Final say: Round 4 tactics, trades, skippers

Is there a better feeling in the entire world than seeing your SuperCoach POD going ballistic? Honestly, I’m sure hitting a hole-in-one is pretty good (I wouldn’t know), but there might not be! 

A lazy Saturday afternoon watching Will Day going to town on one of the worst midfield groups I’ve seen in a while was basically as good as it gets for me. In just 9% of teams, Day was one of my big preseason gambles and – whilst it might all come crashing down shortly – it’s looking like a good result to start!

Overall a score of 2,257 in Round 3 for me, pushing my ranking up to 18,000th overall after a very slow start to the season.

Hopefully Nick Daicos VC on Thursday night can help things along even further… Update: It did indeed.

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The Round 3 Positives:

50/50 Trade Calls

On Friday afternoon I had one big decision to make; did I:

1. Make a quick cash grab by going Fergus Greene to Chandler
2. Pull the pin on Shrek Darcy after a horrific start to the year and turn him in to the rampaging Darcy Cameron

Miraculously, I think I made the right move by choosing option b). Chandler isn’t leaving the Melbourne side any time soon and seems destined to smash through his $150k price rise goal. Darcy -> Cameron was a logical trade under the circumstances, but has turned in to a disaster. 

Feels like the coinflip decisions go the wrong way a lot more than they should, so it’s nice to revel in a rare good one.

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Fading Cogs

I feel like the decision not to start with Cogs is going to be a consistent theme of this weekly article. Allow me to gloat about it the one week that it pays off!

In what was just a bizarre (in all the wrong ways) game of football in Western Sydney, Cogs had 29 possessions, but went at just 55% DE and somehow finished with 58 SuperCoach points.

Boy, was I gleeful. 

With a breakeven of 150+ and a projected price of ~$520k in a few weeks, Cogs may not be far away from entering my side.

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Shrek!!

The Big Behemoth from out west is really making us work for it this season, jee whiz. Consensus going in to Round 3 was that he was going to be able to feast on a broken West Coast ruck outfit, and thankfully – for once – consensus was correct.

Is Shrek a keeper? Frankly, it’d surprise me. The Luke Jackson issue is too pronounced to have any long-term faith in Darcy’s scoring ability, a situation which is exacerbated by the early brilliance of Jarrod Witts and Tim English.

For one week, though, it was nice to feel like I owned one of the two best rucks in the league.

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The Round 3 Negatives:

The SuperCoach Gods

Almost as if the SuperCoach Gods could feel my glee about Cogs’ day, they decided to burn me in return with maybe the biggest Fantasy -> SuperCoach score discrepancy I’ve seen. 136 Fantasy for just 87 SuperCoach points was the result of Doch’s day.

Admittedly, it may have been more a result of the 15 ineffective/clanger kicks making up his 39 disposals, but I choose to blame the Gods! 

Surely we’re due for some good luck this week…

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Luke Pedlar Suspension

Pedlar has been one of my sneaky good picks of the season. The young Crow is averaging 64 to start the year, but more importantly has very much passed the old “eye test”.

Pedlar attacks the footy hard, is quick and good with ball in hand. There’s a reason Matthew Nicks keeps pushing him further and further up the ground.

Unfortunately, all of that is now irrelevant as he’ll be missing this week due to an agricultural tackle in the Showdown. 

F6 now falls to you, Kade Chandler…

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Ridley Conundrum

I kinda wish Rids was scoring a bit worse. It’d make the decision of whether or not to trade him a whole lot easier. 

On paper, scores of 107, 70, 96 really don’t look all that bad. Of course, they don’t tell the full story. Rids has a weird role – definitely not the rebounding, intercepting specialist we were hoping for. He’s hanging deep and getting a few cheap kicks, but it doesn’t appear to be super sustainable from a SuperCoach scoring perspective.

When guys like Sicily and Dawson and Stewart are flying at the top of the leaderboard, it’s hard hanging on to a guy who seems mired in mediocrity like Ridley.

I just wish he was playing a little worse so the decision was a little easier

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Big Decisions

Will Phillips

I was as hot as anyone on Phillips in the preseason, and absolutely bemused when he wasn’t picked Round 1. The former top 3 pick is clearly talented and has all the tools to be a star in the league.

However… He’s clearly not a first choice midfielder at North, behind the likes of LDU, Simpkin, Powell and Cunnington. What does that mean for his role and job security going forward?

I don’t love it. Unless you have a must-trade in the mids, like a Callaghan or even a Chesser, I’d probably wait until a more “sure-thing” downgrade option (at a basement price) pops up – a Bailey Humphrey type.

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Go early on JVR?

Couldn’t have been more impressed by Jacob Van Rooyen on debut. The former pick 19 has been battering the door down at VFL level for 12 months, finally getting his chance with Max Gawn on the sidelines and excelling as a high forward / back up ruck.

What’s one of the golden rules of SuperCoach though? Neveerrrrr go early on rookies.

That being said… if you were going to go early, JVR looks as good an option as any. This is a rare situation which I’m open to jumping on a cash cow after a week, particularly if you’re carrying a Bruhn or Flanders in your forward line.

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Trades

N/A – holding firm!

The only real temptations for me at this point are either of the above downgrade options, coupled with Ridley to either Stewart or Sicily.

I think Rids needs another week and I don’t love either of the downgrade options. I’m holding firm for one more week.

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Eddie’s Captains

Very easy to say in retrospect, but I loved Nick Daicos as a VC option last night! Bandit luckily had him covered in his weekly captains piece.

In terms of the Friday -> Monday games, there’s a lot of juice there too. Patrick Cripps is going to tear the Kangaroos up this afternoon. I I recgonise they’ve got LDU and Simpkin back, but the Carlton midfield is in another stratosphere to North at the moment and the Roos don’t have anyone who can go with the Carlton skipper.

Sam Docherty is also worth a look here. He averages 101.2 at Marvel Stadium and the ball is very likely to be in Carlton hands for most of today. Love his chance of bouncing back after a down week against GWS.

On the other hand, I don’t love LDU as an option. The Blues run so deep that they can afford to throw Curnow or Kennedy on him as a negating presence. I’d be steering clear.

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We know Rory Laird loves Adelaide Oval, and the Freo midfield are in a shambles to start the season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Gnome go large again. 

The Dogs have the Tigers at the G on Saturday afternoon in another huge game for the club. Tim English is the hottest man in SuperCoach at the moment, but may have his work cut out for him against the mean mug of Toby Nankervis. I prefer the Bont in this fixture, with the Tigers leaking points to opposing midfielders.

Speaking of leaking points… Tom Green is going to tear the Bombers up under the lid at Marvel on Sunday. Essendon do not have a negating bone in their body, evidenced by the avalanche of points conceded to Mason Wood and Brad Crouch last week (sigh).

Lastly, Clayton Oliver against the Weagles feels way too easy doesn’t it? There might not be a worse midfield in the league, which is really the only cause for concern for me. Do Melbourne try some weird stuff safe in the knowledge they’re going to be dominant either way?

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Vice Captains

1. Patrick Cripps
2. Rory Laird
3. Sam Docherty

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Captains

1. Clayton Oliver
2. Marcus Bontempelli
3. Tom Green

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