Welcome to sudden death! Do you have any trades left?
Ladies and gentlemen, the Fallen Premiums.
DEFENDERS
Caleb DANIEL (WBD), $515 000 (-$30.5K), avg 94, BE 19 – Now you’re repeating yourself. Now you’re repeating yourself. After frustrating his owners all season, the littlest Bulldog has rediscovered the magic in the past fortnight with scores of 145 and 128. Seems to be playing all over the field at the moment and finding plenty of the leather while he does so. The main worry here is that Treloar surely returns soon. How that will affect the helmet? Your guess is as good as mine – but the Dogs are playing well with Caleb in his current role and the coach seems to agree….
Lachie WHITFIELD (GWS), $468 800 (-$92.8K), avg 94, BE 47 – Blurred vision against the Suns in round 17 saw Lachie turn in a nauseating 32 and then miss a week through the concussion protocols, which led many to slap him straight on the “never again” list. But as has become typical throughout Whitfield’s career, he bounced straight back with a sparkling 146 in the upset win over the Bombers followed by a solid 87 in a loss to the Power last week. Great value here for a player who has demonstrated a massive ceiling throughout his career, and only three games to go minimises the infamous injury risk too.
Backing it up….
Christian Salem, $445K, BE 161
Jeremy Howe, $437K, BE 144
MIDFIELDERS
Jarryd LYONS (BRL), $553 600 (-$51K), avg 117, BE 109 – Don’t look a gift Lion in the mouth! Getting a top 10 midfielder at this price really doesn’t require too much thought, and as an extra sweetener you may just be getting the POD who wins you a league title! A few more coaches have taken notice of Jarryd this year but he still sits at just 11% ownership, even though he’s already tonned up a ridiculous 17 times. The search for your final midfielder is over!
Jaeger O’MEARA (HAW), $451 900 (-$36.1K), avg 98, BE 12 – It feels like an eternity ago that the Suns took the uber hyped O’Meara in the mini draft, but JOM is still only 27 years old! Having battled through troublesome knees and then traded to the Hawks, Jaeger has never quite reached the heights we had hoped for him early on, but he’s still a hell of a footballer and if you need a left field budget option to finish off your midfield then he should be considered. Razed the Lions last week for 35 possessions and 156 points in a vintage performance.
Just quickly….Cam GUTHRIE ($538 800, avg 113, BE 54) absolutely blazed through the Roos last week in a special double act with little brother Zac. The elder Guthrie is still stupidly cheap and just about impossible to ignore if you’re in the market.
Limbo land….
Darcy Parish, $599K, BE 200
Sam Walsh, $680K, BE 183
Lachie Neale, $514K, BE 172
RUCKS
I’m not sure anyone is looking for a ruck at this time of year, but Rowan MARSHALL ($509 900, avg 97, BE 19) predictably carved it up last week as the solo ruck, despite the Saints’ limp recent form.
FORWARDS
I’m having difficulties discussing forwards after all the trouble they’ve given me this year, but there is a nice triumvirate of options this week:
Steele SIDEBOTTOM (COL), $429 800 (-$158.2K), avg 89, BE 24
Zak BUTTERS (PTA), $388 800 (-$82.6K), avg 85, BE 87
Matthew KENNEDY (CAR), $422 800 (-$14.7K), avg 75, BE 86
All three are expected to receive their fair share of midfield time and all are capable of filling that particular role to good effect, which makes them all excellent budget options for your forward line. Sidey is revelling in the extra responsibility of leading the Pies midfield in Pendlebury’s absence, Butters is starting to find some match fitness after an injury-riddled year, and Kennedy should not be going back to the forward line any time soon after impressing in a on-the-ball role in Carlton’s big win last weekend.
Forward thinking….
Josh Dunkley, $588K, BE 199
Dayne Zorko, $525K, BE 141
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After bringing in Lyons for the grand final last year and stinking it up with a disgusting 63 with which single handed he lost me all of my grannies – he’s on the never again list, forever, for all time, permanently….
I totally feel your pain mate. Like you I too traded in Lyons in my Cash League granny last year which single-handedly cost me the win. Using my last remaining trade I thought I’d make what I thought was a smart move and trade out Neale (incoming Curnow tag) for Lyons. Well, Neale then proceeded to smash out a 142 while Lyons shat the bed with a putrid 63. Needless to say he’s also on my Never Again list.
That’s on you, not Lyons. It sounds like you were over-thinking it – Neale was one of the top midfielders in the comp last year.
You’re right, it wasn’t the smartest move in hindsight. I was spooked by the tag he received against Sydney the previous round which held him to 55 and thought he’d receive a similar hard tag, but should’ve known he’d bounce back and go beast-mode like the champion he is. But also didn’t foresee the stinker Lyons would produce considering he had a brilliant season as well.
I’m sorry if that sounded harsh – I get being spooked by the worst case scenario (for example, my VC/C choices for half of this year).
Instead of fallen premiums, can we have a ‘mid priced dud that I can afford with my last trade’ list. Haha…
check my team RB, that should cover it