Surely a week to wait until teams drop given the carnage of the current state of play. There are a few players listed as a test that are owned enough to be relevant, and could save us a valuable trade at this stage. Five players with between 5.5k and 42k ownership sit in that “test” category and most could save us a trade and give us an extra warm body over and above best eighteen in what was considered the toughest of the byes to negotiate.
Tom Stewart was supposed to give 16k owners at least a couple of weeks cover before his bye now, but has missed the last couple. Stewart aside, as he is on the R16 bye, the other four are bye free and could prove useful if named. Nearly 5k brought in Jack Ross as a speculative M/F after his bye as they thought he would be cover right through. Unfortunately, he has not recovered from concussion symptoms to be that cover, but may be this week. Keep an eye out those 5.5k coaches still owning him.
Similarly, Darcy Parish (21k), Willem Duursma (42k) and Tom McCarthy (9k) may be named and save us a valuable trade that we don’t really want to make if we don’t have to. Given that 48k of coaches will be considering trading out Tristian Xerri due to that jaw surgery and “being rested” within games, and over half the competition will use or plan a trade on Jack Sinclair this week to bring in a playing soldier to help with the numbers. Not to mention a few (5k) coaches that will consider moving on Josh Weddle who is having a holiday until round 19. All this is just extra trouble we don’t really want to deal with right now. Have a study of the charts below and see if it gives you inspiration for your planning.
MOST TRADED OUT
Pretty obvious that number one on this list is Jack Sinclair. Whether it is this week or next, the Saint’s skipper must leave the building. This week’s fix could be either of the two Lachies from GWS, or as the IN list suggests, Luke Parker or Nick Blakey. I’m going to throw an extra one in from the outer universe, Mark Keane. Of the nine remaining minor round games, the Irishman has recent high scores of 92 or more against seven of that opposition. Coming off a first up 133, plays with dare, intercepts well and disposes pretty efficiently by foot so might be a good, albeit risky, POD. His team mates Milera and Worrell may fit a purpose as well, as could John Noble, James Sicily or Darcy Short. For another hoop la, Caleb Daniel anyone?
Cannot figure out why Jack Ison is so high on the list. Sure, he is not setting the world on fire, but listening to Josh Fraser it appears he’s there there for a stint, and is only worth $177k. I guess with the mid year rookies at $99k he is a way to a premo somewhere. Plays West Coast and with a BE of 49 could be given another week without too much punishment to his score.
Milan Murdock’s BE of 108 and his recent downturn in scoring is pretty much the rookies death nell so I think it is the right time to trade and make use of the $355k.
Patrick Retschko should have gone last week, and those who hung on, lost $20k. If you hang on again this week you risk losing another $10-15k to his BE of 77.
The interesting one was always going to be Tristian Xerri. It is not the BE I’d suggest, as it’s only 68, so he is not going to lose cash. The injury recovery could be only one week, so is it that. The main reason I think is the role change being rested from CBAs and starting at CHF at those throw ups. Coupled with Allistair Clarkson stating that he is conscious of resting him more to look after him, and playing Taylor Goad more, it is seemingly just time to quit him for a big dog like Luke Jackson, who is finding his way into a bunch of teams. I must admit, I’m undecided as I still have four rucks, one of which was going this week until the Xerri injury stuffed up the plan a little.
Lachie McAndrew has been good to us but it is not time to be sentimental. You should not be treating him as a potential keeper, and he should be already gone, as we stated last week and the week before that. Turn him into a big dog while you still have the currency.
Dropped last week, Angus Anderson is not critical unless named this week. BE is slightly higher than average but I don’t see him being injected back into the Pies 23 so you could wait until it suits you more, or use him now to get someone good at footy.
Leonardo Lombard has been pretty consistent of late and his BE is still a few points below his average, so he may still be of some use to your side. If you are thinking, “it’s Freo this week” and that’s enough to scare you into a trade before that match up at Wharfie Time, that’s OK. He’s certainly done his job and made over $200k so if it’s a way to an uber premo, go for it. I still have other considerations so he may stay for another week, we’ll see.
The long term injury to Archie Roberts was declared on here last week. Get him out when it best suits your individual plans, but bear in mind it’s a lot of cash weighing the bench down.
