back on the team I created myself for 2011. One week ago I was pretty happy with it – my structures were good, I liked all my rookies and I had a few good DP links. I was also pretty confident I had selected the right premiums.  Unfortunately though, come the weekend I couldn’t have been more angry with my team. Was it something about Matthew Boyd’s captaincy? His first week as Bulldog’s captain mirrored his first week as my Dream Team captain – unfortunately both of his teams got pummelled on the weekend, despite their pre-season hype. Now, like the Doggies will have done, I am forced to pick myself up and try again next week. Some players copped a hiding from me post-match – Yarran was hopeless, my forward line only kicked a few goals between them, one of my star midfielders went off with concussion in the first quarter and the old guy I recruited from another club played an awful game in the backline.

Well, bitch over, I reckon I can bounce back – although after starting the year so poorly, I am already reconsidering my goals for the season – perhaps top-1000 and a league win will satisfy me… although ideally I still want to be finishing higher than that…

So my team is…

FIORA’S HARDNUTS:

Backs: Brendon Goddard, Bryce Gibbs, Cameron Bruce, Brett Deledio, Andy Otten, Nick Duigan, Nick Lower (Dyson Heppell, Danny Stanley, Josh Toy)

Midfielders: Dane Swan, Matthew Boyd, Leigh Montagna, Joel Selwood, Andrew Krakouer, Rohan Bewick (Daniel Harris, David Swallow, Michael Hibberd)

Rucks: Aaron Sandilands, Dean Cox (Zac Smith, Brad Moran)

Forwards: Lance Franklin, Steve Johnson, Nick Riewoldt, Shaun Higgins, Chris Yarran, Chris Knights, Cameron Richardson (Dion Prestia, Brandon Matera, Jack Darling)

Cash Remaining: $51,600

Years in the past, I have often liked securing myself several mid-priced players ($200 – $300k) across each position – I often feel these are the players who have the most improvement in them, and they can be a nice mix alongside rookies and premiums. 2011 though has been a funny one – there have been very few mid-pricers I have really liked. Up forward, Yarran and Knights were the only couple that consistently impressed me in the pre-season, so they are the only two players in this price-bracket in my team (and hopefully Yarran can justify his selection this week). I looked hard at Nic Suban, Andrejs Everitt, Jed Adcock, Gavin Urquhart, Brodie Martin, Nathan Foley (if this was a SC I would have him…) and Rory Sloane, amongst others. But none of these really impressed enough to justify a spot. The fact there were no standouts here, along with the fact Gold Coast brings some mid-priced talent on a rookie budget really helped make decisions for me.

The lack of mid-priced talent and the depth of rookies certainly helped me purchase more premiums – I have 14 premiums in my side (counting Higgins as a premium), which is more than I ever had in the past. Some may say a loading on premiums is very safe, but I think it is also risky if you don’t get it right – the wrong premium choice can sometimes cost you at least 20 points a game – plus a trade if you want to rectify it later. This is why I have gone with some very safe premiums – I know what I will get from Swan, Boyd, Montagna, Selwood, Goddard, Gibbs, Sandilands, Riewoldt and to a lesser extent Cox, Franklin, Johnson, Higgins and Bruce (who hasn’t really proven to be too consistent or reliable so far).

I have selected four premiums in each position (except ruck of course) – in the forward line I then have two mid-pricers and a rookie on the field, two rookies in the midfield and two rookies plus Otten in defence. Up until a week ago I had been counting Otten as part of my rookie quota – but things became a lot easier when I put him down in my structure as a mid-priced player. The backline also has the strongest rookies I believe, which has allowed me to spend a bit less cash back there. Also, there were no other premiums I felt I HAD to have – Broughton would have been nice, but he wasn’t worth it at the exception of say a fourth midfield premium (Selwood vs Broughton wasn’t too hard a decision in the end). Also, I believe defence is a great position to watch players form before buying – in other words, the premiums in the backline always seems to change from year-to-year (except Goddard), so by keeping my options open and not overloading in my starting lineup, I can just trade in the best options around the middle of the year – who knows, it may be someone totally unexpected! Ideally I would have loved an Urquhart, Adcock or Everitt to blow me away in the pre-season, but none of them did (Everitt could still be a chance to go big this year, but I wasn’t unhappy with my decision after his game on Sunday).

