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!

So there we have it, a huge year in football that’s had many highs and lows. The end to Geelong’s in air of immunity, St. Kilda trying to fill those vacated boots, Last years premiers missing the finals, an 8th spot that just didn’t want to be sown up.

So the biggest news for the year? Chris “Buster Gonads”, regular commenter and all round good guy, has taken out the grand prize!

Top year lad. Seriously, you played the year beautifully, and never lost you cool. You’re an inspiration to the rest of us!

But we didn’t all come first. So post your ranking if you want to have a little brag. I myself came 1323. Was aiming for better, but really dropped off in the past few weeks.

But hey, while Supercoach is giving out 50k- we’ve still got a good 2k to hand out to all the lucky winners.

Not just that though, but thank so much to a very generous donation, we’ve got some lovely bottles of wine to send out to both of the TS league Grand Final winners, to truly celebrate your win!

Also, thanks to the same generous donor, we’ve also got some lovely bottle of wine to give to the people who came third in overall points in both the leagues. I like to call them the Krispy special.

I’ll work out and contact the winners in the not too distant future (and get a post up as well) – So Bray, if you could email me the results and scores of everyone over in the Champs, that would be fantastic!

I’ll also announce the winner of the TooSerious Best and Fairest. I haven’t checked the scores on it for a number of weeks now, so even I’m excited to see how it works out!

Also, I gotta slip this in somewhere.

Alms, Alms, Alms for the poor. I got five kids to feed man. Seriously though, I’m sure we’ve helped, so if you can tip a few bucks into the jar on the way out, we’ll be very appreciative.

Now, I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, but hey, until I remember it- peace out!

…

alright, enough break. What now?

Well, first of all, we’ve got the DT Finals comp starting in a week.

We’ll also be getting the 2010 planners up and running in the not too distant future.

We’re still going to be posting regular updates on the various EPL Comps we’re all in.

There will definitely be a lot of discussion involved over the off season in regards to 2010.

In particular, the pre-season draft.

Also, there are a number of very exciting happening in the works, so hang around!!

So, it’s all done. Nothing more can be done except to watch.

And what I saw tonight- Le Cras is well and truely on next years radar. Heck, Lids might even have done enough to get a spot in next years squad… Even if *gasp* he’s reclassified as just a mid… (touch wood)

On a completely different note (And I don’t often talk about my personal life, but…) – I bought a new house today! Woohoo! So even though I’ve missed all mah grand finals, still a winner.

Anyways, while this is a thread for discussion on round 22- there’s a plan for a post-season-TS-drinks, so can we get a quick straw poll on which weekend people would prefer- 2nd round of finals or 3rd?

It all comes down to this.

One day in August.

The day when Supercoach dreams are made. And crushed.

Across the nation, Supercoaches are making the finals teaks to their squads.

Using the last of their trades if they’re lucky enough to have them.

Setting their captains and their benches (again- if you’re lucky enough to have ‘em.)

Speaking of bench coverage.

The battle for the greatest prize is reaching it’s pinacle. And it looks like it might come down to a battle of atrician.

Franklin out (+1 PK Le Grand)
Newman out (+1 Buster)

That said though, it’s a 150 point difference, and football is a funny thing with both teams having 9 players different.

While I’m here, I’ve gotta give a shout out to the Black Sun Empire. He’s been making a massive charge of things in the past couple of weeks. Up to 14 and looking good to crack the top 10. Tarqs, keep thumbing your nose at the DT Gods my friends, and the SC gods will reward…

Just to word all those prize winners out there, as we’re approaching the end of the season, I’ll be contacting all the winners to confirm payment and stuff.

League winners, Grand final winners and of course, the winner of the inaugral Too Serious Best and Fairest award.

Who will it be on that most extravagant of night of nights?

This won’t be the last post for the season, so I won’t pour on heavy the excitement revolving around next year, but I’m pretty excited. We had big changes this year, and I’m imagining big changes for next.

Anyways, good luck to you all in your finals.

And CARN THE BOMBERS!!!!!

Right, I’m gunna move this to a post as I feel there is the chance it could take over the comments section of one of the fantasy posts.

Franklin knocking Cousins unconcious. Not a nice thing to do, but sure it should be fine being in the spirit of the game?

I believe it should be, sadly, due to a similar incidend at the start of the year, Nick Maxwell scored a 4 week suspension, which he got off on.

Prompting a change in the wording of the rule.

The new wording of the rough conduct ruling states a player can be reported where in the bumping of an opponent, reasonably or unreasonably, he causes “forceful contact to be made with any part of his body to an opponent’s head or neck and instead of bumping, the player had a realistic alternative to contest the ball; or tackle the opponent.”

Previously, Law 19.2.2(g)(vii) simply stated a player could be reported for “engaging in rough conduct against an opponent which in the circumstances is unreasonable”

So while the rule itself might be BS- The rule is on the books, and until changed, will see cases like this Buddy one, scoring time on the sidelines.

The only way I can see Buddy getting off is if he can successfully argue that the bump was his only option. That he couldn’t have laid a tackle… Gunna be a tough rap to beat I reckon.

Here’s hoping that if he does cop 2 weeks, that the outrage that his the media will be enough to get such a clumsy rule overturned.

