TooSerious

Blackburn had a famous set of twins playing for them, WBA had a bench that could rival any ruck combo that you care to mention while Walcott was..well Walcott.  Join me over the break for whats happening this weekend

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Spurs v Man United

Giggs scored a last-minute winner against Norwich on his 900th Man United appearance. By SAF’s account they didn’t deserve the win, but win they did. It’s a habit that United have mastered. They now have another difficult game to overcome before a decent run of games and a win here will keep the pressure on City as we approach squeaky-bum time.

Spurs got trounced 5-2 last week at Arsenal and will be a bit short of confidence, they also took a comprehensive beating at Old Trafford at the start of the season. Parker and Adebayor were missing then and Parker will be missing this week after his red card at the Emirates. Bale, Walker and VDV are all slight doubts. Smalling is doubtful for United.

WBA v Chelsea

Chelsea – with Lampard restored after dropping to the bench for two – earned three welcome points and goals against Bolton last week. They remain level on points with Arsenal in fourth place. A trip to The Hawthorns against a West Brom side with their tails up after nine goals in two might prove a little harder.

Odemwingie has scored five of them as he shows form that has earned him the player of the month award.

Long, Cox sat on the bench as did Dorrans. Morrison continues to show form and scored as did Andrews.

*Possibly feeling bold after playing well and scoring last week, Lampard came out in the media and said that his relationship with AVB has “not been ideal”. He added “There have been certain issues. Certain players we don’t like not to play.”

I’m far from convinced that these comments will guarantee him more game time.

Terry and Bosingwa remain out while Sturridge should be fit. Brunt may be back for West Brom.

Liverpool v Arsenal

Agger is out for about three weeks while...

Lets get some of this chat going on! Got the Suns up against the Cats tonight. Im expecting a good close match, with plenty of GEELONG DOMINATING.

2 in 1 may be the way to go from here on in... starting to become a habit anyway.

Theres been a lot of NBL games on lately and a heap to come too - we had 7 games last round, and there will be 6 this weekend. I went to the Cairns v Perth game the other day and it was so great to see the Snakes get up and win - It will hopefully give a lot of other teams up near the top some confidence that they too can win in Perth.

This week coming, there are three teams - Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast - that play twice; and no teams that miss out on a game. But something to keep in mind is that the Tigers have the weekend off next week.

Over the break are the recent results of our fantasy league and this weeks fixture::::

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Round 20:
<div>
<table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>

<td align="right"><a href="http://dreamteam.nbl.com.au/?p=other_teams&amp;tid=212&amp;lid=1">Duncans Troops[/url]
170
def
168
<td align="left"><a href="http://dreamteam.nbl.com.au/?p=other_teams&amp;tid=1956&amp;lid=1">Maxys Marvels[/url]



<td align="right"><a href="http://dreamteam.nbl.com.au/?p=other_teams&amp;tid=661&amp;lid=1">King Kong[/url]
334
def by
352
<td align="left"><a href="http://dreamteam.nbl.com.au/?p=team">Deadly mills[/url]



<td align="right"><a href="http://dreamteam.nbl.com.au/?p=other_teams&amp;tid=531&amp;lid=1">Nothin But String[/url]
305
def by
322
<td align="left"><a href="http://dreamteam.nbl.com.au/?p=other_teams&amp;tid=1263&amp;lid=1">Crossy Crusaders[/url]



<td align="right"><a href="http://dreamteam.nbl.com.au/?p=other_teams&amp;tid=881&amp;lid=1">Team Stowie[/url]
409
def
401
<td align="left"><a href="http://dreamteam.nbl.com.au/?p=other_teams&amp;tid=145&amp;lid=1">Bunchalosers[/url]



<td align="right"><a href="http://dreamteam.nbl.com.au/?p=other_teams&amp;tid=443&amp;lid=1">Don Cottagers[/url]
393
def
124
<td align="left"><a...

Now, Ive been thinking a bit recently - As far as premiums are concerned, were not going to learn too much about them over the NAB to decide on their upcoming seasons - I mean, the buggers get rested a bit, or played out of position to give the kids a bit.

However, its a super important part of selecting your team, just as important as picking the right rookie.

In fact, any premium that you start the season with, that drops a good $150k, will offset any good work youve done in selecting your rookies. This is particularly important over the first 8-12 weeks when the upgrade period is going on!

So Im thinking, lets take this to the power of the thumbs and use the comments here to work out what people are thinking.

Ill get us started with a couple (maybe slip a contentious one in there ), and you guys jump in with more.

With the 20/20 out of the way, longer games should mean we get a better idea on team structures moving forward.

Making this week more important than last (but looking at a few of the blokes missing, less important than next!)

