The year was 2016 and on the Saturday evening in Round 1, a young bloke named Tom Papley debuted for the Swans against the Pies.
As it was his first game, any coach worth their salt had Pappers sitting on their bench. I was no different but (critically) I’d thrown the E on him.
Tom had the kind of debut that young men dream about. “Fear The Smear” came the call as he booted 3.1 and scored a very handy 104 in his first H&A game.
That left everyone who had him on their bench pissed that they’d missed out on a rookie ton!
“How can I get that bloody score?”, I thought to myself.
Casting an eye over the round’s remaining games I saw that Brisbane were due to take on West Coast the following day. That game was going to be missed by Dayne Zorko, who had averaged 100 the previous season, but because of an indiscretion during the preseason had been suspended for one match.
Missing Round 1 had seen The Zork dismissed from consideration by 99% of coaches but suddenly it dawned on me – I could get Papley’s ton AND pick up a POD gun! And the best part? It wouldn’t even cost me a trade!
Now I admit you need a number of stars to align for this manoeuvre to work:
– a player on your bench has to put up a decent score early in the round
– you’ve got to have the E on them
– there’s got to be a gun sitting out Round 1 that you want in your team that is in the same position that that player on your bench was
– you’ve got to have someone to trade for them that hasn’t played their Round 1 match by the time you need them
So its not going to work every year but let me tell you how it could work in 2020:
– You sit Marlion Pickett on the pine and make him purple
– He does the right thing by you and shimmies his way to a ton
– You trade out one of your guns (you’ll have heaps to choose from as only Richmond and Carlton will have played at that time) for Adam Treloar who with a slight hammy issue looks in serious doubt for Round 1.
– You laugh all the way to the bank.
That’s how the Motts Manouevre worked for me in 2016 and boy was it successful. By Round 3, I was 12th overall!
Of course it all turned to brown dirt later in the season but the start I got meant I could take it easy with the trades throughout the year which saw me eventually win my cash league in a canter.
Good luck to you if you’re going to have a crack at it this year. To be honest, I think you’d be mad if you didn’t!
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Literally everyone did this in 2015 when Kamdyn McIntosh scored 120 in the first game
Bit rich calling it “The Motts Manoeuvre” lol
I didn’t name it mate.
Your name is incredibly relevant given your previous comment.
No need for personal attacks mate.
Ha. That’s not a personal attack. It’s your handle mate. Kind of asking for it.
Who was the injured/suspended premium in 2015?
Literally everyone hey…
Richard… or may we call you Dick?
Give us a thumbs up if you’ve literally never had Kamdyn McIntosh in your team?
You didn’t pick up a bargain basement rookie who played all 22 games and scored 12o in their first game? You either didn’t play in 2015 or aren’t very good at this game, no offence.
Which premium was everyone dropping and picking up instead who missed Rd1?
I had him on field
OK lets go easy on Mr Head. If I thought another bloke had named a manoeuvre after himself I’d think he was a bit of an own-bathwater-drinker too.
Using Nath’s Stats page I’ve gone back to 2015 and had a look at Round 1. K-Mc did indeed score 120 that round as a Defender. Looking at every Defender that year that averaged over 89, they all played in Round 1.
So I’m not sure who you’re talking about, Rich.
When you come at the King…
Does rich know Gary’s Gangsters?
Langdon scored 120+ on debut (can’t remember the year) and I drafted Kolodashnje into my team as a non playing rookie, after hearing he had 40 touches for Gold Coast reserves. And he was indeed called up in Round 2.
Can’t remember the year, but obviously it was KK and Langdons 1st year
I actually did some SCT research overnight, trawling through the back storeroom at SCT HQ. I looked up the game chat for Richmond vs Carlton in 2015 plus some investigationing in both Nath’s stats and fanfooty. Kamdyn did indeed go large in his first game. I can’t rememember this happening but apparently it did. He’s played 90 games, scored only 3 tons, and the largest was a 120 in his first game.
In the game chat from 2015 Chino contemplates trading out N Brown for Goddard to get Kamdyn’s points. I thought. A-HA! I’ve found evidence that pre-dates the Motts Manoeuvre. But alas, on even further analysis it was Goddard of the Hugh variety, not the Brendan variety, as BJ played every game that season whereas Hugh wasn’t in the Saints team early doors. A different manoeuvre but still useful. Maybe the the Chino Curve Ball?
Anyway, there’s no record on SCT that i could find of anyone throwing the idea out there of doing a Motts Manoeuvre.
Mottsy’s attack dogs have been out in force in the last 24 hours. It’s kinda like someone’s said something to a gang leader and without a word the underlings have all leapt to the defence of their leader.
Richard, you might’ve done it. If you did and it worked kudos to you. I’ll definitely be trying to keep my options open early doors in round 1 and if the planets align hopefully a few of our SCT community can get an early leg up on the pack.
It’s just a catchy name folks, I don’t think Mottsy is saying he’s the only person to ever perform such a move (I know I haven’t). Years ago I named a segment Thommo’s 2-Up because it was catchy but it was clearly a stolen idea.
Let’s all take a chill pill and find a way to smash Motts in our cash leagues!
Who did you drop from your squad to bring in Zorko though? I doubt that your team was incomplete at the time or that you had a lazy 400k in the sc bank. So the true value of the move depends on who the 500k mid that you dropped was because Zorko did miss another game that year and he only topped 100 14 times from his 20 games.
Potentially it was a losing move if you dropped a 500k mid like Neale who scored more than Papley in round 1 and played every game with an ave of 112.
Two sides to every story mate.
Zorko and Papley were forwards that year.
I still believe that he would have had to drop a 500k mid to make the move
Hill has to be a candidate for the Motts Manoeuvre after getting injured this week.