Scraping the Barrel

The Hairy Cat has been furiously tapping away at his keyboard to bring you this fine article on some of the cheap talent that could be available towards the end of the year. Hairy, SCT salutes you!

It’s about this time of the season when coaches start planning their final couple of cash-cow or mid-price player downgrades in order to generate cash. Generally cash-cows and mid-priced players usually only reach around $350K to $400K. If you have enough bench cover then it is imperative that you downgraded to the cheapest player possible in order to maximise trade value. The cheapest players available are usually rookie listed players, elevated rookies who haven’t played 3 games this season or senior listed players who have next to no senior AFL experience. These players are usually priced from a rock bottom mouth-watering price of $94,700 up to around $130,000.

Just because a player is currently rookie listed doesn’t mean they can’t get games in the seniors. The AFL regulations state that rookies can be elevated to the senior list via one of three routes: At the beginning of the season rookies can be elevated to the senior list if the club doesn’t have a full quota of veteran listed players, after round 11 a club can nominate a mid-season rookie who can play for the rest of the season as long as the total player payments (TPP) are within the salary cap, and a club can nominate a rookie to take the place of a senior listed player who is placed on the long term injury (LTI) list at any stage of the season.

Here is my list of the cheapies (in no particular order) which I’m either keeping an eye on or I’ve already taken advantage of:

1.        Tom “Soupy” Campbell WBD RUC $94,700 – An absolute must if you want to make cash by downgrading one of your rucks. Make no mistake this is the last week to jump on Soupy.

2.        Jordan Murdoch GEE FWD $106,600 – A speed merchant (fastest over 20m in the 2011 draft combine) whose job security looks better after a decent first up game combined with the fact that Travis Varcoe and Stringer are gone and ageing speedster David Wojcinski is struggling with injury. Should do well against the Suns this week.

3.        Tom Mitchell SYD MID $106,600 MID – Senior listed player with the Swans who are not scared of bringing in a young gun late into the season (remember Dennis Trent-Lane back in 2010? Carlton fans will) and there is no reason why they couldn’t do the same with the highly rated Mitchell. Racked up 174 SuperCoach points in a game in the NEAFL earlier this year.

4.        Anthony Miles GWS MID $113,200 – Senior listed player who has played one game early on. Currently recovering from a knee injury but could return to the reserves side this week or next.

5.        Tim McIntyre ADL FWD/MID $94,700 – Very recently upgraded mature aged (23) rookie who is leading the goal kicking in the SANFL for Sturt. If the crows get an injury (or suspension) up forward he could be the man to fill the void. The dual position eligibility makes him attractive.

6.        Sam Docherty BRI MID/DEF $141,600 – Expensive rookie listed player but according to Lions reserves coach Nathan Clark on Tuesday he “is getting closer to making his senior debut by the week”.

7.        Stephen Clifton GWS MID $130,700 – Senior listed player but has the coveted dual positioning which may be worth the extra coin. Has recovered from a wrist injury and a knee injury to play in the last two games for the UWS Giants in the NEAFL. Was named in the best for the Giants Reserve side two weeks ago.

8.        Thomas Ledger STK MID $113,200 – Senior listed player of whom most people will avoid especially if you had to trade him out at the start of the season due to lack of games. If the Saints give up on the finals then he just might come back into consideration.

9.        Tom Curren STK MID $113,200 – Another Tom on the Saints rookie list who has been playing extremely well for Sandy in the VFL. Named in the best players during 3 of the past 4 games.

10.        Mark Baguley ESS MID/DEF $94,700 – Mature aged (26) rookie listed half back flanker which a lot of Bomber fans have been quietly talking up. Named best on ground for the Bendigo Bombers in the VFL last week.

11.        Tom “on the” Couch MEL MID/FWD $94,700 – Has failed to get off the couch to play a game and has since been put back onto the rookie list. Word around the training track is that his kicking is not up to AFL standard. Probably one to look at for next year.

As always feel free to list your own cheapies that you might trade down to in the comments.

Tagged as: cash, cheap, injury, NEAFL, rookie, rookies, SCT, VFL