So, I figure we should have a place to discuss the Melbourne Storm fall from grace.

Can’t having it clog up the SuperCoach threads can we?

So, $1.7 mil over 5 years worth of cheating has cost them 2 flags, a bunch of minor premierships and the respect of rugby fans all over.

$340k a year.

Just to put that into context, during Brisbane’s three-peat, they had an extra salary cap of $780k per year…

The Don and pies were ROBBED!!!

Alright, with all the teams down for the Christmas period, this will probably be my last post for the year.

Unless you cop a drunken Christmas/New Years greetings.

So I figure, I’ll make the last post a spot check for where each team is. Broken down into the three major categories we care about.

1. Who’s injured?
2. Who’s been pencilled in for the midfield
3. Who’s been training the house down!

Adelaide:
Injuries -
Otten (knee)
Moran (knee)
Symes (knee)
Bock (heel)
Van Berlo (back)

More in the midfield – Dangerfield
Training the house down – Walker

Brisbane:
Injuries –
Clarke (knee)
Bartlett (knee)
Golby (knee)

More in the midfield – Brennan, Staker

Carlton:
Injuries –
Jamison (hip)
Waite (knee)

More in the midfield – McLean.
Training the house down – Gartlett, Yarran

Collingwood:
Injuries –
Medhurst (back)
Anthony (sholder)
Fraser (knee)
Dick (shoulder)

More in the midfield – Ball
Training the house down – Jolly

Essendon:
Injuries –
Neagle (groin)
Hurley (wrist)
Slattery (leg)
Hille (knee)

Fremantle
Injuries –
Dodd (shoulder/wrist)

Training the house down – Palmer, Hill, Mayne, Duffield, DeBoer

Geelong
Injuries –
Johnson (hil)
Menzel (groin)

Training the house down – Drum

Hawthorn
Injuries –
Franklin (minor foot)
Burgoyne (knee)

Melbourne
Injuries –
Garland (foot)
Blease (leg)
Wonaeamirri (hamstring)

More in the midfield – Bennell, Jetta, Morton, Watts
Training the house down – Grimes

North Melbourne
Injuries –
Wells (The dreaded OP)
Anthony (hand)

More in the midfield – Greenwood
Training the house down – Warren, Wright, Grima, Ziebell, Bastinac, Edwards

Port Adelaide
Injuries –
Rodan (knee)
D. Motlop (ankle/shoulder/groin)
Carr (ankle)
Davenport (shoulder)

More in the midfield – Lobbe (as ruck), Gray, M. Motlop
Training the house down – Hartlett, Broadbent, Lobbe, Gray, Ebert

Richmond
Injuries –
Foley (ankle)
Cotchin (achillies)
cousins (hand)

St Kilda
Injuries –
King (knee)
Goddard (collarbone)

Sydney
Injuries –
Bolton (shoulder)
Seaby (ankle)
Kennedy (hip)
Thornton (knee)

Training the house down – Kennelly, Malceski, Barlow, Johnston, White

West Coast
Injuries –
Waters (knee)
Cox (groin)
Mackenzie (shoulder)

More in the midfield – NOT Lecras – has remained training in the forwards.
Training the house down – Kerr, Sheppard

Western
Injuries –
Reid (groin)
Tiller (groin)
Murphy (knee)
Hall (ankle)
Howard (hip)

More in the midfield –
Training the house down – Giansiracusa, Akermanis, Everitt, Johnson

It’s just a simple chart to refer to as the pre-season ticks on.

Anyways, I hope that you have your Christmas shopping done early, I hear that the Prospectus is availiable if you haven’t finish yet.

Heck, there might even be a word or two in there written by yours truely… maybe.

But, however you spend your holiday season, enjoy yourself and stay safe ok. It’s a long pre-season ahead of us.

Yes, we’re still here!

And I come baring a gift. (Well, just a little gift. If I had more time, it would be a much more *awesome* gift!)

DT Finals Stats.

Normally my site is coded to ignore finals games, but you can still get there with the above link.

Hopefully it helps you in selecting your team for tonight!

Also.