Rookie-wise, I have loaded up pretty heavily on Gold Coast – the fact they share no byes means they are pretty easy to cover – I easily managed to cover them in round one and I would be pretty confident of doing the same in round nine. I haven’t gone out on too much of a limb again with my Gold Coast choices – Harris, Smith and Matera are in almost all teams, whilst Swallow, Toy, Stanley and Prestia will be in quite a few too. I didn’t like Coad in the end and if I hadn’t already selected Prestia and Matera in the forward line, I would have also like Dixon. My other rookies are pretty safe too – Heppell, Duigan and Darling are in a lot of teams, and rightly so. Hibberd is great for his DPP link with the backline and his game against Collingwood was really good, so I reckon we will see him a bit this year. Him missing this weekend also meant he was traded out of plenty of teams – I kept him and hope it will pay off. Lower and Bewick aren’t in as many teams as they probably should have been. That said, Lower is still in the top-20 most picked players. Overall, I am happy to play it safe in the rookies – I want the big ones, and I think I have them. The real art is choosing the correct player to trade them to when their price ripens!

I have made an effort to make links between my mids and forwards and mids and defenders using DPP players. I have four players in the backline who are DPP to the midfield (Goddard, Gibbs, Deledio and Heppell), Hibberd in the mids can then link to any of these players. Krakouer is then my forward-line link – I then have two forwards with a DPP link to the midfield (Higgins and Prestia). I feel this DPP rule will give a lot of added versatility to my team, especially with the byes this year. It’s hard to plan in advance here as we don’t yet know which rookies will be huge (I might have four defenders rookies pushing large numbers, where there may be none in the mids. Therefore I would cover a defender’s absence with a back rookie, rather than bringing Hibberd across), but I have taken advantage of this rule just in case I need it – in the end, Hibberd is the only player I have specifically selected for this rule – I would have had Krakouer, Prestia and Heppell in my team regardless. Still, I have no issues with Hibberd, as I think he justifies his selection regardless of his DP link (it was a nice selling point though).

Money in the bank is a strange one for me – I have never bothered starting the year with a rule on my bank balance – in fact, this year I hadn’t even planned on having cash in the bank, it just ended up that way. It will likely come in handy (as it always does) when I do my first trades, but I never set out with the goal of having $50k left in my back at round one.

Now, one thing I must admit about my team is that it does lack a little bit of uniqueness. Yes, it probably does. And I almost feel that as a writer on Footy Tragic I should have at least five names of players you have never heard of, but honestly I think sometimes the options can seem so obvious that you want to avoid them. This is my first year going into the season with a midfield that looks like that – typically I try to pick a few underpriced premiums, but so often I am left ruing bad decisions – yes, pick the guy you think is destined for a big year. But at the end of the day, you want to finish with the players who finish at the top of the dream team ladder, not necessarily the ones who improved their 90 average to 95. I mean, if Swan, Montagna, Boyd and Selwood only maintain their average from 2010, then I will be a satisfied man!

So, hopefully this gives you an interesting insight behind the much-deliberated selection of my team. Unfortunately, as it stands, the team has dramatically underperformed, with only four of my players scoring over 100 points on the weekend – not a great sign. Fortunately, I know that most of my squad are capable of much better footy than what they showed on the weekend, so I am confident that I will bounce back this weekend. And from this, take a bit of a DT lesson – even if your team lets you down after the first week, DON’T TRADE! Full Stop! Just don’t do it! Remember why you picked all your guys, remember all the NAB games they did well in and all the PBs they ran on the tan over summer. Stick fat with your players and all your good decisions and hard work should pay off!

Good Luck!

Toby

Captain Dan’s Captains – Round 2

Welcome to Captain Dan’s* Captains! Here is the best advice you can get on your DT or SC, and the best thing is, it’s totally free! More exclamation marks!!!

There’s a growing trend for DT and SC coaches to set and forget with their captains. In laymen’s terms that’s where you earmark one player to be your captain for the year and it would take something drastic for you to reconsider. I think it’s fair to say, the vast majority of DT’ers who went for this strategy would go for the tattooed one with a slight waddle. In SC it’s perhaps a bit more of an open ended equation, because Goddard and Ablett are equally viable for the long haul.

All of that certainly isn’t to say there there’s only three blokes to choose from, because there’s definitely some other blokes who will “rip the lid off of it” (obscure reference, gold star for whoever picks it in the comments).

