a couple of years ago the good Father (I think) produced an article focussed on the value that lower prices rookies provide when building a team…anyone have a link to that? TIA
Hey Rob, our teams are getting ridiculously similar.. I have 1 player on each line that differs.. and 3 are rookies. Naturally I gave yours a thumbs up
Having a bit of fun here, think this is the kind of absolute guns and rookies team I’d love to run, but obviously relies on some cheap guys like Moraes and Gross getting up for Rd 1.
In the event I needed to beef up the rookies with safer bets like O’Sullivan and Langford, it’d probably be someone like a Walsh down to Flynn in the flex, which frees up cash to improve both rookies and get in guys like Butters and Daicos instead Green and Brayshaw.
I’m not seeing many teams put up at this stage so I thought I would throw my latest version of Punt Road Manure Deliveries (back in business after many years of too much success!).
Backs – Sinclair, Farrell, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia, B. Allan (Busslinger, Bice)
A few differences from many other sides. I’m looking for some value with a number of these selections. Farrell hopefully gets the Houston role, Brayshaw, Rozee and English to bounce back after disappointing 2024s, Keays to play an important part of an improving Crows forward line and the mercenary Bolton to show a semblance of interest this year and justify the all-in approach that the Shockers displayed at trade period.
great to see a “non-vanilla” lineup Barry. Some bold POD’s for sure, some riskier than others.
I like the Farrell prediction, I was sneakily keeping an eye on Port training, Farrell, Sinn, Williams and Burgoyne all seem to be sharing kick-ins currently.
Thanks Steverino, it gets boring if we all have the same players. Farrell is not set in concrete. I’m also watching reports out of Alberton. Keeping an eye on Sinn and a real left-fielder in Logan Evans (although his $308K price tag is higher than I want to pay).
agreed about Logan Evans, jeez he played some fantastic, composed games late last year. Shame about his price, I was hoping somewhere near Coleman’s price or cheaper, ah well.
DEF; Sheezel Sinclair Holmes Short Travagila Allen (Reid ??)
MID Serong Butters Oliver Day Peatling Draper Jagga Smille (Moares Lindsey Erasmus)
RK Xerri English (???)
FWD Macrae Phillipou Sanders Daniels Spargo Hewitt ( Kako Curtain)
FLEX Flynn
By Passing the Bont, concerned mister magnets plays him more FWD this year, and i expect a slight drop off. But expect him to be in the team at some point after his bye RD.
Coleman to replace Short if he is good to go for RD1. Lots of good value across all lines. No Smith as i think Holmes is more likely to be top 6 DEF compared to Smith who has moved to a new team and coming back from ACL.
Some Value in the MID Line to start the season, Day, Oliver, Peatling, don’t expect them to be keepers but should give me points and $$$ for the early rounds before trading up. Could even run with 4 rookies in the MID line, depends on how the Melbourne rookies fair during pre season.
And now the wait begins, scanning pre-season training reports and watch pre-season games.
great to see a pre-season team from one of the gun supercoachers
so many questions….
English is in my team, but i do worry about the drop off last year with the rise of Sam Darcy. What do you think the ruck/forward split will be?
Sanders, only $50k extra gets you Smith who could be a year long keeper. I’d love you thoughts on Sanders pick. Was your thinking about the early bye for cats and you already have Holmes?
I’m sure these questions will be asked 1,000 times, but your thoughts on Butters vs Rozee and Serong vs Brayshaw/Young?
Yep English is a gun but a lot of uncertainty on Darcy’s role. I’m almost considering starting with Darcy he’s got that much potential despite the awkward price. So I can’t rationalise starting English
A broad Q re. structure as I have gone back and forth on this one… which would you prefer to have?
TU: 12 premiums, 3 mid-pricers, 16 rookies
TD: 11 premiums, 6 mid-pricers, 14 rookies
Or something different altogether?
Also a Q on strategy, specifically on how to utilise the new Flex position.
Do I go a ruck, a premium, a rookie or a mid-priced option? And should it be a DPP?
My thinking changes every time I set my mind to it!
It’d be great to get the thoughts from some of the more experienced and expert Super Coaches on this forum, to help us mere mortals.
my first thoughts on the Flex position is it should be a Ruck.
our problem in the past has always been to have backup if our R1 or R2 miss a week, most relied on either a cheapie at R3 or a RUC/FWD in our forward line.
having a Ruck as our Flex, instantly gives us our backup.
However, you could argue that having best 22/23 we can have a donut, but i’d prefer having a full 23 scoring players.
My first thoughts are cheap underpriced DPP and Caleb Daniels is my man.
Will be very happy if his points dont score.
It will mean all my mid/fwd rookies have scored more than him.
Still can’t decide what to do with the Flex.
I can see Dereks point, I can see WTF’s point.
I also like the idea of an additional rookie as that gives me cash generation.
Methinks it will be highly discussed over the coming weeks.
Early on I will be using a dpp rookie so that they can cover for the onfield rookies on 2 lines
After maturity I’ll use a dpp covering my worst line and/or most vulnerable
First muck about with the team picker. Version 1 of unknown… rookies are placeholders and will reveal themselves. Round 12 is a challenge already and may have to rethink the rucks.
$500 ITB
Def: Sheezel, Sinclair, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia, Allan (El-Hawli, Busslinger)
I usually come up with a witty pun for my team name this year but was wanting some inso. What are some of the best team name puns you’ve all come across?
Does anyone have info on which teams have the most Thursday and Friday night games? I’m thinking Flex position should be someone who plays early to better plan the rest of the round…
the flex position is the only position without an Emergency, therefore you can’t loophole a flex postion player. Your flex player will be in your 23 no matter what you do or what night they play.
If your flex plays on Thursday/Friday night and scores you 100+, can you not then trade one of your 22 on field downgrade to a rookie on the bubble (for example) for the cash grab? Knowing that the rookie is likely not going to outscore the flex so his score won’t count, but you can get him before his price rise? Seems like it would work no?
My understanding is that the Flex replaces one of the on-field 22 scoring players.
So, as long as there wasn’t a late out or injury-score that was lower than the rookie you brought in for one of the other 21 players on-ground, I think that’s a valid use of the flex.
I thought the flex means it’s basically best 22 of your 23 players scoring counts towards your total (incl flex). So if any of your players 0 (say they get hurt early), you still have 22 scoring (including if the flex gets hurt). So flex isn’t a replacement as much as security against a poor score elsewhere.
you are correct. the Flex player is just an extra player. you then take the best 22 scores out of your 23 players.
the flex is only poition that doesn’t have an emergency loop option, so they are on field.
If you had a thursday/frisday player, they can sit on bench with E and used if they have a goos score like usual. but if in the flex position, you can’t.
Been thinking about flexi. IMO ruck doesn’t work. If your ruck goes down and swap him with a flexi ruck you will have only the 22 players running around. I think flexi is better used as a duel position player so you can put on a bench if short term injury and swap players around easily if required.
I’ve practiced what you suggested earlier Derek and it works just perfectly with a DPP DM as emergency/bench.
I was able to move players around from all positions eg started as you suggested and got through all positions to amend defence issue.
I also agree with a top ruck as flex.
I currently have the top 3 rucks and Livingstone.
It will also work if you have a playing or non playing dpp for the r/f to go to as emergency . Then that player goes to the next position etc.
That’s how you can get to def……
that is a very thin midfield, but it makes sense to fit all the gun high-priced rookies in your team. i’m not a big fan of paying $180k for a rookie when there are $123k options. hopefully a few cheapies play round one and we can downgrad the expensive ones and turn a midpricer into another premium.
Maybe you are a premium short. how much cash in the bank?
Watch for Hewett role during preseason. At this stage i am thinking you will need him on-field at F5-F6. Look at some value for M4 Oliver Day Ashcroft even Sanders from the Kennel, all good value.
ROUND 1 $ 24 rounds left 22/1/25
# NAME POSITION TEAM STATUS $ VALUE BYE 1 BYE 2
1 Sam Flanders DEF/MID GC 1,106,000 1 15
2 Dan Houston DEF COLL 964,000 2 15
3 Matt Roberts DEF SYD 780,000 2 15
4 Kiedean Coleman DEF BRIS 521,000 2 17
5 Billy Wilson DEF/MID CARL 230,000 13
6 Josh Gibcus DEF RICH 230,000 15
7 Bo Allan DEF/MID WCE 295,000 16
8 Riley Bice DEF SYD 230,000 2 15
9 Zac Butters MID PORT 1,089,000 13
10 Isaac Heeney MID SYD 1,079,000 2 15
11 Patrick Cripps MID CARL 1,026,000 13
12 Will Ashcroft MID BRIS 843,000 2 17
13 Mattaes Philllipou MID/FWD STK 656,000 14
14 Bailey Smith MID/FWD GEE 598,000 2 17
15 Elijah Hewett MID/FWD WCE 332,000 16
16 Saad El-Hawli DEF/FWD ESS 230,000 3 17
17 Jagga Smith MID CARL 334,000 13
18 Murphy Reid MID FREO 292,000 14
19 Tristan Xerri RUCK NTH MELB 1,175,000 16
20 Max Gawn RUCK MELB 1,147,000 14
21 Max Heath RUCK/FWD STK 230,000 14
22 Jason Horne-Francis MID/FWD PORT 919,000 13
23 Isaac Rankine FWD ADEL 819,000 16
24 Caleb Daniel MID/FWD NTH MELB 514,000 13
25 Sam Powell-Pepper FWD PORT 498,000 13
26 Isaac Kako MID/FWD ESS 304,000 3 17
27 Daniel Curtin FWD ADEL 300,000 16
28 Samson Ryan RUCK/FWD RICH 450,000 15
29 Corey Warner FWD SYD 257,000 2 15
30 Deven Robertson MID/FWD BRIS 301,000 2 17
17,749,000
Hi all,
stacked with DDP,
incl Flex,
Gone hard with rucks + 2 Dpp ruck/fwd,
sorry about the messy format, it is an excel ss that I use,
Happy Supering.
FLEX
I’ve been thinking about only having one playing ruck like Xerri or TDK alongside the 2 cheapest rookies and then having Bont as my Flex.
In effect Bont would be my R2
Early thinking is that there’s a nice opportunity for POD premos in DEF with everyone seemingly flocking to Flanders, Sheezel, and Sinclair (the % ownership usually spreads as the season gets closer)
How do we rank the following/thoughts on their profile for the season:
– L Ryan (seems to always start the season red hot and can’t see role changing)
– Whitfield (very important for how GWS play and back his form to continue)
– Zorko (role change with Coleman back?)
– McGovern (always an injury risk, can’t start with him)
– NWM (love him as a player and love his trajectory to keep improving)
– Nic Martin (similar to NWM, good trajectory and improvement)
– Dan Houston (monopoly on the back-half at Collingwood)
– Tom Stewart (does he get back to his best? If so, very underpriced)
– Sicily (will he play more forward with Battle and Barrass arriving?)
– Ridley (can we trust his body?)
– Holmes (does the arrival of Smith help ease the load on him and he runs a bit more freely?)
I’m not liking Flanders or Sheezel as starters at this stage. I think Sheezel probably has less time down back this year and might drop a few pts
I’m looking at the blues mcgovern as a potential after Newmans season ending injury he’ll be getting an extra 6 kicks a game at least or maybe Saad gets back to 100+ Preseason might show something
I think Holmes is a great pick at his price point and his second half of the year was great. Not touching Zorko and Whitfield burnt me too many times historically. Siciliy too risky for mine. Ridley at his best underpriced and Essendon want him as the floater but yes, who would know with his body. Stewart is a good shot, seems well underpriced
i seriously don’t think they will play Sicily forward. he is too good as a defender.
the hawks have Moore, Ginnivan, macdonald, Watson and Punky as the smalls, and Gunston and Chol as talls.
i think they will look at another tall because lewis won’t be back until after the byes and Dear has had a few back issues. Gunston has been in great touch at training, so has Ramsden.
there has also been talk of a fully fit Reeves playing as a forward
Ryan: depends on Freo’s level of commitment to moving away from their passive overpossesing style which has afforded Ryan so much economy. Clark the beneficiary when they invest in opening up the ground and putting numbers ahead of the ball anticipating a stoppage win.
Whitfield: Great. Just depends how highly you rank him among your desired R0 players.
Zorko: Think he’ll lowkey go well again. That role suits him and will be the spot he sees out his career. They won’t thrust him into a high MG role after a season at HB. I haven’t considered him though. Not because of Coleman, who honestly isn’t that much of a problem given he’s disciplined, tight and still defends (similar to Saad actually). Just think there’s more upside elsewhere and R0 bye.
Gov: No need, I think. I started him the year before last where his price balanced against his injury profile. No pay off to him staying on the park given his priced off a full, strong season. Pass.
NWM: You’re on the money with him. Trajectory and internal rating both there. Went from 85 to 100 flat last year. Totally fair pick.