I reckon it was always the plan to ship Artie Jones off on his bye, especially if he made us our obligatory $150k. Don’t be swayed by the last round 70, you need the cash now to help fill in a tricky round 16 situation, and if it was always your plan, stick to it.
MOST TRADED IN
Finding his way into more than 6k teams than the next most traded, is bubble boy Tiger defender Kye Annand. Derek has highlighted him as the pick of the bunch this week, as has each section of the Supercoach hierarchy ie top 1%, top 5%, top 10% and all coaches categories. Should be enough said with a BE of -66 and a couple of sixties under his belt to make you a swift $50k this week alone.
Luke Parker is the recipient of a recent decent score just in time to remind everyone he is not on the wane. Still averaging 104 with a BE of 79 and coming up against the hapless Bombers this week, the team he scored 161 against in R3, followed by games against Port and the Pies who seem friendly enough to half backs. I did skip him after his bye due to a string of sub tons in the leadup, but I think if you want a guy this week he’s as good as any and has shown a ceiling to get us excited along the way. (see comment in opening paragraph as well).
Missed the Eagles game two week ago, so cannot comment first hand on Marcus Herbert, but by all accounts, Derek included, would be worth the trade. had 15 disposals, eight kicks (7 effective, 1 clanger), seven handballs (6 effective) six marks and gave away a free kick in a good all round performance statistically which could have been better without the clanger and free against. It came in a pressure situation of a one point loss, so I am assuming he is there for a longer term.
Whilst not in order, I have no arguments against any of the rookies traded in this week. Podhajski has a job in the absence of Jamie Elliott, one would assume, so seems a safe bet, while Swadling certainly passed the eye test and whilst it is only one game of data, I feel he is also a safe bet. Just a matter of choosing one of the three to fulfil a need in your team.
Ironically, Jack Sinclair is the single most used conduit to Luke Jackson, when you’d expect it to be Xerri. Obviously Sinclair has enough money behind him to fund an uber scorer of any denomination via use of either the flex or the defensive rookie in Annand. Getting Luke Jackson, the Unicorn, in any which way is certainly a “thing” and if you can do it you will probably be better off than trying to fill the defender’s spot first. Luke’s next two could be huge. He has a career average of 113 and a ceiling of 141 against the Suns who he scored 122 against last year on their turf, so should up that ante on his home turf at the Cray Pot. Can’t think of too many reasons not to bring in a guy averaging 131 over his last three.
Lachie Ash is usually a safe bet coming out of the Giants defence. Minor caveat, kick ins were down with Connor Idun and Harry Himmelberg taking 11 of the 16 kick ins on offer, in a reversal of recent trends. Still think Ash is a safe bet and that trend could be upended again this week. I’ve got him and I’d rather have him than not, even with a little tougher assignment against the Hawks smalls.
I think coaches who brought Sam Durham in the week before his bye expected a few more than the 90 he eked out. Still, a BE of 7 makes him an attractive proposition on a line where premos are a rare bird. Reasonable fixture with three of the next four being North, St. Kilda and GWS so probably worth the punt if he stays in the guts. Beware a named Darcy Parish however.
The Horny one, Jason Horne-Francis, can be a frustrating own. Four crap scores on the trot, followed by four straight big hundreds resulting in a three round average of 120 are evidence of this. Historically, he has not lit many fires under the Crows campsite, including a middling 75 earlier in the season. However, a Showdown is a Showdown and anything can, and usually does, happen. After that, he has a reasonable run of two games before fronting up to Freo, a team he has never scored a ton against, followed by a restrictive Lions midfield. If you like the drama, jump on, I’ve had him through the highs and the lows.
Nick Blakey is number ten on this list with 3.5k trades to date. Modest 101 average and his three and five round averages sit around that mark. Has only scored one ton in his last four although the 68 against Geelong was the outlier. Next oppo, Brisbane Lions have restricted him historically with a career average against them of 87, but more concerning is his run of five after that. In these five, his career average starts at 85 and decreases with each game until the Saints in round 21 where it sits at just 72.8. I can’t see myself taking these odds on, and whilst history can change, it is usually a pretty good indicator of the norm.
Once again, thanks for reading and please put some comments in the bottom section to let us know your thoughts and strategies. Successful trading all.