TooSerious

Im not giving you much of a preview here, only to say that it should be a good game to watch.   Generally neither team plays the Muhammed Ali "rope-a-dope" style, so we should see a winning team from the midfield and forward of centre.   Lets hope that its a result not tainted by poor umpiring, and that the winning team does so on the back of their excellence.

Both Essendon and Collingwood have performed well in the preseason competition so far, but youve got to take your hats off to the Bombers, who have shown a bit better form in dispatching some more highly credentialled rivals than the Magpies, who have travelled further, but also played Richmond and West Coast to progress.

I cant give a tip, but youd suggest with both walesy and myself in attendance tonight, were probably not both going to go home happy at the end of proceedings.  Thats a tip I can be fairly confident of making.

In terms of the other games in the NAB Challenge, the draw and times, the teams for tonights game, and a few SuperCoach players to watch are over the break.

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Teams for tonights game:

COLLINGWOOD
B: Harry OBrien, Chris Tarrant, Alan Toovey
HB: Brent Macaffer, Ben Reid, Heath Shaw
C: John McCarthy, Dane Swan, Sharrod Wellingham
HF: Andrew Krakouer, Chris Dawes, Luke Ball
F: Alan Didak, Travis Cloke, Leigh Brown
FOLL: Darren Jolly, Scott Pendlebury, Dale Thomas
I/C: Leon Davis, Lachlan Keeffe, Cameron Wood, Jarryd Blair,  Simon Buckley, Steele Sidebottom, Dayne Beams, Ben Johnson
Em: Ben Sinclair, Tyson Goldsack, Tom Young

ESSENDON
B: David Myers, Dustin Fletcher, Kyle Hardingham
HB: Brent Stanton, Cale Hooker, Mark McVeigh
C: Courtenay Dempsey, Jobe Watson, Jason Winderlich
HF: Angus Monfries, Michael Hurley, Jake Melksham
F: Stewart Crameri, Patrick Ryder, Leroy Jetta
Foll: Tom Bellchambers, Dyson Heppell, Heath Hocking...

So, the question was raised in the comments of the last post- Hey Walesy, reckon you could pull up the data to detail the players whos last 5 games were better than their overall average?

Hell yeah, in fact, I can do even better than that- Ive gone with the last 5 rounds, and also with the last 10 rounds.

Now, taking a quick glance over the results, there doesnt look to be too much to take out of it- but there are a few interesting points to note.

<ul>
<li>Jolly averaged almost 100 over his last 10 weeks, but only 91 over his last 5. </li>
<li>Like Jolly, Cyril performed great over his last 10 weeks, but his final 5 was only 3 points over his season average</li>
<li>Kieren Jack absolutely smashed it over his final 5 games, but is it sustainable or just a purple patch?</li>
<li>Mitch Mortons move to the midfield certainly had a big effect on his final 5 games, but will be be able to continue that form and role this year?</li>
<li>Goodes went another year starting slow- which tends to confirm what people say about him.</li>
<li>I reckon that looking at the players that fell away in the second half of the year might be a good place for some bargains. Pav, JB, Chappy, JRoo and Higgins could all potentially be underpriced due to how they finished the year.</li>
</ul>

Anyways, as I said, from an analysis point of view, it looks pretty hit and miss, but for the full results, check over the break
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Ordered by the Last 5 games
nameteam2011 Salarygamesave10510 diff5 diff

Kieren JackSYD48750022100106.6136.86.636.8

Scott D. ThompsonKAN375300227792.8110.415.833.4

Mitch MortonRIC375100127778.3105.21.328.2

Sam WrightKAN263500205465.88211.828

Leigh BrownCOL362700157585.410110.426

Dean BroganPTA335500206979.19510.126

Brent MacafferCOL399300178295.4106.413.424.4

Ben JohnsonCOL384100197990.410111.422

Daniel WellsKAN427900198885.6109.6-2.421.6

Ashton HAMSWCE352600117376.194.63.121.6

Matthew...

With only 2 rounds left of the regular season, another 2 bite the dust - After both lost their games this week, Under Achievers and Adelaide Maggots are both out of the running now.

We had a heap of great games this week (5 of the 8 games decided by less than 50 points)! None more so than the one between Dan and Heaver - both putting up huge scores, with only 12 points separating them at the end. Walesy pushed Owen all the way, and was actually leading when I checked the scores a couple of hours ago, but the final rounding left him 39 points down somehow... maybe I read it wrong earlier?? Cameron and UAs both tried hard to keep their finals hopes alive, but went down at the death - by only 42 and 45 points respectively! And Fudge finished with the highest score of the round to get over a rampaging Fez, putting himself in a great position to make the playoffs. I will go through all the games in more detail later in the review.

