Dear Footy Tragics,

When considering which players are worthy of a prized position amongst our squad of 30 players, pre season form undoubtedly plays a big part. With extended squads providing greater opportunities to previously unsighted players, the NAB cup is where hardcore dreamteamers do the bulk of their work.

As each AFL season passes by, the professionalism and dedication required by players increases. Clubs now are employing more fitness staff, more strength and conditioning coaches and spending more money searching for “the edge”. In today’s modern game, the importance of completing a full pre season is paramount. This is especially important when it comes to dreamteam, as buyers of Luke Hodge and Buddy Franklin prior to Round 1 last year will testify.

The problem I see is where dreamteamers read too much into NAB cup scores. It’s very important to realise that a NAB cup or NAB challenge match is played at approximately 70% intensity when compared to a regular season match. Some players will dominate pre season games, yet go missing in Round 1 when the kitchen heats up.

Brisbane Lions Training Session

If you take a trip down memory lane, you may recall that Bradd Dalziell from Brisbane (now at West Coast) was the most effective dreamteam player throughout the entire 2009 pre season series. The super fit Dalziell was suffering from a severe dose of leather poisoning 12 months ago and racking up huge dreamteam numbers. Despite a hefty $420,300 price in 2009, many coaches jumped onboard the Dalziell bandwagon based on his very impressive pre season form.

Unfortunately for Dalziell and the many dreamteamers who jumped onboard, he went missing in action during the home and away season. By the end of the 2009 season, Dalziell had played just 8 matches due to a combination of injury and poor form, for an average of 84 points per game. After paying premium dollars pre season, many coaches were badly burnt by Dalziell in 2009.

The lesson here is don’t get too carried away by pre season numbers. The NAB cup and NAB challenge matches are only practice matches. Just because a first or second year rookie scores 100 points against an injury depleted Adelaide or Geelong side in February, it doesn’t mean they will repeat the dose in Round 1. Do I need to remind you about the noise created about Port Adelaide’s Wade Thompson last year? If you listened to Mark Williams 12 months ago, you would think he had unearthed the next Jeff Farmer. History shows us that Thompson played just 2 games in 2009 for an average of 38 points per game (not to mention a return to the North Adelaide reserves side later in the season).

While it’s absolutely crucial to have a fully fit squad of 30 players, you don’t need all of your squad averaging at least 80 points per game in February.

Good luck!