And man, am I glad I didn’t suggest Judd as captain… Now who wants to put money on either a 100pt second half, or Selwood pulling out late?

Righteo, we are one week out of the finals. So is your season over? gunna squeak in? or dominating you league?

Myself, I might squeak in maybe in one league, might make the top 4 in another (or go out if things go badly!), and am dominating the third… so it’s a mixed bag.

Anyways, tragedy struck this week! The TooSeriousLegends dropped down to 2nd place. They didn’t do too bad, but sadly, there we a *lot* of big scores out there this week, and we didn’t seem to get our fair share of them… ah well, here’s hoping we can pull together got the finals.

Anyways, Liveforthepies snuck back into the lead with a massive 2513 taking her overall ranking up to 187. But with only 113 points seperating 1st from 5th, it’s anyones game! (Then it drops off to me in 6th and probably too far out to challenge…)

The top score for the week went to Lings Bandits (reckon that’s the same one Lucas?), with a decent 2718. And I gotta give a shout out to a fellow BigFooty NP – 54Dogs who came in 9th for the week. Top effort mate!

The overall is tightening up with the leader PK Le Grand consolidating his lead with a 2511, but still within arms reach of TS favorite Buster Gonad who held steady in 3rd. Meanwhile the Woodyman is hanging in the top 10, and with 5 weeks to go, is definitely not out of the hunt. Carn lads we’re rootin’ for yas!

This weeks top scorer went to Geelongs Joel Selwood for a telling 185 in their 1 point win over the Hawks.
Jolly rewarded those who have him, scoring an elite 169 – and getting has average to a more than solid 169. That Jolly White Currie is looking delicious (cept for White 4!! )
The Heater pulled a tasty 161, rewarding those coaches who jumped on him in round 12.
And Bock returned a solid 155.
Goddard rounds out the top five with a 152.

The dissapointments (as always, in no particular order)
Hodge and his 53. Not only did a lot of people trade into him this week, but resident poster Lucas warned all against him! Still, with Hawthorns return to form, you’ve got to hope that he’ll come good again!
Bruce Cameron scored a lowly 66 in a match that me and my son watched tonight.
(“are the Blue ones the Blues?” he asked. “oh… Can I go for the Blues?” yep, definitely did something wrong with that one!)
And really, that’s about it. No wonder there were so many huge scores this week!

And one final through to you all, I’m not going to post the scores, but those of you in the Too Serious Best and Fairest… Hope you’ve been keeping an eye on Dane Swan… he might be making a close thing of it!

How’d you all go this week?

Well, the blues got smashed… Swan did well and those other guys did stuff…

I promise to get my comments more together tomorrow…

How round 17 going for you?

OK it’s time for some Best Buys.  It’s almost finals time, with 2 rounds to get your teams in shape for the run home.  If you need to trade to get into the finals, then of course do so, but otherwise, it’s selective trading that will make all the difference come Prelim/Grand Final Day.

Please refer to the draw for SC finals.  It’s a real important consideration:

OK – now for the Best Buys:

 DEF
Rookie – Pearce (145500), Silvester (167700), Williams (191700)
Pearce is a Docker who have been great value defenders.  Suckatash is doing well and Williams has been earmarked as a KP Doggie for so long, surely not bad value at the price.
Midrange – Drummond (417300), Lockyer (418400), S Fisher (396300)
Great value here for consistent players.  Lockyer/Fisher on the nose recently but have the potential to do far more.
Premium – Goddard (545000), Newman (455300) , Hodge (534100)
All class here if you want an upgrade.

MID
Rookie – Adams (94200), McGinnity (94200), Redden (94200)
All 3 got a game and looked ok on the weekend.  For a cash cow target, you could do far worse.  But who has trades for cash cows now?
Midrange – Pendlebury (396500), Moloney (440600), Ray (406000)
Pendlebury is today’s bargain, tomorrow’s “ship has sailed”.  Refer to Hodge as a reasonably comparable example.
Premium – Sewell (551500), J Selwood (510300), Montagna (588400)
I’d be getting a bit more coin and going for a Saints midfielder if I could.  Hayes in a few weeks could be the best option.

