NAB Cup – Round 3
So, just the two seen games this week, but I’ll try to post anything I find on the challenge games
Though I hear that the Collingwood/Richmond game was essentially a seconds mate. Ball cleaned up though- as he should have.
Tonight, the Doggies snuck over the line against Port.
It was great to finally get a look-in at Gray. And man, slow down mate! You don’t need everyone to jump on board!
The biggest stories would have had to have been BBBBBH (The extra B is for BBB) and Higgins though.
Baz is looking freaking great with that Doggies midfield delivering to him. I can see him fighting for a spot in my squad with Murphy as the bargain-priced forward who’s expected to go down throughout the year.
And Higgins. 62 points in a half of football. Not a bad return!
What do we think about Banner, Hitchcock and Moles? Any other them do enough to cement a spot in your squad?
Banner still has a lot of chips left from his last two performances for mine.
Ah well, bring on the Dockers! Let’s see what Barlow can pull out against an awesome Saints outfit. Or if Morabito can do anything to redeem himself!
Oh, and just quickly, I’m currently bringing in the last guy for the $20 league. But there will be a big post this weekend about the leagues. Happy news. 
Lol at the crazies on BF who are going nuts that they cant find stats from last night anywhere.
SC scores: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/saints-and-dockers-supercoach-points/story-e6frf9jf-1225837786571
Pav’s scores concerns me a bit, but good to see Barlow do well again. Elevation-pending he must be pretty close to a lock in most teams by now.
Anyone know where I can find DT scores from last night?
Loved seeing Gray rip it up on Friday night, however now puts me in a pickle with Waite, who I just subbed in for Gray this week upon news on Waite’s fitness. Can only fit one. Both have their upsides. I think Gray has his nose in front at this stage just due to actually seeing his performance rather than just reading reports (Waite).
Any thoughts on Waite vs Gray?
I didn’t watch the game last night so I can’t really comment on scores. I heard it wasn’t much of a contest though and the scoreline suggests that.
As for Gray Vs Waite, well you could argue for both. You could put Gray forward and Waite back.
Gray is a bit more of an unknown. I haven’t seen him play this pre-season but I’ve been impressed when I saw him in previous years. He scored well friday night and is highly rated.
Waite is a bit more of a risk but I heard he made a good return on the weekend playing that role off CHB which he does so well. He is clearly underpriced and he has a massive upside.
How well will he come back from that injury? Can he reach form close to his best?
I think he’s a chance but he isn’t in my team at this stage.
Any comments about Joel McDonald of Melb. (421000 def) I’ve heard he may be able to step up this season after being part of the fev trade and perhaps score ton average?
Waite, I want to see how he goes next week first- So Gray for now.
As for Macdonald. He wasn’t part of the Fev deal, he was just delisted. But still, I can see him increasing his average as one of the more senior players in that team now. Possible moving into Wheatley’s old role.
Thanks Walesy, obviously my info not quite right….McDonald or Gram? I’m guessing a lot of sides would have Gram.
I’m a Gram fan. His SC-DT ratio has been great until last year. If he can raise it to its old levels, he’ll look great.
In other news, Hawthorn is broken. http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/90272/default.aspx. Taylor, Sewell, Lewis I hear and maybe even a Ladson query are all on the cards.
Though they should all be back by round 3, so be careful.
Yeah, lewis rumour has been circulating around the club members and even outside. Apparently injured during the same training session as burgers did his hammy, although still no official reports. Was raised by a fella who had the inside goss on thorpy last year before the club released details so if hes on the money again, oh oh.
My concern is not the likely result of the games in which we’ll miss them, but the fact is once you miss a few games, those players are behind the 8-ball in terms of match fitness and its bloody hard to catch up again. That said, sewell is a fit bloke, lewis has had a full preseason, albeit a poor performance over the nam cup matches, so hopefully a couple of weeks on the sidelines wont set them back too much fitness wise.
Taylor is the concern. He and reno need to be fit to ruck. No viable backups.
Taylor update:
- broken leg, sidelined for 4 months. Underwent surgery this morning………………
http://www.hawthornfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/4742/newsid/90284/default.aspx
Walesy, what have you heard about Laddo?
They’re dropping like flies!
