Footy Tragic

Friday:

Western Bulldogs vs Geelong: 

This was a brilliant match, pitching two of the best teams in the comp up against each other - and it was also a fantastic way to start the Preliminary Final weekend in Dream Team. Some big scores from some popular players got many teams off on a good foot - Joel Selwood was brilliant, and again, Ablett racked up the possessions. Their hard work was fruitless, however, as the Dogs ran over the top to come out victors. Brad Johnson and Adam Cooney were the Dogs best – Johnno has really put the clock back over the past few weeks – he has been in some great form! The only worry is that he will be up against the miserly Pies next Sunday in the all-important Dreamteam Grand Final! Another player who impressed me for the umpteenth time this season was Callan Ward – he is getting better and better each week and looks so composed under pressure. For me, barring injury, he is a lock for 2010.

Get on: Joel Selwood – for those still with one roll of the dice left, Selwood could be a great addition to any midfield – he is in form and only has Fremantle to play next week at Skilled Stadium.

Get off: Paul Chapman - I have been celebrating all year as Chappy has been taking home the cream for me. But once again, at the business end of the season, he has let me down… Not again Chappy!

Injury: Paul Chapman - Didn’t want to break tradition, so injured his hamstring early in the game. Apparently it is only very minor and is a chance to play this week! 

Saturday:

Carlton vs Melbourne: 

Jeffrey Garlett – You Star! I knew there was a reason that I chose the little man at the start of the year, and his 114 points was just the boost my team needed to get over the line! Aside from Garlett, several other Blues had brilliant games – Gibbs was the best of the lot, closely followed by Murphy and Judd… and of course, Fev’s seven goals straight wasn’t too bad either! Carlton are looking in great form, although I worry about how they will fare against Adelaide – whatever you do, do not trade in Fev this week – he comes up against Ben “the Truck” Rutten this week, who generally does a great stopping job on him! For the Dees, they never looked like getting over the line, although a few young stars battled on all day – Sylvia looked good off half back (which allowed Davey to play through the midfield) and Russel Robertson looked dangerous in his second last game. For the kids, I am keeping an eye on Cale Morton – he has shown great scoring potential in the past, but lately has been given less attacking roles. If freed up next year, he could be one of the great smokies of 2010 – keep an eye out!

Get on: Chris Judd - wasn’t his best game, but the good news story for Judd came from Adelaide, where Robert Shirley (who always has the wood over Judd) did his Hammy. This means, if you have Judd, you can sleep easier in the build up to round 22.

Get off: Brock McLean - Why he played as a forward is beyond me! If this is where he plays next week against the Saints, he will get three possessions!

Injury: Richard Hadley is done for the year after breaking his arm. Ricky Petterd was shut down after hurting his groin – probably won’t be risked against the Saints. Also, Matthew Whelan injured his hamstring, drawing an end to his career, due to his retirement earlier in the week. 

Adelaide vs West Coast: 

This game was dominated by Adelaide’s midfield, with Thompson, Goodwin, Vince, Knights and Edwards all dominating on their way to tons. Strangely for a team who kicked 18 goals, many of their key forwards looked out of touch for the majority of the night, with most of them scoring disappointingly low. The revelation of the game was Michael Doughty, whose game off half-back was brilliant – he is a classically underrated player, yet was one of their most important in this game. For the Eagles, it was great to see Tom Swift leading the way with 111 points – he has had a rather ineffective year, but has really grown to the pace of the game in the past month. He was a massive ball-winner as a junior, so it is great to see him able to convert that at a senior level. Adam Selwood was again one of their best – pencil him in as a player to watch pre-season next year – if Woosha decides not to use him as a tagger, jump on!

Get on: Scott Thompson - loves to play Carlton, and if this game was anything to go by, he is in great form. He is a superb DT player, so is unlikely to let you down!

Get off: Matt Spangher – One of the worst smokies of the year – was tipped pre-season to play on the wing, but it never eventuated. Is never going to be much more than a GOP (general ordinary player).

Injury: Robert Shirley - pulled a hamstring, which sounded like music to the ears of Judd owners – his tagging skills won’t be missed by Judd next week. 

Brisbane vs Port Adelaide: 

What initially looked like a blow-out for Port Adelaide instead turned out to be a miraculous win by the Lions. There weren’t any significant stand-outs for either team, as players tended to drift in and out of the contest most of the night. We are talking about two of the most inconsistent performers from 2009! One of the best players for Brissie was Ash McGrath, who has turned his defensive game into a fantastic rebounding one – he has played some great attacking football over the past month or two. Highly consider him for 2010 if this role continues, which it should! Equally impressing was first-year Lion, Jack Redden, and it isn’t hard to tell why Vossy loves him so much – he is rough and tough and loves to get under packs. He is a quality footballer – though he is playing so well that he will be way too overpriced in 2010. From Port, Boak was again a highlight – he is a young star and will be their midfield general in the next year or two! Write him on your 2010 list in pen (and maybe even highlight it!) – he will be a star – only needs to stay on the park a bit longer!