Dane Swan – Here’s a name that will be on top of this list every week, except when Collingwood has a bye. Even if Dane Swan gets injured I’ll still mention him lots. There’s no need to over analyse Swan, because he’s such a stand out candidate for DT and you wouldn’t be crazy to lock him in as SC captain too. He puts numbers in a lot of columns, especially disposals and the scary thing for Swanny this year is that he’s going to rest forward instead of on the bench this year. Last week he had 112 minutes after averaging 98 minutes last year. Like I said earlier, “scary” that he could get more opportunity to score considering he’s one of the best in the league for points per minute.

Last three vs. North: 110.7 (DT), 114 (SC)

Last three at MCG: 118.7 (DT), 136 (SC)

Brendon Goddard – I must admit, I had pre-conceived notions going into this article that Swan is the man this week, but crap, Goddard has some insane numbers against Richmond! One thing that could cause some concern is that he typically works his way into a season before scoring consistently high, but it’s not hard and fast. Last year he was just a bit up and down early days, moreso in DT. He had three sub 100 scores in the first five rounds. The good news for SC coaches is that he was still producing in that form, not dipping below 100. Even when he produced a 67 in DT he still managed to get a 101 in SC, which is the sort of thing you kind of expect from him. I wouldn’t be too stressed about his slower starts considering he carves Richmond up.

Last three vs. Richmond 135.3 avg. (DT) and 151.0 avg. (SC)

Last three at MCG (H&A stats): 104 avg. (DT) and 113.3 (SC)

Marc Murphy – I suppose we don’t know exactly how Gold Coast will go. I mean, we can guess they won’t go great, but specifically we can only guess about their game style and the ability of their shutdown players. Once again, you would suspect not as refined as other AFL teams, due to their inexperienced list and they’ve only played a handful of practice matches together (and none with the most important cog of their midfield – Ablett will obviously change their dynamics). After watching Murphy with great envy last week, I was so impressed with him and he looked ready to really take his game to the next level.

Last three vs. Gold Coast duhhhhhh…no such data

Last three at Gabba (obviously all vs. Brisbane): 101 (DT) and 126.7 (SC)

Bryce Gibbs – For all of the same reasons I like Murphy, you’d have to give Gibbs the same consideration. He looked fantastic last week and was a better DT option than Swan last week (the ol’ vice captain trick was the only thing I got right). A 147 in DT and 138 in SC is great immediate form obviously. He has been given a lot more freedom running through the midfield and could work his way into a legit regular captain this year. His record at the Gabba isn’t fantastic, but ground stats probably shouldn’t be read into as much as it’s all against the one team (and a different team to this week).

No data vs. Gold Coast

Last three at Gabba (vs. Bris): 93.7 (DT) and 95.7 (SC)

Chris Judd – Ditto the previous two, except you’d more be considering Judd for SC captaincy. He’s always susceptible to a tag, but it’ll be a huge ask for someone like Marc Lock or Maverick Weller to take on a two time Brownlow Medallist in their first AFL game, and I’m not sure who else would tag for them – certainly none of their experienced players, I wouldn’t imagine.

No data vs. Gold Coast

Last three at Gabba (vs. Bris): 82.3 (DT) and 120 (SC)…however, that includes a 35 in DT and 58 in SC back in 2006, which I assume (but can’t remember) was an in game injury. His last two SC scores at the Gabba are 139 and 163.

Gary Ablett – Ablett is just as much an unknown as his Carlton opponents. With a limited pre-season it’s hard to picture him being at his best this week, thought Gold Coast will need him to be. Given that a lot of fantasy coaches will have passed on Ablett because of his pre-season and his two early byes, I won’t go on about him too much, but it would be sacrilege to talk captain options and not mention the bald one.

Last three vs. Carlton: 103.7 (DT) and 119.7 (SC)

Last three at Gabba: 77 (DT) and 100.5 (SC) – these games were in 2005, ’07 and 2010, so it’s a pretty inconsistent sample.

Nick Riewoldt – Rooey had a pretty quiet one last week, but let’s face it, it wasn’t like there were many points going around for kicking goals. It wasn’t really a game for forwards last week. The numbers don’t necessarily stack up that well for him this week, but it’s hard to see who on the Tigers list could shut him down. Also, consider that in his third last game against Richmond (in 2008) he copped an injury just after half time and ended on 55 in DT and 52 in SC to bring those numbers down. If he gets his tail up he could explode, so is worth consideration.

Last three vs. Richmond: 85.7 (DT) and 94.7 (SC)

Last three at MCG (H&A stats): 87.7 (DT) and 94 (SC)

A couple of other names that I threw around in my head, but didn’t elaborate on are Dean Cox, Brent Stanton, Matthew Boyd and Aaron Sandilands.

