TooSerious

Welcome back to the League v League competition and my goodness werent there some upsets last weekend. Some late runs from the lower ranked leagues are not unexpected given players could have left their trading salvos to right to the very end.

The results:
TS Donor Kebabs 35974 lost to TS NBA Crew 36100
TS Platinum 35860 lost to TS Tin Lids 36748
Too Serious Donors 35892 defeated TS 2Sec Too Slow 35799
FF v TS Challenge 35167 lost to TS Superleague 35677

Three of the top 4 are out, and only the Donors remain from the ranks of the top 20s.

So for this weekends matches, its down to 4 leagues to be Crowned the Inaugural League vs League Too Serious Knock Out Challenge Victorious Representatives!  Join and have a look after the break!

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First Prelim:
TS NBA Crew v TS Superleague
AKA The Salary Cap Challenge!

Form line in finals:
TS NBA Crew
Round of 16: 38511 - defeated TS Premier League
Semi Finals: 36100 - defeated TS Donor Kebabs

TS Superleague
Round of 16: 38405 - defeated Waaaay Too Serious
Semi Finals: 35677 - defeated FF v TS Challenge

On paper this looks like a fairly easy win to the NBA Crew.  They have done the hard yards beating two strong leagues in their first two battles, and this one should be like swatting flies.   An interesting aside is the clear drop off of scores from one game to another.   Obviously most players copped the putrid Petrie-Pavlich double.   The NBA Crew will need to be on their game, but you would suggest it would take $$$ of Superleague-esque proportions (or maybe just NRL) to see them miss a GF position.

Second Prelim:
TS Tin Lids v Too Serious Donors
AKA The battle of Notes vs Coins (nickel and tin)

Form line in finals:
TS Tin Lids
Round of 16:  38754 - defeated TS I am Serious
Semi Finals: 36748 - defeated TS Platinum

Too Serious Donors
Round of 16:  38506 - defeated TS Expats
Semi Finals: 35892 - defeated TS 2 Secs...

Hi all,
Not a huge amount to say, because frankly we dont have too many trades around. And what a week it has been with injuries, suspensions and rumours abounding as the General comes once again late in a year to stalk his territory.

Personally, being a General myself, I cant think that my friend Soreness is going to be doing too much more than irritation the next fortnight. Facts remain that teams in the running for finals need continuity more than rests (on the whole) and as such may be rested through training or by being moved to half forward instead of on-ball during a match. Teams out of the finals are generally out of Supercoach teams. A lesson learned by yours truly after getting in Sylvia for the last 3 games. At least he played one (unlike Shaw).

So, down to business. If youre like me, you need to find coverage for one defender, a mid and two forwards. If youre like me, you have or can only use two trades. And if youre like me, you have stuff all coverage on the bench because they go and smash a leg (Strauss/Toy), a person (Hibberd/Sylvia) or maybe a coach in future (Bewick/Richardson).

Im left with some awkward choices but thankfully, others in my league matches are in just the same pickle, so its helpful to know Im not on my own.

So there are a range of options. Do you go hard this week and consider a trade out of Judd/Murphy to win this week. Remember there are no prizes for top score next week if you are eliminated. Using Judds money, you can get Selwood, and with MPP it could cover the forwards in one hit (with someone like Mzungu or Smith). Whacko!

Or you could decide straight swapping in defence or up forward. Its only two rounds to go, so heres a list of players who I think would be worth considering...

Mids - Mitchell, Priddis, Moloney, Hodge, Swallow, Beams, Thompson, Selwood. All have claims, though Mitchell, Hodge and Priddis I think have the General Star over them.
Defenders - Gibson and Bock the standouts...

Just a few cliffnotes and a couple of big movers over the break guys.

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Klasnic showed us all some class, scoring a goal against ManC, at his low price, and two big scores, expect to see some good movement. No other real cheap options to make cash up forward though, Dzeko scored again and looks a decent mid-price option though, but probably wont generate the kinda cash you need early.

