Footy Tragic

This week has been a shocking one for Dream Teamers with plenty of injuries to popular players – the worst part about this is many of these injuries are being given within the frustrating 2 – 4 week bracket; questions begin to arise – do you trade, or hang tight for a hopefully speedy recovery? To make matters worse, there are issues in all four positions; whether you have Higgins, Podsiadly, Mooney or Sylvia up forward, Hille in the Ruck, Maguire, McLeod, Davis or McGrath in defence, or Selwood, Young or Higgins in the midfield, you may be in a spot of bother in round 12. So, I have decided to take a bit of a different angle in this week’s ‘Who’d you Rather’ article, instead suggesting three players from each position; a premium, a mid-priced and a potential cheapy (NB: Midfield prices being so excessive have meant a ‘bargain’ is around $300k). I won’t go into as much detail as usual (as I am looking at 12 players), but hopefully this could help you more than the standard two-player comparison.

Defence:

Premium:

Brendon Goddard – $458,500, Avg. 111.18: Goddard has been sensational all year, but has really picked up his form over the past three weeks (he has averaged 128 over the past three weeks). He was completely dominant against the Tigers on Friday on his way to 138 points – his highest score of the year, and eighth score over 100. Goddard biggest asset is his versatility on field – he can be switched between the midfield, forward line and in defence – but wherever he is played, it is ALWAYS in an attacking role. He is great at winning his own ball, but works very hard to space to receive the ball from his teammates – as he is the best kick in the team he is regularly on the end of passes from his teammates. He is one of the most consistent performers in the competition and could even be relied upon as a captain choice.

Mid-Priced:

Andrew Carrazzo – $365,600, Avg. 95: Thanks to a game last week where he was employed as a tagger, Carrazzo’s score is looking much lower than what his form suggests would be appropriate (it was his only game under 80 points for the season). Carrazzo has played 2010 predominantly as a midfielder, often given jobs on the opposition’s better players – however, unlike many other taggers of the competition, Carrazzo is given license to work off his man and get his own ball. He has proven to have a high ceiling with two scores over 120, however he seems more to be a consistent performer between 80 and 100 points – in fact, seven of his 11 games have been in this score-bracket. Whilst he seems to only crack the big scores on occasion, consistent defenders are very hard to come by, so this is a great trait to have.

Budget:

Nick Suban – $217,500, Avg. 55.83: Suban has only played the six games this year after injuring himself in round three – he returned to the team in round nine. This is his second year on the Freo list and he was always expected to improve this year after a fantastic first season last year where he came home with gusto. Since returning from injury, he has played only three games, and honestly only one particularly impressed, however I am basing this pick on previous promises – I really enjoyed watching him last year and so far this year he doesn’t look to have really found his feet or fitness yet. But give him a few weeks and I believe that he should be able to average 70 – 80 points in the straight home to the finals. He is a penetrating, accurate left kick and his teammates want it in his hands – I would be very surprised if he didn’t come good soon!

Midfield:

Premium:

Gary Ablett – $491,000, Avg. 125.9: I think I said it all in last week’s article, but to reiterate, Ablett is the most prolific scorer of DT season 2010 and is seemingly becoming a must-have player if he can keep his body right for the remainder of the season. He has taken a nice little price drop over the past couple of weeks thanks to some scores only a little bit over 100 and is now priced under the $500k mark, still making him one of the most expensive players in the competition. He has an amazing fitness base and an incredible ability through traffic – not only do his quick hands have the ability to grab any ball thrown to him, but his strong hips allow him to break free from almost any tackle. Has been added to the ‘untaggable’ list this year with his continued ability to break free from any opponent put on him. The complete package and an easy lock for captain each and every week.

Mid-Priced:

Nick Dal Santo – $396,000, Avg. 99.18:

Has only four scores below 95 to his name for this year, and one of the more recent ones (47 against Carlton) has really dragged his price down, despite a very good average of 99.18. Over the past two years, Dal has taken his game to much greater heights – he has worked hard on his pack work and is now one of the bigger contested ball winners at the Saints. He also now averages 3.5 tackles a game – a stat we would never associated with him two years ago. With his newfound ambition in the game has also seen him working much harder to break tags. No longer will he just give up, but continues to work very hard, especially around the centre bounces where he is becoming a clearance king – only once this year has he lost his battle with a tagger, and twice he has broken even (including against arch-nemesis Kane Cornes). A really consistent option now and very capable of pulling some big scores!