It certainly shakes things up though. No Rucks, and a decimated midfield. I can see them being 1-4, possibly even 2-5. Which has got to make them all less of a prospect to jump on.
JKT becomes tempting. Particularly if he can dominate early. However, as mentioned above- they could all be back earlier than hoped.
Heard that his knee pulled up sore last weekend. Could be nothing, but who knows.
Buddy is looking a worse option every day. Particularly when he comes back against three of last year’s top 4. Heaven help the Hawks if they get done in Round 1.
Agreed. Have already taken Buddy out and put Gia in. Hopefully he gets a run in the gf next week.
Likewise Nick, although i’ve gone with gray.
@Lucas, a few days ago i would have laughed at the idea, not i’m not too sure :s Thankfully melbourne have their own injuries i guess.
Will get another rookie elevation spot with taylor being put on the LTI list which is good for fantasy purposes. While skip was going to be elevated anyway, that extra spot might be thrown to JKT.
@Walesy, will see if i can fish up anything on Laddo as i wasn’t aware of any soreness as of yet.
Awaiting news on injuries to Clarko and Kennett!
Anyone thinking of getting on Murphy from the start? Even with Judd out he proven he is so so so consistant.
SUN on the scratchmatch “Murphy was a strong performer, kicking a goal and playing three-quarters of the match”
also on the ruck dilema “Naitanui’s explosive third quarter, when he dominated the ruck hit-outs and kicked two goals, helped the Eagles sprint out to a match-winning 44-point lead”
@ Spud, I guess Hawthorn are already regretting not picking up a ruckman in the trade period instead of getting someone like Burgoyne who really is of no value to them as they have enough midfielders. I really do think now that the Hawks may have to pinch hit with Roughy in the ruck to support Renouf. Heaven help them if they play Skipper.
Yes I think that Buddy to Gia swap will be the most popular move in the next 2 weeks.
I turned off the St Kilda- Freo game halfway through the 2nd qtr. It was so boring.
I want to see how BBBBH goes against quality opposition this week. If he peforms well, then I might have to reverse my thinking and select him in my team.
I can only have two dogs in my forward line and I’d suggest Hall and Higgins are the two best value picks.
Higgins vs Gia. Come on all of you why should I have Gia instead of the Next Big Thing?
Higgins if you are brave.
Keep looking at the lions first 5 weeks of the draw, maybe I’m nuts, but I ejected Pav for Brown, then higgins for Brennan. Tell me I’m not nuts, please.
And yer, I went with clarke and leuy in the ruck.
Both sound nuts to me Mark1. Would not count out the Pav based on a game where 8 of there best 10 players were in perth and he had zero fwd 50 delivery & against #1 def team.
Higgins is gold. Only risk is will end up with #1 tag this year and the “groin”.
Not counting pav out jb, but freo start tuff and brissie have the eagles, blues, port, dogs and demons, 3 at the gabba, brown, clarke & brennan could start hot as.
leuy is a risk, but the dollars saved are elsewhere
@Steve,
Yeah i guess. I must admit though, particularly on the jolly argument, just because he might have been a good fit at hawthorn, doesnt mean we could get him. Burgyone deal and promises etc aside, jolly said he wanted to go to collingwood, similarly to luke ball. When that happens, theres not a lot the club can do.
We took both skipper and Grimely(spelling?) in the draft – skipper to attempt to backup if this situation occured. The other is a future ruck prospect, much like baiey and lowden. So in their defense, they grabbed what was available to them. The only way i could have seen it panning out differently was to make a play for a seasoned ruckman during trade period – jolly was effectively booked out, even if we could offer more than collingwood. Mummy was set for sydney. Seaby maybe, but with the amount of cash the swans had to offer players, that was also unlikely. Who else was there to make a play for?
Will have to hope reno can do a clarke or rhyder and step it up, and skipper can negate when reno is resting. Bit hard to call on the trade decision too as we’re yet to see burgers play. The hawks have a few good ruckmen in the wings, and we desperately needed an outside midfielder with crawf retiring so im not at all convinced it was a bad move.
hey guys. long time reader first time poster. im having a big dilemma in my backline. trying to choose one of hargrave bock or newman.
i already have bazza boyd and gia in my team so am thinking its not the best idea to take any more doggies. additionally im not so sure that the ball will spend alot of time in the doggies backline this year. that being said i think hargrave is well priced and might go up a bit this year.
i havnt heard a thing about bock all preseason so have no idea whats going on there, and am a bit concerned about taking a tiger into my team even though he is most likely to see alot of the ball.
any help would be greatly appreciated.
