Final say: Round 10 tactics, trades, skippers

We have signs of life!! 

Second highest (lowest?) round ranking for the season with a score of 2,194, which pushed my team “Explosive Duryea” up 2,000 spots to 18,000th overall. It’s looking like another top 500 finish is out of the question, but still plenty to fight for from here.

Round 9 was one of those rare SuperCoach weeks where a lot of things went right. My PODs – Mason Redman, Sean Darcy – performed well. My rooks (propped up by Will Ashcroft) did their job. Other high ownership guys who’ve been killing me all year (Tim English, Luke Ryan, Patrick Cripps) stunk it up.

With byes looming on the horizon, and with injuries to big names (Steele, LDU, Mills) hitting some of the top SuperCoach sides, now is the time to make moves!!

The one positive of my demoralising start to the season is that I’ve managed to hang on to a plethora of trades and boosts, with 21 and 2 remaining prior to my Round 10 moves. You better believe I’m cashing in on a few of those sweet, sweet trades this week… 

Sign up to SC Playbook in 2023! Gain access to stacks of additional premium articles every week during the season, our major subscriber prize, our Whatsapp community featuring Qnas with our team of contributors, and plenty of other bonus features. SUBSCRIBE HERE!

Embed from Getty Images

The Round 9 Positives

Mason Redman

Red Dog!!!

His first ton since Round 4 and it was a big one (136)! Maybe his poor scoring actually was Jordan Ridley’s fault all along, as I wistfully mused this time last week.

I await the coming weeks of Redman with bated breath, knowing that all signs point to this being an outlier rather than the norm.

Embed from Getty Images

Errol

The little man has a 3-round average of 143 (!!!) WTF!

In less encouraging news, the Swans have gone 0-3 in that span. Whatever wizardry is causing Errol to score like prime Dane Swan isn’t translating to on-field success for his team. Yes, I’m aware that correlation =/= causation, but it’s never a great sign when a player is racking up cheap kicks in a side that’s getting pumped. It makes me nervous.

For the moment, though, we’re riding the Errol wave!

Fantasy betting? You read that right… this week for our betr SC Playbook multi, we’ve got Melbourne to win, Butters to grab 25 touches, and Big Maxy to score 120+ AFL Fantasy points FOLLOW HERE

Pleasant Surprises

Against all odds, are Shrek and RowMar actually the prime R1 and R2 combination this year?

Tim English’s 3 round average is just 101 – 11th amongst ruck eligible players. The Bulldogs’ star is still 120 points ahead of Shrek in the overall numbers, but that gap is shrinking fast.

It feels like yesterday (it was last week) I was weighing up a Shrek -> English sideways trade. Suddenly there are coaches who’ll be considering the opposite.

It’s nice to bask in a pleasant surprise every now and then.

Embed from Getty Images

The Round 9 Negatives

Ailing Rooks

Any on-field rooks at this point are a net-negative when compared to the rest of the comp, but it just hurts a little bit extra when 3 of your 5 selections combine for a grand total of 110 points (Cincotta + McKenna + Chandler).

Cincotta was particularly painful. I hadn’t fielded him for any of his immensely encouraging first 3 games of AFL football (67, 88, 70) and part of last week’s trade planning involved putting some faith in him as a temporary M8. Not ideal.

The lesson is simple: don’t stuff around with sideways trading. Get your damn rooks off the field.

Embed from Getty Images

Jacob Hopper

At least the decision of when to pull the pin on Hopper (who’s made a slightly underwhelming $109k this year) is made easy!

The Tigers’ prized recruit is set to miss “the medium term” with a calf injury, making him a definitive trade-out play. 

Is it unfair to say I’m disappointed with the totality of Hopper’s SuperCoach performance this season? An average of 87, a crucial missed game in Round 3 and only 3 tons feels comfortably below what I had in mind when handing him a prized midfield mid-price role.

Embed from Getty Images

Captaincy Stupidity

The number of points I’ve cost myself with ridiculous captaincy decisions this season is starting to reach unbelievable levels.

I’d probably put it in the 200-300 point range in just 9 weeks. The latest installment was this week’s ludicrous refusal to take Oliver’s 119 as VC in favour of a straight C on Jordan Dawson (-30 points).

How many times can I do this to myself in one season? Stay tuned.

