Footy Tragic

Welcome to Round 2 of the Weekly Wrap-Up. This week has been much less eventful than week 1, yet as always, has brought a few surprise wins for teams such as Sydney and West Coast. This week has also proven that Carlton are the real deal, and that Sydney still will suck all of the Dream Team points out of their opposition. There were a few injuries to key players, though none as much a problem to coaches as Raines. Another breaking story in the media is that of Nathan Bock, and his assault charges from Saturday night – obviously we are unable to guess what this means, but it could be a club suspension, or even more. So we will need to watch this story closely as it unfolds! 

Friday:

St Kilda vs. Adelaide:

A tackle equals four points, and the Saints racked up 352 points worth of tackles (that’s 88!) in this match – a new club record. This shows the force and pressure at which the Saints will be playing with throughout 2009. So players such as Luke Ball, Lenny Hayes and Nick DalSanto are going to be gems running through your midfield as they mass up the tackle count each and every week. This tactic also has a downside for fantasy coaches, however. If the Saints are able to keep this up consistently, we should expect to see their opposition gain very lowly numbers. Adelaide had no player score over 100! The Saints restricted Adelaide to a kick to handball ratio of 178:225 – the lowest ever ratio in the history of AFL. This does not bode well for fantasy scores, because as we all know, a kick is 3 points and a handball only 2. This means that if you have players in your team playing St Kilda, it would not be too wise to make them your Captain. Also, avoid playing kids against the Saints, as it can be such a high paced, pressure game, they may struggle to get into the contest.

Get on: Nick DalSanto – he is not the same player as 2008 – he has added many new dimensions to his game, including the ability to work hard to break a tag and to get the hard ball. Whilst he may be a little inconsistent, he looks like there should be less low scores than in previous years.

Get off: Jarryn Geary – I am big wraps for this kid, and his scores impress, HOWEVER, for all those tempted by a sideways trade from Raines, remember that the Saints have Hudghton, X Clarke, R Clarke, Armitage and Maguire to come back into the side over the next few weeks. He will unfortunately be most likely shunted when one of these return.

Injury: Trent Hentschel – Whilst Adelaide reckon he may be back next week, this is the same injury that has plagued him for a while. He is totally luckless!  

Saturday:

Geelong vs. Richmond:

The question to ask about this game is whether Richmond have improved in strides from last week, or whether Geelong just turn off when they don’t feel challenged. Whilst I personally feel it could be the latter, Richmond did look like a better unit this week. It was good to have the likes of Nathan Brown and Deledio back in DT good books. However, Captain Ablett didn’t score as much as one would have hoped! The big negative to come out of this game was of course, the injury to Ottens, sidelining him for at least a month.

Get on: Alex Rance – Stevie J also deserves this, but Rance being a first gamer with a score of 73, definitely makes me happy! We were plugging him on Footy Tragic all week, so was good to see it pay off! Hopefully it will continue, as he is a perfect down-trade from Raines!

Get off: Jake King – if you’ve got him, you shouldn’t. Whilst he was good for half of last year, he is clearly out of favour and was used as a non-attacking tagger on the weekend. Too expensive for what he offers.

Injury: Brad Ottens – Suffered a medial ligament injury early in the match. They are saying four weeks, but could be longer due to loss of fitness during recovery. Cats should cope, but your Dream Team won’t as they’ll play extra cautious with him! 

Collingwood vs. Melbourne:

Melbourne was impressive for the first half of the match before Collingwood ran away with the win. It was good to see Aaron Davey produce some heavy numbers – he’s one to keep an eye on. We got to see Cheney for a second week in a row, and he produced a figure much more likely for the future! For Collingwood, the debut of Dayne Beams was exciting – they shouldn’t drop him after that performance – I only wish I hadn’t had him on my bench! Also Swan and Didak showed they were still worth the money, and Jake Spencer allowed another opposition ruckman to score in excess of 130!

Get on: Alan Didak – he uses his feet for everything and is dangerous around goals! Worth every cent!

Get off: Leigh Brown – If you are one of the 2,311 people that have him in your team, make sure you exit the competition before the end of tomorrow.

Injury: Dale Thomas – will have scared a lot of coaches when he didn’t get out of bed in the morning. Only the flu, so should be back next week. 

Carlton vs. Brisbane:

This game looked to be exciting for Dream Team points, and didn’t let us down. Carlton produced numbers much more likely for the future, and Brisbane caught back up after a delayed start. The highlights for the match were the form of two early draft picks – Daniel Rich and Bryce Gibbs. Both got heaps of their own ball, with Gibbs taking the final honours. No love lost of Rich though as his score of 91 was more than pleasing!

Get on: Bryce Gibbs – I hummed and harred over him all pre-season and now am kicking myself I didn’t take the risk. He killed it on Saturday, and should continue on for the season. If you want him, get him this week before his price skyrockets.