Bock has been injured most of the off season hasn’t he?
is thats the case it kind of narrows my choices.
whats the feedback on newman like? if hes doing well and could potentially go up then perhaps i should stick with him. i dont see myself changing my other WB players.
if anyone it would be boyd but i kinda was looking forward to having him this year
Can confirm what Walesy said regarding Bock. He has been injured.
With richmond bowing out the first match, theres really on the one score to go on at the present time. However, i was concerned with his performance in that game given how much time the ball spent in the tigers defensive 50. And SC scores aside, Newman had a pretty ordinary game by anyones standards. I’d want to read that he’s played/scored well when the HS releases all the nab cup challenge scores before taking him.
Good thinking regarding the ball potentially not spending much time in the doggies back 50 as well given the overall strength of the side this year. The doggies are a hard bunch as theyre such an even side. On any given day, any of Lake, hargrave, harbrow, gilbee, etc etc could have a good game. Similarly to their midfield, no absolute superstars like swan, gaz, montagne but a very even spread of very good players which makes picking SC players difficult.
Sorry i cant be of any help by choosing one for you, but i’m having a similar issue, albeit with stkildas defenders as i had fisher as a lock but gilbert and now gram have once again pinched his share of the points pie the last two games.
im thinking ill sub out boyd for gibbs, then take hargrave in the backline. i dont know if i can trust any richmond players with that much salary
as for your dilemma.. tough choice. fisher would prob be the “safe” bet of the bunch. gilbert has looked good in the pre season i gotta say, but i dont know how much room hes got too move before he hits a ceiling. gram is the rick so i guess it depends on the rest of your team. if your taking a generally high risk set up then i would prob take fisher. if youve got room to afford to take a chance then perhaps gram.
With Taylor from the Hawks going down for 4 months, does make you think of using a Lisle or Skipper option for Ruck #3 or #4.
Will likely get good game time during the first half of the season.
I am also thinking that Rohan from the Swans may get a Round 1 start, and that is going to make my whole structure go our the window, having to find an extra $50K for him possibly.
BigD…..would you consider Hurn over the three you mentioned? There is probably not a better kick in the league out of the backline…..
And WindyHill…..I’ve had Rohan pegged for a while…..BUT…..the more I read its not so sure he’ll be out there on the park – and Roos does have a history of giving the kids very little gametime….this is one situation to watch very closely.
Spud…..does Jordan Lisle now backup Renouf before Skipper??
And with the performances of picks #1 & #2 the other night, Trengove has probably now made SC coaches lock him in & throw the key away……but has the no love policy on Scully wavered at all?
id consider hurn also. id have to do some research and sus it out as i dont know much about him other then him having a break out year last year
Why not broughton? He’s backed up last year in the nab and looks good to average 100. Not too confident to say that about too many other defenders. Staggered hurn is being talked up but not this bloke. I think fisher is too risky for the reasons walesy mentioned and he will get locked down at times
@Simon,
I reckon they’ll try and have renouf shouldering nearly 100% of the ruck duties with skipper only backing up for small portions. If renouf can pull a clarke or rhyder from last year, skip may not even be needed and might be held back to cover if renouf gets injured, with perhaps a roughy covering for a few minutes here and there while renouf rests in the forward line / down back.
But i would say if we play 2 ruckman, skipper would be used before Lisle, purely because i dont think Lisle has the body weight on him yet as he is still sub 90kg. Am fairly confident that renouf will see this as his big chance to cement his spot as a ruckman and to show what hes got, rather than being there to play second fiddle to yet another ruckman. Heaven help us if he goes down too though, we could have to pull a melbourne trick and pretend we went to the wrong ground :s
Boner i suspect Broughtons expense makes most punters cast him aside – at their peril. Didnt do anything wrong last year infact was outstanding. His last 2 games reduced his average for the year and has made his price quite reasonble for his potential 110+ ave.