Embed from Getty Images

Trades

Kade Chandler -> Blake Drury

Matt Roberts -> Harry Sharp

Jacob Hopper -> Sam Walsh

It’s currently Friday at about midday and I still don’t have the faintest clue whether these are the trades I’m going through with come 7pm this evening.

To start with – the temptation is high to bring in Bailey Humphrey. The Suns’ young gun passes the eye test and seems to have a decent role (at least of late). He’s coming off a mega score against a horrific Eagles team. 

My worries though are two-fold. The first is that Golf Coast have a large contingent of players set to come back, particularly their star mid Touk Miller. I’d be surprised if Humphrey plays anywhere those midfield minutes he did last week at any point for the rest of the season.

Embed from Getty Images

Secondly, his price at $213k is prohibitive to say the least, particularly when Blake Drury is over $100k cheaper.

I’m banking the $100k, which means fielding Luke Pedlar at F6 for at least a week. I’m fine with it.

Roberts has an LTI and is no guarantee to come back in even when healthy. It feels like a shrewd move to jump on Sharp, who comes replete with praise from Chris Fagan. 

Walsh is as close to a DPP lock as you can get, with his pending Fwd status immediately making him one of the must have players in the game. I can’t wait to swing him to F1, Sheezel to D6 and for all intents and purposes complete my side.

Are you about to tie the knot and have concerns about the cost of the wedding, and the honeymoon to follow? Patty and George from Mortgage Choice SCW can get you the best loan rate possible, with no hidden fees, and you’ll have the money within 24 hours. It’s a super easy process, only needing a message and a phone call. Save $129 by mentioning SC Playbook for a FREE CONSULT!

Eddie’s Captains

Massive struggle to find a good captaincy score last week, with a host of the most popular options on the board (Dawson, Laird, Bont, Dunkley) failing to crack the big tons required. 

Another big week of captaincy decisions coming up, with the round kicking off at Adelaide Oval tonight in a blockbuster Port v Dees clash. Clayton Oliver doesn’t have the greatest of records against the Pear (68, 118, 105 in his last 3), but can never be discounted as one of the highest scoring players in the game.

Max Gawn is an interesting shout here too – Brynn Teakle has been dropped for Scott Lycett after conceding 170 points to Todd Goldstein last week, which does lessen Gawn’s potential for going super saiyan a little, but Lycett has hardly lit the world on fire this year anyway. He also had 160 on Port in the second of their most recent matchups.

The Swans take on North on Saturday arvo and Errol Gulden simply demands a mention on the back of his blistering 143 3-round average and back-to-back 150+ scores. Jack Seagullbell has a 5-round average of 122, which also definitely warrants a mention, but unfortunately the timing of this game works against an Errol or Ziebell VC – the Crows vs. Dogs SuperCoach blockbuster kicks off less than half an hour later.

Embed from Getty Images

Speaking of that game… VC / C options aplenty here. Bont is the number 1 SuperCoach player in the game at the moment (total points) and has a 199 against the Crows in his 3-game average against them (although the other 2 games are sub-100). He’s going to give you a 120+ score almost every week. The second overall player in the game is Tim English, who will be looking to bounce back from a tough outing against Carlton last week. Rowan Marshall dropped 131 on the lumbering Reilly O’Brien last week and I expect TEnglish goes at least that high.

On the Crows side of things, the aforementioned Dawson let a lot of coaches down last week (myself included), but to be fair to him the game was over early. It’s hard to see the Dogs rolling over like the Saints did last week and the Crows midfield needs to be operating at full rat power to get this done. I love a bounceback game from the skipper.

Embed from Getty Images

Dreamtime at the ‘G should be an opportunity for Essendon’s skipper to unload on the Tigers. No Setterfield or Parish means a glut of midfield time for Zach Merrett against a team which has leaked midfield points to start this season. Zerrett also had 150 against the Tiges in this fixture last year.

Lastly, the Pies take on the Blues on Sunday arvo at the ‘G. Unfortunately for Nick Daicos, the Blues have a plethora of run-with options, which I expect they’ll utilise. Daicos is good enough to break through, but the risk for me is too high there.

Embed from Getty Images

Vice Captains

1. Clayton Oliver
2. Max Gawn
3. Errol Gulden

Captains

1. Jordan Dawson
2. Marcus Bontempelli
3. Tim English