As we draw closer to the start of the NAB Cup, and therefore inch closer to the start of the 2010 Dreamteam season, it’s time to dig out the bargain picks for your Dreamteam! Here are some of my bargain picks.

Forwards – Patrick Dangerfield

Patrick is now entering his third season in the AFL system, commonly seen as the ‘breakout ‘year for young midfielders like Patrick. Playing predominantly as a small forward pocketer / HHF for 2009, A move to the Midfield is a likely move for 2010, Making him a perfect selection for 2010.

Adelaide fans rate this kid very highly, and why wouldn’t they, he is a natural. Dangerfield has great speed and skills. With a good pre season, and a little more size to his frame he is the perfect candidate to spend some extra time in the midfield.

Playing 19 games last year plus 2 finals, Patrick averaged 52 points per game. An increase of 15+ points isn’t out of the questions. $232,000 is his 2010 price, and I predict he will be a very popular pick.

Rucks – David Hille

David has been one of the most talked about players this pre-season.  How’s his pre season going? Has he recovered from his ACL knee reconstruction? What will his role in the Essendon team?  These are all very frequently asked questions in fantasy football land at the moment.

There are a lot of doubts hanging over this fellas head at the present time. Hille tore his ACL in Essendon’s round 5 ANZAC Day clash against Collingwood in 2009, and since this, I’m sure a lot of fantasy coaches have had Hille high on their radar.  As with most big men returning from these types of injuries, Hille has made a slow, but steady recovery, and is a race against time to be 100% fit for round 1. From most recent reports, Hille is completing full training, including contact drills. Matthew Knights has stated that they hoped for him to be back within 12 months from the initial injury,  and it’s comments like this that are going to scare off Dreamteam coaches as Hille may not make a return until round 4-5.

Essendon completed their first intra club match just a few days ago, in which Hille played around 50% TOG, spending much of his time up forward but also with a little bit of ruck work around the ground. Will a move to the forward line effect Hille’s scoring potential? It’s hard to say, with the departures of Lloyd and Lucas; Hille would become somewhat of a focal point in the forward line. My view is that Hille will be eased back into it by Essendon starting into the forward line and then a move back into the ruck on a more permanent basis once he picks up the pace of the game and gets full fitness back.

Hille is a risk, of course, but priced at $237,300, and averaging 87 back in 2008, Hille could be one of the bargain buys of 2010.

Midfielders – Mark McVeigh

Throfies McVeigh! Mark had a very disappointing year last year, both on field and off field both of which are no secret. Mark’s 2009 season was dogged by ongoing injuries that he could never get over 100%, and when he did finally get back on the park, his form let him down greatly. All this was evident in his DT performance as well, only managing 12 games for an average of 60 points.

Thus far his 2010 pre season, by all reports has been rock solid. Flying on the track without a hiccup as yet. In a recent interview an Essendon official stated that he was 4-5Kgs lighter this season, so he is putting in the hard yards on the track.

Durability is the concern for Mark, whilst also being injury prone throughout the years; he has also shown he has a tenancy to throw a punch of two. In the past two seasons, Mark has only managed 16 out of 42 matches.

Averaging 89 and 80 in 2009 and 2008 respectively, he has shown that he can accumulate the pill. If he manages to put it all together in 2010, both on and off field he could be a very hand pickup at $268,400.

Defenders – Nick Malceski

It’s hard to say what 2010 holds for Nick, but it should be a lot better than what 2009 did. After being the first AFL player to have the new ACL knee reconstruction procedure, Nick wasn’t the play he once was. As is common with most players returning from Knee reconstructions Nick found it hard to pick up the pace of the game again, get full confidence, and cement his place back into the Swans best 22.

In 2007, Nick played 23 games averaging 87 points running of the HBF flank, so there is definitely room for improvement off his 55 point average in 2009.

Can he cement his spot back in the Swans best 22 on the HBF? With the return of Kennelly in 2010, and Mattner also playing a similar position there is a danger that Malceski may lose his spot if his form drops.  The other worry is if he can’t regain full confidence and re capture that blistering form of 2007, but now, almost 2 years after the reco, reports from the club say that his is fit and firing on the track.

There are a few other players around his price range in the backline that come with similar risks and doubts, but at Malceski’s price, he is worth a punt.