FWD
Rookie – Ballantyne (154500), Schoenmakers (195000), Yarran (181300)
A bit pricey, but all 3 should get a regular run from here on in.  You’d think…
Midrange – Goodwin (433500), Franklin (387100), Harvey (406700)
Three players who just struck form over the last few after injury or poor form.  A risk but worth taking if you want a low upgrade.
Premium – Riewoldt (550000), J Brown (507700), Clark (509800)
Roo and Brown the two standouts here, as always.  Not too many other premium options outside of the unaffordable ROK/Chappy, and Didak who will come down for finals (can get scragged).  Davis has gone off the boil a touch as well but is not bad value in the 400s.

RUC
Rookie – Clarke (175300), Goldstein (171200), Sellar (100200)
Lots in the low 200s – technically midrange, but can be brought in as cover.
Midrange – McIntosh (408300), Jolly (447700), Petrie (424400)
Value and reliability here.
Premium – Clark (509800), Tippett (460800), Sandilands/MIA (558100)
I’d look elsewhere as the season hots up, can’t see Clark/Tippett keeping it up.

Stat’s are up!

Well, had a good week again. Moved up roughly 200 spots. Which ain’t too shabby! Lucky to avoid a couple of the nastier scores that jumped up this week, and caught a few of the good ones!

The TooSerious Legends stayed in first place, by the Best of the best caught up 1,200 points! moving them just about EDT2

Kismet extended his lead on the overall, however, the Krazy Kripples once again scored the highest score for the round! (3 of the last 4 weeks they’ve done the same! – watch out!)

The Gonad busters dropped down to third, not because of a *bad* score per-say. Heck, a 2398 is a *good* score. However, first place scored 2683 (Le Grand’s Legends) while second scored 2555 (Cardinals). Massive scores at the top end this round! Particularly since Le Grand came 8th in the overall this week, while first took the thousand with a 2723.

The Woodymen also made it back into the top 10 with a solid 2515. Quality work the both of you!

Now, the stats, they won’t be going up til tomorrow morning (I’ll get them up pretty early), but just a quick review of this weeks best.

ROK – A star! 185 is a massive return to the boy!

Jason Davenport – Brings in a delicious 168! Quite a good rookie if you’re lucky enough to have held onto him!

Joel Selwood – Finally returns the faith we’ve had in him over the past few weeks of disappointment with a lovely 161.

Daniel Rich – The second rookie in this weeks top Five! A beautiful 149 would have punished all of those who traded him out to Pendles.

Lenny Hayes – Bouncing back from last week with a solid 146.

The biggest dissapointments of the round would be as follows. Didak. Bruce. Kirk. Watson. Tuck. Drummond and Davey.

Here’s hoping you didn’t have too many of those guys.

While I’ld like to blame the refs, the Dogs are a good team, and as with the Pies a few weeks ago, we simply got beaten by a better team.

Full points to the dogs.

But, what we care about is the SuperCoach scores, so let’s look at that.

Hahn did great for those who have him, outside of that though, Higgins, Lake, Stanton and Paddy did very well for themselves.

Nothing overly suprising from tonight, cept for Lucas putting in a SHOCKER!!

Anyways, let us know how you’re doing this weekend! He’s hoping that injuries treat you well!

We know that a handful of us here are shooting for the 50k and boy, I’m happy to live vicariously though you.

However, what about the rest of us? Cause there has been a bit of a discussion on this pop up in the comments recently.

Essentially, the assumption is, that once you’re out of the running for the overall prize, you pull up stumps and concentrate on league wins and the associated bragging rights that go with them.

However, for myself, and other I assume, that’s not always the plan. I am aiming for as high an overall as I possibly can get. I want to stay top 1000, break into the top 500 – even the top 100.

