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! )

Stat’s are up, and a lot of big scores have been posted.

Sadly, only Bartel is in my squad, so I SUCKED this week!

Thankfully, the injury train looks to have taken a little break this week with the main nes revolving around Kornes…

Oh Kornes! Why did you take the field! Robbo was my emergency and man, in all ways it would have been better for you to miss!!

Bad week for the bookies as *every* favorite got up… but hey, there were a couple of good games in there.

Richmond got *so* close, but have got to be thinking about draft picks moving forward.

Relevent from the angle that players might be put away early in the season… (Who knows with Terry though…).

Also, the Bombers put in a decent showing against the Saints. I think it’s the happiest I’ve ever been after a loss… Carn the dons!

youch, some pain in that Freo game.

Hill, youch! Mundy, wowsers!

That said though, Pav, Mitchell and Sewell have all put in respectable scores.

Anyone jump on Pav this week? Thinking of getting on next week?

With Gary Ablett still on the sidelines, we once again actually have to think about our captain choices. My top picks are:

1. Nick Riewoldt vs Essendon. 142, 129, 157, 146 are his last 4 scores, and he loves the Bombers scoring 168 points in his last game against them. Get on.
2. Brendon Goddard vs Essendon. Another performing well, with 154 last year.
3. Nick Dal Santo vs Essendon. You get the picture? Pick a Saint!
4. Jimmy Bartel vs North Melbourne. 144 last year against North, and in wet conditions, without Gazza, should do well. Beware the curse of Rawlings though.
5. Joel Bowden vs PA. Bit of a smokey, but he got 223 last time so….
6. Chris Judd vs Collingwood. Inside mids do well against the Pies, and Judd is the best of the Blues.
7. Joel Corey vs North Melbourne. See Brownlow Bartel. 133 against North last year.
8. Scott Pendlebury vs Carlton. Form midfielder of the competition.
9. Paul Chapman vs North Melbourne. Kicked 4 last year in a 130 point performance. Hopefully his teammates will mistake him for Gazza and give him lots of kicks.
10. Leigh Montagna vs Essendon. Another in form Saint.

Also look at: Lenny Hayes, Joel Selwood, Marc Murphy, Sam Fisher, Matthew Pavlich.

Horrible horrible round seven.

Seriously. Round Seven makes the baby Ablett cry!

Players getting pulled, dropped, injured.

What a horrible. horrible week.

Heck, I still haven’t the heart to look at my shambling mess of a squad to see what I can salvage from this week.

Me thinks I’m up for a few zero’s this week.

How have you guys faired?

Bock, Goodwin, Fraser, Hodge, Kornes, Salopek, Kerr, Higgins, Brown, Houlihan, Swan

How many have you got?

Luckily my Supercoach team is steady, with only Five of them (Sadly, I moved Houlihan… for Hodge.)

My DT team on the other hand… ouch.

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.

See the Bombers fly up, up! Great win last night, but not a great start for anyone with lots of Hawthorn players.

Buddy finally broke the century barrier, but Luke Hodge not only scored 45, but is expected to miss 2/3 weeks in a similar injury to Gary Abletts. Considering a lot of sides are already taking a zero this week, that news couldn’t be worse.

On the other hand, for today only, Essendon is a top 4 side! Didn’t think I would see that for a few years!

So how is everyone else doing?

Yeah I hate to say I told you so, but Dayne Beams is out with a groin injury.  Steele Sidebottom has been named in an extended bench, but if you put your faith in him getting a run, you have faith in him getting a run ahead of Shaw.   Maybe if he doesn’t come up, but you’d think Stanley with more AFL experience and a 4 goal performance in the VFL would get the gig.

Big ins and outs this week though.   I think a few people would have Richardson, Yarran, Houlihan, Wells, Pratt, Hartlett, Ablett, Knights, Beams – all out.

And for a change, Cheney is on the extended bench.   I would say zero chance of getting a game though.

The ins and outs and extended benches:

Essendon: In: Neagle, Bellchambers, Houli Out: Dustin Fletcher (leg), Scott Lucas, Leroy Jetta (knee)

Hawthorn: In: Birchall, McGlynn, Stokes Out: Brent Guerra (back), Jarryd Morton, Brent Renouf

Richmond: In: Brown, Cousins, Simmonds Out: Matthew Richardson (hamstring), Jordan McMahon, Mitch Morton

Brisbane: No changes

Carlton: In: Chris Yarran, Shaun Hampson Mark Austin Richard Hadley Out: Greg Bentley, Setanta O’hAilpin, Andrew Carrazzo, Ryan Houlihan

Fremantle: In: Pratt Out: Ryan Crowley (foot) New: Luke Pratt (Swan Districts)

North Melbourne: In: Wells, Campbell, Ross, Goldstein Out: Pratt (knee), Greenwood, Power, Lower

Port Adelaide:In: Davenport Out: Hamish Hartlett (hamstring) New: Jason Davenport (Geelong)

Geelong: In: Harley, Ling Out: Gary Ablett (groin), David Johnson

Sydney: No changes

Western Bulldogs: In: Ward, Welsh, Williams
I/C (from): Dylan Addison, Callan Ward, Nathan Eagleton, Andrejs Everitt, Daniel Giansiracusa, Liam Picken, Scott Welsh

Adelaide: In: Knights, Maric, Moran, Shirley, Symes Out: Cook, Griffin
I/C (from): Shirley, Symes, Maric, Knights, Dangerfield, Petrenko, Bock

West Coast: In: Kennedy, McNamara, Schofield, S. Selwood, Spangher Out: Ashley Hansen, Brent Staker (hand)
I/C (from): Mitch Brown, Adam Hunter, Brett Jones, Jamie McNamara, Matt Spangher, Will Schofield, Scott Selwood

Melbourne: In: Grimes, Newton, Jetta, Cheney Out: John Meesen (Foot) 
I/C (from): Nathan Jones, Addam Maric, Jamie Bennell, Jack Grimes, Neville Jetta , Michael Newton, Kyle Cheney

Collingwood: In: Shaw, Rocca, Sidebottom, Reid, Stanley Out: John Anthony (susp), Dayne Beams (groin) New: Steele Sidebottom (Murray Bushrangers)
I/C (from): Paul Medhurst, Ben Reid, Anthony Rocca, Heath Shaw, Steele Sidebottom, Danny Stanley, Sharrod Wellingham

St Kilda: In: Armitage, McEvoy, R. Clarke
I/C (from): Steven Baker, Andrew McQualter, James Gwilt, Robert Eddy, David Armitage, Ben McEvoy, Raphael Clarke

On the Seventh round, god’s son rested.

Which is terrible news for just about everyone competing for the Buckley this year.

From memory, only two or three teams out their don’t have the great man.

They must be licking their chops right now…

I’m just gunna give a quick update on the top 10 players from each comp… To keep an air of mystery going on.

Supercoach

10 – Gary Ablett
9 – Leon Davis
7 – Brendon Goddard
7 – Sam Mitchell
6 – Joel Bowden
6 – Matthew Boyd
6 – Matthew Richardson
6 – Nick Dal Santo
6 – Nick Riewoldt
6 – Paul Chapman

Dreamteam

9 – Gary Ablett
9 – Leigh Montagna
7 – Bernie Vince
7 – Nick Dal Santo
7 – Paul Chapman
6 – Brent Stanton
6 – Darren Jolly
6 – Leon Davis
6 – Nick Riewoldt
5 – Chad Cornes
5 – Jimmy Bartel
5 – Joel Bowden
5 – Paul Hasleby
5 – Steve Johnson

So, how are your picks weighing up?

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.)