Hay guys just wondering what your thoughts are of my team especially walesy,lucas,ben and the boys that run the site.
Would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions/criticism but i think it looks pretty competitive but also proble very similar to mothers teams. Also have not put too much thought into MPP’s so any suggestions to do with that would also be great. Cheers
BACKS
Goddard, B
Goodwin, S
Enright, C
Shaw, H
Malceski, N
Hunt, J
Ladson, R
Waters, B
Sheppard, B
MIDS
Ablett, G
Swan, D
Dal Santo, N
Connors, D
Trengove, J
Martin, D
Scully, T
Barlow, M
RUCKS
Clark, M
Hille, D
Warnock, R
Lobbe, M
FORWARDS
Riewoldt, N
Pavlich, M
Johnson, S
Franklin, L
Hall, B
Rohan, G
Rockliff, T
Roberts, R
Podsiadly, J
hey all.. main reason i havnt taken broughton is because i already have duffield sandi and barlow. same problem with hargrave dont want too many from the same team
@Ben
Am heading off to bed but one thing that stands out straight away is 3 playing rookies in the midfield AND 2 in the forward line, that is a lot. Some people will start 3 in the midfield so that is a personal preference, however i feel you could run into issues with the forwards. Franklin isnt playing round 1, so straight up you now have 6 playing rookies rnd 1. SJ is injury prone at the best of times, buddy is up and down, hall is a risk in terms of suspensions…none of them perhaps particularly lethal on their own, but all together AND coupled with the fact you’re already running 2 rookies in the forward line, is really putting a lot of scoring pressure on your remaining players.
Backline looks good, emergencies may need tweaking. Rucks look fine. Consider cutting down on the 3 mid premiums and putting some of that money into upgrading one of your starting forward rookies to an undervalued type player. If going with gaz, swan and nicky.d is overkill, especially swan. Look at downgrading to a selwood/pendles/gibbs or even a cooney if thats your thing. Also, i notice no hodge in the side – perhaps a bit of a question mark over the hawks as a whole at the moment, but he represents some pretty good value if you wanted to free up a few dollars by downgrading goodwin in the backline for example, or if you wanted to run him in the mid and free up some cash from a Nicky D even.
I have seen (it seems like) 1000’s of teams on the various sites around. Although they all look very similar one thing I haven’t seen is effective use of MPP. When I look at most backlines I see multiple injury/form risk players (Malceski, Kennelly, Hunt, Ladson, Waters, Maguire etc) but not a single team has MPP insurance for these players. I am not going to build my whole team around MPP but I think having Hodge in the mid and Gilbee (for example) in the def to cover the risk is a sound move. If one of my defenders goes down I would much rather put Shuey/Banner/Barlow/Trengove etc on the field than any of the back rookies.
Oops, meant Farmer as example def MPP
Definitely a sound move, but a gutsy one in that having Hodge in the mids does not naturally appeal to people as it like a “wasted” spot in the mids when you could have him in the defenders and another.
It all comes down to that most of the scoring potential is in the mids.
I think its a top strategy and applaud coaches that try it, however I think I will not build my teams around MPP at the moment but possibly use it later on in the season and trade for it. I think having one of those injury/form players you mentioned as D8 (instead of a rookie) will be some insurance for unforseen problems.
My issue for the moment is only have 3 premium backs. However I have an extremely deep fwd line, with Dangermouse my cheapest starting fwd. This is clearly due to the lack of depth of cheapies in the fwd and plethora of them in the backline, but it still worries me. And makes me think more about MPP…..hmmmmm…..
*and another premium mid instead of him (this is how it should read end of first para)
Only MPP im looking at are Tippett in Fwd line and possibly Waite aswell, but not sold on either. Im running a high risk ruck combo of Hille & McEvoy so Tippett as backup may be needed.
What are peoples thoughts of Conners from Richmond? Priced as a 1st round rookie and played before with career ave of 69. Is he in best 22? Im looking at running 3 rookies in midfield and will start 2 of Conners, Scully & Trengove with Barlow & Banner as emergencys
Anyone looking at Gram from a MPP perspective? I am toying with the idea of starting him in my midfield in place of Cooney as Gram has the advantage of MPP. I am crazy to be exploring this option?