I traded De Laet into R Taylor last week, and while Im very happy with Taylors cleanie and goal, I might be looking to get back into De Laet - his goal will see some great movement. Ward is the third cheap defender that will make you some quick cash over the next few weeks.

De Gea and Vorm are both looking great value as a keeper if you made the mistake of paying top price for one!

The lack of cheap midfielders who got a goal and cleansheet is a little sad, but was pulled off last week by Jarvis, and at 6.7mil, if you feel confident over the next two weeks Away to Villa, then home to Tottenham, he could make you some solid coin between now and GW5 when he plays QPR. Enough to even sideways to one of the Big5 midfielders.

Anyways, a quick look around the league reveals the following.

TooSerious - From 62nd, up to 36th.
WayTooSerious - From 15th up to 7th. (With Yani still getting a special mention )
TooSerious Esq III: From 82nd down to 216th - oh noes guys!!
TooSerious IV: From 40th up to 17th, great climb guys!!
TooSerious V: From 39th up to 32nd

Any ways, the stats are on their way up, just need to finish calculating these darn Kangeroos that were missed on the weekend!

Getting to the very pointy end of the season folks, and whilst the win seems to be relatively locked away, the fight for places is in full flight.

With both Judd and his main rival Pendlebury failing to poll, all of Boyd, Swan, Ablett, Goodes and Scotty Thompson continue their push into the low 20s, all capping off excellent individual seasons respectively.  Three of those players: Boyd, Ablett and Thompson have done considerably well given their teams are at the wrong end of the ladder, and can all lay strong claims to AA selection this year - Ablett the only automatic inclusion in a year where the midfielders seem to have dominated even more than usual.

Swans has finished the season off the way he started it all those weeks ago - and youd have given him a real chance to win outright this year had he not played injured through the middle part of the season.  His resurgence has come at a time when Pendleburys influence has waned, and has pushed Scotty to last on my list of confidence for most votes per team, which now runs as follows:

1. Ablett ($1.01)
2. Thompson ($1.11)
3. Boyd ($1.09)
4. Mitchell ($1.18)
5. Judd ($1.11)
6. Dal Santo ($1.40)
7. Goodes ($1.59)
8. Watson ($1.10)
9. Moloney ($1.18)
10. Black ($1.40) / Selwood ($1.35)
12. Swallow ($1.50)
13. Priddis ($2.55)
14. Cotchin ($2.10)
15. Hartlett ($9)
16. Fyfe ($2.10)
17. Pendlebury ($1.88)

Odds in brackets are Centrebet odds - which of course you cant multi.  Very limited value, which leads me to think a straight up bet is the only way to go this year...whilst the top 10/11 are the lockiest of locks, youll only get a return of $6.50...so maybe something like Thompson, Mitchell, Judd, Dal Santo, Goodes, Moloney, Black, Selwood, Swallow &amp; Priddis for a more like-able $27-1 is in order.

Then all that you really have standing in your way is a big Cox.

<!--more-->[span style="text-decoration: underline">Hawthorn v Carlton

TS:
3 - J. Lewis (3)
2 - K. Simpson (2)
1...

So, howd yall go this weekend? Win all your leagues or just bask in the glory of a week off?

Plenty of bullets this week, but a couple of good efforts- still, a pretty low par I reckon.

The review will be late tonight, Ive spent the majority of the day outside play with the kiddoes! - Then tonight, theres a certain NFL draft Ill be taking part in so the stats might be a little late as well!

Ah well, good thing theres just 2 more weeks to go then hey!

Alright, if youre lucky (or unlucky) enough to be playing in the semis this week, good luck!!

If not, heres hoping you smash out a big one to up your ranking a little.

Feel free to stop by in the live chat, youll notice that its now sponsered by Doiminos, so if you do feel a might bit peckish while watching the game, click on through and enjoy!