Check out the teams over the break

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NAB Cup squads for Round Two

Gold Coast v Geelong


Metricon Stadium, Friday March 2, 8.40pm AEDT

GOLD COAST


Jaeger OMeara, Zac Smith, Jared Brennan, Maverick Weller, Jarrod Harbrow, Karmichael Hunt, Luke Russell, Gary Ablett, Harley Bennell, Hayden Jolly, Matthew Warnock, Josh Fraser, Tom Lynch, Jeremy Taylor, Charlie Dixon, David Swallow, Matt Shaw, Campbell Brown, Aaron Hall, Michael Rischitelli, Sam Iles, Alex Sexton, Dion Prestia, Liam Patrick, Nathan Bock, Steven May, Daniel Gorringe, Seb Tape, Andrew McQualter

Stoked to get another look at Hall here.

GEELONG


Mitchell Brown, Billie Smedts, Jimmy Bartel, Andrew Mackie, Harry Taylor, Trent West, Joel Selwood, Jordan Schroder, Shannon Byrnes, Josh Cowan, Taylor Hunt, Jordan Murdoch, Orren Stephenson, Jed Bews, Thomas Gillies, Tom Hawkins, Mathew Stokes, Cameron Guthrie, Steven Motlop, George Horlin-Smith, Simon Hogan, Cameron Eardley, Shane Kersten, Jesse Stringer, Josh Walker, George Burbury, Jonathan Simpkin, Ryan Bathie, Joel Hamling

Smedts, Stephenson, Horlin-Smith, Hogan are highest on the list. The lack on Christensen is still sad.

&nbsp;

Hawthorn v Greater Western Sydney


Aurora Stadium, Saturday March 3, 3.40pm AEDT

HAWTHORN


Matt Suckling, Josh Gibson, Michael Osborne, Xavier Ellis, Shaun Burgoyne, Chance Bateman, Clinton Young, Kyle Cheney, Grant Birchall, Luke Hodge, Isaac Smith, Cameron Bruce, Brent Guerra, Jack Gunston, David Hale, Shane Savage, Luke Breust, Ryan Schoenmakers, Tom Murphy, Jarrad Boumann, Bradley Hill, Sam Grimley, Alex Woodward, Brendan Whitecross, Max Bailey, Angus Litherland, Amos Frank, Tom Schneider,...

Welcome back to Best Buys.

This is the conclusion of the NAB Cup round 1 Best Buys, and has somehow managed to be even bigger than the first (I may have got a bit carried away with the mid-pricers). As with last week the results are based on players NAB cup scores according to a basic formula based on DreamTeam scores and their average from 2011, or their average based on price, as the remaining scores to make up a three round projection. Join us for the article and discussion over the break.

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Best Buys is separated into positions and then further broken down into rookies, mid-pricers and premiums. The scores used as stated before may not be accurate but are a good indication nonetheless. Feel free to post any questions about the article or problems you have with it, and any questions you want you answered along the lines of player x over player y. Lets keep it civil and football related though guys. This pre-season edition uses the official DreamTeam scores factored with the 3300 rule for SuperCoach and isnt necessarily accurate but is a solid indication of where the players are, the regular Best Buys will use only official scores though.

Defense

Rookies

Billie Smedts (GEE) played only once for 64 points, to rise by 15 grand. On current form there are better rookie options at Geelong, but the pre-season is only that, and also just beginning. Worth watching.
Josh Tynan (MEL) had a good first match for the Dees scoring 72 points and a 20 grand price rise in the process. May struggle to get a place in the Melbourne side but worth keeping an eye on.
Sam Shaw (ADE) played once for a score of 90 meaning his value would increase by nearly 30 grand. Again his job security could be an issue so keep an eye on how many games he gets over the NAB.

Mid-Pricers

Heath Grundy (SYD) had a slow start with only 57 points, but then ramped it up considerably in the second to score a 125. This saw...

Not long to go now in our fantasy leagues. Weve just had a midseason break due to the All Star game, which has seemed like a long time away from the daily fantasy cast and stat watching that goes on being involved in this game. Tomorrow, we will finally have some NBA games back on, and there are still 6 days to go in the current matchup (including tomorrow). After the current matchup, we will only have 2 more games of our regular season, and the fight for playoff spots is alive and well. The top 6 teams in each league will make the playoffs, with the winner of each conference/division getting a bye in the 1st round.

There are still no teams that are mathematically out of the finals equation; however it does not look promising for a few teams sitting on just 1 win each with all three teams in 6th place on 4 wins.

Now is probably a good time to revisit the promotion/relegation system we worked out prior to the season too...