EPL! It’s back on again this weekend! So if you’ve got a squad (or yanno, THREE OF THEM!) Then get your trades in, your benches worked out and your wildcards finalized!

The TS League is still smashing out miles in front of the competition. So let’s keep it that way guys!!

And finally, Drinks on Saturday! Hopefully people can make it! As far as finding the crowd, I probably should have bought myself a TS hat or something so I would be recognized. Ah well, we’ll just have to wing it. I’ve roughly 6 foot, a mop of brown curly hair, rugged good looks, strong muscula… alright, I’ll stop there.

Anyways, I’ll probably be standing around in one of the following yellow circles.

Watching one of the green TV screens. The red TV is only good if you’re interested in grabbing some grub!

Peace guys, and I hope to see you there!

Reading between the lines in the last post, some people have already given up their season and are looking towards 2010. Even if you haven’t, if you still wanting to be competing this time next year it would be a good idea to research your players for next year.

Luckily for us, the AFL have released the U18 championships statistics. These are the players that are most likely to get drafted and also make up the benches of your team for next year.

Unfortunately, we don’t get SC points for these players, though I will be working on making a rough indicator based on the values published on the website. But there are some options that leap out at you.

• Tom Scully will be a must have next year. Averaging 25 touches a game, with an elite disposal efficiency, wins his own ball and can kick a goal. Gold! Only worry is the amount of clangers, but the rest of his stats more than make up for it.
• Jack Trengrove, statistically, should not trouble Scully for the #1 draft pick, but will be a good option as well, mainly due to his awesome kicking efficiency (wow!)
• Kane Lucas’ kicking abilities are overrated.
• Andrew Hooper will be a SC star in defence, as will Blayne Wilson (look at his efficiency!) if they are given games.
• Roland Ah Chee should have made All Australian (because I picked him to make it)
• We really wish Josh Toy wasn’t going to the Gold Coast.

Note that not all players are mentioned in the stats, only those with an average of 12.2 touches or more (and James Craig, presumably because he’s n All Australian ruckman now). That’s why you won’t find John Butcher anywhere if you’re looking for him.

Have a look, see who you like, and check back when I have the rough conversion done. (Note: Because I don’t have all the stats, it will be EXTREMELY rough)

Here is the rough scores, not including frees, hit outs, scaling and many other factors.

Terry Wallet is GOOOOONNNEEEEE!!!

That’s right, hot off the presses this morning, a emergency board meeting occured at 11:30 this morning, and the net result.

Ol’ Terry hotpant is shuffling his way back to the twos.

In other news and rumours.

Hill and Suban might be “getting rested”.
Bock is likely to miss this week.
(ps- my back line hates you guys!)
Terry Wallace has been named the new coach of the Tigers.
Mundy should be fine to play
Chapman is “Likely to play”
Ablett is near a shoe-in to play.
Kevin sheedy and Jade Rawlings have mounted a coupe against Terry, more news to follow.
Scott Thompson has been struggling with hamstring tightness… will prove an excellent pickup once that’s sorted…
And Kane Cornes should be right to go.

In other news, Terry has been named the new coach of the tigers

Here’s to hoping the selection table is kind tonight.
(oh and 150+ comments on the last post. Good discussion guys! You make this place an awesome place to visit! )

Gary Ablett could play next week against the Kangaroos, according to his article in the Herald Sun today.

I can’t be bothered writing out the whole thing, but here are the highlights.

“the scan showed the hips are found and there is no inflammation around the pubis bone” No osteitis pubis then.

“We do regular tests to measure our core strength, and that’s what we’ll be using to work out when I’m back at 100% and ready to play”

“This week the aim is to ramp it up (at training)”

“I want to make sure I get it right now rather than having to battle through games later on” This suggests they’ll rest him if he’s only 90% fit.

“There’s a chance I’ll play against North Melbourne this Saturday….the worst case scenario is agains the Western Bulldogs the following week.”

Hopefully Gazza doesn’t do the Richo thing and makes sure he is fully fit and ready to go when he does return. But at least we know it won’t be a permanent 2-3 weeks away from returning, like Ottens was last year.

Edit: Here is the link, courtesy of Spud.