Martin: Need to see where he settles but will be sort of shackled to the strength of Essendon’s season give his eco in a MID adjacent role will be tied to core numbers like clearances, scores per I50, etc.
Houston: Will have the role to monopolize but the Pies’ style is more so pressure, turnover and repeat stoppage than it is D50 generation. So question is ‘is that monopoly big enough?’. He’s also a weapon venturing outside of D50, so I still think he’ll go really well.
Stewart: Solid pick. Scored even while getting tagged, shifted around and Holmes emerging. New changes make him appear more undepriced than he is though. R0 bye is a pain though.
Sicily: I’m with Derek. He doesn’t play FWD. Maybe as a break glass option but starts down back every week. Barrass and Battle liberate him. Could be VERY dangerous if he is just dancing in intercept economy the first month.
Ridley: The anti-Sicily in a sense given the Dons lack of defensive personnel forces him into all kinds of ridiculous match ups. Plus his injury profile. Not one I’d bother with, even if he cooks. We’re spoiled in DEF this year. Just need to get past the byes.
Holmes: Rated very highly internally, Cats have been waiting to unleash him while also struggling make sure his management profile is right. DEF, OB, he’ll cook anywhere tbh.
I currently have him (Holmes) along with Flanders and Sheezel, who I just see as non-negotiables. Looking for that 4th DEF with Daicos likely coming out due to injury and fixture.
B: Holmes, McKercher, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia, B Allan (El-Hawli, Bice)
M: Naicos, Day, Oliver, W Ashcroft, Peatling, O’Driscoll, J Smith, E Allan (Tasatas, L Ashcorft, Smillie)
R: T De Koning, Flynn (Uhr-Henry)
F: JHF, Rankine, Macrae, B Smith, Daniel, T Lynch (Hewett, Erasmus)
Flex: Xerri
I agree with comments making Ruck the Flex. It appears Flex can be captain too. It seems hard this year to avoid expensive rookies, at least in the midfield. I have a short(long)list of rookies on watchlist and those will obviously change. It’s hard with everyone flying and playing midfield at this time of year!
Still have 224k in the bank for room to move. Not comfortable leaving Sheezel out but McKercher’s 2024 numbers were amazing even being injury affected. I really want Zerrett too but Day is seriously underpriced. C Oliver of course a preseason watch. Open to comments
Hi Derek, what’s your rationale for that comment. He’s slowly been trending to more CBs for a couple of years. He’s training and simming in the guts and Lairdy is training back a fair bit. Draper will not take over a full time slot for a while and they will still look to Crouch to give off CB clearances and Ranks is explosive in that role. Just saying!!
Hi JD. I would love to see probable 22 from your assessment.
They appear to have a, IMO, what’s happening with most lucky clubs now, and that’s a more multiple flexi (no pun intended) rotation combination at CB and on ball.
Your thoughts, and anyone else’s would be great to read regarding points. Cheers all.
My estimation is that the Crows have up to 15 players who will/could get midfield minutes before actual round 1 teams drop. I think the following (mostly in CB% order) will be there at some stage.
Dawson, Crouch, Soligo, Rankine, Berry, Peatling, Draper, Rachelle, ANB, Laird, Curtin, Pedlar, Dowling, Taylor, Keays
A few of those forwards above will not even register enough time in the guts to qualify for DDP but will impact at different stages. The core group should come from the first 8 listed if the team remains relatively injury free.
Predicting best 23 is always hard but I have this in mind at this stage. Obviously it could change dramatically with Sim and Trial form, also pending pre season injury or recovery rates to important players (ie Milera, Pedlar, Cumming)
If the plan is working, Dawson will float to wherever needed. Laird will float back more and play cameo CB roles, Soligo, Crouch and Peatling will play mostly as extractors with Curtin’s skills to be utilised where needed. Rankine, Rachelle and Draper should be mainly explosive receivers out of the guts and driving into attack, fingers crossed it works that way.
If Milera doesn’t come up for R1, Nankervis, Jones or Smith are unlucky to miss but likely to get first dibs. Unlucky at this stage and equally possible starters are Sam Berry, Butts, Pedlar. Cook, Dowling, Furthermore, Bond, Taylor and Murphy seem to be showing what depth players are all about.
Add to that, Charlie Edwards and Oscar Ryan need to be blooded on top of a good pre season so far, and Harry Schoenberg at some stage will be fully recovered from his achilles to put his name up.
SA bit long winded Cham but I hope it gives you some idea of the possibilities.
I will be doing a Crows review prior to round zero, so keep an eye out for that.
Plenty of players will sit in the forward line this year before Daws. Forward line stacked with options now with ANB, Peatling, Keays, Rachelle, Rankine, Curtin, Murphy, Pedlar Cook etc.to fill those roles along side the key forwards.
If anything Daws will likely sit back when needed and points will accumulate from his distribution skills.
Cheers and Thanks JD.
…. and if you are not already part of their selection committee, this assessment would be a perfect resume. Cheers and thanks again.
My initial thoughts is to 1) make cash – hopefully some of the cheaper rookies play and we don’t have to pick all the expensive rookies, and 2) don’t lose buckets of cash, like most years when i pick all the very expensive players and they become $100k cheaper. So looking for cheap premiums and ‘fallen’ premiums to fill my team. We need to fit one extra player into our salary-caps this year.
DEF: Sicily, Stewart, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia, Allen (Reid, Leake)
If Sicily’s role is to be the interceptor and leave the three B’s to lock-down, Sic will be back baby, if there is talk him going forward, i’ll look elsewhere. Stewart is too cheap to ingore for someone who averaged 110 & 114 in the two years prior to his poor 99 last year. Mills and Coleman pick themselves. I’m leaving plenty of room to get the likes of Sheezel, Flanders, Ryan when hopefully they get a bit cheaper.
Bont and Daicos are the two best players, might as well have them as C/VC options. Serong and Butters are both in consideration and if Daicos has an interupted pre-season one will take his place (probably Serong). I have Green and Rozee for now because they have an injury effected price and are incredible value. they are in a group that include Dawson, Young and Miller all around $550k. I can have 2 of them at M3 and M4 before slotting Oliver at M5. The expensive rookies make up M6-M8 and hopefully some cheaper rookies who play early for the bench.
RUCK: Gawn, Sweet (Sims)
Have another look at Gawns 2024 numbers! Just pick him. I’m happy to fade Xerri for now, he has a tough run of games to start and relative young i’d like to see how he backs up after his breakout year. English looks value, but i worry about darcy getting better. J Sweet is my traditional risky R2. he will be solo ruck at PTA and i can see him being the ‘2025 Xerri’. he might become Flynn is he is WCE solo ruck.
The forward line seems the easiest to pick this year. Close watch on Bolton and Parker as underpriced fallen premiums. Also a sneeky watch on Zac Williams with Newman going down. Hewett and Stone i can see playing round 1 and being good on-field options, not sure about Lynch.
As a Hawks fan I love Day. The difference he made to the team last year when he came back from injury was unbelievable.
Day will win a Brownlow before he retires.
I’m a bit old school when it comes to premiums. I find it very difficult to pick the break-out premo. I prefer to look for underpriced fallen premiums who have been there done that. Probably why I’ve got Stewart in my team again.
I have considered him, but Rozee for $38k is in my team at the moment. Day would also be behind Ashcroft at that price.
I won’t mind if I’m wrong and Days win the Brownlow this year
It wouldn’t be January if your team didn’t have a risky R2!
Not seeing many teams running two rookies onfield in defence. It’s a nice thought starter. Especially since there is a perceived of a lack of value in top end options. In previous years two infield rookies would be a negative. But with the flex and best 18 in rounds 2-3, there is perhaps room for this thinking.
I see round 3 as a problem for you. A bit over represented there. I see your faith in Stewart, but I think he’s perhaps declining as a SC option. He now seems like he can be shut down. Age sees him rested late in games when it’s been won. Plus I think Humphries is equally as trusted with ball in hand, so he is less the key distributor. And then you have R3.
Daicos has two question marks for me – the plantar fasciitis and round 3. I also think with Gawn and Bont in your side you have enough early VC/C options without Daicos.
Yours is one of the few sides without Philippou. What are your reasons for fading him?
As a Hawthorn man, it’s also noteworthy that you are fading Day. Good to understand your logic.
I’ve swapped Daicos to Serong and I’ll let that sit for a couple of days and see how I feel about it. FRE draw and byes are nice.
Phillipou hasn’t been in any of my teams so far. His price is too awkward. My other mid-price players, expect Sweet, are fallen premiums and the value is obvious.
I can see him scoring 80 and that will be a nice bit of cash. But I’d prefer another rookie who can make more cash. In Best 18 weeks Phillipou type scores might not even count and will feel like a bit of a waste.
I prefer another rookie in the forward who can score almost as well and make more cash.
My understanding was that a standard percentage across the board was applied to all prices. I thought it was 3.3% – which would simply be 30/31 = 3.3%
when you look at different levels, it does support it. So the bottom price this year is 99,200. Last year was 102,300. So 3.3%. Similarly 119,900 this year 123,900 last year. Also 3.3%.
I am concerned with Marshall role for the Saints. The club is short on experience Tall FWD and i will be watching if Marshall plays FWD more to assist King. If that’s the case you could pick up Marshall as a DPP at a cheaper price.
Thinking JHF wont hurt you too much if you fade him at the start, and talk is Coleman will be eased back into the role off HB. Wouldn’t surprise me if he is used as sub the first few games back.
Rioli and Noble running off HB is a concern for Flanders. But definitely a preseason watch, needs to be full time MID. Any signs of resting forward would be a concern to his pts.
Dug into RoMo for a piece I’m writing atm. Finished strongly, off-season surgery and Saints still love/need his impact FWD.
Does look like he’ll start solo though. Just on their 22.
JHF is just an easy Top 6 lockaway. Can be faded but don’t see how else people are filling out their FWD lines. I still see upside in terms of role, ceiling and fixture.
Coleman might not even be up for R1.
Flanders I have no concerns about. Great progression, scores everywhere, excellent attributes. Every team has a HB line. Rioli and Noble don’t have me that scared.
Yes the Suns a very nice early fixtures and one of the best draws for the whole season. My line of thinking is Flanders is max out in terms of value, combined with not 1 but 2 new lads running the ball out of DEF. No Doubt Flanders is a top 6 defender, but the one i am interested in is Anderson. Just a steady rise the past few years and now entering the prime 5 years of his playing career. Early bye is a issue but the 2nd bye suits structure. Could be a early sideways trade RD3-4.
Have I got this right about the flex player? Aren’t they effectively the ultimate DPP, as their score will count across all / any four lines, providing it is in the best 22 scores that week?
Thanks for the feedback PP.
Opted for premiums in other positions, thinking it’d be easier to get premium mids throughout the season. So there are 4 prem mids ATM, and12 all up across the starting 22, not a good start you reckon?
I don’t mind the thinner midfield, Teeps. It’s clear you’ve spread those savings well.
Don’t think you can go Hogan though. I actually had him last year from the byes onwards and he absolutely cooked for me – it was great. Had planned to look at him again but Giants fixture gets tough and he’s got the early bye.
Love the Clark, Holmes and I’m guessing bye Edwards you mean Ed Richards lol? If so, I’m hot on him too. Great pick. Also morph Ed Richards into Edwards myself ahaha.
I think also there’s been a lot of positive press about other rookies, but it’s been relatively quiet around him. I also got put off my a training report out of North that suggested Urqhart was more of a training standout. Maybe he’s not as AFL ready as some of the other rookies. Personally I like to be sucked in by a lot of rookie hype if I am paying the rookie premium. Still a watch in preseason
First draft has predictable forward line.
Daicos and $17k come into my team in place of Butters if Daicos shakes injury concern
Gone with several high priced rookies.
I reckon selection of W Brodie and English may raise a few eyebrows.
Def: Sheezel, NWM, Holmes, Coleman, Travaglia, Z Reid (Allan, El-Hawli)
Mid: Butters, LDU, T Green, Petracca, Oliver, W Ashcroft, W Brodie, L Ashcroft (Lalor, O’Sullivan, Langford)
Ruck: English, Flynn (Boyd)
Fwd: JHF, Macrae, Smith, Daniel, SPP, Curtin (Erasmus, Moir)
Flex: D Robertson
I can’t entertain English after he regressed a full 20 points on his 2023 average last year.
128.0 to 108.0
Probably still a little salty I paid up for him last year and copped it but even so I think Xerri plays such a well rounded game, TDK’s fixture really opens up and Maxxy is still a good shout if Racca and Satan line up in good nick come R1.
Flynn R2 also makes me shudder. Eagles supporter. Will have overall poor economy in a poor side and BJ could still play alongside him.
Hi Bob.
Unfortunately the thumbs up only let me agree once.