Or yanno, if the mood takes you, <a href="http://www.s2d6.com/x/?x=c&amp;z=s&amp;v=3702682&amp;k=tooserious" target="_blank">You can order now![/url]

Alright, take 2... probably shouldnt have done the one earlier on my phone. Here it is again, and hopefully the comments and read more works correctly this time.

I’m doing this post on my phone this week so I hope it works out alright! Sorry it has taken this long to do it this week – I’ve been really excited about the teams progress and wanted to share, but just haven’t got round to it yet… So without any further adieu:

We have reached our best ranking of the season now! After a score of 2474 in round 21, we moved up about 250 spots to now be ranked 1156th! First time in top 1200 – well done Donors!! <img src="http://tooserious.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://tooserious.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" />

We won 3 out of our 5 leagues and have only been eliminated from 1 of those 2 losses.

We did 2 trades last week. We left the decisions until really late in the week and therefore didn’t have a lot of people contributing to the choices of who to bring in. We traded heppell to Jonas of PA; and zSmith to Mumford. Both trades look to be alright at this stage. We had come up with 2 options of who to downgrade to – faulks and Jonas – but nobody had given their preference, except for (I think it was) JPK or heaveymen who had pointed out Jonas was named onfield, whereas faulks was on the bench for freo. I ended up making the call on which one to bring in, and I took that observation into consideration, but – truth be told – I picked Jonas because my daughter has an imaginary friend by the same name. <img src="http://tooserious.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt="" /> no… That did play a part, but I actually thought Jonas would get more of a run the way ports season is going.

Swan was our cap, which was a great decision! And our bench choices were sound, but we didn’t really have any bench decisions to make last week – with 22 premium...

Hi all,

Its a day late, but in some ways, given the need to be prepared to deal with "The General", Best Buys really fits with waiting a bit longer to see the teams, then to work out the best options from there.

It is an interesting situation for quite a few teams.   Some teams in leagues are now having a weeks rest, but the same teams are in cut throat matches in very competitive leagues as well.   Do you trade or sit tight?   Its always a tough call to work out.   In the end, Id suggest you will need to try to pick your best team regardless.

If it means replacing someone this week who will certainly not play in one game from here, then might be the best option.

Ive also looked at the ticker.   Yeah, that device not that many go to, and even less understand.    Its worth a look.   Basically look at R22-R24 and if there is a nice red or golden outlook for your club and position then thats something very helpful.   If theres a white mark (bye) or anything in the blue and green, then there is considerable cause for alarm.   When theres 3 games to go, you need to be getting someone who will go Bang-Bang-Bang and not just one firework.   Didak looms haha.

So, in looking, there are some interesting candidates for good byes.   Im thinking that defenders are going to be most sought after given teams probably have some of Scotland, Gibbs and Enright to cover - and maybe Heppell at a pinch.

Again, its Johncock who appears the best of the options.   And a good run according to the ticker.   Stefan Martin has a good run according to the ticker, but his output has been cut since Jamars return.   So, for mine, if you dont have Stiffy and need to cover Enright-Gibbs or something like that, might be worth a straight Enright-Stiffy swap.

For the mids, well here you could be needing to cover players like Selwood, Bartel, Judd, Murphy - even Watson possibly on run home.   Scott Thompson is my push for a good candidate.   For my team a...

So, Smith out Tippett in hey? Anyone thinking of taking the risk on the bloke, or is it Petrie to the rucks?

Join us as always, over the break for the latests in teams and the live chat.

