Final say: Round 9, trade plans + tactics

We’re nearly at the byes, and thus, we’re nearing the most important time of year!

It becomes increasingly more important with trades to ensure that you’re factoring in your bye structure; and if you’re struggling to make up ground on the rest of the competition, do you make a big move and bring in a POD?

Remarkably, the top three scorers of the round were all insane PODS: Lynch (184, 1%), Darcy (178, 2.3%), and McCluggage (154, 1.6%).

As I wrote in my article just the other day, having these types of players in your side can be the difference between top 10,000 and top 1,000.

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Although, as someone kindly pointed out on the Facebook post, it can also be the difference between top 10,000 and top 100,000 so you’ve got to make sure you get it right!

Patty Cripps continued his Brownlow form with his second highest score of the season (151). If you take out his injury effected 38, he’s averaging an incredible 140 (the most of any player this year).

Clayton Oliver also kept his high scoring streak going, and if you take out his uncharacteristic 68 against the Power, he’s averaging 131 for the year.

The cheapies stood out most this week, with Daicos (80), McCartin (94), SDK (80), Hobbs (96), Preuss (103), Hayes (98), Brodie (115), and Martin (88) all putting up some scores which our premiums could certainly take a note or two from.

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GAME PLAN

This week I scored 2,217 which moved me down 1000 spots to 12,627^th.

Let’s cut to the chase… Zac Butters isn’t helping thing. Unfortunately though, there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. Without a doubt, he’s been at the forefront of my downfall, and it’s hard to fathom that just two weeks ago I was sitting pretty at 5980^th.

He needs to go… But so do my rookies.

Before we get into the state of my team this week, let’s just rewind to last weeks trades. I did a complete U-turn on what I said I was going to do, and instead I used a boost to bring in Pendles, Gawn, and Curtis for Hewett, Bowey, and Xerri.

Not the best, not the worst, but it had to be done at some point. The uncertainty surrounding Hewett’s injury just left me with too much doubt, so I played it safe and let him go.

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Anyway, this week I’m in another slight conundrum. At the moment I’ve got Durdin at F6 which definitely needs changing, but I’m a bit strapped for cash. It does seem pointless bringing in someone who I’m going to have to trade up AGAIN eventually, but I might’ve found a diamond in the rough who will likely score well until after his bye.

Darcy Cameron.

I’ll touch on him later on, but if it allows me to get Durdin off field while also bringing in a player who has shown he can score 100+ then LFG!!

There’s also a lot of good options on the bubble at the moment, including Carroll, Hamilton, and Rioli. Greg Clark is also another option, but I can afford to wait another week on him. I think Rioli just edges out the other bubble boys’ based off the fact that he’s been pushing higher up the ground to get his touches instead of relying on them in the Forward 50 like other small forwards.

So, here’s the trades:

Rachele -> Rioli

Dixon -> Cameron

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PODs & SUPER PODs

Generally, PODs are anyone who is owned by less than 10% of the competition, and Super PODs are anyone owned by less than 2%. Here’s my top 3 for each (based on who I think is the best to take a punt on).

Top-3 PODs

1. Callum Mills ($686,400, 120.1, 7.4%) – Look, I know he’s coming off a 60, but I still think Mills is the #1 POD in the comp right now. It’s fair to chalk up his poor score to just an off day, and I fully expect him to bounce back this week against the Bombers who have conceded a ton of points to opposing midfielders in the last few weeks: Dunkley (139), Bontempelli (115), and O’Meara (108). Also, not that I would expect Mills to cop a tag anyway, but the Bombers don’t tag at all! So, he should have a field day against them.
2. Sean Darcy ($595,600, 107.2, 2.3%) – I put him in the ‘Keep an eye on them’ part of the article last week and wow, he did not disappoint. He scored a massive 178 on the weekend and in just two weeks, he plays Darcy Cameron who has let Witts (136) and Nankervis (121) dominate him in the ruck contests.
3. Darcy Parish ($614,500, 115.4, 8.3%) – Parish makes his way into the top-3 off the back of some stellar form, where he hasn’t dropped under 97 all year, all while accumulating six 110+ scores and three 120+ scores.