I reckon he may even for the first couple of games, if no serious injuries have occurred, come on at the expense of Coleman as part of a resting/training program. A similar program is often used in reverse with oldies and newbies ie newbies off, oldies on…… but that’s of course if everything goes to plan and on schedule……
Not sure it is the best first attempt that I have had. There are some value players to be had across the lines, and think the forward line is probably the easiest picked (which is a relief given how tough it has been in previous years).
I think I need to shift some cash around to get better depth and not have so many rookies on field.
My thoughts on Flynn at R3 were a cash generator in a position that is often not utilised, but would likely be a slow burn. It might cost an extra 150k to begin with but if he made 150k plus, it would certainly help come upgrade season.
That being said, I have taken on the advice and have merged Sweet and Flynn into TDK and Sims. And I was able to keep Draper in the mids – and now have 76.6k ITB.
Hi All,
Just wondering whether there maybe a few Fantasy players confused with how a flexi works compared to a utility.
A flexi players score is assessed in the best 22 no matter what.
A utility is only included if it has an Emergency and covers a non-playing player in that role.
Ps A little secret, have a late fixture game DPP as a flexi………
that was the main discussion for the start of 2024.
i think in the end, everyone over reacted a bit. The best 18 seemed to solve most of those issues and people who started Green, daicos etc weren’t too far behind by round 6. As long as you don’t have 4+ missing in one week
It would be a case if you are 50/50 on two players and one had an early bye and the other didn’t it would tip the scale.
Still pondering the best way to use the flex. Prob still will be on the 13th March.
Think Meek might be this years Xerri. Dawson had a poor year but I think the Crows will be better and he’ll get back to the form of ’23.
And Schoenmaker is a gut hunch. Have you seen his left boot?!
Do you really think Sic will play down back Derek? I’m not a Hawks fan so don’t follow them in great detail but I assumed that the very reason they picked up Battle and Barrass was so that Sic could go forward?
The Hawks will have Chol and Gunston playing forward. Apparently Gunston is training really well (I assume the hawks will continue doing the Gunston/Breust tag team). Dear has a back issue and Lewis has an ACL to recover from. Hawks look very likely to play either Ramsden or Reeves as a tall forward.
Add Watson, Ginnivan, Moore, MacDonald and Hardwick to forward line, I don’t see a need to send Sicily forward.
F – Macrae, Parker, Pou, Daniel, Lynch, Powell-Pepper (Hewett, Cleary)
Flex – Flynn
3k itb
Pretty light in terms of uber premo mids but can drop some risky picks like Lynch, Powell Pepper (and guys that might not play ie Sheldrick) to upgrade Cerra/Peatling types
WBD Darcy is forward only. I was hoping he had Ruck/Fwd status. He would have been tempting! I would have loved a fwd line that had Smith, Macrae, Daniel, Sanders and Darcy. Then I just needed to wait for Bont to gain DPP!
Good to be back for another year of AFL Supercoach. Although early, I don’t think I’ve ever been so relaxed at this stage with my team. I feel like I’ve locked most of my picks in at this point and I’m just changing a tweaking a few positions and overall setup.
I mean, it’s pretty cookie cutter at the moment. What I’m playing around with is the use of the flex, and that forward premium spot: JHF, or the use of another defender premium.
Swapping someone like JHF to Jordan Clark and running Macrae at F1 is something I’m considering, since I quite like Rozee at the price, and having the 3 Port midfielders, may be risky. Rozee could go down to a Oliver, Ashcroft or Day if cash is required. But that spot I’m hoping to use as a POD option.
I wouldn’t mind the extra defender as I’m not as confident on those defender rookie options, but that is something more options will come closer to the season start. Either one of the Freo boys being my pick, pending cash.
Also having someone like Flynn, over Phillipou is on my mind. I have interest with TDK and Sean Darcy but will need to watch them throughout pre-season. I don’t think I’d mind having Flynn at R2 if he looks the goods. I’ve had Flynn for flex since the start of the team picker, but I’m leaning with the abundance of midfield rookies, that could be a better use and easy to use the flex position to begin with. Phillipou has shown he can score in the midfield and at his price he will make cash, Be a top 10? Maybe, again, need the preseason games.
Thanks for reading! I like posting here as I can get a few of my thoughts out onto “paper”, which sparks further ideas and strategy into my mind.
Cheers, TJ.
I’m very keen on Rozee at his price. When fully fit I don’t see much between Rozee and Butters, the money saved on Rozee is huge. Take out the 3 injury affected games and Rozee should be $605k
Rozee definitely value, I just don’t think I can look past picking Butters. He’s elite. Then adding JHF in, is it too many Port mids? Round 12 bye could be an issue with Dogs and North.
Bont Rozee Oliver B Smith J Smith S Draper Smillie B Allan (Lalor/Kako/El Hawaii)
Xerri English (A Reid)
Simpkin Bolton Macrae Daniel Lynch SPP (Curtin/J Berry)
JHF
Probably one premo short to start, but with so many rookie options, reckon that will pay off long term. Early bye rds look good, and only r12 looking a problem later…..plenty of time to fix.
Reckon high scoring m/f is way to go with flex….lots of options from that.
Faded big Max……reckon his age and lack of pre-season might catch up with him.
Rozee over Butters…Rozee had many injury affected games last year, is all class, and much cheaper than Butters
Coleman, Satan, and SPP all attractively priced with little risk.
You say that you feel you are one premium short, but the way I see it is you have picked plenty of options that can be keepers, although saying that, issue being, It’s too speculative. In short, mid price madness. Banking on Rozee, McKercher and Oliver to go top 8-10 in respective positions is risky, but can work.
In my opinion, Dale, Simpkin, Bolton probably won’t price you out. It’s easier to trade in someone at 500-550k than someone at 650-700k. Finding value is great but you want consistent VC/C options each week and in your team, you can only really ‘rely’ on Bont and Xerri. Although POD captain choices in Sinclair and English, you can’t trust them. As an example, Butters having Richmond (118av) and Essendon (121av) R2&3 has to play in your mind.
In saying all that, you won’t win the comp by playing safe, but you might fall too far behind if you miss the top end uber premiums.
Need your thoughts on Millsy’s role this year.
Yes he finished ok, but remember there was no Heeney etc at times.
Do you think he will have a tagging role?
Do you think a run with tag?….. or do you think he could be another Heeney?
Your words will be used for focus during the pre-season entertainment.
Cheers
Second and finial squads until all “types” of practice matches complete , so we can see which rookies are probable starts and any new positions for the regulars are going to be.
Def : J. McGovern, NWM, Nobel, Mills, Logue, Travaglia, (Reid & Bice)
Mid: Gulden, E. Richards, Oliver, B Smith, A . Roberts, Phillipou. F O’Sullivan, O’Driscoll
(Lombard & Bo Allan & El-Hawli)
Ruck: Xerri (Capt), Cameron (Heath)
For :JHF, Baker, Macrae, Daniel, Kako, E. Hewett (Stone & Aidan Johnson)
Flex : Jackson (R/F)
ITB $17,500
Far. I can make such a nice side by running Flynn as an R2 but it’s totally a non-starter. Honestly, even him as a flex or R3 I’m not there on and believe me I ALWAYS jump at R3 cash gen and am an Eagles man.
Few issues.
First. He’ll have a poor economy in an Eagles side with a lopsided midfield and poor set up behind the ball. Can see so much of his HOs getting sharked and being deprived of the down the line intercepts or scoreboard impact that other rucks have.
He’s done 85, yes, but in a FAR better stocked GWS side. I see him going at 75-80 with us in all honesty.
Then there’s holding down the #1 ruck role. I think, yes, he gets the nod but can still see BJ playing in the side as a tall or eventually coming in if he’s dislodged him entirely. Yes BJ has very little attributes but he’s EASILY been our hardest worker the last torrid two years. No puts in the yards like BJ.
So, yeah, super ambivalent on Flynn. Because we’re so cooked and he might not have the #1 gig to himself.
That said, the side I can make with him at R2 is cracked as.
This is what I have come up after 24hrs of mucking around. I am sure it will change another 100 times before final team is finalised.
Still not 100% sure of the flex (or really how it works fully). Get it that it’s an extra player and it’s best 22 of 23 and all that. But not sure e.g if C.Daniel is the Flex for instance and a Ruck goes down can Daniel be used as the replacement or does it have to be a replacement for only a Mid/Fwd?.
I have gone with the sheep with the Ruck Flex in Flynn but I am seriously looking at a midprice Daniel/B.Smith/Parker/Phillipou type instead if they can cover Rucks in that way??
Other notes. Lots of doubts on rookies this year compared with good midpricers. Have gone away from selecting great looking rookies first and selecting the Guns first which might be the wrong strategy (may have started too early this year!). This may change still. Will have to have a close look ok at the pre-season games. May take a few risks on cheapy rookies even if named only as emergencies.
Worried about the mids and where I can find some cash to bolster the last 4 or 5 mid spots. If Daniel goes to Flex will use the Flynn cash on better rookies in mids.
So many changes already… Parker’s gone. Poo to the fwds. Slotted Peatling in the mids for the moment (liked him at GWS and all reports he is fitting in well in Ade, only prob he wont be top 10 mid keeper, still think will take him for the possible scores. Cerra has the same issue).
I’m still a sheep with Flynn as Flex. Haven’t got the plums to run an extra premo Ruck in Flex (other lines look terrible when i do it but maybe I’m missing the point). Gotta get $10k from somewhere to go Boyd to Sims at R3. Bank is $700!
I do like it Rod. My only concern is missing the more expensive rookies, Travaglia, J.Smith, Ashcroft and the likes. Obviously early, but don’t think Dev Robertson, Hustwaite and bench will get games early. Will be better to have those expensive rookies in now so the pivot down is easier if required come round 1.
I’m off the Flynn train at the moment. I also don’t want to pay and extra 10k for a ruck loop, when Boyd is every chance to play now at 99k. That’s how I look at it. And the cash from Flynn, could help with the rookie situation I just mentioned.
I like your change with Parker to Peatling via Poo.
Side note: How the Flex worked with BBL is that it will cover all positions. So if Flynn is your Flex, he will cover your teams overall lowest score, as an example a defender who scored 20 would drop for Flynns score of 80.
Side Side note: I’m a Pies man and I love Daicos just as much as anyone else but can’t start him with a potential R0 tag, R3 bye and small injury niggles this preseason. Will need to get him in at some point though.
Another point about the Flex. If you are using a mid/Fwd rather than a ruck, I guess you can Sub/change it round to round if its a mid/fwd or mid/def depending on fixture whereas if it’s a ruck you are pretty locked into it being a Ruck with limited options to Sub.
Maybe that’s not that relevant in the early rounds be will be in the later rounds.
Shame Blicavs hasn’t got Ruck/Mid status this year or he would of been a good Flex option!
Given the ability of top rucks to outscore the other positions, this makes some sense to me! Finding 3 23 game rucks though is a thing…Marshall is one, on last year Xerri is two, Max is getting on and Tingles has the Darcy conundrum,thoughts?
Just check the byes.
Best IMO to only have one of your main rucks missing during a bye, then you can flex to the fullest using the bye ruck as your sleeping ruck and if needed capt.
R12 is a doozy, can only have one of Xerri, English and TDK. With Darcy still not 100% and Boyd (R3) looming as a ruck-share with Marshall, I’m going with Gawn and one of the first three with Oliver in Flex for now. If Darcy survives the Qatar Potions, he will come into my FLX possy.
Yeah had a look at that as well on R12. Think i’ve decided with best 18 it’s not worth changing just for that round. Hope Flynn works out as that can cover one Ruck at least. And I will have two Rucks in the other later bye rounds.
Is the Big O from Bris over his injury? Could Darcy Forte at $190k r/f be an option for the Flex. I am sure there would be better ownership if that was the case hey ?
Conway of Geelong is on my mind… that’s his spot to lose i think cos the cats would rather not use Blicsavs in the ruck and Stanley is getting old and durability and or ability is his problem. Conway as main ruck should av 90 if he gets a run at it,foots a worry though.
Have a flexi that is playing the later games of the round.
Then if an emergency scores high and all on field are playing it will give extra flexibility to move things around and still get best 22 of 23 and include that score.
I am understanding it’s 35 trades. You are limited to 2 trades per round (except mid season byes when you have 3). If you want to use 3 trades in a round, you activate a boost. You can do this 5 times. So it’s not 35 + 5. It’s 35 including 5 boosts.
re flex… as Freo are coy on the matter, if Darcy is certain to miss several early games is anyone considering Luke Jackson with R/F status in the flex position?
are you suggesting then that flex is essentially irrelevant during that period and that one could carry Darcy for that time if he’s integral to ones team?…or simply trade him in when he is fit and on the park?
…given a third of the season is best 18 there is plenty to ponder…
I currently have Darcy as my R2 and TDK. Listen to the latest podcast of “Insight AFL Supercoach injury update'”. It also discusses TDK sole ruck role with injuries to Curnow and McKay.