Get on: Travis Boak – Port play North next week and Boak has a good enough balance between inside and outside football to match up on them well. Could be a good point of difference.

Get off: Matt Thomas - I have always hoped he will be a great DTer, because he is a great player. But he just does all the hard stuff, and DT doesn’t reward hard stuff! I hope to be proven wrong on Matt, because he could be a great midfielder if given the chance!

Injury: Daniel Merrett: Big “Sauce” succumbed to a hamstring injury that he looked to have carried into the game. May miss a week. 
 

Richmond vs Hawthorn: 

Finally, we got a game where several of the biggest 2009 DT disappointments all shone - Luke Hodge (114), Buddy Franklin (131), Brett Deledio (139) and Troy Simmonds (110). Some coaches must have been jumping out of their seats to see these scores from boys they’ve been cursing all year – I know I was! Of them all, Franklin was the best, scoring 5.6 – whilst inaccurate, anyone able to kick five goals is a star! His work rate was also exceptional! I just can’t wait to see him next week against the Bombers as the Hawks fight for their spot in the finals! This match also welcomed back two players who have been out of the game for a very long time – Max Bailey from Hawthorn and Graham Polak from Richmond. Both looked rusty, but it was great to see each of them back out there and even working hard underneath the packs. Whilst Polak is more a good story than a good DT story, Bailey is one to keep an eye on. If fit, 2010 promises to be his year – he could well take over the number one ruck mantle, meaning he is a great option for third or fourth ruck!

Get on: Lance Franklin: Buddy wants to play finals - you can smell it! And now with the Essendon game being an elimination final of sorts, expect him to come out with guns blazing!

Get off: Shane Edwards - For such a good user of the ball, I wonder why they don’t want it in his hands more. Watch for his pre-season in 2010, although many got sucked in this year!

Injury: Nothing of significance! 

Sunday:

St.Kilda vs North Melbourne: 

For the second week in a row, St. Kilda were ripped apart by the opposition’s inside midfielder. This week, Andrew Swallow took the honours with 33 disposals, eight tackles and 152 DT points - the highest for the round. At least this week the Saints players DT points didn’t fade away - key players Goddard, Riewoldt, Sam Fisher and Montagna still made it to the ton, despite their teams lack of effort on the field. Those coaches displeased with the late withdrawal of Hayes were soon feeling happy when number one choice emergency, Liam Anthony made his way to 124 points! His best score so far in his short career. Drew Petrie also played a brilliant game, getting the better of both Zac Dawson and Sam Fisher through different parts of the game. With Melbourne at the MCG next week, hopefully the Saints can pull their fingers out and come home with some massive scores.

Get on: Nick Riewoldt – the built up anger at these two losses must be amazing! With no-one to match up on next week, he should carve Melbourne up to the tune of at least 120 points!

Get off: James Gwilt – Did nothing in the twos to deserve his spot, and nothing in the seniors to justify keeping it.

Injury: None 

Collingwood vs Sydney: 

Sydney again put the clamps on, shutting down the total disposals of an otherwise dominant Collingwood! Many Collingwood favourites were heavily tagged, resulting in several poor scores – Pendlebury, Swan and Didak were the worst hurt (as were all the coaches who put any of these three Captain!). For Sydney, a rejuvenated Adam Goodes was brilliant at CHF – “Please DT Gods, Please make Adam Goodes eligible as a forward in DT 2010!!!” One of the positives at Sydney at the moment is the amount of kids they have coming through – several look quite promising, especially Hannebery and O’Dwyer – it could be worth keeping an eye of both of these kids for next year.

Get on: Adam Goodes – Those looking for a point of difference for the Grand Final may consider – with Merrett out, the Brisbane defence will be stretched – Goodes may be able to whack an extra ton onto your scoresheet!

Get off: Mike Pyke – The first man in the history of the game to average less than Presti! I wouldn’t consider for 2010 – he only seems to know the ‘no possession’ style of football.

Injury: Jarred Moore - injured his ribs in a marking contest and will probably sit out the last match. 

Fremantle vs Essendon: 

This was a very low-scoring DT game, especially for one played at Subiaco! The Dons looked to have partied a little too hard after defeating the Saints last week, and didn’t look like they had come to play. Fremantle on the other hand looked very good - many of their younger players shared the ball well and loved taking on the game. David Mundy set the scene with his work rate and ability to break the lines – he had close to his best game of the year, showing coach Mark Harvey he wants to be part of their future. Another young-gun who turned it on was Nick Suban, who was brilliant along the wing with his run and carry and piercing left boot! He looks to be a star of the future (2010 perhaps??)! From Essendon, no-one was particularly impressive. Many of the players to star last week were flat – Watson and Monfries the main offenders. I worry now about the Bombers chances against a rampaging Hawks – especially after a trip to Subiaco. I wouldn’t be trading any bombers in this week.