Top-3 Super PODs

1. Rory Laird ($629,500, 119.7, 1.1%) – I’m running out of superlatives to describe just how good Laird is. As I said last week, his breakeven is right around his average so he won’t be making or losing that much money in the next few weeks. However, it’s hard to look at his scores and not be tempted.
2. Zach Merrett ($599,600, 112, 0.8%) – Merrett joins the list purely because of his SuperCoach ability. In every other year, he’s been one of my first players picked, but due to his injury cloud I refrained this year (which was a good decision in hindsight). When I refer to his consistency, I’m specifically referring to his 2021 and 2020 seasons where he averaged 115 and 115.6 respectively. This year, he’s only dropped under 100 once (99), and he’s scored three times over 110 (with 108 the only other exception). He plays the Swans this week, and last time he played them, he went off for a 168.
3. Dayne Zorko ($522,900, 93.5, 1.8%) – It looks like Zorko might finally be back in the middle, a position where he’s played most of his career in. Off the back of two 120+ scores in a row, perhaps he’s now found a bit of consistency. One of the more promising signs about his 123 on the weekend was that of his 26 touches, 21 of those were kicks. He’s got DEF status, he’s down $72.5k, he’s got a breakeven of 62, and he plays Adelaide, Hawthorn, and GWS in his next three games… Now is the time to pounce.

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KEEP AN EYE ON THEM

Here’s my top 3 players that you shouldn’t be buying JUST yet, but should definitely have an eye on for the weeks to come:

1. Greg Clark ($117,300, 104, 12.8%) – Unfortunately for us (and him), Greg Clark was put into H&S protocols just a week after his first game, which might put a halt to his momentum. However, he’s already shown his scoring power in his first game, and especially given the current state of the Eagles’ midfield, he could be one of their main men for the rest of the season.
2. Max Gawn ($669,400, 120.5, 48.9%) – This goes out to the very few people who don’t actually have Gawny yet, and normally I’d suggest trading him in ASAP, but there is a reason why you should wait a little bit. As a result of his poor 82 on the weekend, his breakeven has shot up to 136 so he may even drop in price this week. In addition to that, last week saw him cop a little injury in a ruck contest with Patty Ryder. It forced him to sit forward for majority of the game, and I expect him to sit forward for a fair bit of this weeks’ game as well; because of this, there is a slightttt chance that he could grab FWD DPP in round 12, so that’s definitely something to look out for.
3. Jack Steele ($637,100, 114, 31.2%) – Despite playing a pretty solid game, Jack Steele could only muster up a 75 in SuperCoach, and he’s now got a breakeven of 175 which will see his price absolutely plummet. He’s projected to get as low as $598.7k in two weeks’ time, but I think he could drop even lower than that. When the time comes, don’t hesitate to bring him in.

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CHARLIE’S ANGELS – CAPTAINS

Geez, apologies if you took my advice last week, it was not great lol. Callum Mills and Josh Dunkley just did not show up as VC options, and Lachie Neale and Max Gawn scored some quite underwhelming scores given who their opposition was.

I’ve studied the form guide, and I’m confident I’ll make amends this week!

Finally returning to form with a 144, Jack Macrae will dominate the Pies on Friday night (who don’t have a tagger).

Only dropping under 109 once this year, Jayden Short should hopefully get more midfield minutes this week against a Hawks side that have conceded a lotttt of points to opposing midfielders. Even if he returns to his seagull role, he will still score 120+.

Depending on who you pick as your C, Callum Mills could be your VC against the very non-defensive-minded Bomber’s midfield. I fully expect him to bounce back from his uncharacteristic 60.

Lachie Neale and Patrick Cripps could potentially cop tags from the Crows and Giants respectfully, but none-the-less should dominate as per.

After seeing what other midfielders have done to the Eagles this year, Clayton Oliver could go extremely large this week. It’s probably a 50/50 between him and Petracca for who gets tagged, but you’ve got to take risks in this game.

Top-3 Vice Captains

1. Callum Mills
2. Jack Macrae
3. Jayden Short

Top-3 Captains

1. Clayton Oliver
2. Patrick Cripps
3. Andrew Brayshaw

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