OK we are still thinking through the whole Multi Positional Players (MPP) thing.  And I’m sure that people still need some rock solid examples to make their thoughts gel.  I’m sure I do.

First let’s get a few assumptions out of the way early.  I’m happy to debate them.

1) You won’t win just because you put a few MPPs in your team.
2) You won’t win if you completely ignore MPPs through the entire competition - flexibility alone of players will be worth at least 1000 points which no-one (not even Chris) can afford to give up to his opponents.
3) The best value MPPs may never even play a match.
4) Not thinking before you lace a team with MPPs is the same as picking a team of players in the 350k range – will give you a quite easy wooden spoon in a competitive league.  This includes picking all MPPs in the same line so you cannot substitute them.
5) Thinking about MPPs is like thinking about cash-cow trades.  Two is the minimum to get the job done.
6) It doesn’t matter (much) that Mitch Farmer is the lowest price MPP in the MID-DEF category at over the 150k mark.

Now I hear you asking where’s that Peace of Mind?  And for only $269k.  You can’t get much for that, only Ladson and a bit of change.

Peace of Mind comes in the most unlikely of sources: Dylan McNeil, Matthew Lobbe and Jack Weston.  Combined, they cost 269k and look innocuous.  It would not shock me if we see under 15 games between the three of them this year.   But that doesn’t mean you don’t pick them in your team.  Walesy has tried to make this look easy and I’m not sure if everyone here understands, but I’m going to be simple and hopefully effective in this demonstration.  (Salesman’s note though – buyer beware)

McNeil is the gutsy FOR9, Lobbe is the much-maligned RUC4 and Weston is the cursory DEF9.

Combine these three players with a few more for good measure – and keeping with the value theme – we will add to them a nucleus of: Waite (F), Pavlich (M) and Tippett (F) – three Supercoach favourites over the past few years.  Finally we will add an assumption of a solid MID7 who at the moment we will bestow on Morabito, the player who becomes the supersub in each injury situation.

Using the normal notation of bracketed interchange I will give you some scenarios.

1) STARTUP
DEF: (Weston)
MID: Pavlich (Morabito)
RUC: (Lobbe)
FWD: Waite, Tippett (McNeil)

2) FWD gets Injured (let’s say Franklin)
DEF: (Weston)
MID: Morabito (McNeil)
RUC: (Lobbe)
FWD: Waite, Tippett, Pavlich

3) FWD gets Injured (this time it’s Waite – but it could have been Tippett)
DEF: (Weston)
MID: Morabito (McNeil)
RUC: (Lobbe)
FWD: Tippett, Pavlich (Waite)

4) MID gets Injured (let’s say Steven Seagal Judd)
DEF: (Weston)
MID: Pavlich, Morabito
RUC: (Lobbe)
FWD: Waite, Tippett (McNeil)

5) DEF gets Injured (let’s say Heater has another bender)
DEF: Waite
MID: Morabito (McNeil)
RUC: (Lobbe)
FWD: Pavlich, Tippett (Weston)

6) RUC gets Injured (Lurch walks into a door)
DEF: (Weston)
MID: Morabito (McNeil)
RUC: Tippett
FWD: Pavlich, Waite (Lobbe)

In all cases the Supersub comes in and does his job, and the team does not miss a beat.   It’s like playing with 23 in the team when you have these 3 rookies in place “for Peace of Mind”.

Thoughts?

Looks like reports of the first intra-club match are coming out of Tiger town.

I myself usually find these sessions to be a fantastic indicator as to which rookies will make it through their NAB cup games and into the season proper, so I’ll be trying to track them as the pre-season goes on. If anyone hears any reports that I miss, give me a shout ok?

Anyways, the teams were Best availiable vs The rest.

The yellow team consisted of the following:

B: Edwards, Post, Rance
HB: Newman, Moore, Tambling
C: McMahon, Deledio, Cousins
HF: Hislop, Riewoldt, Taylor
F: Morton, Polak, Polo
R: Graham, Thomson, Martin

With Graham, Browne and Vickery rotating through the rucks on both teams.

While it’s great to see Martin starting right in the guts, you’ll need to remember the following players weren’t participating: Jackson, Cotchin, Foley, McGuane, Simmonds, Nason, Griffiths and Roberts.

But still, the boy is boding well for a round 1 start and is doing everything that could be expected of him, so lock him in!