Get on: Nick Suban – I loved his game, and really like watching him play and break the lines. Keep an eye on him for next year – his confidence and fitness has really built over the last month of this season.

Get off: Angus Monfries – Prefers to play for a free kick than mark a ball. Is too inconsistent for my liking. Can turn it on against the top team one week, then do nothing at all against the team second bottom on the ladder.

Injury: Alwyn Davey – looked to have broken his collarbone late in the match – if so, his season is over. Jarrod Atkinson – Injured his calf late in the match – doubtful this week.

Expert: Dan
Team: Hank Scorpio EDT
Round 21 Score: 2,157
Overall Ranking: 4,328
Trades Remaining: 0
Remaining Salary Cap: $4,500
Team Changes This Week: None

Expert: Toby
Team: Fiora’s Hardnuts
Round 21 Score: 2,124
Overall Ranking: 439
Trades Remaining: 0
Remaining Salary Cap: $1,300
Team Changes This Week: None

Expert: Ben
Team: The Redbacks
Round 21 Score: 2,331
Overall Ranking: 1,656
Trades Remaining: 0
Remaining Salary Cap: $34,800
Team Changes This Week: None

If you’ve been saving up trades for the Preliminary Finals you’ve done well to get this far with them in tact, especially after the debacle of Round 19 (and let’s never speak of that round again). By this stage you have to look really closely at the run home your trade in target has. This combined with current form is the key to finding the right trade in target. 

I’m not gonna lie, I ran out of trades many weeks ago, so my crude attempt to find you a super sweet bargain is a bit half arsed. Not to worry, I looked through about 10-15 unique-ish midfielders around the $375K-$425K mark and picked what I reckon looks to be the best of the lot. 

Marc Murphy is part of Carlton’s Fab 4 (that consists of three people) and the good news for guys that aren’t Chris Judd is that they’re not likely to get the #1 tagger. Murphy is a beautiful accumulator of the ball and he uses it well, to boot. Not that it matters how well he uses it, but hey, if you’re Bryce Gibbs and you’ve got Andrew Carrazzo and Murph free, who are you gonna pass the ball too? Every little bit helps. 

He’s got an average of 109.2 over the last five weeks, so he ticks the box for current form. A few of those have been tough games as well. Even though Sydney aren’t the DT killers they once were, they’ve still claimed a few scalps this season. Collingwood and Geelong don’t concede too many points either and he posted 111 and 97 against them respectively. 

As for his run home, well, the great news is that he plays Melbourne, who after winning on the weekend will not be taking any chances to lose their priority pick in the remaining two games. To make sure they don’t win as if they’re going to pay proper respect to their gun mids. They’ll probably stick Michael Newton on him or something. Anything less than 120 would be a disappointment, that’s how much I expect Murph to chop this weekend. 

For the final game and the all important DT Grand Final week he’s up against Adelaide, his second best DT opponent in the league. He averages 95.8 against them across his career, so it’s a good match up. Shirley usually goes to Judd (and be wary Judd owners because Shirley generally does well on him and has never let him score a ton against the Crows, not even in his WC days) so you’re more likely going to see Murph going head to head with someone like Thompson or Edwards. Maybe Doughty will get a job on him, but whatever the Crows have tried in the past hasn’t really hampered his scoring against them. 

His ripping form and solid run home makes it an ideal trade if you’re looking to bolster your mids for these all important last couple of weeks (I hope it’s the midfield you’re looking to trade into).

NEW TO FOOTY TRAGIC

• PART 1 – The “Submit Your Team” section as per normal;
• PART 2 -The NEW section where I unearth a hidden gem who I expect to make an impact in 2010. These players are under priced because they have been in the AFL system for 3 years or less and are still trying to establish themselves as AFL footballers. I’m looking for the next Andy Otten, Patrick Dangerfield, Mitchell Brown or Taylor Walker.

PART 1:

View Nolls XXII’s Team
Round 19 Score: 1923
Current Overall Ranking: 62,626
Trades Left: 0
Remaining Salary Cap: $37,100

Dear Nolls XXII,

      Thank you for submitting your team.

As you have run out of trades and are currently sitting 62,626 overall, I’m going to focus more on giving you some pointers to help you in 2010. I’ve also decided to use this opportunity to highlight some common dreamteam errors I have seen in 2009. 

