TooSerious

So, we already know 6 teams won't be fronting up.

Nor will Lycett.

What other traps will be in store for this opening bye round?

The Spud Round
In honour of the humble potato, or this could mean player as there have many a spud in the players of past and I’m sure in the future.


Wineglass Bay Packers 1149 def Gundagai Grasshoppers 1004

A match for the ages? Nup.

A fitting celebration of our themed round? Probably.

With the Gundagai rollercoaster now into top gear, coach Tracey woulda been sharting in her Chardonnay at the prospect of facing this maniacal Hopper unit. Fears were quickly allayed as snoz rolled into town with enough starch to make the Irish skip a beat.

Cameos across the board for the home side with Wilson, Sloane, Hutchings and Lynch were soured somewhat by the mire of Williams, Hendo and oop ruck Jansen. Visitors in Rocky and Grundy peeled off their opponents with ease but were heavily overshadowed by the putridness of…everyone else. Hats off coaches, a stunning potato au gratin appetizer.

Darraweit Guim Dirigibles 1271 def Charlies Opening Spelunkers 1188

If you’re looking for a lesson in how to turn your fortunes around, look no further than the Guim. In Bolton-esque fashion, the deployment of caretaker coach Christophe Richestein has seen the Blimps take out 3 of their last 4 and give team a sense of collective hope. Acknowledging that this hope stuff can be an insidious disease, The Guim management have been quick to sever any lingering comradery by trading out a bevy of talent. Oh yeah, the game. Despite the Guim form line, this one was harder to pick than BJ’s halftime honker. Late outs to both sides made this one an interesting depth test, with Tucker winning the emergency showdown. However the KO of Spitta and spud showings from Jack and the Frenchman, put the Troggs on the back foot for most of the day. For the home side, a great team effort that would have all players involved very proud, right before half of them catch the last bus to nowhere.

Whitsunday Warriors 1291 def Birdsville Battlers 1154

What is it with this...

With the week TipBetPro had, I’m surprised Rockliff didn’t do his knee 5 seconds into the game...
He did okay, but we all know the true test for those that picked up Rockliff is whether he gets injured or not for the rest of the season.

Speaking of injuries, there were a few injuries last week which will impact a number of teams – NicNat, Dahlhaus and Tippett (did I miss anyone? did you have all 3?), not to mention it’s the first bye round. So read on to find out who we look at for our BoTW – there are plenty of options this week.

Danger goes BANG!

Gunna be some massive massive scores this round! Love to hear them as they come through!

Also, Queenie. Don't think it's your actual birthday, but we get a day off which is awful nice of you.

Happy birthday!

Less a preview than a reflection on the season so far, this article delves into how each team has got to where they are on the ladder, and in true 3n4nsy style goes on to predict what may, nay will, happen next. And then you all get to vehemently disagree with me in the comments.

But first....some house-keeping.

ORFFL 2016 MSD
It appears to me that this annual festival of deal-making and breaking is fast approaching, and I for one am excited - excited to be let down by my ORFFL brethren as they try to cut down this tall-poppy by only offering the most lob-sided deals for my players in their favour. We all know the drill by now, first the trading, then the delistments (if you feel the need), then the drafting.

Here are some provisional dates. Coaches, let me know if they are amenable.

Commencement of Mid-Season Trade Period
At the conclusion of the Melbourne vs Collingwood match, June 13th
Conclusion of the Mid-Season Trade Period
At the commencement of the Adelaide vs North Melbourne match, June 23rd
Delistment Deadline
At the commencement of the Fremantle vs Collingwood match, June 24th
Commencement of the Mid-Season Draft
At the commencement of the Carlton vs GWS match, June 25th

Trades Completed
1. Mt. Buggery trade J. Roughead
to
Woy Woy for their 2016 MSD R2 pick (P21)

2. Sarah Island trade Connor Blakely, Eric Hipwood and Ryan Lester
to
Woy Woy for their 2016 MSD R1 Pick (P3) and R3 Pick (P39)

3. Smiths Beach trade Jack Newnes and their 2017 PSD R1 Pick
to
Mallacoota for Harley Bennell and their 2017 PSD R2 Pick

4. Warburton trade their 2016 R1 MSD pick (P2)
to
Mallacoota for their 2017 R1 PSD pick

5. Mallacoota trade Blake Acres, SBS 2017 PSD R1 pick, and MAL 2016 MSD R1 pick (P15)
to
Woy Woy for Eddie Betts & Leigh Montagna.

6. Popanyinning trade Thomas Bugg
to
Jimcumbilly for Christian Salem

Delistments
BDB - Broad
BUN - S.Selwood, Maric
COU -...

We handed one back to favourites last week (stern look at you West Coast) but our 8 from 9 correct tips gives us 76 for the season which is still 5 ahead of bookies favourites). This week we take a quick mid-season check-in, both from a TipBetPro model tipping perspective and also to see where each team is currently rated by the TipBetPro model.

Turn over to check out our Round 12 tips and mid-season review.

Hall and Tippa both looking to miss this week. What a brutal year!!