(ps- A big shout out to RT off BigFooty- quality work man.)

And boy am I a happy man.

I don’t see myself putting this thing down for a while- and plan on digging every last ounce of knowledge out of this lengthy tome.

Did you know, that Cyril Rioli is the best kick in the AFL?

Also, a polish- being part of the No Passenger group on Big Footy, I can find no way to say this without feeling like a knob for stroking my own ego. But I’ve got to say, it is a fantastic read. From team selection strategies, to trading, Injury management and captain selection strategies, the boys have done an outstanding job.

That, combined with the stats and freako reviews, makes it an easy purchase for this time of year.

So what are you waiting for?

(or yanno, if you want to ask a question in the comments, I’m more than happy to “answer” it for you. From player positions to Freako reviews.)

In 2008, 59 players averaged at least 10 more per game in their last 6 games of the season than they did for the entire season.

Of those, 15 players went on to improve their average by 10ppg or more in 2009. Of those, we find the following.

six were qualified defenders.
Duffield, Gilbert, Goddard, Goldsack, Maxwell and LRT.
*Though Goddard scored a move to the midfield.

Two were Forwards
Garland and Davis
*Though Davis scored a move to the midfield.

One was a Ruck – The big Kreuzer.

And the other 6 were mids

Mackay, Gibbs, Selwood, Lewis, Murphy and Morton.

So, why is it important? Because when you sum up every player that improved their average by 10 or more last year (and played at least 10 games), you’ll find a quarter of them coming from that 15.

Also consider though, out of the [b]thirty[/b] players who increased their average by 18 or more last year, only 6 of them came from the above 2008 list so take the following list with the neccessary pinch of salt.

(Just as an aside though, the 2008 finishing average distribution for the best average improvers of 09 went as follows.
50-60: 13
60-70: 10
70-80: 5
80-90: 0
90+: 2 (Which shows how important finding this years Montagna and Swan is! – interesting to note that neither of these players were in the above list.)

This saw a trend away from the year before where the majority of value came from the 60-80 bracket of players.)

So, who are the alumini for 2009, who brought their 2009 season home with a bang?

So, what does this all mean? Maybe nothing- I’m hear to provide the stats, but I would love to hear peoples thoughts on them. Particularly the huge swing in Tom Swift!.

Looks like those boys over at DT Talk have dropped the first bombshells of the preseason.

Rumours of a rolling lockout and positional swapping.

Now, firstly, the Rolling lockout. This will be delicious. Getting your team sorted at 2am Friday morning will be fantastic (well, except for your Carlton/Richmond players- but they will already be sorted!). I feel that it will be a big positive to the game, removing the sadness caused amongst players who aren’t able to get into their teams on the Thursday night.

Secondly, position swapping. It seems the assumption is that you will be able to swap an M/F sitting in the mids with an M/F sitting in the forward lines. And so on.

Which looks to be a huge boon to coaches who put in the fore-thought and plan their teams well.

With one particular caveat- for there to be much benefit, you’re going to need multi-positional rookies who also make good cashcows.

Otherwise, the only coverage gained is if the actual multi-positional goes down injured AND you don’t have coverage for him where he’s positioned AND you have additional coverage availiable that you can move over. (aka- unlikely.)

Whether or not VS decide to give us those, would be another kettel of fish!

The funny thing is though, To this caveat, there’s also another caveat to consider.

What position don’t you care about making money? The worst cashcows in history? Who, by virtue of having the worst cashcows in history, also have the worst bench coverage of all the positions. And play in a position where injuries should be expected?

Yes, I’ve hinted enough- the rucks.

Throw in a multi-positioned rookie ruckman on your bench, with a Clark (or if you’re feeling daring, a Tippett or Kosi) in the forward line.

And suddenly, your backup ruck becomes Clark, this years highest scoring ruck, and your forward bench then goes on to cover for that lousy Ruck division.

Add to that the posibility of decent multi-positioned rookies, and you might even have your midfiled bench covering for your rucks.

A very tasty prospect for coaches who are paying attention.

That said, who knows if the same rules will apply to Supercoach, or if they will just keep it DT specific.

Happy new year everyone!

And with the new year, I figure- why not throw out my very-early first cut of a team.