UPDATE: Gary Ablett will miss this weeks game against NM, according to Mark Thompson.

“While Ottens is yet to hit the training track, star onballer Gary Ablett has been running at 80 per cent but will not be risked this weekend against North Melbourne.

After missing last week’s win over the Sydney Swans with an adductor strain, the 24-year-old has been banging down medical staff’s door to prove his fitness, but Thompson said the Cats would not be swayed.

“The plan was always for two weeks and when it initially happened we gave a range (of weeks out) and two was the plan,” he said.

“Nothing has changed in our eyes. We’ve designed a rehab program to get him up to play not this week, but the following week.””
Shame.

GARY Ablett will miss up to three weeks for Geelong following scans on his injured groin.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25426395-19742,00.html?from=public_rss

Everyone PANIC! With Beams and Hartlett also injured and other benchwarmers in Liam Anthony and Mitch Robinson still warming the pine, this is a big problem.

If you are in serious contention for the overall, (I’m talking top 200 or so here), well you probably don’t need my help because you’re doing so well. Seriously, though, I’m going to propose the unthinkable and say that I would trade out Jesus. With over 100 thousand on offer as well as the benefits of proven performers Neon Leon, Chris Judd , Jimmy Bartel, or Nick Dal Santo (who are all options for the captaincy as well, which we have to think about now )

However for the rest of us mortals who just want a league win, you can’t trade out of Gary Ablett. Instead, you just have to find a way to get a playing substitute for 2/3 weeks. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many playing cheap midfielders, so a straight swap with another of your non-playing rookies may be impossible. Andrew Collins (153,100), David Zaharakis (205,700) or Matt De Boer/Adam Cockie if they are selected (83,400/94,200) are your best options. Tom Swift (94,200) is another rookie who impressed in the preseason who is likely to make his debut this week, though Cockie is probably ahead of him (he made his debut first didn’t he?)  The advantage here is you get money and only need one trade, but you lose a lot of points and have to worry about them playing each week. This is probably the best option if you are low on trades.

If you don’t want to get rid of Gazza or get one of these rookies, a clever upgrade of one of your non playing rookies is the only other option. Some stars at bargain prices include:

Luke Power, BL, avg 96, BE 108, $448,800
Adam Selwood, WCE, avg 106, BE 83, $441,000 *
Adam Goodes, SYD, avg 100, BE 131, $490,900
Kane Cornes, PA, avg 92, BE 92, $450,100
Farren Ray, STK, avg 103 BE 42, $447,400 *
Luke Hodge, HAW, avg 88, BE 120, $518,000

*I’m still not convinced about either of these, but their numbers are hard to ignore.

If you can afford them, Power and Goodes are the best options here, (Hodge should really be in defense).

Some riskier options at even cheaper prices (for those on a budget) are:

Andrew Swallow, NM, avg 93, BE 43, $400,500
Troy Selwood, BL, avg 80, BE 62, $368,100
Travis Tuck, Haw, avg 80, BE 68, $341,800
Heath Hocking, ESS, avg 86 BE 43, $340,100
Garry Moss, HAW, avg 80, BE -6, $292,500
Mark Coughlan, RICH, avg 84, BE -19, $246,600

Of these, I like Coughlan the most, but you would have to hope for a raise in output if you want to keep them for the rest of the year. The advantage of these though is that you don’t need a huge amont to get there.

To get the cash, consider downgrading to Levi Greenwood (Def, NM, 94,200 avg 55) or one of your forwards to Brent Macaffer (Fwd, COLL, 94,200, avg 65).

There are plenty of players around, so hold off getting Buddy for another week (he’ll probably drop again this week anyway ) and fix up your midfield (unless you have Richo or Scott Lucas, in which case start reading Walesy’s article.)

Because Ablett deserves his own topic, I’m gunna run on the forward front.

Firstly Lucas dropped.

ESSENDON has dropped out of form forward Scott Lucas after the veteran again struggled in his side’s loss to the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night.

Coach Mathew Knights said on Tuesday that Lucas has been given the option of either turning out for Essendon’s VFL affiliate the Bendigo Bombers this weekend or taking a week off from football altogether.