Apparently, over this weekend, there was a cricket match.

Also, there was, from what I’ve heard, a match for the Bombers the secure a finals birth.

Also, apparently, I was playing Sheeds in the only league I was drawing breath in. The “work” league in which I’ve dominated the entire year.

I scored 2174 and my rank got pushed out to 1,247. Is it wrong to drop the F-Bomb at a time like this?

On the plus side, I didn’t score 1247 to drop to 2174…

And also, The Busters! Pushing their lead out to 150! Go you good thing!

Seriously, if you win and you get interviewed, drop the name of the site! Seriously man! I mean, TooSeriously…

Anyways, stats will be up tomorrow. I need a stiff drink I thinks… And I’ll try to get a more definitive analysis tool for the Finals comp up and running… (Though it’s not that difficult to analyse using the current DT screens… so maybe I’ll leave that one and concentrate on getting the EPL stuff finished up… )

EDIT – Stats are up!

Alright, first things first. Round 21 is just about underway. Good luck Buster!

Next, EPL is starting up with ManU failing deliciously over the week!

the iinet comp has dropped to second though, not helped by a particular “bunchoflosers” who has put together a squad that looks determined to bring the league down. Carn son, please lift your game else I’ll have too start naming and shaming!

Onto some good news, within the old TooSerious, I’ve gotten it set up for the new EPL season. Now all I have to do is fix the old TooSerious, cause it’s slightly sometimes not working properly. It’s probably close at the moment to the breakevens, but the salary calcs aren’t really trying until after this week.

To use it, make sure you have logged in before you try going to it. however, the caveat is that if you try to get in there before I fix it, your account has a good chance of not working (as it’s a whole different site and therefore uses your *old* login from last year!) – But, if you just *must* get in, I’ve got a test account set up, Max. password- max.

Please don’t change the password on the account, else you might wind up on the jerk list.

Anyways, good luck with the round. Carn the Bombers!

So, it’s come to the last two weeks, and it’s looking like it’s Buster Gonad vs PK Le Grand.

Luckily, Chris himself has supplied this handy dandy chart on the differences between the squads.

Drummond v Lockyer
Hurn/Fisher v Gilbee
Hodge v Suban/Grima
Montagna v Swan
Sewell v Dal Santo (oh i don’t like this one)
Gibbs v Goodes
Petrie v Jolly
Didak v Riewoldt

his bench cover is a LOT LOT better than mine so i gotta hope my team stays on the park…

So, here comes the fun part- With One trade remaining, what would you do?

I’m thinking it might be fun to make suggestions, under the basis that in two weeks time, we can come back, and work out which suggestion would have been the best.

Whether you, as a temporary SuperCoach, would have the nouse, nay, the cajones to use your last trade over the last two weeks to hold off the challengers and take out the prize?

For refernce, here’s a link to the squads.
Buster Gonad
Le Grand’s Legends

Alright, there is a lot of things going on this week. So we’ll start with the most important.

Buster Gonad has extended his lead on the competition! Scoring an impressive 2421 and extending his lead on every other team in the top 10.

Keep it up son! You’ve put toogether an awesome squad!

The semi finals just ran through in the TS Legends, with the Krazy Kripples and Liveforthepies making it through to the prelims to meet up with the dominant Kismet and Windy Hill Wizards, both of which are looking to have the top two positions sewn up unless tragedy strikes.

The TS legends also managed to sneak a little closer to the top of the league board, but EDT2 are right on our tails.

Looking at the players of the round though, it’s not suprising to see a bomber at the top of the tree

Jobe Watson – a game winning 196 points
Gary Ablett Jnr – Returns to the top of the tree with an impressive 164.
Adam Selwood – Wasn’t expecting to see this particular Selwood in the top three, never the less, a great effort with 156.
Angis Monfries – and what I believe was a game winning 4 goal second quarter was enough to lift his scores to 154 for the week.
Matt Priddis – Rounding out the top five with a 151.

The other news that us fantasy fiends are interested in this week is that the EPL has just started.

Not just that, but Game week two starts in hardly any time! (what, tomorrow night?) – So get involved if you’re in!

Just a quick round up of the comps.

The official site has started well, with a strong group of 68 players.

The virtualsports comp has got of well with the game of the round definitely being between the Mighty Red Devils vs Gooners4eva.

The Gooners, scoring the second highest score in the league with 197 being destroyed by the Devils with a massive 220. Great start to the season boys!

And finally iinet. Our league is sitting on top of the pile there, with 40pts, far surpassing 2nd and 3rd, on 29 and 25.

If we can keep that league up, I reckon we’ll go alright! Leading the charge for us is Mullos Mob, who’s sitting in 9th overall.

Kickin’ ass guys! Well done!

And this is just too good to leave in the comments…

We’re caught in a trap
I cant walk out
Because I love you too much Ablett
Why cant you see
What your scores are doing to me
When you dont perform well as captain …
We cant go on together… with scores under 150 (scores under 150)
And we cant win the premiership without a consistent captain.

So with a Broughton I know
His doing more than saying hello
could he score more than 150
here we go again
inefficient handballs in the backhalf to begin
You cant see these tears are real
your losing me my supercoach final

Thank you Elvis, and carn the Crows.

How’s everyone going this evening?