Friday, June 10

Essendon v Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium, 7.50pm AEST

ESSENDON
In: J.Kelly, M.Stokes, M.Jamar
Out: R.Crowley (hamstring), M.Baguley (knee), A.McDonald-Tipungwuti (rested)

HAWTHORN
In: W.Langford, A.Litherland, M.Pittonet
Out: S.Mitchell (back), T.Duryea (hip), J.Ceglar (suspension)

Saturday, June 11

Port Adelaide v Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval, 1.10pm ACST

PORT ADELAIDE
No change

WESTERN BULLDOGS
In: M.Honeychurch
Out: T.McLean (ankle)

Brisbane Lions v Fremantle at the Gabba, 4.35pm AEST

BRISBANE LIONS
In: H.Andrews, R.Bewick, D.Gardner
Out: A.Christensen (collarbone), J.Paine (foot), J.Freeman

FREMANTLE
In: J.Hannath, Z.Clarke, T.Smith
Out: M.Pavlich (groin), J.Griffin (hamstring), M.Apeness (collarbone)

Geelong v North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, 7.25pm AEST

GEELONG
In: R.Stanley
Out: T.Hawkins (suspension)

NORTH MELBOURNE
In: T.Goldstein, A.Mullett
Out: S.Wright (ankle), M.Daw

West Coast v Adelaide at Domain Stadium, 5.40pm AWST

WEST COAST
In: J.McGovern
Out: T.Cole

ADELAIDE
In: S.Thompson, D.Mackay
Out: R.Henderson, W.Milera

Sunday, June 12

St Kilda v Carlton at Etihad Stadium, 1.10pm AEST

ST KILDA
In: L.Delaney, T.Lee, N.Wright, B.Acres, D.Minchington, J.Sinclair, L.Pierce
Out: N.Riewoldt (knee), S.Dempster (knee), P.McCartin (concussion), H.Goddard (Achilles)
New: Lewis Pierce (Dandenong U18)

CARLTON
In: L.Sumner, J.Silvagni, A.Phillips
Out: -
New: Jack Silvagni (Oakleigh U18)

Richmond v Gold Coast at the MCG, 3.20pm AEST

RICHMOND
In: D.Grimes, R.Conca, L.McBean, C.Menadue, J.Short
Out: T.Chaplin, S.Morris (knee)

GOLD COAST
IN: T.McKenzie, R.Thompson, S.Day, S.Lemmens, M.Shaw
OUT: A.Hall, C.Ah Chee (calf)

Greater Western Sydney v...

Last week we introduced you to daily fantasy platform DraftStars, with our piece outlining exactly how the game works. Click here to have a look.

This week, Draftstars is launching The Draftstars Classic. A four week competition with a grand final prize pool of $50,000.

The format has long been an enormous success in the US, and now we are finally jumping on board, with Australia’s first big elimination daily fantasy competition.

The competition will feature three lead up rounds, before the grand final, but players can enter at any stage of the tournament.

Entry fees range from nothing at all to $200.00, depending on what stage during the competition you enter.

Week one of the competition is free to enter into the Classic qualifying, and $10 to go straight into Round 1. There are 3,000 entries available in qualifying and 2,000 spots available in Round 1.

The top 20 from qualifying will then advance to Round 1 and the top 325 players who bought into Round 1 will qualify for the Prelim 2. The players who placed 326-500th in Round 1 will have a second chance and qualify for Round 1 in week 2.

Week two is $10 to buy-in, or free if you were good enough to advance from the previous round. There are five entries allowed per player and 2,000 places available for the two days of matches across the weekend.

The top 325 contestants from week two advance to the preliminary finals in week three.

Week three (preliminary finals) is $50 buy-in, with participants allowed to enter twice, with 1,200 places...

We put the mocker on Zorko didn’t we – worst score of his season...Still at 97 it wasn’t that bad - definitely not our worst pick.

We are now just one week away from the byes, so you should probably start trading with them in mind (if you haven’t already done so), and so will we… well as much as we can but let’s face it, I’m handing out fairly generic advice here.

Also, a pre-warning before you view the rest - this article may be offensive to some people, so potentially stop here - Robbie Gray is not mentioned in any list.

Read on to see the list of spuds who kept RG off the keeper-mids list, along with this week’s BoTW and the usual stuff…

From the creative stylings of Bandit

This week in the ORFFA it was the week of the scandal… and ORFFA has had plenty in its short history. Be it Mark Seaby being involved in some draft tampering allegations, the deception and collusion that led to Chelsea and Rebecca Judd ending up at the Tiki Bar, or the mysterious disappearance of X right when ORFFA needed him most, there is very rarely a moment in the ORFFA circle where there isn’t some form of scandal going around.

At the moment the interwebs are hot with accusations of dodgy bookmaking at ChiefBet, with the Chooks playing well above their pre-season odds, leading to requests for a Royal Commission and cobalt testing regimes amongst others. The fact that Foul Bay racked up the highest team score this week by a country flippin’ mile will add even more fuel to the fire.

Onto the games, with some absolute rippers and upsets.

Gundagai Grasshoppers 1197 defeated by Charlie’s Opening Spelunkers 1295.

Gundagai were looking to cement their mediocre status but returned to the realms of Shitsville this week, getting done by the Spelunkers by 98 points. Coach Bandit isn’t doing a very good job of playing for draft picks, notching the 2nd highest team score for the round and word on the street is that he is going to have a word to the Darraweit guys to find out how he can get a few guys suspended by going the biff. For sNoZ, Weitering will be causing a bit of a stir in the loins as he looks like a star of the future, while Curnow and Neale were looking more than serviceable until the Rock Lobster came out and went BANG with a massive 204 to make them look ordinary. Bandit shrugged his shoulders as if to say “who cares” and Savage, the Bont, Jack, Merrett of the Zac variety and Gunston all tonned up, with Spitta Swallow and Bastinac in the high 90s. Charlie’s Opening back into the top 8 at 5-5-1 and the Hoppers plummet back to 14th at 4-7.

Birdsville Battlers 1246 defeated Wineglass Bay Packers...