Premier league – bottom 2 relegated
<div>Div 1 – top 2 promoted to Premier league, bottom 4 relegated to Div 2
<div>Div 2 – top 4 promoted to Div 1
- The 4 going up from Div 2 to Div 1 will be the two grand final teams, and (excluding the two GF teams) the two best ranked teams at end of our regular season.The 2 teams going up from Div 1 to Premier will be the GF winning team, and the team with the best Reg season record (excluding GF winner of course). The teams being relegated from Premier and Division 1 will be the bottom 2 and 4 teams respectively at the end of the regular season.

*Although there is a get-out clause if you do happen to find yourself in the relegation zone -  if a team wins the minor premiership (the league splits into two finals systems like SuperCoach) they are exempt from relegation, and the next highest ranked at end of regular season will be relegated.

Over the break, we will look at the the run home for each team. Im gonna writeup the Premier League and Steve has done the Division 1, although...

The TooSerious newsletter is getting ready to fire up for another year! In fact, well be firing up with a complete recap of all the off-season training reports Ive been writing. Including those teams that I never finished!

If you were signed up last year, youd remember that it was full of whimsical advice and my own particular take on whatever issues had cropped up that week.

(And perhaps a bizarre fascination with Bert the Turtle.)

Well, this year, weve made it easier to sign up, heck, you dont even need a TS login to do it. (Though why you wouldnt have one of those is just crazy!)

Check it out over the break
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You can sign up for our newsletter
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Or, if you really want to support the site, you can sign up for the 3rd party emails. I try to keep these things reasonably relevant (see: free/discount booze and gambling), but theres always the odd other thing that will pop up. Subscriptions to these though really do support the site, so if you dont mind being annoyed once a week (or fortnight, or month), sign up for us!

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The midfield is full of talent and you really don’t know where to start so I’ve decided to just concentrate on 5 players and will post more thoughts throughout the comments and discussion. We will also leave the rookies for the next article as there are loads of those.

One thing a lot of people have been contemplating this season is to run a 4-5 rookie midfield due to all the talented rookies that appear to be available this year. One thing to keep in mind if going for this strategy is to ensure you have a quality captain to lock in each week. In other words you would really need to run Ablett, Swan or Pendlebury alongside your rookies to ensue you get those extra 120+ points each and not playing  russian roulette with captain choices.  <!--more-->

Gary Ablett - $689K – After a slowish start to 2011 little Gazza turned home after Gold Coasts 2nd bye and went bang. From Round 8 to Round 22 (taking out 19 point game where he injured his knee) he averaged incredible 144. If you take out his injury effected game for entire season his average jumps up from 127 to 133. So in essence you are getting him relatively cheap. Ablett has a relatively good draw leading into GC round 13 bye, playing North Melbourne twice, GWS, Port Adelaide, Brisbane, Fremantle (at Metricon), Adelaide, Bulldogs The play top 8 sides StKilda (twice), Essendon &amp; Collingwood. We all know what to expect from Gazza, he is the ultimate supercoacher and one the only true perma captains in the competition!

Dane Swan - $661K – Swan started 2011 relatively slowly, due mainly to few small injuries. This saw Collingwood send him off to Arizona to get some high altitude training around their midseason bye. Once arriving back home he averaged 127 in his final 11 games of 2011, which was up on his 115 average leading into the bye. Dane Swan has already hinted that he wants to go back to Arizona midyear again so you must keep that in mind when selecting him. Its not a matter that...

Weve see everyone come out for their first bash now. Gotta say, weather-wise, its been a ridiculous time to be playing footy! But, every team will be better for the run out, shaking that rust from out of the systems.

Tune in over the break as I review the best from the 9 games over the weekend. (and apologise profusely for not! Youll see )

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Friday night:
Saints v Cats v Swans.

Some decent football here, while its still tough to make any real calls on the season, I cant see any reason why any other these teams miss the finals this year. While the Saints were pressing higher up the ground than last year, which did (and will) leave them open to the odd rebound, I reckon that with more gametime put into it, theyre only going to get better at it.

Saints:

Tommy Ledger: This is the exact story you want to see in the NAB. Last year Tommy averaged 18 disposals in the VFL before earning his call up to the AFL. Once there, he played two games as a sub, before doing a hammy and ending his season. Two fantastic games of 8 and 9 touches sees him come right back onto the radar. It will be tough to see him get a game over some of the blokes missing tonight, but if he keeps up this form, hell be tough to avoid.

Milera: He only played in the second game of the night, and although he grabbed a goal, he wasnt great. Still on the list, but definitely further down.

Saad: Very happy to see this bloke play, he kicked the first goal of the night, but only two behinds in the second game. His possession count wasnt great, but his forward pressure should be enough to see him getting games. As for if hell be a decent cow, hes never been a prolific ball winner, so Im thinking hell suck a lot of people in.

Ross: Seb was pretty good I thought for a first gamer. Had a bit of the yips early, but really played into the night. Word has been that hes "on track" for a round 1 birth, but I reckon Ledger might have put a little spanner...