Get off: Chris Johnson – all this hype for not a lot of scoring. He is still young, so should flourish soon, but it doesn’t seem to be happening too fast. His price will shoot down this week.

Injury: Troy Selwood and Michael Jamison – both low scoring players so shouldn’t hold back too many Dream Teamers! Phew! 

Sydney vs. Hawthorn:

With about three fit players left, the reigning premiers lost to a very good Sydney outfit, let by Adam Goodes and Darren Jolly. Firstly, do not be fooled by Jolly’s score – he practically had no opposition all night, so this is not something to expect on a regular basis. This game has given some very high class players very low scores, making them very tempting in a couple of weeks when their prices drop. It was good to see Hodge being the second highest scoring Hawks player on the ground, however, he unfortunately only scored 80 points. Stay with him folks!

Get on: Adam Goodes – has been looking very good this year – he has been strong around the ground, and good at pushing forward, kicking four goals this week.

Get off: Ryan O’Keefe – he’s a gun… but what’s happened to him? Look for him to be the biggest price drop this week!

Injury: Brad Sewell and Robert Campbell were late withdrawals, but both should be back this week. 

Sunday:

Essendon vs. Fremantle:

The biggest story from this game was the amazing debut of David Zaharakis, playing his way to a handy 107 points. He could be a very good down-trade target for anyone with an average mid-price midfielder that they want to offload, or ever Liam Anthony. To make him even more exciting, we have another week to look at him before his price rises! Hayden Skipworth’s lack of TOG is a bit of a worry, but surely they won’t drop him!? David Hille also looks like his price will drop over the next couple of weeks, for those looking for a ruck upgrade from someone like Ottens.

Get on: Jason Winderlich – Essendon were always going to give him a lot of responsibility once he was injury free – at just over $300,000, and coming off two great games in a row, he’s a steal!

Get off: Stephen Hill – I think Freo are only playing him to satisfy the fans. He is last to every contest and can’t find the pill. Make yourself $60,000 and trade him for Rance, Petrenko or Cheney. Unlike these three, his price ain’t going up!

Injury: Fortunately, there were no injuries to report from this match! 

Western Bulldogs vs. North Melbourne:

A good game, slugged out on the wet grounds of the MCG, it was always going to suit the smaller players, as wet contests do. The Dogs are looking like great Dream Teamers this year, so don’t hesitate picking them! Also worth noting is Brian Lake’s score – this is because of an absolutely ridiculous amount of kick-to-kick work in the back half – it is certainly an aberration! Leigh Harding is now very tempting… everyone scoffed last week, claiming a one off, but it seems that his move to the midfield may be permanent, and therefore increasing the amount of temptation we go through to put him in our teams.

Get on: Ryan Griffen – he is great to watch, and has really stepped up this year. He won’t have too many 30+ possession games, but should regularly score you around 100.

Get off: Brent Harvey – not performing anywhere near as well as years gone past – unless he pulls one out of the hat this week, you could be losing yourself quite a bit of money!

Injury: Adam Cooney – whilst not injured, he looks hampered. Should be eased through training this week, as he is still pushing to get back to full fitness. 

West Coast vs. Port Adelaide:

The second biggest upset of the week to Sydney, West Coast pulled off a win without the need of too many DT points (not very good!). Four of the top 5 WCE performers were popular selections, which is good to see. Same was the case for port, with the Cornes boys leading the way! Not a lot else to take from the match, as this one seemed to play out with the result being the only real surprise.

Get on: Chad Cornes – if you don’t have him, you’re a fool… he is just warming up!

Get off: Ben Mckinley – doing nothing like last year – unsure how he will go next to the likes of LeCras, who looks like a very interesting prospect.

Injury: Justin Westhoff – Broken bone in ankle – not an injury to be rushed back from unfortunately. Trade.

Expert: Dan
Team: Hank Scorpio EDT
Round 2 Score: 1,857
Overall Ranking: 16,935
Trades Remaining: 20
Remaining Salary Cap: $8,900

Expert: Toby
Team: Fiora’s Hardnuts
Round 2 Score: 1,971
Overall Ranking: 4,047
Trades Remaining: 18
Remaining Salary Cap: $68,400
Team Changes:
In: Sam Gilbert, Daniel Rich
Out: Sam Butler, Andrew Raines

Expert: Ben
Team: The Redbacks
Round 2: 2,059
Overall Ranking: 490
Trades Remaining: 20
Remaining Salary Cap: $9,800

Catch last night’s video discussion here:

I’m going to try and make these Player of the Week articles as relevant as possible, so I’ll cover a fairly universal dilemma this week – what to do with Andrew Raines? The guy that I’m going to put under the spotlight is Melbourne youngster Ricky Petterd.