I reckon, even at this stage of the year, this team will be competitive next year- but to be honest, I’m expecting a lot of changes (Particularly if Jesse Smith can stay fit!!)

Anyways, without further ado-

Defenders.

Keepers.
Sam Fisher
A solid defender who suffered a handful of bad games last year. He’s making the squad for his durability and my belief that he will raise in average next year a good 5-10 ppg.

Luke Hodge
Carrying an injury through most of last year, and averaging 118 the year before, I can see Luke Hodge be the single most popular player in every team next year. (With the exception of Ablett).

Grant Birchall
Should bring at minimum an average of 80+. Showed through the start and end of last year just what he has the potential to do.

Jason Gram
With runs through the a star studded midfield, Gram won’t suffer any issues with a tag. has historically held a 115% ish SC/DT percentage, but a 14ppg DT average increase brought that ratio to 86%. If he can keep getting as much of the ball, but lift his disposal again, a 105 average is not unachieveable.

Speculative.
Rick Ladson
Will need to watch his preseason, but it’s hard to go past paying a 58 average+ discount for a player who averaged 91 over 22 games in a premiership team.

Tadhg Kennelly
Again, been missing a year, and will depend a lot of the discount earned. Even with his shoulders, if he can return to his 85 over 20 average of 08, then we’ll be laughing!

David Myers
So I’m biased. Perhaps I want him to do well. Played last year for Bendigo as an inside mid and being groomed to assist Watson. So if he can get gametime, he should be well worth it.

Bench.
Phil Davis
With Ottens going down, it has been hinted that Phil is on a short list to step into the role. Will be delicious if he does.

Andrew Moore
Picked for no other reason than being a high draft pick. Will be replaced with the best looking rookie defender as we get closer.

Midfielders

Keepers.
Gary Ablett
Used to be Selwood, but I just can’t go past the GAZ. There will be many posts on this man by the start of next year.

Bryce Gibbs
A mindnumbing finish to last season, with the Blues midfield looking as it does, I feel that Bryce is set to explode.

Scott Pendlebury
From the same draft, read Bryce’s bio and replace Blues with Pies. Proven that he’s able to handle a tag, and has Diddles running around drawing it from him.

Speculative.
Rhys Palmer
The hero to all our 08 midfields, is getting himself another guernsey in our squad for Oh10.
Priced at roughly 300k, he’s can run all day and rack up the possesions. It’s just a question of how he comes back from that ACL.

Now, there’s a lot of value in the midrange speculative players, so Rhys will be hard pressed to hold his spot. But there is just *so* many rookies I was to get into this squad.

Rookies.
Jack Trengove
One of Melbournes big two picks this year, and my pick to be the rookie that most will be holding at the end of oh10.

Dustin Martin
Playing at a rebuilding Tiges, he should get plenty of game time.

Bench
Anthony Morabito
Built well and playing for the Docker, who we know are looking to play thier youth. Lock him in boys!

Ryan Bastinac
Smashing it so far in training. Will need to watch over summer, but I can see him playing 6-8 of the first 10 games. Which really, is all we need!

Rucks

Keepers.
Aaron Sandilands
He’s big and he just keeps getting better. Lock him in and leave him there.

Darren Jolly
With a move to the Pies, I’m not 100% sold on him, however, he’s extremely durable in a position where the bench *sucks*, and he has a smashing good average when playing at Melbourne. Who knows, might just rub off.

Bench
Matthew Lobbe
With Brogan now the #1 ruck, Choco has mentioned that Lobbe should be getting a run in the #2. nom nom nom nom om.

Trent West
The obvious #4 ruck would be the other Port ruck (and yanno, I’m tempted.) But with Mumford gone and Otten having a heroric ability to injure himself bizarely, there’s a good chance the boy could play some football this year.

Forwards

Keepers
Adam Goodes
Since moving to CHF, the has been dominating. Well worth spending top dollar on.

Lance Franklin
Sure, he’s missing round 1- but after coming down in average 20 ppg last year, he’s defintely got room for growth. And if you expect the Hawks to improve next year, then get on board.

Robbie Gray
Rumoured to be moving into the midfield and “training the house down”. He’s ticking all the boxed to be selected this year.

Cyril Rioli
As above- but with the words “this little genious” in there somewhere.