Please correct me if I’m wrong but my reading of the flex position is that with best 22 of 23 scores counting the flex replaces your lowest score irrespective of whether their positions are the same.
I don’t mind this lineup potentially 15 keepers if I include Mills,Washcroft,Harley,Oliver,Bolton, Macrae, BSmith & Phillipou
Some of the highly picked rookies are actually injured/recovering/in rehab and will be very unlikely for the first couple of rounds, or they have looked out of their depth or fringe in club match sim so I haven’t picked them
Harley Reid is an interesting pod. Not sure he will score consistently enough in that WCE lineup to be valued a keeper. Only 3 tons last year but two of those over 135, so has the scoring power obviously, he’s a jet. But If you asked me which one out of Reid or Mckercher, I’d go Mckercher. More chance at being a top 10 defender than I think Reid is of being a top 10 midfielder.
Still trying to get my head around the best use of the flex position.
Is the consensus that we’re best to use it essentially as a position to have a keeper?
In particular, a third ruck keeper because this gives us ruck cover.
Which in turn means we’re running another line with one less keeper?
I would traditionally aim for a 3-5-2-3 structure to start the season but the flex is messing with that.
Thumbs up – Flex should be a ruck keeper
Thumbs down – Flex can be anything
I think the flex should be a value pick who will average 60-80 points while increasing his price because you will always have someone scoring less than that he can replace in a best 22 scoring scenario.
a couple of years ago the good Father (I think) produced an article focussed on the value that lower prices rookies provide when building a team…anyone have a link to that? TIA
is this it?
https://supercoachtalk.com/the-year-of-the-cow-like-object/
thank you…much appreciated…the article is a timely reminder for this season i reckon
https://supercoachtalk.com/the-year-of-the-cow-like-object/
thank you ….much appreciated
Backs
H.Sheezel, J.Sinclair, C.Mills, T.Travaglia, J.Gibcus, S.El-Hawli (B.Allan, K.Smith
Midfielders
M.Bontempelli, Z.Butters, A.Brayshaw, C.Oliver, A.Cerra, J.Smith, S.Draper, L.Ashcroft (H.Langford, J.Smillie, X.Lindsay)
Rucks
T.Xerri, T.De Koning (A.Riddle)
Forwards
J.Horne-Francis, J.Macrae, B.Smith, M.Phillipou, C.Daniel, E.Hewitt (J.Barrat, J.Dattoli)
Flex
M.Flynn
Hey Rob, our teams are getting ridiculously similar.. I have 1 player on each line that differs.. and 3 are rookies. Naturally I gave yours a thumbs up
DEF
Flanders, Sinclair, Holmes
Travaglia, Allan, El-Hawli
(Leake, Bice)
MID
Bontempelli, Brayshaw
Walsh, Green, Petracca
Draper, Ashcroft, Smillie
(Lindsay, Moraes, Gross)
RUC
Gawn, Xerri
(Livingstone)
FWD
Horne-Francis, Smith, Phillipou
Daniel, Kako, Hewett
(Erasmus, Davis)
FLEX
Jagga
Having a bit of fun here, think this is the kind of absolute guns and rookies team I’d love to run, but obviously relies on some cheap guys like Moraes and Gross getting up for Rd 1.
In the event I needed to beef up the rookies with safer bets like O’Sullivan and Langford, it’d probably be someone like a Walsh down to Flynn in the flex, which frees up cash to improve both rookies and get in guys like Butters and Daicos instead Green and Brayshaw.
Gday, is it me or something is wrong. No commets from 7 Jan and I have re booted the site
Same here.. 2024 keeps coming up too..
Possibly the rest of us don’t have “SC Plus” to use the 2025 Team-picker…we’re all eagerly awaiting the opening for regular players?
I’m not seeing many teams put up at this stage so I thought I would throw my latest version of Punt Road Manure Deliveries (back in business after many years of too much success!).
Backs – Sinclair, Farrell, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia, B. Allan (Busslinger, Bice)
Mids – Bont, Brayshaw, Rozee, Oliver, Peatling, Phillipou, Draper, Langford (Jagga, Smillie, El-Hawli)
Rucks – Xerri, English (Sims)
Forwards – Keays, Bolton, Macrae, Baz, Daniel, Hewett (Lynch, Kako)
Flex – Flynn ($50K left)
A few differences from many other sides. I’m looking for some value with a number of these selections. Farrell hopefully gets the Houston role, Brayshaw, Rozee and English to bounce back after disappointing 2024s, Keays to play an important part of an improving Crows forward line and the mercenary Bolton to show a semblance of interest this year and justify the all-in approach that the Shockers displayed at trade period.
Comments welcome.
great to see a “non-vanilla” lineup Barry. Some bold POD’s for sure, some riskier than others.
I like the Farrell prediction, I was sneakily keeping an eye on Port training, Farrell, Sinn, Williams and Burgoyne all seem to be sharing kick-ins currently.
Thanks Steverino, it gets boring if we all have the same players. Farrell is not set in concrete. I’m also watching reports out of Alberton. Keeping an eye on Sinn and a real left-fielder in Logan Evans (although his $308K price tag is higher than I want to pay).
agreed about Logan Evans, jeez he played some fantastic, composed games late last year. Shame about his price, I was hoping somewhere near Coleman’s price or cheaper, ah well.
Can someone explain how Docherty averaged 25 (due injury) last year, and is priced 487k? And how did they work out Coleman’s price?
Because they work off the highest average of the last 2 years now, like AFL FANTASY
Thanks for the reply. Can’t say I’m too happy about it. Any step closer to Fantasy is a bad one
No SC Gold to work form so could be over budget.
DEF; Sheezel Sinclair Holmes Short Travagila Allen (Reid ??)
MID Serong Butters Oliver Day Peatling Draper Jagga Smille (Moares Lindsey Erasmus)
RK Xerri English (???)
FWD Macrae Phillipou Sanders Daniels Spargo Hewitt ( Kako Curtain)
FLEX Flynn
By Passing the Bont, concerned mister magnets plays him more FWD this year, and i expect a slight drop off. But expect him to be in the team at some point after his bye RD.
Coleman to replace Short if he is good to go for RD1. Lots of good value across all lines. No Smith as i think Holmes is more likely to be top 6 DEF compared to Smith who has moved to a new team and coming back from ACL.
Some Value in the MID Line to start the season, Day, Oliver, Peatling, don’t expect them to be keepers but should give me points and $$$ for the early rounds before trading up. Could even run with 4 rookies in the MID line, depends on how the Melbourne rookies fair during pre season.
And now the wait begins, scanning pre-season training reports and watch pre-season games.
You have $243,200 in the bank
great to see a pre-season team from one of the gun supercoachers
so many questions….
English is in my team, but i do worry about the drop off last year with the rise of Sam Darcy. What do you think the ruck/forward split will be?
Sanders, only $50k extra gets you Smith who could be a year long keeper. I’d love you thoughts on Sanders pick. Was your thinking about the early bye for cats and you already have Holmes?
I’m sure these questions will be asked 1,000 times, but your thoughts on Butters vs Rozee and Serong vs Brayshaw/Young?
Yep English is a gun but a lot of uncertainty on Darcy’s role. I’m almost considering starting with Darcy he’s got that much potential despite the awkward price. So I can’t rationalise starting English
Hi all, Happy New Year!
A broad Q re. structure as I have gone back and forth on this one… which would you prefer to have?
TU: 12 premiums, 3 mid-pricers, 16 rookies
TD: 11 premiums, 6 mid-pricers, 14 rookies
Or something different altogether?
Also a Q on strategy, specifically on how to utilise the new Flex position.
Do I go a ruck, a premium, a rookie or a mid-priced option? And should it be a DPP?
My thinking changes every time I set my mind to it!
It’d be great to get the thoughts from some of the more experienced and expert Super Coaches on this forum, to help us mere mortals.
Cheers!
my first thoughts on the Flex position is it should be a Ruck.
our problem in the past has always been to have backup if our R1 or R2 miss a week, most relied on either a cheapie at R3 or a RUC/FWD in our forward line.
having a Ruck as our Flex, instantly gives us our backup.
However, you could argue that having best 22/23 we can have a donut, but i’d prefer having a full 23 scoring players.
My first thoughts are cheap underpriced DPP and Caleb Daniels is my man.
Will be very happy if his points dont score.
It will mean all my mid/fwd rookies have scored more than him.
Still can’t decide what to do with the Flex.
I can see Dereks point, I can see WTF’s point.
I also like the idea of an additional rookie as that gives me cash generation.
Methinks it will be highly discussed over the coming weeks.
It is best 22 of any 23.
It’s isn’t just the flex player who’s score is replaced
Early on I will be using a dpp rookie so that they can cover for the onfield rookies on 2 lines
After maturity I’ll use a dpp covering my worst line and/or most vulnerable
SuperCoach 2025 is live. Let the fun begin….
First muck about with the team picker. Version 1 of unknown… rookies are placeholders and will reveal themselves. Round 12 is a challenge already and may have to rethink the rucks.
$500 ITB
Def: Sheezel, Sinclair, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia, Allan (El-Hawli, Busslinger)
Mid: Bont, Butters, Serong, Oliver, Peatling, Smith, Allan, Draper (Ashcroft, Smillie, Sheldrick)
Ruc: Xerri, TDK (Dodson)
For: JHF, Macrae, Baz, Daniel, SPP, Curtin (Hewett, Erasmus)
Flx: Flynn
Hey all, great to be back for another year of SC!
I usually come up with a witty pun for my team name this year but was wanting some inso. What are some of the best team name puns you’ve all come across?
Does anyone have info on which teams have the most Thursday and Friday night games? I’m thinking Flex position should be someone who plays early to better plan the rest of the round…
the flex position is the only position without an Emergency, therefore you can’t loophole a flex postion player. Your flex player will be in your 23 no matter what you do or what night they play.
If your flex plays on Thursday/Friday night and scores you 100+, can you not then trade one of your 22 on field downgrade to a rookie on the bubble (for example) for the cash grab? Knowing that the rookie is likely not going to outscore the flex so his score won’t count, but you can get him before his price rise? Seems like it would work no?
My understanding is that the Flex replaces one of the on-field 22 scoring players.
So, as long as there wasn’t a late out or injury-score that was lower than the rookie you brought in for one of the other 21 players on-ground, I think that’s a valid use of the flex.
I thought the flex means it’s basically best 22 of your 23 players scoring counts towards your total (incl flex). So if any of your players 0 (say they get hurt early), you still have 22 scoring (including if the flex gets hurt). So flex isn’t a replacement as much as security against a poor score elsewhere.
Hopefully I’ve understood the question. It’s hot.
We may be in “heated-agreement” here Cripps Walk.
you are correct. the Flex player is just an extra player. you then take the best 22 scores out of your 23 players.
the flex is only poition that doesn’t have an emergency loop option, so they are on field.
If you had a thursday/frisday player, they can sit on bench with E and used if they have a goos score like usual. but if in the flex position, you can’t.
Been thinking about flexi. IMO ruck doesn’t work. If your ruck goes down and swap him with a flexi ruck you will have only the 22 players running around. I think flexi is better used as a duel position player so you can put on a bench if short term injury and swap players around easily if required.
you swing your flex player (ruck to R3) and swap with a DPP R3.
Your DPP R3 then becomes your flex player, and it is then easy to swap with a forward off the bench
so you still need a DPP R3
meaning you can have a straight Ruck only as your flex to cover your Ruck line, where before it could only be a DPP (Eg Jackson)
I’ve practiced what you suggested earlier Derek and it works just perfectly with a DPP DM as emergency/bench.
I was able to move players around from all positions eg started as you suggested and got through all positions to amend defence issue.
I also agree with a top ruck as flex.
I currently have the top 3 rucks and Livingstone.
i re did my team last night and now have Gawn, Xerri and TDK
Yes, i am investigating this Structure, at this time just cannot find balance to the other lines.
I’m tinkering with fading Xerri. Has a tough run to start and might drop enough in price
I’m working on bye coverages atm. then focusing on PIA probable injury assessments…. LOL
Only works if you have a playing r3 which can be hard to find.
It will also work if you have a playing or non playing dpp for the r/f to go to as emergency . Then that player goes to the next position etc.
That’s how you can get to def……
You are right chameleon. Didn’t think about it hard enough. Ruck will probably be best option.
D: Flanders, Sinclair, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia, Allen (Blanck, Busslinger)
M: Bont, Butters, Zerrett, Lalor, Sullivan, Jagga, Draper, Smillie (Lombard, Hewett, El-Hawli)
R: Xerri, Marshall (Heath)
F: JHF, Macrae, Smith, Parker, Daniel, Berry (Kako, Fullarton)
Flex: Tom De Koning
Like many others, taking the third ruck as the flex position.
that is a very thin midfield, but it makes sense to fit all the gun high-priced rookies in your team. i’m not a big fan of paying $180k for a rookie when there are $123k options. hopefully a few cheapies play round one and we can downgrad the expensive ones and turn a midpricer into another premium.