He’s similarly priced to Raines and has a good DT game. When he burst onto the scene in early 2007 picking up plenty of touches across the half back line and backing into a contest with a rampaging Barry Hall leading out, I took notice. This kid has balls. Unfortunately his 2007 season ended prematurely when he punctured his lung and was frightfully close to losing his life! Up to that game he was averaging a slick 70.25 – his season average dropped to 62.5 because the injury happened early in the game, so he’d only scored four points.

He couldn’t get on the park in 2008, oddly playing only in Round 1 and Round 22, battling the dreaded OP for much of the year. He’s obviously got a bit of an injury history, but around this sort of price range you’re unlikely to find as natural a Dream Teamer as him. While it is a worry, you don’t move high into the rankings by not taking any risks. From all reports his pre-season was great. He suffered a heavy knock out at Cranbourne against the Bulldogs, which a couple of us Footy Tragics witnessed, but he pulled up fine from it.

He’s generally played across the half back line in his dozen games for the Dees, which can be a bit of a DT heaven, especially since the ball is down their end of the ground a lot. However, Petterd played in a new role in Round 1 against the Roos across the half forward line. His game as a defender is encouraging enough, but I quite liked his role and what it could do for his scoring capability.

With a pretty bare cupboard as far as forwards go down at Melbourne, they were looking to play through the mid sized Petterd quite a bit. He was presenting well and took a team high nine marks. Even when playing back, Petterd has produced pretty good numbers in the marks column so far in his short career. 3 points + his next stat. I like the sound of that. He kicked a couple of goals and ended up with a 93. Certainly not a score I’d be turning my nose at for a $200K defender.

He’s now showed pretty good signs at both ends of the ground, so if things don’t pan out too well up forward, Dean Bailey could always swing him back again where he has also looked promising so far.

Of the options around that price range, he’s the one most likely to keep up some sort of respectable average – I don’t think it’s too much to suggest he could be a 70 average this year. That would make you about $100K, which would go a long way to later trade him in for a keeper.

For what it’s worth, if you have solid enough cover on the bench, it might pay to hold off on your Raines trade until next week, since there will be no price increases this week. If you have a Petrenko, Rance or Cheney already on your bench their score should give you enough to get by, as you get a free look at Petterd’s role again this week. It’s something to consider anyway, but as the week has gone on, personally I’m more and more keen to make the trade, especially with Spangher also out of my back line. Now all I’ve got to do is find an extra $4,900 to get him. Anyone want to give me a loan?!

Apologies everyone for the poor sound quality of our broadcast. It’s something that we’ll try to improve for next week’s show. For now, blast your speakers and try to ignore the hum! Cheers

View Pingi’s Peppers’ Team
Round 1 Score: 1,618
Current Overall Ranking: 82,514
Remaining Salary Cap: $26,800

Thank you for submitting your team Pingi’s Peppers.

I’ll start off proceedings with an apology, because your team can only be described as mediocre. Nevertheless, you have made the first step towards firing up the dreamteam rankings by submitting your side to the team here at footytragic.com.

At first glance, your team needs a complete overhaul. However, given that we are limited to 20 trades from now until season’s end & 2 this week, we are somewhat limited.

I will be focussing my attention towards your backline, which I would call pedestrian at best. By selecting Daniel Merrett, Shannon Hurn, Dale Morris, Will Thursfield, Leigh Fisher & Matt Maguire, you have committed the cardinal dreamteam sin (the each way bet)! Choosing 6 players priced between $145,300 – $250,500 is definitely not the yellow brick road to dreamteam success. Unfortunately, the each way bets you have taken are almost certain to result in losses.

When choosing defenders, they must fit into one of the following 3 categories:

1 – Gun e.g. Luke Hodge, Andrew Mackie, Sam Fisher, Brendon Goddard, Chad Cornes etc.

2 – Underpriced good ordinary players e.g. Ryan Houlihan, Lindsay Gilbee etc.

3 – Fresh young talent priced below $100,000 e.g. Jared Petrenko, Kyle Cheney, Nick Suban etc.

Shannon Hurn could potentially slot into category 2. However, the other 5 players I have mentioned above are to put it bluntly, very poor choices.

Ultimately, you need all 30 players in your dreamteam squad to rise in value to be successful. I cannot see any of these 6 players rising significantly in value, apart from maybe Hurn.

That’s enough of the negatives, time to focus on the positives. With the Private Leagues not starting until Round 4, we have 3 weeks to plug some holes in your defence. In addition, you have $26,800 available in the kitty.

Proposed action this week:

• OUT: Dale Morris $250,500 & Leigh Fisher $162,700;
• IN: Ryan Houlihan $244,900 & Kyle Cheney $86,600.

This will leave you with $108,500 in the bank prior to Round 3. This leaves you in a strong position to swoop next week before player prices change.

Although I prefer to save my trades until later in the season, you must act now. There is no point saving your trades for the finals of your Private League if you finish the home & away season in 14^th place.

Good luck.

Be sure to check out yesterday’s Weekend Wrap-Up.