Full teams are over the break...
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Carlton v Hawthorn
ES &#8211; Fri Aug 19, 7:40pm
Carlton
B: Jeremy Laidler, Michael Jamison, Christopher Yarran
HB: Bryce Gibbs, Lachlan Henderson, Nick Duigan
C: Heath Scotland, David Ellard, Kade Simpson
HF: Jeffrey Garlett, Bret Thornton, Dennis Armfield
F: Andrew Walker, Matthew Kreuzer, Eddie Betts
Foll: Robert Warnock, Chris Judd, Marc Murphy
I/C: Andrew Carrazzo, Aaron Joseph, Mitch Robinson, Marcus Davies
Emg: Setanta O&#8217;hAilpin, Jordan Russell, Zach Tuohy
In: Michael Jamison
Out: Zach Tuohy
Milestones: Robert Warnock &#8211; 50 games
Hawthorn
B: Paul Puopolo, Josh Gibson, Thomas Murphy
HB: Brent Guerra, Ryan Schoenmakers, Grant Birchall
C: Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell, Isaac Smith
HF: Chance Bateman, Lance Franklin, Shaun Burgoyne
F: Cyril Rioli, David Hale, Luke Breust
Foll: Max Bailey, Luke Hodge, Brad Sewell
I/C: Brendan Whitecross, Liam Shiels, Matt Suckling, Cameron Bruce
Emg: Michael Osborne, Jordan Lisle, Kyle Cheney
Gold Coast Suns v Adelaide
MS &#8211; Sat Aug 20, 2:10pm
Gold Coast Suns
B: Seb Tape, Joel Tippett, Steven May
HB: Jarrod Harbrow, Nathan Bock, Karmichael Hunt
C: Maverick Weller, Gary Ablett, Sam Iles
HF: Michael Rischitelli, Rory Thompson, Luke Russell
F: Daniel Stanley, Nathan Ablett, Harley Bennell
Foll: Josh Fraser, Jared Brennan, David Swallow
I/C: Trent McKenzie, Matt Shaw, Tom Hickey, Dion Prestia
Emg: Hayden Jolly, Joseph Daye, Brandon Matera
In: Karmichael Hunt, Luke Russell, Rory Thompson, Tom Hickey, Joel Tippett,...

Votes over the page ladies and gents, but some points of interest:

- C. Judd seemingly unstoppable on his way to his third medal, but stranger things have happened on Brownlow night, and Scotty still within striking distance (although hes the only one left).

- S. Black put the most Brisbane votes to bed (at least IMO).

- S. Mitchell should be starting in the middle of this years AA Team alongside Judd and Pendlebury, and could very possibly poll the most votes on the night.  Would be a tragedy.

- M. Priddis now representing the best value on the team front - still paying $3 after BOG performance and now have him 4 votes clear of Big Cox.

- T. Cotchin also making himself more of likely winner for the Tigers.

<!--more-->[span style="text-decoration: underline">Collingwood v St Kilda

TS:
3 - L. Davis (3)
2 - D. Swan (21)
1 - D. Thomas (16)

Holey:
3 - D. Swan (22)
2 - L. Davis (5)
1 - L. Montagna (10)

[span style="text-decoration: underline">Hawthorn v Port Adelaide

TS:
3 - C. Rioli (10)
2 - L. Franklin (17)
1 - S. Mitchell (25)

Holey:
3 - C. Rioli (7)
2 - S. Mitchell (29)
1 - L. Franklin (16)

[span style="text-decoration: underline">Carlton v Fremantle

TS:
3 - C. Judd (30)
2 - B. Gibbs (15)
1 - E. Betts (5)

Holey:

3 - C. Judd (30)
2 - B. Gibbs (15)
1 - E. Betts (4)

[span style="text-decoration: underline">Essendon v Western Bulldogs

TS:
3 - B. Stanton (7)
2 - M. Hurley (2)
1 - P. Ryder (2)

Holey:
3 - B. Stanton (8)
2 - P. Ryder (3)
1 - D. Fletcher (4)

[span style="text-decoration: underline">Brisbane v Gold Coast

TS:
3 - S. Black (11)
2 - M. Leuenberger (3)
1 - T. Rockliff (11)

Holey:
3 - S. Black (13)
2 - M. Leuenberger (3)
1 - G. Ablett (22)

[span style="text-decoration: underline">West Coast v Melbourne

TS:
3 - A. Gaff (3)
2 - M. Priddis (18)
1 - D. Cox (21)

Holey:
3 - M. Priddis (18)
2 - A. Gaff (2)
1 - A. Embley (10)

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