• How to conserve my valuable trades? – I’ll try to keep this brief, because I could easily turn this into a 5,000 word thesis. The key here is to nail your starting squad of 30 players. As we all know, injuries play a major role in dreamteam and they affect us all in varying degrees. I’ve heard all the excuses, but I’ve got no time for them. We only get 20 trades for the year, so use them wisely.

If you picked Matthew Richardson, Paul Chapman (injured again during dreamteam finals), Josh Fraser or Chad Cornes in your 2009 dreamteam, don’t ask for sympathy or bleat about injuries. Yes, all four of these players have the potential to score very highly, but all are injury prone! If you want to take the risk on one of these players in 2010, let me remind you of a favourite saying of mine: “A fool is a man who does the same thing twice but expects a different result the second time”.To sum up this point, pick durable players, below age 30.

• Be wary of the key forward in dreamteam – Jarrad Grant may turn out to be a very fine Centre Half Forward for the Western Bulldogs in the coming years, but don’t expect big dreamteam scores from him. Grant is a big man who stands at 192cms, and his greatest strength is his marking. You are much better going after a crumbing forward / midfielder, rather than a key forward such as Grant.
   
• Shutting the gate after the horse has bolted - Leigh Harding was inserted into many dreamteams prior to Round 3, after scoring 150 (against Melbourne) and 108 in the first 2 weeks of the season. Unfortunately for Leigh and 45,733 dreamteamers, he averaged just 75 points per game for the next 16 weeks. To compound this problem, Harding suffered a season ending hamstring injury in Round 18, just before our finals. The lesson here is to pick next weeks winner not last weeks. As the world’s richest man Warren Buffett says, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been”.

PROPOSED ACTION THIS WEEK (WEEK 3 OF FINALS):

None – no trades left

Good luck in 2010!

PART 2 (NEW):

Hidden gem Week 5: Matthew Broadbent – Port Adelaide – Midfield /Defence – 2009 price $86,600;

2010 price $??? (It’s at the discretion of dreamteam headquarters but I’m hoping $150,000).

So far in my hidden gem series, I’ve looked at two ruckman, one forward and one midfielder. The final piece of the puzzle and the most difficult is the defence. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time researching the lower priced defenders before writing this article and I’ve settled on Broadbent.

This week I’ve been ably assisted by fellow Footy Tragic expert Dan, our resident guru on all the young talent coming through the AFL system. It’s worth noting here that our man Dan has been all over Broadbent, since watching him live in action for South Australia in the 2008 AFL Under 18 National Championships.

I am aware that Broadbent has already played 2 matches in 2009 (Round 16 against West Coast for 55 points and Round 17 against Adelaide for 39 points), but let me explain why I think Broadbent is still worth consideration at a price of approximately $150,000 – $160,000 in 2010.

Let’s not forget that Jack Grimes was a defender priced at $186,400 prior to Round 1 2009 after just one game in 2008 for 42 points. I’m not saying Broadbent will be the 2010 version of Grimes, but I believe it is worth forking out some extra cash to get a quality player such as Broadbent into your defensive structure.

Matthew Broadbent is a local product and he was drafted from SANFL club Woodville – West Torrens with pick number 38 in the 2008 National draft. Broadbent is listed as 189cms, 84kgs and he is an old school half back flanker. Broadbent played 11 senior SANFL games for Woodville – West Torrens in 2008, mostly as a 17 year old (he turned 18 last August). Broadbent has also spent the majority of this season playing for Woodville – West Torrens and he has been very impressive. So much so that he is an outside chance to play against Brisbane this Saturday night.

Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams says the following about Broadbent, “He reminds me of a young Dom Cassisi”. Williams was referring to Broadbent’s strong work ethic, good character and determination, high praise indeed from the senior coach!

As for our man Dan, this is what he had to say, “Broadbent is a ball magnet who is made for dreamteam. He reads the play extremely well, is good overhead for his size and he has neat disposal. Broadbent is not outstanding in any one area of his game, but he has no glaring weaknesses either. The best way to describe Broadbent would be hard, fearless, honest and reliable”.

The downside for Broadbent appears to be job security. While Mark Williams clearly rates the young man, it’s well known that Williams has a preference for dynamic and explosive running players that suit the Power’s run and carry / keeping’s off style game plan. Players such as Danyle Pearce, Shaun Burgoyne, Travis Boak, David Rodan and the super impressive Hamish Hartlett all fit this mould.

Having said that, with a second pre season under his belt, there is no reason why Broadbent can’t force his way into the senior side for Round 1, 2010. It will take him a great deal of hard work and dedication, but Broadbent has the required work ethic and strength of character to become a successful AFL player.

Good luck Matthew!

Please feel free to post a comment, we welcome all feedback.

Please also advise if you’ll be considering Matthew Broadbent for your dreamteam in 2010.