Maybe you are a premium short. how much cash in the bank?
Not a lot of cash left.
10k.
But that’s the price of taking most of the expensive rookies.
When more 119k rookie data comes up some of those 180k rookies will get the chop, that should allow one more premium.
Watch for Hewett role during preseason. At this stage i am thinking you will need him on-field at F5-F6. Look at some value for M4 Oliver Day Ashcroft even Sanders from the Kennel, all good value.
Good Luck
Considering ditching Parker and Flanders, should still be enough for a different defensive premo (maybe Sicily) and Oliver.
Parker should see a good improvement, but at his age and profile the question of him being a top 10 forward? Unlikely.
There’s definitely other forward bargains available who will probably go up more in price.
It’s close to my format atm HH.
Beware the injury repercussions LOL
Zerrett more popular than I expected.
Harry Boyd RUC St Kilda $99,100 is now available for selection…
pitty he isn’t DPP
26 years old, SANFL accolades. Would be ahead of Heath and Dodson.
Won’t start though.
Can go R3 seeing though I’m losing confidence in Flynn.
ROUND 1 $ 24 rounds left 22/1/25
# NAME POSITION TEAM STATUS $ VALUE BYE 1 BYE 2
1 Sam Flanders DEF/MID GC 1,106,000 1 15
2 Dan Houston DEF COLL 964,000 2 15
3 Matt Roberts DEF SYD 780,000 2 15
4 Kiedean Coleman DEF BRIS 521,000 2 17
5 Billy Wilson DEF/MID CARL 230,000 13
6 Josh Gibcus DEF RICH 230,000 15
7 Bo Allan DEF/MID WCE 295,000 16
8 Riley Bice DEF SYD 230,000 2 15
9 Zac Butters MID PORT 1,089,000 13
10 Isaac Heeney MID SYD 1,079,000 2 15
11 Patrick Cripps MID CARL 1,026,000 13
12 Will Ashcroft MID BRIS 843,000 2 17
13 Mattaes Philllipou MID/FWD STK 656,000 14
14 Bailey Smith MID/FWD GEE 598,000 2 17
15 Elijah Hewett MID/FWD WCE 332,000 16
16 Saad El-Hawli DEF/FWD ESS 230,000 3 17
17 Jagga Smith MID CARL 334,000 13
18 Murphy Reid MID FREO 292,000 14
19 Tristan Xerri RUCK NTH MELB 1,175,000 16
20 Max Gawn RUCK MELB 1,147,000 14
21 Max Heath RUCK/FWD STK 230,000 14
22 Jason Horne-Francis MID/FWD PORT 919,000 13
23 Isaac Rankine FWD ADEL 819,000 16
24 Caleb Daniel MID/FWD NTH MELB 514,000 13
25 Sam Powell-Pepper FWD PORT 498,000 13
26 Isaac Kako MID/FWD ESS 304,000 3 17
27 Daniel Curtin FWD ADEL 300,000 16
28 Samson Ryan RUCK/FWD RICH 450,000 15
29 Corey Warner FWD SYD 257,000 2 15
30 Deven Robertson MID/FWD BRIS 301,000 2 17
17,749,000
Hi all,
stacked with DDP,
incl Flex,
Gone hard with rucks + 2 Dpp ruck/fwd,
sorry about the messy format, it is an excel ss that I use,
Happy Supering.
Hi Powermojo. Think you might have posted your AFL Fantasy team!
What has happened to the “scroll to bottom” tab on each article?
Hey Champ, we’ve been making some updates to the site. I’ve added this back in for you.
FLEX
I’ve been thinking about only having one playing ruck like Xerri or TDK alongside the 2 cheapest rookies and then having Bont as my Flex.
In effect Bont would be my R2
Thoughts on the idea
I dismissed the idea then dug it up again with a twist.
Play 1 top Ruck and 1 cash generating ruck yeah thats not good either
High risk, high reward strategy. You’d need full emergency coverage on every line or waiting for the latest outs on every match.
Early thinking is that there’s a nice opportunity for POD premos in DEF with everyone seemingly flocking to Flanders, Sheezel, and Sinclair (the % ownership usually spreads as the season gets closer)
How do we rank the following/thoughts on their profile for the season:
– L Ryan (seems to always start the season red hot and can’t see role changing)
– Whitfield (very important for how GWS play and back his form to continue)
– Zorko (role change with Coleman back?)
– McGovern (always an injury risk, can’t start with him)
– NWM (love him as a player and love his trajectory to keep improving)
– Nic Martin (similar to NWM, good trajectory and improvement)
– Dan Houston (monopoly on the back-half at Collingwood)
– Tom Stewart (does he get back to his best? If so, very underpriced)
– Sicily (will he play more forward with Battle and Barrass arriving?)
– Ridley (can we trust his body?)
– Holmes (does the arrival of Smith help ease the load on him and he runs a bit more freely?)
I’m not liking Flanders or Sheezel as starters at this stage. I think Sheezel probably has less time down back this year and might drop a few pts
I’m looking at the blues mcgovern as a potential after Newmans season ending injury he’ll be getting an extra 6 kicks a game at least or maybe Saad gets back to 100+ Preseason might show something
I think Holmes is a great pick at his price point and his second half of the year was great. Not touching Zorko and Whitfield burnt me too many times historically. Siciliy too risky for mine. Ridley at his best underpriced and Essendon want him as the floater but yes, who would know with his body. Stewart is a good shot, seems well underpriced
Sicily is in my team. With Barras and Battle coming to the hawks, Sicily will either become a full-time interceptor or will go forward.
If i see him playing as that intercept defender in preseason – lock him in
If he even walks past half way during a practice game – cross him off
They will also have James Blanck back, too.
Sicily will play forward given they’re two short there but have a surplus of defenders right now.
Blanck has had issues with his recovery and looks likely to be back mid-season
Yeah, saw that. He’s overseas getting treatment, so that crosses him off my list today. Plenty of alternatives at that price point though.
i seriously don’t think they will play Sicily forward. he is too good as a defender.
the hawks have Moore, Ginnivan, macdonald, Watson and Punky as the smalls, and Gunston and Chol as talls.
i think they will look at another tall because lewis won’t be back until after the byes and Dear has had a few back issues. Gunston has been in great touch at training, so has Ramsden.
there has also been talk of a fully fit Reeves playing as a forward
Not sure why Clark isn’t in your list, but he’s in my team.
Great discussion point, GK.
I’ll have a crack.
Ryan: depends on Freo’s level of commitment to moving away from their passive overpossesing style which has afforded Ryan so much economy. Clark the beneficiary when they invest in opening up the ground and putting numbers ahead of the ball anticipating a stoppage win.
Whitfield: Great. Just depends how highly you rank him among your desired R0 players.
Zorko: Think he’ll lowkey go well again. That role suits him and will be the spot he sees out his career. They won’t thrust him into a high MG role after a season at HB. I haven’t considered him though. Not because of Coleman, who honestly isn’t that much of a problem given he’s disciplined, tight and still defends (similar to Saad actually). Just think there’s more upside elsewhere and R0 bye.
Gov: No need, I think. I started him the year before last where his price balanced against his injury profile. No pay off to him staying on the park given his priced off a full, strong season. Pass.
NWM: You’re on the money with him. Trajectory and internal rating both there. Went from 85 to 100 flat last year. Totally fair pick.
Martin: Need to see where he settles but will be sort of shackled to the strength of Essendon’s season give his eco in a MID adjacent role will be tied to core numbers like clearances, scores per I50, etc.
Houston: Will have the role to monopolize but the Pies’ style is more so pressure, turnover and repeat stoppage than it is D50 generation. So question is ‘is that monopoly big enough?’. He’s also a weapon venturing outside of D50, so I still think he’ll go really well.
Stewart: Solid pick. Scored even while getting tagged, shifted around and Holmes emerging. New changes make him appear more undepriced than he is though. R0 bye is a pain though.
Sicily: I’m with Derek. He doesn’t play FWD. Maybe as a break glass option but starts down back every week. Barrass and Battle liberate him. Could be VERY dangerous if he is just dancing in intercept economy the first month.
Ridley: The anti-Sicily in a sense given the Dons lack of defensive personnel forces him into all kinds of ridiculous match ups. Plus his injury profile. Not one I’d bother with, even if he cooks. We’re spoiled in DEF this year. Just need to get past the byes.
Holmes: Rated very highly internally, Cats have been waiting to unleash him while also struggling make sure his management profile is right. DEF, OB, he’ll cook anywhere tbh.
I currently have him (Holmes) along with Flanders and Sheezel, who I just see as non-negotiables. Looking for that 4th DEF with Daicos likely coming out due to injury and fixture.
Stewart to Holmes is possible for my team, its just the bye round
B: Holmes, McKercher, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia, B Allan (El-Hawli, Bice)
M: Naicos, Day, Oliver, W Ashcroft, Peatling, O’Driscoll, J Smith, E Allan (Tasatas, L Ashcorft, Smillie)
R: T De Koning, Flynn (Uhr-Henry)
F: JHF, Rankine, Macrae, B Smith, Daniel, T Lynch (Hewett, Erasmus)
Flex: Xerri
I agree with comments making Ruck the Flex. It appears Flex can be captain too. It seems hard this year to avoid expensive rookies, at least in the midfield. I have a short(long)list of rookies on watchlist and those will obviously change. It’s hard with everyone flying and playing midfield at this time of year!
Still have 224k in the bank for room to move. Not comfortable leaving Sheezel out but McKercher’s 2024 numbers were amazing even being injury affected. I really want Zerrett too but Day is seriously underpriced. C Oliver of course a preseason watch. Open to comments
Is round 3 best 18?
Unless I’m mistaken every bye round is best 18 so round 3 isn’t perfect but I still have 21 players
i can’t see Rankin getting any more midfield time this year, will probably get less.
Hi Derek, what’s your rationale for that comment. He’s slowly been trending to more CBs for a couple of years. He’s training and simming in the guts and Lairdy is training back a fair bit. Draper will not take over a full time slot for a while and they will still look to Crouch to give off CB clearances and Ranks is explosive in that role. Just saying!!
Hi JD. I would love to see probable 22 from your assessment.
They appear to have a, IMO, what’s happening with most lucky clubs now, and that’s a more multiple flexi (no pun intended) rotation combination at CB and on ball.
Your thoughts, and anyone else’s would be great to read regarding points. Cheers all.
Hi Cham, Good assessment and good question.
My estimation is that the Crows have up to 15 players who will/could get midfield minutes before actual round 1 teams drop. I think the following (mostly in CB% order) will be there at some stage.
Dawson, Crouch, Soligo, Rankine, Berry, Peatling, Draper, Rachelle, ANB, Laird, Curtin, Pedlar, Dowling, Taylor, Keays
A few of those forwards above will not even register enough time in the guts to qualify for DDP but will impact at different stages. The core group should come from the first 8 listed if the team remains relatively injury free.
Predicting best 23 is always hard but I have this in mind at this stage. Obviously it could change dramatically with Sim and Trial form, also pending pre season injury or recovery rates to important players (ie Milera, Pedlar, Cumming)
Michalanny, Keane, Worrell
Milera, Murray, Cumming
Scholl, Dawson, Hinge
Neal-Bullen, Fogarty, Keays
Thilthorpe, Walker, Rachelle
ROB, Soligo, Rankine
Crouch, Laird, Draper, Peatling, Curtin
If the plan is working, Dawson will float to wherever needed. Laird will float back more and play cameo CB roles, Soligo, Crouch and Peatling will play mostly as extractors with Curtin’s skills to be utilised where needed. Rankine, Rachelle and Draper should be mainly explosive receivers out of the guts and driving into attack, fingers crossed it works that way.
If Milera doesn’t come up for R1, Nankervis, Jones or Smith are unlucky to miss but likely to get first dibs. Unlucky at this stage and equally possible starters are Sam Berry, Butts, Pedlar. Cook, Dowling, Furthermore, Bond, Taylor and Murphy seem to be showing what depth players are all about.
Add to that, Charlie Edwards and Oscar Ryan need to be blooded on top of a good pre season so far, and Harry Schoenberg at some stage will be fully recovered from his achilles to put his name up.
SA bit long winded Cham but I hope it gives you some idea of the possibilities.
I will be doing a Crows review prior to round zero, so keep an eye out for that.
nice. i did like Dawson, but a few games last year he sat in the forward line for a whole quarter. put a line through him
Plenty of players will sit in the forward line this year before Daws. Forward line stacked with options now with ANB, Peatling, Keays, Rachelle, Rankine, Curtin, Murphy, Pedlar Cook etc.to fill those roles along side the key forwards.
If anything Daws will likely sit back when needed and points will accumulate from his distribution skills.
Cheers and Thanks JD.