Our trade deadline has passed now, and it was a fairly quiet one. Only the two trades being done in the last few days before the cutoff. The one between myself and Heaver ended up being extremely influential in Heavers game against Dan, with the 3 players he picked up (Haywood, MGasol &amp; Udrih) outscoring the 3 i got (Turiaf, McGee &amp; JSmith) by 62 points after the trade went through. Haywood was particularly impressive, starting in the place of an injured Tyson Chandler and scoring 33 and 40 fpoints when his season ave is only 11.2. I only included him in the deal as my worst player just to even up the trade. Anyway - it turned out to be the difference in an extremely close match! May cost Dan a playoff spot.

Now over the break - Ive done a run home thing again; as well as the usual reviews and previews::::::::

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The run home:

Heavers win has guaranteed a playoff spot for him now; and the result of that same game (Dan losing) has also confirmed a spot for Micka, despite him losing this week - they...

<div style="float:right; padding-left: 10px;"><iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="300" height="125" src="http://www.footytips.com.au/compWidget.cfm?c=Too_Serious&gameType=tips&sportId=1&size=300x250&gameCompId=90072"></iframe>
Alright guys, its time to dust off the ol tipsters hat and get it ready for a new season because the TooSerious tipping competition is now officially open for 2011!

This year, our tipping is powered by the good folk over at <a href="www.footytips.com.au">footytips[/url], but its not just powered by, its also sponsored by them and they will be providing the winner $500 worth of AFL tickets for the 2012 season. Not too shabby I reckon!

Not only that but the winner will be able to lord their superior tipping abilities over the rest of us lowly also-rans.

Entry is open, and free, to well, everyone- so get in there peoples!

We got another article put together by one of the regulars in these parts, Jason. Hes taken the time to put together a review of all the discounts that are available this year. Makes for some good reading to see it all together. So, here goes...

As we all look to find potential bargains before the start of the season, one of the first places to look should be players who have been given a discount on what would have been their 2011 starting price due to an
injury-restricted 2010 season.

There are 51 players listed for SuperCoach in 2011 that have been given discounts ranging from 50% down to 10% and the players come from all positions on the ground. Only players with less than 8 games
from2010 would appear to have been eligible for a starting price discount for season 2011. For this reason, a player such as Michael Barlow will (eventually) begin the 2011 season at full price relative to their 2010
SuperCoach average of points-per-game (ppg), despite tragically missing a lot of games in 2010 due to injury.

So who received an injury discount for 2011? Read on over the break to find out more.
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<div align="left"><table cellspacing="0" style="font-size:7pt;"><tr valign="top">Player Team Position 2010 Games 2011 Start Price Discount Value ($) Discount Value (ppg) Injury
<tr valign="top">50% Discount
<tr valign="top">Otten, Andy ADEL DEF 0 $185,100 $185,100 38.0 Knee (ACL)
<tr valign="top">Drum, Marcus GEEL DEF 0 $172,700 $172,700 35.5 Eye / Ankle / Achilles
<tr valign="top">30% Discount
<tr valign="top">Slattery, Tyson ESS DEF 1 $289,500 $124,100 25.5 Wrist*
<tr valign="top">Martin, Brodie ADEL MID 2 $281,000 $120,400 24.7 Knee (ACL)
<tr valign="top">Laidler, Jeremy CARL DEF 1 $279,300 $119,700 24.6 **
<tr valign="top">Dick, Brad COLL FWD 2 $274,200 $117,500 24.2...

You might notice a link up the top there which takes you to a different site. Thats a link to the <a href="http://yscc.com.au/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page">YSCC Wiki[/url], a collaborative effort which aims at building the worlds first Supercoach wiki.

Now, normally I dont link so directly through to another site, but I feel that this thing could be a huge resource to the Supercoach community that its the least I could do.

Check it out. Bookmark it, because from a historical point of view, this site will be worth its weight in gold.

So, another weekend has passed, with only one more week on the NAB to come to grips with. One more week of crossing our fingers, hoping that the rookies weve been watching all offseason dont get themselves injured (Im sure youve all had to take Callinan out of your lineups this weekend. Leaves a bitter taste in the mouth because not only was he a DPP, he also required me to free cash up in order to move him on).

Now, just to remind everyone- its tradition in these parts to avoid doing the RMT threads until after the NAB has finished. We do this purely because (as we saw this week)- one single injury can have a big effect on your team, and that all the effort that goes into rating teams can be for nought. Still, there will be an RMT thread next week sometime, so keep holding those horses!

As for this weekend, we had some pretty good games, culminating into an even bigger grand final next week. Should be an absolute ripper.

Anyways, game reviews are over the break-

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Essendon v St. Kilda

Friday night saw the Bombers get out to an early lead, and just keep on rolling. To be fair, the Saints did essentially give up after half time, but it was good to see the Bombers ble to twist in the knife and go in for the kill.