Tom Hawkins
Following the trend of big forwards, and with immaculate delivery coming from the potent Geelong mids, Hawkins is ripe to come into his own next year.

Speculative.
Big questions over both of these players, but their positions in the team will be reconsidered as we approach round 1.

Chris Yarran
Has all the potental in the world, and a Cartlon board full of praise- could he be turning a corner in attitude and onfield performance?

Patrick Veszpremi
A high draft pick coming into his third year at the Swans. Will be interesting to see if he can demand more game time as the Sydney list continues to turn over.

Bench
Luke Tapscott
The third of the Melbourne three, and rumoured to be the most “AFL” ready. Hopefully that equates to delicious early games.

Scott Gumbleton
It’s a tough year with forward rookies, I’m gunna lock in Scott and pray, both as a Supercoach and as a Bombers fan.

And roughly 50k in the bench for emergencies.

Honestly though, I’m also thinking for turning Palmer into another rookie and spending more on that #6 forward, but only because though mid rookies look just. that. good.

So that’s it. My first team of the year. Give thoughts, suggestions, changes, critisism, whatever. But let’s get a little talk going on!

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.

While everything is coming out in bits, I’m just going to randomly be throwing up posts filled with disjointed information that I pick up about various clubs.

So without further ado, can I present part one of Dribs and Drabs.

Adelaide
By now we all know, Andy Otten is out for the year. First picked 2011. Good luck mate- get well.!
In short, it will be interesting to see who fills the hole.
Symes looks set to miss 6 weeks.
Sitting on the sidelines with Nathan Bock (heel), Nathan van Berlo (back) and Brodie Martin (knee)

Brisbane
A bit of talk on Cornelius stepping into the departed Hendersons shoes. Could be one to look at in a year or two.
Leuenberger has bulked up which should help- and could place a question mark over Clark.

Carlton
Reports are all positive with McLean, Henderson, Yarran and Kruezer all being talked up at this early stage. To be taken with a grain of salt though.

Collingwood
Enjoyed a nice restful trip to Arizona. Not. Most players came back knackered.
The ruck work of Jolly brought “tears to the eyes” of the mid-fielders. Augurs not so well for Josh Fraser, but could prove a bigger bounty for Swan, Pendlebury, and … LUKE BALL.
Ball has settled in nicely. Leadership is his middle name.
No injuries to speak of, apart from the “rehab group” who didn’t get the trip to “Zona”. Players left in Melbourne included Davis, Prestigiacomo, Anthony, Harry O and a handful of other triers. Their benefit was catching up with new board member and mad (and I mean Mad) Magpies fan Alisa Camplin.
And the rumours of Travis Cloke and a knee injury. As fake as Tiger Woods’ drink driving excuse.

Essendon
Neagle- Surgery- Won’t start training proper til after Christmas
Hille- Has been looking sore and is still in the modified training group
Hurley- Charged with assault – Will it affect his season? Who knows- keep an eye on him.

Fremantle
DeBoer- My early pick for “best value rookie”.

Geelong
Speculation on Gablett moving to the Gold Coast.- The premier player in the comp- will be a *huge* story, whichever way it goes!

Hawthorn
Minor surgery for Franklin- Should interupt him too much though!
Guerra- Broken leg on the Kokoda trail rumours turn out to be false.

Melbourne
Maric- Bulked up already- Which is a good sign.
Tapscott is good value to lineup come round One.

Kangaroos
Bastinac- Looking the pick of the litter thus far.
Edwards- Classic puff piece on “training the house down”.
Greenwood- Has been training with the midfielders.
Warren- looks to have bulked up and could be a decent option up forward.
Wright- Looking very good to hold down a top 22 spot this year.
Ziebell- Training well- One to keep an eye on.

Looks to be a lot of value early on in the Roos camp.

Port Adelaide
Ebert- Traingin the house down”- With added “potential move to the midfield” flakes.
Hartlett- Seen to be running well.
M. Motlop- Keep an eye on the boys midfield time through the off season.

Richmond
Cotchin and Foley- Spending another pre-season in the Mod group.
Cousins has had hand surgury.

St Kilda
No open sessions til the new year.
Lovett- Did bad- But shouldn’t suffer too badly from it.

Sydney
Rehab group- Heath, Seaby, Kennedy and Thornton- Always a promising sign.
White- “Training the house down”.