…. and if you are not already part of their selection committee, this assessment would be a perfect resume. Cheers and thanks again.
the great Selby was on Code sports talking about rankin and he was expecting rankin to have less midfield time this year. good enough for me.
Defend
Flanders, Nobel, Mills, A Roberts, Coleman, Travaglia (Reid & Bice)
Midfield
Gulden, E. Richards, Oliver, W. Ashcroft, B. Smith, Phillipo, F O’Sullivan. ,
O’Driscol, (L. Ashcroft & Bo Allan & El-Hawli)
Ruck
Xerri (capt) , Cameron, (Heath)
Forward
Horne-Francis, Baker, Macrae, Daniel, Kako, E.Hewett (Joe Berry & A. Johnson)
Hopefully the rookies get to live up to all expectation
Forgot to add Jackson as the Flex
R3 a problem I think James. I counted 8 missing.
My bad. If that is ash Johnson, then it’s actually 10.
Aidan From Melbourne
I’ll see how different after the pre-season
whitfield-sinclair-mckercher
mills-gibcus-allan
bont-butters-brayshaw-oliver
w.ashcroft-peatling-smith-draper
xerri-tdk
macrae-smith-phillipou
daniel-lynch-hewett
Travaglia
my first draft team:
My initial thoughts is to 1) make cash – hopefully some of the cheaper rookies play and we don’t have to pick all the expensive rookies, and 2) don’t lose buckets of cash, like most years when i pick all the very expensive players and they become $100k cheaper. So looking for cheap premiums and ‘fallen’ premiums to fill my team. We need to fit one extra player into our salary-caps this year.
DEF: Sicily, Stewart, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia, Allen (Reid, Leake)
If Sicily’s role is to be the interceptor and leave the three B’s to lock-down, Sic will be back baby, if there is talk him going forward, i’ll look elsewhere. Stewart is too cheap to ingore for someone who averaged 110 & 114 in the two years prior to his poor 99 last year. Mills and Coleman pick themselves. I’m leaving plenty of room to get the likes of Sheezel, Flanders, Ryan when hopefully they get a bit cheaper.
MID: Bont, Daicos, Green, Rozee, Oliver, Smith, Draper, Ashcroft (Robertson, El-Hawli, Erasmus)
Bont and Daicos are the two best players, might as well have them as C/VC options. Serong and Butters are both in consideration and if Daicos has an interupted pre-season one will take his place (probably Serong). I have Green and Rozee for now because they have an injury effected price and are incredible value. they are in a group that include Dawson, Young and Miller all around $550k. I can have 2 of them at M3 and M4 before slotting Oliver at M5. The expensive rookies make up M6-M8 and hopefully some cheaper rookies who play early for the bench.
RUCK: Gawn, Sweet (Sims)
Have another look at Gawns 2024 numbers! Just pick him. I’m happy to fade Xerri for now, he has a tough run of games to start and relative young i’d like to see how he backs up after his breakout year. English looks value, but i worry about darcy getting better. J Sweet is my traditional risky R2. he will be solo ruck at PTA and i can see him being the ‘2025 Xerri’. he might become Flynn is he is WCE solo ruck.
FWD: Horne-Francis, Macrae, Smith, Daniel, Lynch, Hewett (Hannaford, Stone)
The forward line seems the easiest to pick this year. Close watch on Bolton and Parker as underpriced fallen premiums. Also a sneeky watch on Zac Williams with Newman going down. Hewett and Stone i can see playing round 1 and being good on-field options, not sure about Lynch.
FLEX: TDK
If he is solo rucking, no-brainer.
$25,100 cash in bank
thanks fellas
Solid team. Not considering Day or Newcombe as a cheap gun mid? Maybe in place of Rozee?
If Flynn is no. 1 ruck I think he’s a lock at his price.
Yep not sure on Parker but Bolton is a definite watch. He was my original flex option but with no obvious rookie rucks decided to change
As a Hawks fan I love Day. The difference he made to the team last year when he came back from injury was unbelievable.
Day will win a Brownlow before he retires.
I’m a bit old school when it comes to premiums. I find it very difficult to pick the break-out premo. I prefer to look for underpriced fallen premiums who have been there done that. Probably why I’ve got Stewart in my team again.
I have considered him, but Rozee for $38k is in my team at the moment. Day would also be behind Ashcroft at that price.
I won’t mind if I’m wrong and Days win the Brownlow this year
Hi Derek
It wouldn’t be January if your team didn’t have a risky R2!
Not seeing many teams running two rookies onfield in defence. It’s a nice thought starter. Especially since there is a perceived of a lack of value in top end options. In previous years two infield rookies would be a negative. But with the flex and best 18 in rounds 2-3, there is perhaps room for this thinking.
I see round 3 as a problem for you. A bit over represented there. I see your faith in Stewart, but I think he’s perhaps declining as a SC option. He now seems like he can be shut down. Age sees him rested late in games when it’s been won. Plus I think Humphries is equally as trusted with ball in hand, so he is less the key distributor. And then you have R3.
Daicos has two question marks for me – the plantar fasciitis and round 3. I also think with Gawn and Bont in your side you have enough early VC/C options without Daicos.
Yours is one of the few sides without Philippou. What are your reasons for fading him?
As a Hawthorn man, it’s also noteworthy that you are fading Day. Good to understand your logic.
Good luck with the season Derek
Thanks for feedback Phil.
I’ve swapped Daicos to Serong and I’ll let that sit for a couple of days and see how I feel about it. FRE draw and byes are nice.
Phillipou hasn’t been in any of my teams so far. His price is too awkward. My other mid-price players, expect Sweet, are fallen premiums and the value is obvious.
I can see him scoring 80 and that will be a nice bit of cash. But I’d prefer another rookie who can make more cash. In Best 18 weeks Phillipou type scores might not even count and will feel like a bit of a waste.
I prefer another rookie in the forward who can score almost as well and make more cash.
made a small tweek
Stewart > Sinclair
Lynch > cheap rookie
Does anyone know the price discount for players this year because we have to pick 31 with the same $10m salary cap?
Is it 4%?
My understanding was that a standard percentage across the board was applied to all prices. I thought it was 3.3% – which would simply be 30/31 = 3.3%
when you look at different levels, it does support it. So the bottom price this year is 99,200. Last year was 102,300. So 3.3%. Similarly 119,900 this year 123,900 last year. Also 3.3%.
thanks Phil, thats what i thought, i just rounded up my calculations.
that would make Bont’s ‘real’ price $703,500.
i assume this will also be factored into the price changes during the season.
It basically gives us an extra $300k player as our 31st.
Yeah, Phil’s on it. Shade over 3%.
Sort of making everyone seem like “value” lmao.
agree. we should be making the adjustment to price in our head to comare to previous year starting prices.
i just can’t pick Sheezel on that basis
I am concerned with Marshall role for the Saints. The club is short on experience Tall FWD and i will be watching if Marshall plays FWD more to assist King. If that’s the case you could pick up Marshall as a DPP at a cheaper price.
Thinking JHF wont hurt you too much if you fade him at the start, and talk is Coleman will be eased back into the role off HB. Wouldn’t surprise me if he is used as sub the first few games back.
Rioli and Noble running off HB is a concern for Flanders. But definitely a preseason watch, needs to be full time MID. Any signs of resting forward would be a concern to his pts.
i agree. put a line through his straight away, even though had him all last year
But the club is also short on rucks.
All fair points.
Dug into RoMo for a piece I’m writing atm. Finished strongly, off-season surgery and Saints still love/need his impact FWD.
Does look like he’ll start solo though. Just on their 22.
JHF is just an easy Top 6 lockaway. Can be faded but don’t see how else people are filling out their FWD lines. I still see upside in terms of role, ceiling and fixture.
Coleman might not even be up for R1.
Flanders I have no concerns about. Great progression, scores everywhere, excellent attributes. Every team has a HB line. Rioli and Noble don’t have me that scared.
Go look at the Suns’ fixture btw.
Yes the Suns a very nice early fixtures and one of the best draws for the whole season. My line of thinking is Flanders is max out in terms of value, combined with not 1 but 2 new lads running the ball out of DEF. No Doubt Flanders is a top 6 defender, but the one i am interested in is Anderson. Just a steady rise the past few years and now entering the prime 5 years of his playing career. Early bye is a issue but the 2nd bye suits structure. Could be a early sideways trade RD3-4.
Yeah. I’ve had Anderson in all my drafts, mainly to cash in on the Suns’ fixture.
Starting to waver though. What do we realistically think he can do?
76.6, 83.6, 100.4, 104.9, 106.7.
Is Touk Miller still SC relevant?
Have I got this right about the flex player? Aren’t they effectively the ultimate DPP, as their score will count across all / any four lines, providing it is in the best 22 scores that week?
yes. the only difference is you can’t loop the player with a bench option
which means you don’t want a captaincy option in flex?
or a rookie playing early
Early thoughts on Matt Roberts? Looked like a breakout contender in the back end of last year.
its just his awkward price (especially when you compare to Mills)
If you take out his 3 sub affected games last year he would have averaged about 91, meaning he is under priced by about $55k.
his boost in scores did coninside with Rampe missing games in round 19 to 22. not sure if he will be a 95+ scorer to be a good pick
Really need to see how Cox wants to set up the side.
I don’t have him ahead of any of the other desirable R0 players rn.
Hi all,
First crack at 2025, here goes:
DEF
Sheezel, Clark, Holmes, Coleman, Travaglia, Allan, Bice, Trainor
MID
Butters, Green, Dawson, Edwards, Draper, Ashcroft, Smillie, El-Hawli, Erasmus, Moraes
RUC
Marshall, TDK, Boyd
FWD
JHF, Hogan, Smith, Daniel, Bauer, Hewett, Dattoli, Davidson
FLEX
Sinclair
Any thoughts/comments appreciated!
one down in the mids
Thanks for the feedback PP.
Opted for premiums in other positions, thinking it’d be easier to get premium mids throughout the season. So there are 4 prem mids ATM, and12 all up across the starting 22, not a good start you reckon?
I don’t mind the thinner midfield, Teeps. It’s clear you’ve spread those savings well.
Don’t think you can go Hogan though. I actually had him last year from the byes onwards and he absolutely cooked for me – it was great. Had planned to look at him again but Giants fixture gets tough and he’s got the early bye.
Love the Clark, Holmes and I’m guessing bye Edwards you mean Ed Richards lol? If so, I’m hot on him too. Great pick. Also morph Ed Richards into Edwards myself ahaha.
Yes I meant Ed Richards lol. Thanks Gunboat. Will keep plugging away.
First quick look for 2025
Def: Sheezel, Sinclair, Clark, Coleman, Allen, Z Reid, (OFarrell Mentha)
Mid: Bont, Butters, Ashcroft, Merrett, L Ashcroft, J Smith, Draper, Travaglia, (Smillie, Dattoli, El Hawli)
Ruck: Sweet, Xerri (Sims)
Fwd: JHF, Bolton, Smith Lynch, McCrae, Kako (Erasmus, Whitlock)
Flex: Daniel
Lots of changes I would expect before Rd1
Like the Bolton pick. Being slept on.
Not seeing many teams with Finn O’Sullivan, any reasons for that?
His price for a rookie might be a bit high
I think also there’s been a lot of positive press about other rookies, but it’s been relatively quiet around him. I also got put off my a training report out of North that suggested Urqhart was more of a training standout. Maybe he’s not as AFL ready as some of the other rookies. Personally I like to be sucked in by a lot of rookie hype if I am paying the rookie premium. Still a watch in preseason
First draft has predictable forward line.
Daicos and $17k come into my team in place of Butters if Daicos shakes injury concern
Gone with several high priced rookies.
I reckon selection of W Brodie and English may raise a few eyebrows.
Def: Sheezel, NWM, Holmes, Coleman, Travaglia, Z Reid (Allan, El-Hawli)
Mid: Butters, LDU, T Green, Petracca, Oliver, W Ashcroft, W Brodie, L Ashcroft (Lalor, O’Sullivan, Langford)
Ruck: English, Flynn (Boyd)
Fwd: JHF, Macrae, Smith, Daniel, SPP, Curtin (Erasmus, Moir)
Flex: D Robertson
$18k ITB
I can’t entertain English after he regressed a full 20 points on his 2023 average last year.
128.0 to 108.0
Probably still a little salty I paid up for him last year and copped it but even so I think Xerri plays such a well rounded game, TDK’s fixture really opens up and Maxxy is still a good shout if Racca and Satan line up in good nick come R1.
Flynn R2 also makes me shudder. Eagles supporter. Will have overall poor economy in a poor side and BJ could still play alongside him.
Does anyone else think Levi Ashcroft has sub written all over him early making him a slow burn ?
Hi Bob.
Unfortunately the thumbs up only let me agree once.