I don’t want to play safe, save trades or be conservative simply to better my chances at covering a pair of theoretical zero’s in the finals.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and do something stupid either. I’ve worked around a plan that has gotten me all premiums in all positions except two (Broughton/Grimes as the 7th back, Anthony/Rich/Beams as the 6th Mid). All the while keeping fairly good coverage on the bench.

Essentially, I’ve been tailoring the trades I’ve been making, and the risks I’ve been taking, with the idea that I’m after OVERALL points. And if I win my GF, well that’s just gravy.

Having said that, of the three leagues I’m in, one of them is Rank #1, one rank #6 and the other, rank 9000+

The top two leagues, as you would imagine, I’m middle of the pack, and am 50/50 to make the finals in the first place, whilst the other league, I’m sitting in second behind an undefeated Sheedy (But almost a whole WEEKS score infront of him in the overall…)

So there’s not a lot I can do really, good strong footy is need to make the finals in the tough leagues, and then if the chips fall for the finals, they fall. The third league though, I’m expecting to cruise. Except for one thing. I *know* that at least one person in that league, is sitting on 8 trades. With a decent enough team to make a real challenge of it should injuries strike.

But if they strike, well hey. That’s the risk I’ve taken, and I’m not going to be too beat up about it. (Plus hey, it’s not like there’s 15 slabs on the line!)

Now, to wrap up this stupidly long post, I spose what I’m asking here, is what philosophy do *you* subcribe to? Because a lot of the advise we offer here depends greatly on what you’re aims are for the season. (see: that unwritten post of mine about trading. I keep mentioning bits and pieces of it in the forums.)

Oh, and one last thing. Carn Aussies! I traded Cook OUT of my dreamteam this week! Don’t let him get the ton!

More best buys for people who need to trade. Once again, I’m going to stress-I think you need at least 3 trades for finals, preferably 4. On the other hand, Adcock and Cox are looking certain to be traded from a lot of sides, while there are a couple of other bargains around.

Defenders

Rookie

1. Michael Hurley (154,200)
2. Jayden Post (94,200)
3. Adam Hartlett (165,500)

Hurley by far the best option here-he’s a star.(only a little biased) Post has also been impressive for the Tigers.

Midrangers

1. Tarkyn Lockyer (431,900)
2. Sam Fisher(384,800)
3. Lindsay Gilbee (420,000)

Lockyer has been a defensive star this year, while Fisher has got to come good sometime. Also do not pick Toby Thurstans-with Cornes back in the side he will fall.

Premiums

1. Josh Drummond (457,900)
2. Luke Hodge (494,800)
3. Brendan Goddard(543,900)

All Adcock owners will be strongly considering bringing Drummond in (bargain anyone?), while Hodge and Goddard will bring in big scores for finals.

Midfielders

Rookie

1. Leigh Adams (94,200)
2. Pat McGinnity (94200)
3. Michael Walters (94200)

Adams was good on debut and the Roos will play the kids, but don’t pay any more attention here.

Midrangers

1. Scott Pendlebury (401,200)
2. Steven Salopek (385,100)
3. Jason Winderlich (448,300)

Pendlebury is one of the biggest bargains of the year-he was leading the points board at one point! Salopek and Winderlich are looking good after returning from injury.

Premiums

1. Leon Davis (496,900)
2. Adam Goodes (529,400)
3. Matthew Boyd (471,200)

All are stars here who will deliver in finals. Also look at Hodge, and Bartel in a couple of weeks is looking juicy for finals introduction.

Rucks

Rookies

1. Mike Pyke (117,300)
2. Zac Clarke (129200)
3. Nick Naitanui (194,300)

At least they’ll play.