Western Bulldogs
Talked up their flag chances.
Barry Hall looks ripped.
Brad Johnson “could play another few years” – watch out KB/Tucky

West Coast
Cox and Kerr – Completed first full training on 9th December
Sheppard- “Training the house down”
Beau Waters – Arthoscope on knee- Out for 6 weeks.

Anyone with anything they would like to add, feel free to throw it into the comments, and I’ll be able to add it to the original post!

Before I start my first ever TooSerious post, I would first like to take the opportunity to officially thank Walesy for all the work he does on the site, it has been a godsend to me over the last year and a half.  Also to Lucas, knighty and all posters who freely offer up advice every week even if they are giving up trade secrets.  If there is a question needed to be answered, guaranteed someone on this site knows the answer such is the wealth of knowledge.

Ok, now that that’s off my chest, Walesy has asked me to put toghether a sort of SuperCoach year in review for my all conquering Buster Gonads.  So here it is…

Pre Season:

I think getting the right team before Round 1 is the most important part of the season.  Without a strong initial team, too many trades are wasted on getting competitive.  I tried to create a nice blend of premiums who were decently priced, some injured
returning players who i could depend on, some severely under priced stars and then the un-tried rookies.  The one exception to this is the great one, Gary Ablett Jnr.  Not having him would be like racing the Tour de France not for Team Astana, whats the point?  So pre-season I’m hoping for a top 1000 finish after a top 2,000 finish in ‘08.

So my initial team was:

Backs : Goddard, Fisher (my only 2 premiums in defence), Drummond, Chornes, Raines, Houlihan (returning from injury), Hill, Petrenko, Broughton (rookies).

Mids : Gaz (my pride and joy, show him off to all the girls etc etc…), Judd, Gibbs, Selwood (4 premiums in the middle, altho i went Gibbs and Selwood as two, what i thought, under priced premiums), Skipworth (returning from injury), Rich, L Anthony, Otten (rookies).

Rucks : Cox (duh…), McIntosh (under priced proven performer), Spencer and Jacobs (no money on the bench in the rucks, complete waste!).

Forwards : Chapman, Buddy, Delidio, Pavlich (4 premiums here too), Higgins (star who was WAY under priced), Krakeour (thought a break out season was on the cards), M Brown, Garlett, Walker (my 3 rookies).

Now the real stuff begins, the season starts and the Gonads go ok up until the first trading point of the year in Rounds 3 and 4.  At this point my aim for the season remains at top 1000 as i have made a solid start sitting 166th after Round 4.  My first trade came in Round 3, as it should for everyone unless you have nailed your initial team to perfection.  Mine was the waste of space Raines for Shannon Hurn, and lo and behold, this was by far my best trade of the year.  Hurn was a GEM!  Round 4 saw Liam Anthony traded to Dayne Beams in an attempt to hit up some cash.

Two fantastic weeks follow this and at the end of Round 6 i am sitting 18th and have used 1 more trade, Ryan Houlihan who did his job to Chris Newman who made a rather slow start to the year.  This is a bog standard upgrade, and rounds 6-8 are really the ideal first upgrade times.

So here i am, 6 rounds in and sitting 18th, and now i start to believe a top 50 spot is on the cards.  But the first real problem has come up, Gary Ablett has gone down for 3 weeks.  This was a huge decision, keep the champ and lose the points, or play a trade earlier than wanted.  I took the risk and traded out Gaz and brought in Sewell.  The next few weeks also saw me make a further 5 trades to take me to the end of Round 9. Out of interest, those trades where:

Rd 7 : Walker < Warren (money maker)
Rd 8 : Skipworth < Cockie, M Brown > J Brown
Rd 9 : Hill < Grimes

After round 9 i had managed to climb to 12th and thought, a couple of smart trades, luck with injuries, and i’m a shot at top 10 here.  The excitement was beginning.  Round 10 rolled along and Higgins went down with suspected OP, so time to trade the young star, and in came, according to woodyman, the devil himself.  Ryan O’Keefe got a spot in the side.  And boy what a trade this one was.  I think i made 3 season defining trades, number 1 was Hurn, and number 2 was definitely ROK.  He came into the side and averaged about 140 for the next 4 weeks.  What a gun!