Lots of teams are looking similar in structure. Given people reading on this site have generally done well in Supercoach I would not consider that a massive problem.
But the fact remains that every team needs to take a calculated risk, to seek value, and to hope that some players that are cheap hold up under pressure. Unfortunately we are all about $400k short of the ideal amount we’d like to have to ensure a good start. This is about right if you are running the competition – make it hard to get the team correctly balanced.
There have been comments about MPP throughout the leadup, and I believe they could be handy in the early rounds, and save a few trades. Teams will be stronger as a result of the flexibility.
The constants need to be remembered when considering the players on your team:
- the biggest scorers every year are midfielders, whether they are put in as midfielders, or masquerading as backs/forwards – therefore whatever you do, stack your team with midfielders
- when selecting defenders think quarterbacks, potential quarterbacks and people who can run through the midfield – these players who can set up others and who are flawless in their kicking skills
- midfielders need to produce your consistently strong points, need to blow teams out of the water
- forwards tend to be up and down more than any other position, so starting with a strategy of a limited number of KP players, surrounded by midfield types who can hold their value or increase it, then cash cow into the KPs who are at the bottom of their cycle – that’s a smart strategy
- rucks is often where SC is lost but rarely can you win it here; this year a good strategy would be one that ensures that you don’t have to use too many trades on this area during the year…ideally starting with 3 ruck options so you can set and forget (but that would come at a cost)
No matter what anyone says, everyone will have to take on board some injury or form risk. You simply cannot ignore the bonus in $decreases that a player missing for a season receives.
I would agree having an entire backline that is returning from injury is risky, but so would be starting 5 rookies in the midfield knowing there’s 5 trades at least gone.
I think Fryzie has said this is the year for value over GNR and I would not be surprised if Walesy agrees. Chris will probably go GNR given it worked last year, and I await the different MPP strategies people work with over the season.
Fun times. And as to reviewing teams, let’s avoid that until just before the season starts. It’s a lot better just discussing players when most teams are going to have the same core 15 players.
Probably the best discussions come in asking team supporters how certain players are looking. We have Steve keeping a close eye on Port (and Adelaide), AJW and I have a good look at Collingwood, Chris88 is on top of the Tigers, Walesy has the Bombers, Griff on the Dogs, Spud on the Hawks… and heaps more …there is a lot of very good data coming from the TooSerious spies on the grapevine.
So read the discussion, get involved particularly when it’s your club or you see a match and are impressed with a kid. Just don’t lob in here with a team and expect the best analysis in the world. I would never give my team up on the site in its completeness, because that’s giving your competition a free kick immediately. Keep your secret strategies secret hehe!
OK Rant Endeth, get back to the discussion!
Still can’t see what the fuss is over Gram, one of the most overrated kicks in the game and is usually relegated to bit part player when superior players such as Goddard are fit and firing.
Not a fan of Gram either. Was ok as a rebounding defender a few years back, but seems to rotate thru the midfield now and isnt good enough star too often with superior players there.
Any opinions on Brennan? At the right age, and if allowed to settle into a midfield role (wing?) could be a gun. On the other hand, already priced high and consistency issues. Any thoughts?
I downgraded Goddard to Gram to use the cash to fix up a few problems I was having with my team.
I’d obviously prefer Goddard but the extra 194k is handy. I think Gram’s under-priced although not so consistent.
I’m also surprised how he picked up his DT scores so much yet dropped in SC. I think he has the potential to even that difference up a bit more. Even if he gets less of the footy I can see him upping his scores.
Waite is priced slightly cheaper so he could also be an option for people with Gram but not yet sold on him.
Like Brennan, his scores will swing, though its only his final average that matters, starting him at the moment, brissie have a nice start to the year so worth a punt. I think he has had a decent preseason this year, last year he had problems and didn’t start till round 4 I think.
Only issues are, that as a swing scorer you could nab him for 400k, though truth be told, most of them will swing, secondly if Lewy or clarke go down, he could be back used as a man for all seasons again, and wont settle positionally.
Gram should improve, walsey pointed out his dt/sc disparity from last year, if it rebounds his average will increase. If Kennelly stays on the park though, I reckon he will average about the same, and he a 100k cheaper.
Has anyone considered Goodwin over Goddard to start with, and bringing Goddard in later?