* NOTE: I am not an actual captain.

Midfield Rookies:

So we’ve had one round to take a sneak peak into how each of our players will go throughout the season and some coaches may take this opportunity, before player prices go up and down in round three, to fix some small errors in judgement they might have made in the pre-season.

Some coaches will look to find a replacement for Andrejs Everitt, who was disappointing on the weekend, or some might want to cash in Foley for Ed Curnow. All these situations play on a Dream Team coaches mind during the week and I hope I can assist you in any way you might need.

I’m guessing a popular trade will be people getting rid of Nathan Foley this week. I certainly won’t be, as he was obviously ill on Thursday night, but I can understand some people that might’ve saw a few rookies on the weekend, and they believe these players can deliver similar output in a much cheaper price range.

I thought it’d be good then to sift through a few of the midfield rookies who played this week and give a quick rundown on how they each went in their first game, their scoring potential, and their job security in the future.

REECE CONCA

I was very impressed with this kid’s composure in his first game. Conca was always a good bet for your bench as Hardwick likes to give the young guys a good run in the seniors, but I think he’s now fully justified his position. Reece played on the dangerous Garlett on Thursday night and more than held his own. He isn’t specifically a shut-down defender though. Conca was involved in quite a lot of defensive rebounds, and wasn’t afraid to use his dash to run through the zones. I predicted he’d average somewhere close to 60-70 points per game, and with his solid 61 on debut, you really can’t get much more safe here, even though you have to fork out a little extra coin.

EDWARD CURNOW

We always knew this bloke could find the footy. My reservations were how he’d come back from a broken leg and if he’d be able to contain a spot in the Blues midfield. He’s ticked one of those boxes, but I still hold fear that he may make way for McLean and Ellard when they are ready to come back. Curnow scored 107 on debut with 24 possessions, 7 tackles a goal. You really can’t ask for much more. His scoring power is easily the best out of his price range but it will be largely insignificant if he gets dropped or even worse, used as a sub. Personally, I would not trade him in this week. Wait one more week, suss out his role again, and then make a decision. His price won’t move until the end of round three.

JARRAD IRONS

I watched the Port Adelaide vs. Collingwood game, and Irons was very shaky early, absolutely shanking a set shot in the second quarter. He then settled in very nicely in the second half and ended up slotting a couple of games and providing some very good forward pressure. He ended up with a very nice score of 71 from only 13 disposals. What I think Irons has got going for him is the fact Hitchcock had a shocker. I don’t think Port can carry both of these guys when Motlop comes back and at this early stage I’d have Irons slightly ahead. Irons’ scoring will be inconsistent with the role he’s playing, but he should be good for a few games early now.

SHANE SAVAGE

Savage isn’t quite a rookie but he’s priced at one. I was actually very impressed with him on Saturday night and thought he was one of the Hawks best in what was a very sombre second half. He cracks into the contest well and has generally good disposal. He will score for you but the worry is that Luke Hodge is back this week and Savage hasn’t quite broken into the best 18 yet, so he’s one of a few players that will have to make way for the Hawks captain.

ANDREW GAFF

OK, now that he got selected, got a good run, found some ball, and played quite well, I can kind of have faith now that Woosha will realise he’s in the Eagles best 22 quite easily. He’ll run all day, and generally use it well, and most importantly will score big. He only netted 53 points, but he really turned it on in the second half and I thought he was a real catalyst for keeping West Coast in the game and in front. Again, like Conca, you’ll have to fork out a bit more, but the extra cash is worth it. Jump on.

TOM LIBERATORE

Boy, he slotted in just nicely into the big league on Sunday. He racked up six touches in about five minutes in the first quarter with a few clearances to boot. Libba is physically ready for AFL, and I honestly thought he was one of the Bulldogs best. I think he’s a good show for a solid run of games now as long as keeps on performing the way he did. He’ll score very well for you, but I’ve just got slight reservations that he may be used as a sub when a few of the Doggies players come back from injury and Sherman is fully fit.

ROHAN BEWICK

Rohan delivered exactly what I expected of him. He’s not the most muscular player going around, but he’s an outside user that will compliment the Lions very well. I thought he looked very comfortable out there and he was one of the more composed Lions players in the dying stages, which should win him a lot of brownie points. Don’t expect the 118 he dished up in the NAB Challenge but Bewick will be a consistent 60 to 70 scorer that will get plenty of game time and opportunity now that Brisbane have so many injuries, again.

If you have any questions about any other players, please feel free to drop a comment down below!