I reckon he may even for the first couple of games, if no serious injuries have occurred, come on at the expense of Coleman as part of a resting/training program. A similar program is often used in reverse with oldies and newbies ie newbies off, oldies on…… but that’s of course if everything goes to plan and on schedule……
Surely gets a spin with Eagles and Tigers among the Lions early opponents?
…….with Zorko sub maybe?
Def: Sheezel, Sinclair, Sicily, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia (Allan, Reid)
Mid: Bont, Butters, Merrett, Oliver, JSmith, Draper, LAshcroft, Robertson (Smilie, El-Hawli, Erasmus)
Ruck: Xerri, Sweet (Flynn)
Fwd: JHF, Macraw, BSmith, Daniel, Lynch, Hewett (Hannaford, Stone)
Flex: Leake
ITB: 28.5k
Not sure it is the best first attempt that I have had. There are some value players to be had across the lines, and think the forward line is probably the easiest picked (which is a relief given how tough it has been in previous years).
I think I need to shift some cash around to get better depth and not have so many rookies on field.
Nah. That’s a VERY nicely filled out side, Jamie. You’ve only got rookies at D6, F6 and M5-8. Super strong.
I’d personally merge Sweet, Flynn and Draper into TDK but see how they go.
agree with GD, don’t need Sweet ar R3
My thoughts on Flynn at R3 were a cash generator in a position that is often not utilised, but would likely be a slow burn. It might cost an extra 150k to begin with but if he made 150k plus, it would certainly help come upgrade season.
That being said, I have taken on the advice and have merged Sweet and Flynn into TDK and Sims. And I was able to keep Draper in the mids – and now have 76.6k ITB.
I misread, thought you had Sweet at R3.
Sweet is a big chance to be in my team. I like his draw, will be solo ruck, hopefully fully fit and I can see him being the big improver.
Hi All,
Just wondering whether there maybe a few Fantasy players confused with how a flexi works compared to a utility.
A flexi players score is assessed in the best 22 no matter what.
A utility is only included if it has an Emergency and covers a non-playing player in that role.
Ps A little secret, have a late fixture game DPP as a flexi………
Is it not better to fade players playing in Round 0 seeing as the score doesn’t count and they later lose a game in a scoring week?
that was the main discussion for the start of 2024.
i think in the end, everyone over reacted a bit. The best 18 seemed to solve most of those issues and people who started Green, daicos etc weren’t too far behind by round 6. As long as you don’t have 4+ missing in one week
It would be a case if you are 50/50 on two players and one had an early bye and the other didn’t it would tip the scale.
Late start for me this year, therefore not a heap of homework has been done but here’s the first crack.
DEF: Sheezel, Holmes, Mills, Schoenmaker, Gibcus, Busslinger – Allan, Reid
MID: Bont, Daicos, Serong, Dawson, Oliver, Draper, Smith, Smillie – El Hawli, Hynes, Dattoli
RUK: Gawn, Meek – Maley
FWD: JHF, Macrae, Smith, Phillipou, Daniel, Hewitt – Erasmus, Johnson
FLX: Travaglia
Still pondering the best way to use the flex. Prob still will be on the 13th March.
Think Meek might be this years Xerri. Dawson had a poor year but I think the Crows will be better and he’ll get back to the form of ’23.
And Schoenmaker is a gut hunch. Have you seen his left boot?!
Schoenmaker and Meek super astute picks.
Meek just needs to capitalize on that fixture.
Gets some of the best ruck opps early: Dons, Port, Cats, Eagles.
Those need to be 140s. Really put some ground on Xerri, Maxxy and TDK.
I like it.
Good luck, Ranger.
It’s very likely the Hawks will play Ramsden or Reeves as a tall forward
Yeah. Hmm. Shame Lewis isn’t good to go. Would improve the side as a whole and shore up both Meek and Sicily.
Do you really think Sic will play down back Derek? I’m not a Hawks fan so don’t follow them in great detail but I assumed that the very reason they picked up Battle and Barrass was so that Sic could go forward?
It’s hard to get an idea from Hawks training as Sicily is still recovering from his shoulder reconstruction and hasn’t played any match simulation
The Hawks will have Chol and Gunston playing forward. Apparently Gunston is training really well (I assume the hawks will continue doing the Gunston/Breust tag team). Dear has a back issue and Lewis has an ACL to recover from. Hawks look very likely to play either Ramsden or Reeves as a tall forward.
Add Watson, Ginnivan, Moore, MacDonald and Hardwick to forward line, I don’t see a need to send Sicily forward.
Is anyone considering Silvagni 259 fwd will play defence for Carlton so will become dual position around round six ?
Here is one of several drafts:
D – Sheezel, Clark, Stewart, Short, Mills, Allan (Smith, Reid)
M – Bont, Brayshaw, Day, Oliver, Cerra, Peatling, Smith, Sheldrick (Robertson, El-Hawli, Erasmus
R – TDK, Darcy (Boyd)
F – Macrae, Parker, Pou, Daniel, Lynch, Powell-Pepper (Hewett, Cleary)
Flex – Flynn
3k itb
Pretty light in terms of uber premo mids but can drop some risky picks like Lynch, Powell Pepper (and guys that might not play ie Sheldrick) to upgrade Cerra/Peatling types
Happy to fade Kiddy and Bailey at this stage
TU / TD appreciated!
Darcy in ruck is a huge gamble….does he ever play more than 15 games ???
Or is that WBD Darcy ???
WBD Darcy is forward only. I was hoping he had Ruck/Fwd status. He would have been tempting! I would have loved a fwd line that had Smith, Macrae, Daniel, Sanders and Darcy. Then I just needed to wait for Bont to gain DPP!
… and still all playing for the same team. LOL
Good team, especially when you have Flynn as your 18th best. Lynch and P-Pepper as your 19th & 20th before you even get to the rookies.
In rounds 2, 3 and 4 it is only best 18, you might be ‘wasting’ a few of those players.
I think we can afford to risk two ‘rookie’ scores during best 18 weeks and spend up on the premium scorers
Hi All!!
Good to be back for another year of AFL Supercoach. Although early, I don’t think I’ve ever been so relaxed at this stage with my team. I feel like I’ve locked most of my picks in at this point and I’m just changing a tweaking a few positions and overall setup.
Def: Sheezel, Sinclair, Mills, Travaglia, Allan, K.Smith // El-Hawli, Busslinger
Mid: Bont, Butters, Serong, Rozee, Peatling, J.Smith, Draper, L.Ashcroft // Langfield, Lombard, Erasmus
Ruck: Xerri, TDK // Sims
Fwd: JHF, Macrae, B.Smith, Phillipou, Daniel, Curtin // Kako, Hewett
Flex: Lalor
I mean, it’s pretty cookie cutter at the moment. What I’m playing around with is the use of the flex, and that forward premium spot: JHF, or the use of another defender premium.
Swapping someone like JHF to Jordan Clark and running Macrae at F1 is something I’m considering, since I quite like Rozee at the price, and having the 3 Port midfielders, may be risky. Rozee could go down to a Oliver, Ashcroft or Day if cash is required. But that spot I’m hoping to use as a POD option.
I wouldn’t mind the extra defender as I’m not as confident on those defender rookie options, but that is something more options will come closer to the season start. Either one of the Freo boys being my pick, pending cash.
Also having someone like Flynn, over Phillipou is on my mind. I have interest with TDK and Sean Darcy but will need to watch them throughout pre-season. I don’t think I’d mind having Flynn at R2 if he looks the goods. I’ve had Flynn for flex since the start of the team picker, but I’m leaning with the abundance of midfield rookies, that could be a better use and easy to use the flex position to begin with. Phillipou has shown he can score in the midfield and at his price he will make cash, Be a top 10? Maybe, again, need the preseason games.
Thanks for reading! I like posting here as I can get a few of my thoughts out onto “paper”, which sparks further ideas and strategy into my mind.
Cheers, TJ.
To put into words, going with no premium F1 would look like this.
Def: Sheezel, Sinclair, Clark, Mills, Travaglia, Allan, // K.Smith El-Hawli
Mid: Bont, Butters, Serong, Rozee, Peatling, J.Smith, Draper, L.Ashcroft // Langfield, Lombard, Erasmus
Ruck: Xerri, TDK // Sims
Fwd: Macrae, B.Smith, Phillipou, Daniel, Curtin Kako // J.Berry, Hewett
Flex: Smillie
Essentially, JHF, Busslinger and Lalor for Clark, Berry and Smillie (Rookie being placeholders, obviously)
I’m very keen on Rozee at his price. When fully fit I don’t see much between Rozee and Butters, the money saved on Rozee is huge. Take out the 3 injury affected games and Rozee should be $605k
Can you have both?
Rozee definitely value, I just don’t think I can look past picking Butters. He’s elite. Then adding JHF in, is it too many Port mids? Round 12 bye could be an issue with Dogs and North.
The flex position isn’t as important in rounds 2, 3 and 4 with best 18. So I think we can ignore it until round 5.
I’m pretty happy with this as a first draft.
Sinclair Dale McKercher Mills Travaglia Coleman (Tauru/Reid)
Bont Rozee Oliver B Smith J Smith S Draper Smillie B Allan (Lalor/Kako/El Hawaii)
Xerri English (A Reid)
Simpkin Bolton Macrae Daniel Lynch SPP (Curtin/J Berry)
JHF
Probably one premo short to start, but with so many rookie options, reckon that will pay off long term. Early bye rds look good, and only r12 looking a problem later…..plenty of time to fix.
Reckon high scoring m/f is way to go with flex….lots of options from that.
Faded big Max……reckon his age and lack of pre-season might catch up with him.
Rozee over Butters…Rozee had many injury affected games last year, is all class, and much cheaper than Butters
Coleman, Satan, and SPP all attractively priced with little risk.
You say that you feel you are one premium short, but the way I see it is you have picked plenty of options that can be keepers, although saying that, issue being, It’s too speculative. In short, mid price madness. Banking on Rozee, McKercher and Oliver to go top 8-10 in respective positions is risky, but can work.
In my opinion, Dale, Simpkin, Bolton probably won’t price you out. It’s easier to trade in someone at 500-550k than someone at 650-700k. Finding value is great but you want consistent VC/C options each week and in your team, you can only really ‘rely’ on Bont and Xerri. Although POD captain choices in Sinclair and English, you can’t trust them. As an example, Butters having Richmond (118av) and Essendon (121av) R2&3 has to play in your mind.
In saying all that, you won’t win the comp by playing safe, but you might fall too far behind if you miss the top end uber premiums.
I’m with you on picking Rozee ahead of Butters.
I think Butters is a better downhill skier (with the easier opposition) than Rozee for what it’s worth.
Hi SOW, Both Coleman and Smilie are injured, neither will play early rounds.
Thanks Lazza.
My First draft. Obviously all rookies are not set in stone.
Def: Sheezel, Martin, Holmes, Travaglia, Gibcus, B Allan [Reid, Bice]
Mids: Bont, Butters, Day, Oliver, Cerra, Peatling, Lalor, Draper [Hewett, El-Hawli, Bench warmer DPP]
Rucks: Xerri, TDK [Uhr-Henry]
Fwds: JHF, Simpkin, Smith, Daniel, Curtin, Kako [Moir, Erasmus]
Bank: $34.4K
Any comments appreciated.
You are missing your flex
Also I heard Gibcus will likely miss first month
Sorry, flex is Flynn. Thanks for the heads-up on Gibcus
Hi Fellow Swannies Fans.
Need your thoughts on Millsy’s role this year.
Yes he finished ok, but remember there was no Heeney etc at times.
Do you think he will have a tagging role?
Do you think a run with tag?….. or do you think he could be another Heeney?
Your words will be used for focus during the pre-season entertainment.
Cheers
Mills straight into the guts. Get ball!
Are you sure Derek? You sound a little indecisive LOL
Second and finial squads until all “types” of practice matches complete , so we can see which rookies are probable starts and any new positions for the regulars are going to be.
Def : J. McGovern, NWM, Nobel, Mills, Logue, Travaglia, (Reid & Bice)
Mid: Gulden, E. Richards, Oliver, B Smith, A . Roberts, Phillipou. F O’Sullivan, O’Driscoll
(Lombard & Bo Allan & El-Hawli)
Ruck: Xerri (Capt), Cameron (Heath)
For :JHF, Baker, Macrae, Daniel, Kako, E. Hewett (Stone & Aidan Johnson)
Flex : Jackson (R/F)
ITB $17,500
(20 ROUND 2 )
(19 ROUND 3)
(19 ROUND 4)
Nobel is an interesting pick. What do you know the rest of us don’t?
That would be the worst defence I have seen!
Ok – here we go for another year and all feedback welcome:-
DEF: Sheezel, Sinclair, Mills, Coleman, Travaglia, Allen (Reid, Trainor)
MID: Bontempelli, Butters, Serong, Oliver, B Smith, J Smith, Draper, L Ashcroft (Smillie, Kako, El-Hawli)
RUC: Gawn, Xerri (Boyd)
FWD: Rankine, Macrae, Phillipou, Daniel, Lynch, Powell-Pepper (E Hewett, Erasmus)
FLEX: Flynn
ITB: 15.6k
Rankine is the only pick which is not text book!