3 more weeks and 5 trades later, i had hit the top 10 for the first time in my SC career.  For those interested, the trades were

Rd 11 : Beams < Muston, Otten > Gary Ablett.  The great man was back and my perma-captain back in place.
Rd 12 : Chad Cornes injured was immediately replaced by a too cheap to resist Corey Enright.
Rd 13 : Warren < Ballantyne and my 3rd genius trade.  My next trade was by far the riskiest move of the year.  I thought, if i don’t take a chance, i won’t win this thing.  So the choice was the Krak-whore to Riewoldt or Didak.  I went against all logic and reason and picked up Didak.  GREAT MOVE!!!

13 rounds down, sitting 4th overall, but i’ve used 14 trades.  By now I am thinking i can win this thing.  From previous years i knew some of the leaders would be low on trades and just enjoying their time in the sun.  So i thought, bide my time, keep up, then sprint to the line.

Round 14 passed without incident, then came Round 15.  Only 1 trade, Muston < Anthony to free up same cash.  A solid 2467 and into 1st place.  15 trades used.  7 rounds to play.  $50k was on the cards.

1 trade in each of the following 2 rounds of Cox to Petrie and Franky Grimes to Hodge.  So, Round 17 passes, i am sitting 3rd, and preparing for my final assault.  The sprint had arrived and i decided this was the time to make my move.

And the storm happened in Round 18.  The Gonad boys let rip.  A single trade of Rich to Montagna, a score of 2621 and i was back to first.  A position i was not to let go of for the rest of the year.  The sprint to the line was on in earnest, i had the lead and i had my finalised team.  The only trades i was going to use now was to cover injuries.  And then Round 19 happened….it had been written about in prophecies from ages passed but non believed those old folks who claimed the myth was true…the armageddon of SuperCoach had arrived, the end of the world.  Luckily i had trades to play with, all be it only 1.  Chappy went down, i had to go defensive.  I checked my main challengers and all but 2 had Leon Davis, so in came the Igniter.  I put in a respectable 2100 with thanks to a whopping 170 from Hurn, and the race was down to two, the Gonads and Le Grand.

At this point i still had 1 trade up my sleeve.  Everything told me to use the trade, build the lead and hope for the best.  I resisted the temptation and kept that 1 card up my sleeve to play.

Round 22, the lead maintained, nay extended, to 158 pts.  Buddy GONE, Newman GONE.  Thank god i kept the trade.  Who was going to do me the most damage.  This was obvious, Riewoldt v Melbourne.  He had to come in.

Friday night rolls along.  Hurn, what a star!  130 from only 18 touches!  Unheard of!
Along comes Saturday and a trip to Geelong.  Out runs Ablett looking freshly shorn and the Geelong sun sparkling off that bald head.  He destroys Freo to the tune of 146 precious captain points.  Who could ever doubt the messiah?  But then news filtered through from the radio of woodyman as we are walking out the stadium.  Lloyd has taken to Brad Sewell with a sledgehammer, Sewell is gone not to appear again.  Suddenly i’m half a player down.  But Gibbs is going nicely, 37 touches but only 115, it’s alright, he did ok.  Gibbs did his part beautifully with a fantastic end to the season.

Saturday night, Goodes is killing the Lions.  Oh CRAP!!!  Drummond is gone at half time aswell.  All of a sudden i am a full player down.  To make matters worse, Goodes somehow produces a 156 point massacre from barely 20 touches?  Not only do the umpires love him, but so do Champion Data.
The nerves are jangling, but DREW PETRIE TO THE RESCUE!!!  119 points in the rain and wind in Adelaide.

Sunday, judgement day.  I have a healthy lead, but by no means insurmountable.  St Kilda v Melbourne, Dal Santo is killing it in Dream Team points, Montagna struggling.  But hey, the gods love Montagna and he beats Dal Santo 155 – 129.  Fisher aswell, a lovely 113 and i’m pretty much home and hosed….Until Lockyer delivers 54 in the first quarter.  But at least Swan is struggling.  The final scores roll in, Dogs slowed down Lockyer to a 124, Gilbee in one of his best games of the year delivers 121.  But Swan only 98, Didak a nice 80.

10pm : Staring at the computer screen, the results are out, woodyman on the phone, Rex Hunt singing.  A froffy is cracked – in true English style it was a Fosters, oh the shame of it all!

The year of the Gonads is complete!