Hi all Unfortuantely (as I love watching him play and I'm not even a Sainter) I've got to trade Lenny out this week. My mids are currenly: Swan, Bartel, Hayes, Cotchin, Libba, Harris (Swallow, Atley, Irons). Currently sitting mid 600s. I've got $40,200 in the bank so I'm thinking about the following options (in order). 1. Watson - Pros: Dons are improving, he's not in many teams so is a POD and the main pro as I see it, the R10 bye means hopefully I would have upgraded to another premium so I don't have to play a rookie to cover him. 2. Pendles - Pros: Excellent current form, Pies will take most of the points in most of the games. Cons: Shares the bye with Swan. 3. Boyd - Pros: Plays the GC twice, proven record over the last few years. Cons: R4 bye means I will have to play Atley or Irons (assuming I don't trade in Curnow). 4. Murphy - Pros: Also not in a huge amount of teams so potential POD. Round 8 bye means like Watson I may have upgraded another mid to cover. Cons: He's $800 too expensive! Although if I "downgrade" Atley to Curnow I can afford him. Also, he's already played the GC! 5. O'Keefe - not convinced on this as I think he won't keep going at the cracking rate he's set in the first 2 rounds. But it does open up some cash. Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated!
Keep in mind that Watson has the bye in Round 24 so you will need to trade him out so in essence it will cost you 2 trades.. Id go Pendles easily, as he wont affext you with byes in the 2nd half year and is in career best form.
I'd go with Pendles too, for the reasons you outlined in your post. The analysis you've given on your potential options should hold you in good stead for the rest of the year. A thorough and balanced assessment.
You want POD? How about K. Simpson from Carlton? Regularly scores 100+, never gets tagged and will make you a nice stack o' cash... Can't really go wrong with Pendles though! You've already got Swallow +1 to cover Swan and Pendles in their bye round.
@DamoH Concerned that you've limited your options to the midfield. You're obviously doing extremely well and want to maintain your high scoring but you must have another problem somewhere in your team. Can you dump Lenny for a rookie (say Curnow) and use the cash to fix the 'other' problem? Yes, extra trade and high risk but your solution might extend beyond the midfield. It depends how you want to handle it but the posts above are midfield only. Good luck! PS: If other options don't suit, I agree with Pendles!!
Murphy is a good POD and spreads your team load. I'd certainly consider him. I mean, I have Pendlebury, Selwood and Judd that would smash merry heck out of your mids, but I'm sure you have coverage elsewhere that I don't.
go Murphy. Pendles shares the bye with Swan so your losing 2 ultra premiums in that week. Murphy has the potential to be a breakout ultra premium and provides a POD. Also you dont have Judd in there so wont have to worry about losing to many in the MF for the Carlton Bye
Thanks for the thoughts guys. This is probably one of those times when the obvious answer is the right one and I've made it more complicated than I needed to (i.e.chasing a POD/covering byes etc). I'm now thinking that Pendles is the way to go. The main appeal of Murphy/Watson was the potential premium bye cover due to their byes coming post-upgrade period, but I'm not sure it adds up. I'd expect Watson/Murphy to run out the season with a 110-120 average. Assuming an upgrade to a similar player this is a benefit of around 40 points in "bye cover" (assuming rookie mid gives 75 when Pendles is out). So with 20 more games in the season a player only has to average 2 more than Murphy/Watson to negate this benefit. Given how he's started I think Pendles should do this. @ Whips - Actually my mids are the problem area mate. I'm quite happy with Def and Fwd and if I'm going Curnow it'll be for Atley only. Otherwise with no obvious upgrades in the other lines I'd have around 400k on the sidelines. Which, given the bankman doesn't pay interest in this game is wasted. @ Lucas - I skimped to an extent on the mids (Bartel vs Selwood, Hayes vs NDS/Joey)as I figured the $130k could be spent better elsewhere. Obviously worked with Bartel early doors but not Lenny. We'll see how well it plays out over the season though. Personally, I think (fingers crossed) Bartel will be the big beneficiary of GAJ's move.