Aaaaaand we’re back…sort of! Hope everyone’s been well and been percolating about SC over the last few months like I have. This is always the first article I write up heading into a fresh season, so let’s get stuck in.
A loophole, i.e. a player selected in order to utilize the captaincy loophole, has three criterion:
- A late fixture allowing the most number of games to elapse and thus the most number of vice captaincy options
- A basement price of 102k, only rarely will going for a loop priced above basement be warranted
- And, finally, their position – with R3 and DPP loops historically being prized and, in recent years, loops being taken in lines with poor rookie crops
The most determinative of these criterion, and the one we’ll be drilling down into now, is a late fixture.
| Timeslot | FRI (-4) | SAT Early (-3) | SAT Afternoon (-2) | SAT Late (+1) | SUN Early (+2) | SUN Afternoon (+3) | SUN Late (+4) | MON/TUE (+5) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESS | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 20 | |||
| STK | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 17 | ||
| GWS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | |||
| GCS | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 11 | |||
| HAW | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| WCE | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |||
| FREO | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -12 |
The Bombers emerge pretty comfortably as the best loophole side: no lockout Friday night games, none early on Saturday, a bunch on Sunday and the ANZAC Day game which will give coaches choice of 8/9 for the VC that week. The Saints were second at 17 on the tally but a Friday night game locks coaches out. As so long as the Dons have a basement priced player, they’re the best loophole option.
*will be reposting this as part of our full Fixture Analysis series (which will include a discussion of whether to run a loop at all) once things get cooking
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A great early start to the SC season. Thanks GD. I think Dunkley will be big Captain option in 2023, so with Essendon having a lot of late fixtures, then it could really keep your VC choices as quite wide as well.
Hey, Phil.
Yeah, I’m bullish on Dunkley this year as well. Right on.
Neale into McBride at Bombers looks the go for the first half of the season at least……Dunkley may force a rethink though if he looks like taking cba’s away from Neale, but I doubt that. McBride has r/f dpp which adds great flexibility for the byes…I’m happy to pay the extra $20k
Glad you posted. For some reason I thought dunkley was going to Essendon. My post made sense if he was at Essendon, but not so much with him at Brisbane. I guess if I am going to say dumb things it’s better in December than any other time.
Mate….I not only say dumb things…I do them…especially when picking my SC starting team !!
Love it GD. Great work as always. Thank you
1 for StKilda and 1 for Essendon.