With luck, it will just be for the week, but if you’re still keeping the faith in him, it’s looking bleaker all the time.
(DT-wise though, it might be worth waiting a week as he’s appreciating value over there, not LEAKING IT LIKE A SIEVE!)

The irrepressible Richoman, is slightly more repressible now, a season ending injury burning him, and a lot of coaches.

RICHMOND superstar Matthew Richardson’s season could be over with immediate surgery required to repair a tear in his left hamstring tendon.

The 10-12 week recovery period would leave him precious little time to get match-fit before the end of the season, with Richmond struggling at 1-5 and looking set to miss the finals.

Unfortunately, Richo has dropped 70k in value first before his little holiday, but it is definitely time to trade him out.

So what do we have to play with. 475k.

All of my *honest* suggestions will weigh in higher than that I think.

Neon Leon (627k – currently playing at 677k), is a freak at the moment. If you’ve got the cajones, he might be worth a looking.
Roo (617k – currently playing at 664k after a slow start), is going from strength to strength, however, might be too expensive now to represent good value.
The Chapstick (548k – currently playing at 571k), is looking good value. Particularly with Ablett missing a few weeks.
Pavlich (547k – currently playing at 547k after a slow start), looks to have played himself back into some form and is looking very tasty.

However, if you simply can’t free up the funds. You might want to look in the direction of.
Stevie J. (468k – currently playing at 495k), and like Chappy, might find some extra points with Gaz being out of the equation.
Lids – Looks to be hitting the trough. Might have a week before he starts to raise though.
Roughy – A big game on the weekend will see his price start heading up. If he can back that up against the Dons, he’ll be great value.

And finally, forwardWatch.

The idea here is to keep an eye on those premium forwards (started the season at 500k +) who are dropping in price. Ideally with the plan of snaring them up as a bargain.

Franklin. Price: 441k – Lost – 134k – BE: 115 – Still looks to have some falling to do. Though it will only take one game to turn it around.
I’ve heard rumours (from the comments here no less!) of Buddy still dealing with issues around his thumb. Worrying signs…

O’keefe. Price: 467k – Lost – 92k – BE: 109 – Still looks to have some falling to do. Though it will only take one game to turn it around.
Just looks to have fallen off the wagon. While he’s not getting horrible scores, it has been a steady, steady decline.

Lids. Price: 476k – Lost – 73k – BE: 72 – Finally looks to have bottomed out.
Another 100+ score and he might get himself off this list.

Lloyd. Price: 444k – Lost 73k – BE: 160 – Unless he plans on finishing the year as he did last year, I would steer clear of this superstar… (no bias intended…)

Brown. Price: 486k – Lost 52k – BE: 85.5 – Might be bottoming out, Sadly with Brownie, it takes two good games to get off the ground. He’s hit one of them, but whether he can back it up or not is a different story.

All round, a bad week for Supercoachers the nation over.

Luckily, there is a lot of value there, if you’ve got the funds to secure it… *waves to Ablett*…

To Ablett or not to Ablett – It’s  a big decision. One that might just get a little more interesting…

Just as his father did, Ablett is set to become a more prominent player in the forward line, instead of resting on the bench after his midfield stint.

Ablett, who kicked 26 goals last year, will almost certainly be left alone at full-forward and his teammates pushed up to the 50m arc – a frightening set-up for opposition teams.

“He could end up playing 70 per cent of the game onball and playing 25 per cent forward, so he’s maintaining energy and still has an influence on the game,” Thompson said.

Quality possession in the forward 50 has become the gold nugget as teams continue to implement midfield zones.

95% game time with a potential for more goals. I do like the sound of that! Though a role change for a 700k guy… is that really what we want?

hmmmm…

Guys, don’t leave after this week. Stick around talk about Finals DT, and the $100* (will be halved if we can’t get to 200 people) prize up for grabs. And, just talk footy. Also, I’m planning to having a very exciting SuperCoach competition planned for the Grand Final and there will be plenty of great prizes. Just got to talk to Walesy about that one first.

Also, an reminder if you want to help us in the off-season, leave a comment or pop me an email – braydog@live.com.au.

Thank you.