Ben’s Team
DEF
G Urquhart – Kangaroos
T Kennelly – Sydney
A Rance – Richmond
J Hunt – Geelong
L Henderson – Carlton
L Hodge – Hawthorn
L Greenwood – Nth Melb
B Sheppard – West Coast
M Maguire – Brisbane
MID
G Ablett – Geelong
S Mitchell – Hawthorn
A Swallow – Kangaroos
A Cooney – Bulldogs
L Ball – Collingwood
T Scully – Melbourne
J Trengove – Melbourne
D Martin – Richmond
RUCK
D Cox – West Coast
D Jolly – Collingwood
N Naitanui – West Coast
R Warnock – Carlton
FWD
N Riewoldt – St Kilda
A Buchanan – Brisbane
P Medhurst – Collingwood
M Williams – Essendon
C Mayne – Fremantle
P Dangerfield – Adelaide
J Ziebell – Kangaroos
R Tarrant – Kangaroos
T Dennis-Lane – Sydney
(I’ve taken the liberty of nominating your Emergencies as it wasn’t clear in your original post)
You’ll always be wary coming up against a team that has Gablett in the guts and there is a good amount of flexibility here with the number of DPP’s in the side but I still think this team could use a bit of re-tooling. Obviously you need to make some concessions to afford Junior’s $744,200 salary but I just think Ben may have taken too many risks with unproven players. I’ve given this effort a 6/10 with my justifications below. The good news is, Ben, that there is still plenty of time to make changes!
Defenders – Urquhart is a judgement call on whether you think he’s going to return to 2008 form or not. He showed promise in 2008 but he only averaged 65 last year and was dropped for the last couple of rounds. Judging by his first NAB Cup game I think he’s a risk. I also think you’re taking a bit of a chance with Rance. He should get better this year but he’s coming off an average of 52 so that shouldn’t be difficult. One thing’s for sure: he should see plenty of it in the Richmond backline! 17 in his first NAB Cup game is a worry. Henderson didn’t do nearly enough on Saturday night to justify a spot in supercoach teams just yet. Maguire is cheap but may struggle to get a game and has never been much of a scorer and right now Sheppard is as good as any rookie in your backline – at least he should get played.
Mids – Gablett sorts out your captain decision every week, Cooney is due for a better year and Mitchell’s first game for 2010 was a pearler. Swallow is a bit of a gamble for mine – with only one full year of footy under his belt his price ($524,600) scares me. If you’re looking for a bankable young star look no further than his teammate Liam Anthony who is $20k cheaper and played a much better first up NAB Cup game (98 compared to 59). There’s still a bit of a ? over Ball but he looked good against the Saints the other night. And you’ll make some good coin on the top 3 draft picks.
Rucks – There’s a bit too much cash sitting on the bench in this department. Cox and Jolly are as good as any combination going around but to have a $300k player cutting the oranges is a bit of a waste. If you like Nic Nat, back him in with an on field position, grab a $100k rookie for your 4th spot and use the $400 – $500k you’ve just made to upgrade elsewhere on the field.
Forwards – this is probably where I’d spend that money. Rooey gives you a back-up captain option if Junior, God forbid, ever gets injured but I’d love to see one or two more bankable blokes here. Names like Pavlich, Didak, Chapman, and O’Keefe come to mind. You’ve got two blokes at new clubs here (which isn’t a bad strategy given their impetus to perform): Williams looks good as a focal point for the Essendon offence but you’ve got to wonder how Buchanan will go in a crowded Brisbane frontline. Medhurst showed he could be one of the bargains of the year against the Saints and I like Dangerfield and Ziebell because of their potential to play in the midfield. Mayne, though, still needs to do a little more. Would like to know Tarrant was going to get played more before giving him a spot and I’d like to see more of TDL when Aaron Joseph isn’t wearing him like a glove.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice one MOTTS, look forward for your comments on my team!
You’re up next Krispy! Looks pretty good from an early glance.
Cheers Motts, I had already decided to clear Jolly out – will stick Naitanui in for now and pay a bit more for my forward line (was worried it was too low priced, and am considering Roughhead, O’Keefe & Pavlich). Hoping to upgrade my 2nd Ruck if Naitanui isn’t getting good scores, but if he continues to play forward he should see a bit of the ball.
I am still tossing up between Ablett & Swan, but with all these young Midfielders coming in, I am willing to spend a bit more on Junior at this stage, and if I trade him and a rookie out later I can get a combination like Swan/Goodes in the Midfield.
As for the DEF, I’ll see what names everyone else is bantering about, and see how much $$ I have left to spend on them.
Thank you heaps!!
Surely GAJ’s price can’t go much higher. If you take the stock trading approach to him that would mean you’d wait for his price to go down and buy him later. Having said that, he started off last season around the mid-$600k mark and went on to play a blinder of a year.
I agree… Can’t see him going much higher or even staying at the mid $700k’s, huge average to keep up… I reckon he will drop at round 4… or…. maybe gazza junior is not human, and he may reach the million mark in no time… god help us all
Hey MOTTS, did you sign up for the 2nd SC Talk League? I missed out on the first one, but got in there for the second…
He’s not it in Krispy because he’s already maxed out his quote of 3 competitions.
Couldn’t make the second league, Krispy, because I was already in my primary comp, the first SC league, and a league that tappy has thrown together. If you’ve got a spare league there are still some spots available in tappy’s. League code: 740279. Hope that’s ok, tappy.
I’m chokers too mate… not to worry
no probs
where do you get your team rated????
where do you put it in??
Sorry Dom, I offered to rate peoples’ teams a couple of weeks ago but due to the time it takes to do I could only do a certain amount. I should get enough time to do it again before the season proper begins. Reply to this message with your team and I’ll do my best to get onto it.