<a href="http://tooserious.net/player.php?id=82&pcid=13014&name=Brent%20Stanton">Stanton[/url] had the most touches on the ground for the night, however, his efficiency was pretty bad, making him a DreamTeam only prospect for mine. (Though a real good DreamTeam prospect).
<a href="http://tooserious.net/player.php?id=303&pcid=13188&name=Mark%20McVeigh">Mcveighs[/url] move back to the middle looks to be a winner with him looking better than he ever did under Knights.
<a href="http://tooserious.net/player.php?id=1137&pcid=13673&name=Michael%20HIBBERD">Hibberd[/url] had his best game to date with 15 touches. One more performance like that and theres no way he wont play a lot of games next year.
<a...

I thought id jump in while Walesy is off rejoicing the Bombres win and resultant granny coming up.

This season we will be entering a team into Supercoach where the donors here at Too Serious make all the management decisions (such as trades etc) together. Logistically it will work; but it is yet to be known how the team will go – will it be a super team put together by the collective knowledge of the TS donors; or will the team suffer due to the nature of the decision making? (well that will be our excuse anyway :lol: ) Either way It should be a lot of fun!! As well as interesting to see what comes of the communal decisions.

Every week during the season there will be a writeup here in the blog section to fill everyone in on how the team is going. But all of the decisions will be made exclusively in the Donor Forum.

First thing we need to work out is a name for the team, and also the general structure we will start with...   have a look over the break for more details::::

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First things first, as stated above, we need to work out a team name – so if you are a donor, jump into the forum and put up your suggestion, or comment on someone else’s. With this, we will try to come to a conclusion just by having a ‘conversation’ about it. If we can’t get a feel for what is the most popular name, then we will go to a vote. Only a couple of conditions – obviously nothing offensive; and the name must include ‘Too Serious’ in it.

Secondly – the structure of the starting team. I have also set up a Donor Forum thread for this as well with a few options. Use the thread to comment about it if you want, but to vote – I have included an email address there – just send an email with the letter that corresponds to your preference in the subject line. It may be late notice, but we need to set a deadline, for all votes to be in, of Midnight Tuesday Melbs time – so that we can get into picking the players!

Cant wait to see...

Tonights the night for both teams to be tested.

Though Im sure all the words before the game are going to be around "its still the preseason" and "were gearing up for round 1", this one is about a bit more than that for both teams.

Just like the media goes on and on about the Collingwood winning streak against Sydney (which in terms of margins isnt that significant), the Essendon side over recent times has been the most successful against the Saints famed defensive structure.  And havent the media continued to let both teams know about it?  Im sure that Ross Lyon would love to just put this Essendon team out with a big ten goal win to build belief in his teams structure, and bring a dose of reality back to dreaming Bomber fans.

So how will the Saints get a win here, given its fairly important for them?   I think they can through throwing away the bubble.

[caption id="attachment_2569" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The St Kilda Bubble"]<a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=987"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2569" src="http://tooserious.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/19577v50t1ku92k-300x199.jpg" alt="The St Kilda Bubble" width="300" height="199" />[/url][/caption]

The Saints have a bubble which has not only defined their club warding off attacks from all that would hurt their united group off the field, but also on it as well.   It was SaintsFootyTM and it almost beat Full-on-footy (09) and Side-By-Side (10), but it just fell short.

Its all about defence, tempo football, and striking a killer blow late in the piece.  I believe these things are going to still define St Kilda somewhat in 2011, but the new focus must be starting strong, starting bold, and making the bubble envelop the opponents.  Collingwood and Geelong have made an artform of getting to quarter time with a match winning lead, much like the Essendon team from 1999-2001.   This is where the Saints can improve in season...

[caption id="attachment_2549" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Mick&#039;s Peking Duck"]<a href="http://tooserious.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/290680u5lnmig0v.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2549 " src="http://tooserious.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/290680u5lnmig0v-300x205.jpg" alt="Micks Peking Duck" width="300" height="205" />[/url][/caption]

Mick Malthouse showed his wisdom through his twitter account (@mickmalthouse) yesterday, and I thought it was apt to the discussion on lovely tasty 100 ppg plus Premiums for 2011.

It goes a little something like this:  "Man stands for long time with mouth open before roast duck flies in. ~Chinese Proverb"

The concept fits with the site discussion here as we undertake our Fantasy Football Pre-Season.  Some will just take a few snippets and think that by taking out the cookie cutter, they will get themselves a 50k winning combination.  Im afraid even when youre not "too serious", even the best of us need to do their research, and back our trades up with more than hunches.

So what we have in this article is not a cookie from which to cut your team, but a menu for you to browse.  I will not be offended if you dont like the smell thats coming from my kitchen.   No one liked Carltons smell last year did they .

This article will attempt to take last years list of premiums and make some big assessments.  Foremost is the list of players that for reasons outlined wont make it in 2011.  I follow that up with a list of who I believe will move to Elite (120 ppg) in 2011, and those who missed out in 2010, but have tasted Premium ranking in the past, and will return in 2011.

All this, and another pic, after the break.

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[caption id="attachment_2552" align="alignright" width="198" caption="What goes up..."]<a href="Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net[/url]"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2552 "...