Midrangers

1. Hamish McIntosh (405,000)
2. Matthew Kreuzer (372,300)
3. Josh Fraser (448,600)
4. Mark Jamar (350,400)

A very controversial selection here, and because of the Cox problem I’ve included 4. I think Fraser and H Mac have the runs on the board to be considered, while Jamar can only be picked if you have the trades left to exploit his lower price. Kreuzer v H Mac is the debate at the moment-is 30K really enough to justify picking a second year player, albeit a very good one? I don’t hink it is.

Premiums

1. Darren Jolly (453,600)
2. Drew Petrie (458,700)
3. Aaron Sandilands (558,100)

I’m worried that Sandilands will be sent for surgery or something by the Dockers so they get one of Scully/Trengrove. Jolly’s the best premium.

Forwards

Rookies

1. Hayden Ballantyne (120,400)
2. Simon Hogan (147,500)
3. James Sellar (94,200)

Ballantyne has been a disappointment so far, but at least he’ll play. Hogan was good last week, but his spot is under huge jeopardy with so many stars returning. Sellar…. well, he’s cheap!

Midrangers

1. Brent Harvey (408,700)
2. Lance Franklin (344,800)
3. Jason Akermanis (421,200)

Harvey is a huge risk, but could give a huge payoff. Buddy was back last week, but Duddy has been playing most of the season-which will turn up for finals? Also consider that the Hawks may retire him for the season and prepare for 2010. Aker is the conservative option-I can’t believe I used conservative and Aker in the same sentence….

Premiums

1. Leon Davis (496,600)
2. Nick Riewoldt (545,900)
3. Aaron Davey (472,300)

Davis is a star, while you’re letting your team down if you don’t get Riewoldt.  Davey is a consistent player, but beware the taggers. * Don’t be tempted by the ROK-not only is he extremely expensive, his role is still undetermined with Hall out of the team.

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.

Big week around these parts. Namely, the Gonad busters themselves, (Chris) a regular commenter has managed to climb to the top of the Supercoach ladder. Supreme effort mate! Here’s to hoping you keep a level head and don’t smash out trades to stay up there. Play smart! We’re living vicariously through you now! (watch out though,

That said, the TS legends are still cruising along nicely on top of the league ladder, but we’ve had a change in the top order. Kismet has moved into the lead securing an overall ranking of 180. Nice work mate! (And everyone. You’re all doing great!)

But enough of that. Lets get onto the footy talk. Was it the week of upsets or what! Some huge games came out of this week, and with Port’s loss to Melbourne, the top 8 would have to be getting close to stitched up. (Unless we see some epic failures from Essendon or the Blues! – Young teams so it is possible… )

The grand final race also tightened up a lot. Both the Dogs and Collingwood have shown that they are both deserving of the 3 and 4 spots this year, while Geelong showed that with injury comes vunerablility. (Though I spose the Hawks have been teaching us that lesson all year! My excuse for the Bombers last year of “look at the injuries” might suddenly carry some merit now!)

And onto the scores.

The top scorer of the round wasa the maligned Lance Franklin with a massive 177 to get his team over the line over the Roos.
Montagna put in another excellent 164 for second place.
Ashley McGrath put in an unexpected 155, almost tripling his average of 66.
Another solid 152 for the in form Chappy in a decimated Cats lineup
While Nick dal Santo rounded out the top five with a solid 149.

However, special mention goes out to Liam Anthony’s 148. Who rewarded those coaches will to take a risk on a downgrade this late in the season.

The biggest disappopintments this round, in no particular order would go as follows.

Lenny Hayes, with a 48.
Jimmy Bartel and his “captains” 61.
Cox with 62 and a possible injury that I haven’t had the chance to read about yet.
And Jed Adcock, maligned early on, be has been a rock in many-a-peoples damaged backlines looks to be gone for the season with an ACL. Most probably will be a required trade for anybody currently forced to field Grimes and Broughton. Whilst being a maybe not just yet trade to those who had Drummond/Cornes come back this week.

Anyways, an exciting week as always in football. I’m hoping the SC gods weren’t too harsh on your squad!

(one last thing… With three wickets to go in the final session… Carn the Aussies!)