Budget:

Andrew Walker – $337,400, Avg. 81.14: Walker’s season had a massive turnaround in round 4 when Ratten stuck him behind the ball against Adelaide. It was a great DT game, but unfortunately, just the following week he injured his arm against Geelong. The 52 points he scored has helped level his price out to be very appetising. Since returning from the injury last week he has already scored a 108 and an 87 after being put back in the same sweeper position in which he racked up 134 points in round four. I think at the moment Walker is at a very appealing price and almost too hard to ignore. He has the potential to average close to 100 points in a team who looks in some good form. Ratten seems set to keeping him in this position which is a real positive.

Ruck:

Premium:

Aaron Sandilands – $383,900, Avg. 99.36: Sandi has been in great form this year and is easily the most dominant ruckman in the competition and there is no reason to suggest he won’t be for the rest of the season. Up until round eight he averaged a fantastic 107 points – scores that would even be very good for a midfielder. Unfortunately, in the past three weeks his scoring has dropped off somewhat and he has averaged only 79 points – this is mainly a reflection of Mark Harvey dropping his time of ground. Fremantle have made a conscious effort to rest the big guy so he doesn’t tire for the business end of the season. I expect that his ground time will ramp back up after the mid-season break, suggesting you will be able to get him for a pretty good price up until then. He has worked very hard this year to be clean around the ground and is averaging 17 disposals a game – very handy for a guy of his size. Add this to the 36 hitouts he should average and the one goal and you are looking at a ton almost every week.

Mid-Priced:

Shane Mumford – $324,900, Avg. 78.33: Big Mummy has really become a viable option over the past couple of weeks after two very strong games against decent sides in Hawthorn and Essendon. Over these two games he has really asserted his presence in the game, not only by winning his own ball, but also at the bounces where he has racked up over 40 hitouts in each game – huge numbers for even the best rucks in the competition (Sandi has only cracked 40 twice this season in his 11 games). Mummy’s scoring has been helped by the fact he is clearly the side’s number ruckman – fellow off-season tradee Seaby is on the sidelines until late in the year and Mike Pyke is still learning the game. The signs shown by Mumford in the past couple of games are enough to suggest consistency and not just a flash in the pan. Could be a really big improver in the second half of the year.

Budget:

Kurt Tippett – $238,400, Avg. 55: Whilst there would be plenty of upset people who would want to dispute the validity of Tippitt as a ‘bargain,’ but watching his past few games closely I believe that his expected form isn’t far away. Against the Saints he was taking huge leaps and out-bodying his opponents as well as his did in 2009 – He was well held by Tarrant against Freo, but I still thought he showed signs of improvement. Adelaide also seem to be on the improve from their shocking start to the season which will only help – whilst he’s not going to average 100 – he could become consistent enough to be pulling in scores around the 80-mark a little more frequently.

Forward:

Premium:

Paul Chapman – $477,200, Avg. 119.36: Nothing much has changed with Chappy since the article I wrote about him last week – he still has two hamstrings in tact and has still not scored below 100 points after his 112 on the weekend. After years of injury plagued seasons, 2010 is optimistically looking like it could be his first without any major setbacks. When in form – and he certainly is at the moment – Chappy is an incredible DTer – he can tackle, loves to kick and often finishes with a couple of goals. Also, amongst such a star-studded midfield as Geelong’s, he often goes through the match without much opposition attention. With his injury history he is still a huge risk, but a risk that could surely pay huge dividends if he can stay on the park.

Mid-Priced:

Ryan O’Keefe – $331,800, Avg. 93: O’Keefe suffered heavy concussion a few weeks ago and hasn’t looked very good since (until this weekend that is!). He obviously hasn’t been feeling his best as Sydney have been playing back in the forward line for a couple of weeks – obviously to help him regain touch and fitness. But his last game saw him thrown back into the midfield mix, and like a duck to water he didn’t even flinch. When in form through the midfield, O’Keefe is an awesome DTer and right now his price is very much a bargain. He could easily average 100 points for the remaining rounds without much challenge. He is great at winning his own ball, and he is excellent around the goals. If you don’t already have him, he is certainly one to consider very highly.

Budget:

Brendon Fevola – $252,100, Avg. 67: This could be bang or bust with Fevola; so far this year he has been quite poor, in fact he has leaked the second most amount of cash of anyone in the competition. Some of his scoring decrease has been to do with his slight change of roles and responsibility at Brisbane – whilst Fevola is very much a focus, Brown is still getting more of the delivery. I do however believe that a lot of his poor scoring has been to do with his groin injury, which is clearly hampering him. It has been a few weeks since it flared and then began to ease and we are starting to see a slightly more mobile Fevola in the past couple of weeks. I give him until the mid-season break, but I think some better form isn’t far off. Don’t be expecting a turnaround to his Carlton days, but an average of around 80 with occasional scores between 110 and 120 would be enough to satisfy you as your 7^th forward.