Any thoughts on RM?
Sheezel, Sinclair, Sicily, Mills, Travaglia, Allan (Busslinger, Bice)
Bontempelli, Butters, Brayshaw, Day, Oliver, Peatling, J.Smith, L. Ashcroft (Lindsay, Hewett, El-Hawli)
De Koning, Darcy (Sims)
Macrae, Phillipou, Daniel, Berry, Ryan, Erasmus (Stone, Davidson)
Meek
You know better than me.
Sicily?. Busslinger? Bice? Brayshaw over Serong. Day?? Darcy?? Berry?, Ryan? Stone and Davidson.
Brice and Stone are locked into my team. Bench cover. Very likely to play
Far. I can make such a nice side by running Flynn as an R2 but it’s totally a non-starter. Honestly, even him as a flex or R3 I’m not there on and believe me I ALWAYS jump at R3 cash gen and am an Eagles man.
Few issues.
First. He’ll have a poor economy in an Eagles side with a lopsided midfield and poor set up behind the ball. Can see so much of his HOs getting sharked and being deprived of the down the line intercepts or scoreboard impact that other rucks have.
He’s done 85, yes, but in a FAR better stocked GWS side. I see him going at 75-80 with us in all honesty.
Then there’s holding down the #1 ruck role. I think, yes, he gets the nod but can still see BJ playing in the side as a tall or eventually coming in if he’s dislodged him entirely. Yes BJ has very little attributes but he’s EASILY been our hardest worker the last torrid two years. No puts in the yards like BJ.
So, yeah, super ambivalent on Flynn. Because we’re so cooked and he might not have the #1 gig to himself.
That said, the side I can make with him at R2 is cracked as.
80 will still make ok cash at his price. It’s the JS and injury I’m more worried about
This is what I have come up after 24hrs of mucking around. I am sure it will change another 100 times before final team is finalised.
Still not 100% sure of the flex (or really how it works fully). Get it that it’s an extra player and it’s best 22 of 23 and all that. But not sure e.g if C.Daniel is the Flex for instance and a Ruck goes down can Daniel be used as the replacement or does it have to be a replacement for only a Mid/Fwd?.
I have gone with the sheep with the Ruck Flex in Flynn but I am seriously looking at a midprice Daniel/B.Smith/Parker/Phillipou type instead if they can cover Rucks in that way??
Other notes. Lots of doubts on rookies this year compared with good midpricers. Have gone away from selecting great looking rookies first and selecting the Guns first which might be the wrong strategy (may have started too early this year!). This may change still. Will have to have a close look ok at the pre-season games. May take a few risks on cheapy rookies even if named only as emergencies.
Defenders:
S.Flanders,H.Sheezel,J.Sinclair,C.Mills,B.Allan,Z.Reid (S.El-Hawli,R.Bice).
Midfielders:
M.Bontempelli,,Z.Butters,N.Daicos,C.Oliver,M.Phillipou,E.Hewett,D.Robertson,H.Hustwaite (S.Marshall, B.Camporeale,A.Day-Wicks)
Rucks:
T.Xerri,T.De Koning (H.Boyd)
Forwards:
J.HorneFrancis,J.Macrae,B.Smith,L.Parker,C.Daniel,N.Erasmus (C.Spargo, C.Stone)
Flex:
M.Flynn
Worried about the mids and where I can find some cash to bolster the last 4 or 5 mid spots. If Daniel goes to Flex will use the Flynn cash on better rookies in mids.
Cheers.
So many changes already… Parker’s gone. Poo to the fwds. Slotted Peatling in the mids for the moment (liked him at GWS and all reports he is fitting in well in Ade, only prob he wont be top 10 mid keeper, still think will take him for the possible scores. Cerra has the same issue).
I’m still a sheep with Flynn as Flex. Haven’t got the plums to run an extra premo Ruck in Flex (other lines look terrible when i do it but maybe I’m missing the point). Gotta get $10k from somewhere to go Boyd to Sims at R3. Bank is $700!
C.Guthrie vs Peatling?
Peatling all day
I do like it Rod. My only concern is missing the more expensive rookies, Travaglia, J.Smith, Ashcroft and the likes. Obviously early, but don’t think Dev Robertson, Hustwaite and bench will get games early. Will be better to have those expensive rookies in now so the pivot down is easier if required come round 1.
I’m off the Flynn train at the moment. I also don’t want to pay and extra 10k for a ruck loop, when Boyd is every chance to play now at 99k. That’s how I look at it. And the cash from Flynn, could help with the rookie situation I just mentioned.
I like your change with Parker to Peatling via Poo.
Side note: How the Flex worked with BBL is that it will cover all positions. So if Flynn is your Flex, he will cover your teams overall lowest score, as an example a defender who scored 20 would drop for Flynns score of 80.
Side Side note: I’m a Pies man and I love Daicos just as much as anyone else but can’t start him with a potential R0 tag, R3 bye and small injury niggles this preseason. Will need to get him in at some point though.
Thanks TJ. Great suggestions, have taken those aboard.
Another point about the Flex. If you are using a mid/Fwd rather than a ruck, I guess you can Sub/change it round to round if its a mid/fwd or mid/def depending on fixture whereas if it’s a ruck you are pretty locked into it being a Ruck with limited options to Sub.
Maybe that’s not that relevant in the early rounds be will be in the later rounds.
Shame Blicavs hasn’t got Ruck/Mid status this year or he would of been a good Flex option!
I’m treating the flex as my ruck backup.
In other years we have relied on a ruck/Fwd like Jackson and a DPP at R3 to be our ruck backup if R1 or R2 missed a week or two.
Now we can have any other Ruck at Flex and they don’t need to be DPP.
It might not be as important having R1 or R2 missing with best 22 of the 23, but I’d still like that one free swing
My flex will be a Ruck
Hi Rod,
Hopefully I can help with your flexi enquirers.
A flexi is a “swap” with a player it has position connections with.
I will try and show you how I learnt to manipulate it.
The key is to have at least 1 DPP as an emergency, not necessarily playing.
1. If you have a ruck flex, move to R/F. And move R/F to flex.
2. Now move flex to a fwd dpp which now becomes flex.
3. Now you can move flex to either of the DPP positions, maybe mid or def, whatever it has position to and swap with your new flex.
Play around a few times, and decide your preferred option as a flex.
But remember: A flex can only go to a position it is associated with.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Ps Learnt about this during the cricket.
Thanks Chameleon. Will have a play. I am guessing then it’s better to have the R/F as eg Sims (Rich) than eg the R only Boyd (Stk)?
Yes. Definitely have a DPP at R3. Pay the $113k
Yeah. Gotta have DPP for more swapping powers or it would be just like an emergency swap.
It’s going to be handy for situations where you might have 7 def and only 5 fwd available especially during byes and late outs. Cheers
…… I’m currently playing around with 3 premium rucks.
Given the ability of top rucks to outscore the other positions, this makes some sense to me! Finding 3 23 game rucks though is a thing…Marshall is one, on last year Xerri is two, Max is getting on and Tingles has the Darcy conundrum,thoughts?
Just check the byes.
Best IMO to only have one of your main rucks missing during a bye, then you can flex to the fullest using the bye ruck as your sleeping ruck and if needed capt.
R12 is a doozy, can only have one of Xerri, English and TDK. With Darcy still not 100% and Boyd (R3) looming as a ruck-share with Marshall, I’m going with Gawn and one of the first three with Oliver in Flex for now. If Darcy survives the Qatar Potions, he will come into my FLX possy.
Yeah had a look at that as well on R12. Think i’ve decided with best 18 it’s not worth changing just for that round. Hope Flynn works out as that can cover one Ruck at least. And I will have two Rucks in the other later bye rounds.
Is the Big O from Bris over his injury? Could Darcy Forte at $190k r/f be an option for the Flex. I am sure there would be better ownership if that was the case hey ?
Scrap that idea. Ruck only.
Conway of Geelong is on my mind… that’s his spot to lose i think cos the cats would rather not use Blicsavs in the ruck and Stanley is getting old and durability and or ability is his problem. Conway as main ruck should av 90 if he gets a run at it,foots a worry though.
*Foot ( in mouth ) note.
Have a flexi that is playing the later games of the round.
Then if an emergency scores high and all on field are playing it will give extra flexibility to move things around and still get best 22 of 23 and include that score.
Cheers
…..ATM I have mixed WC dpps.
Been reading all very good comments, it strikes me that nobody is taking into account the 40 trades we have.
Also why has nobody put Petracca in their team, I have, am I missing something ???
Cracked a rib the other day.
Is it 35 trades plus the 5 boosts, or 40 trades plus boosts?
I’m contemplating it’s 35 + 5.
Petracca’s fitness may still be concerning a few of us.
When the practice games begin we may know a bit more and then decide.
I am understanding it’s 35 trades. You are limited to 2 trades per round (except mid season byes when you have 3). If you want to use 3 trades in a round, you activate a boost. You can do this 5 times. So it’s not 35 + 5. It’s 35 including 5 boosts.
re flex… as Freo are coy on the matter, if Darcy is certain to miss several early games is anyone considering Luke Jackson with R/F status in the flex position?
The flex position won’t really be important until after round 5. Rounds 2, 3 and 4 are best 18 only.
Darcy should be ok by then
are you suggesting then that flex is essentially irrelevant during that period and that one could carry Darcy for that time if he’s integral to ones team?…or simply trade him in when he is fit and on the park?
…given a third of the season is best 18 there is plenty to ponder…
I wouldn’t say irrelevant, they can still be used as a DPP.
Try playing around with your team as if it’s a bye round and see what you can do.
I currently have Darcy as my R2 and TDK. Listen to the latest podcast of “Insight AFL Supercoach injury update'”. It also discusses TDK sole ruck role with injuries to Curnow and McKay.
Please correct me if I’m wrong but my reading of the flex position is that with best 22 of 23 scores counting the flex replaces your lowest score irrespective of whether their positions are the same.
Hi Champ,
They have a variety of purposes.
Eg you maybe trying to decide between players for emergency or on field.
They give you more opportunities to shuffle things around and maybe get both on field.
Yes I know we can do that with DPP, but now more tweaking can be done.
A few extra choices gets a few extra points.
Cheers
Happy New Supercoach Year everyone!
I’ve got 3 slightly different team options but I’m thinking I will most likely go with this, pending more pre-season and practice match information.
Sheezel, Whitfield, Sinclair, Mills, Schoenmaker, Sinn / K Smith El-Hawli
Bontempelli, Butters, Day, Oliver, Peatling, J Smith, E Allan, Tsatas / Smilie, Kako, Erasmus
Gawn, De Koning / Boyd
Bolton, B Smith, Phillipou, Daniel, Curtin, Hewett / Berry, A Reid
Travaglia
Set up pretty well for byes and flexibility. Happy to get an feedback. Already looking forward to round one.
I don’t mind this lineup potentially 15 keepers if I include Mills,Washcroft,Harley,Oliver,Bolton, Macrae, BSmith & Phillipou
Some of the highly picked rookies are actually injured/recovering/in rehab and will be very unlikely for the first couple of rounds, or they have looked out of their depth or fringe in club match sim so I haven’t picked them
Sinclair-Holmes-Mills
Coleman-BAllan-El-hawli (ZReid-Bice)
Bont-Butters-Serong-Oliver
WAshcroft-HReid-O’Driscoll-Tsatas (JSmith-Knevitt-Charleson)
Xerri-TDK (Boyd)
Bolton-Macrae-BSmith
Phillipou-Daniel-JBerry (EHewett-Stone)
Flex: Lynch
Not sold on Coleman, if he doesn’t have a big praccy match he’s gone, probably him and Hreid for McKercher and a good mid cheapie
Harley Reid is an interesting pod. Not sure he will score consistently enough in that WCE lineup to be valued a keeper. Only 3 tons last year but two of those over 135, so has the scoring power obviously, he’s a jet. But If you asked me which one out of Reid or Mckercher, I’d go Mckercher. More chance at being a top 10 defender than I think Reid is of being a top 10 midfielder.
Something to think about.
Still trying to get my head around the best use of the flex position.
Is the consensus that we’re best to use it essentially as a position to have a keeper?
In particular, a third ruck keeper because this gives us ruck cover.
Which in turn means we’re running another line with one less keeper?
I would traditionally aim for a 3-5-2-3 structure to start the season but the flex is messing with that.
Thumbs up – Flex should be a ruck keeper
Thumbs down – Flex can be anything
I think the flex should be a value pick who will average 60-80 points while increasing his price because you will always have someone scoring less than that he can replace in a best 22 scoring scenario.
Hi Ranger,
Although I’m a big fan of thumbs up, your thumbs down is a more precise description.
So I thumbed down.
Cheers