Correct Terry I'm going to be upgrading this week, so basically my full strength side would have my F8 Sylvia covering the forwards, ruck and mids, and Hibberd the defence. I'm going to have 4 trades left after the trading so that's going to give me 9 rounds to keep the team on the park for. The only trades I would think of doing from there are long term injury trades. 4 over 9 rounds I think is acceptable. R16 is giving me a few dilemmas though, so it may end up being 3 over 8. My team has had Adcock, Selwood, Sandilands (after trading out) and Rioli as longer term injuries. That's in the first 14 rounds. So I think I should be able to cover with 3 in 8. But that's all theory and it could go out the window come August. Play your own game.
Funnily enough Lucas, my team is at a very similar juncture to yours by the sounds of it. I reckon I have complete team also, with $90k and 4 trades in hand (not doing any this week). Might need that $90k to maintain sideways movement should an injury hit, due to the likely lost $$ in the game where the injury occurs.
Great thread, I need help with this too. Mundy's injury really threw a spanner in the works with a planned downgrade to a player on the bubble, and the knock-on effect has basically left me with 7 trades left for the year and 3 upgrades to go. I'd always planned for 6 going into the finals but obviously that won't happen now. I don't want to have a player like D Swallow sitting in the M7 position when I could cash him in, upgrade a FWD and have Mzungu for midfield coverage, but I may have to have some expensive players on my bench so I'm not wasting too many trades. Or is this a bad idea? Should I continue to downgrade, free up cash and burn all my trades before the finals? Going purely for league win, I'm in 8th spot but 1st for points (getting screwed by narrow losses), so I'm pretty confident that I'll make the finals. DEF: Deledio, Goddard, Shaw, Adcock, Broughton, Heppell, Lower (Otten, Stanley, Puopolo) MID: Ablett, Swan, Boyd, A Swallow, S Thompson, Cotchin (D Swallow, Mzungu, Jacobs) RUC: Cox, Griffin (Fraser, Derickx) FWD: Pavlich, Franklin, Fyfe, Sylvia, Goodes, Smith, J Riewoldt (Darling, Lynch, Richardson) So at the very least I have 2 DEF and 1 FWD upgrade to go, and $200k in the bank.
bjd...imo hold your nerve for a couple of weeks at least till after the next multi-bye then reassess. That's 2 weeks, but only one comp match, and you can watch for any more season-ending injuries before you commit to your next move. The closer you get to finals before you make your final upgrades, the less likely you'll be hit by injury. Those with 4 or 5 trades left could be rogered next week with 2 significant injuries, particularly if the players price dumps as always seems to be the case with LTIs happening in the 1st quarter. I'm trying to hang on for at least 2 more weeks (and hopefully 4) before I do my last 2 upgrades so I can hit the finals with uninjured, in-form premiums, and 4 trades up my sleeve. BTW, don't you hate having most points and sitting down the ladder. I sh1t you not, in one of my leagues I've had 1,000 points more against than the next worst.
@bjd85 While I generally agree with Corks, your hand may be forced if Fraser doesn't get a gig this weekend. Cox + Griffin should be good until end of season after Freo bye next week. If Fraser does not play, you might want to look at Browne for Fraser as some security. The only gaping hole I see is no Pendles. Check the BEs on TS to work out the best time to turn D. Swallow into him. That would considerably strengthen the mids with Cotchin as bench leader covering byes. Should opportunity come knocking, you might try and get Heppell into Fisher. Otherwise think you can hold fire for a while.
@Lucas Remember the heady days when building the first team and many found we had too much cash left over after the initial attempt. Then quite a few suggesting 24 trades is far too much? Bet they're not thinking that now.
Yep 24 trades was legitimised by the fact that there are 24 rounds for things to go wrong. I reckon 24 is about right. Not sure how the 3 bench players will roll next year when GWS comes in. I can foresee 20 trades again and two benches. And that presents both pain and opportunity in equal measure. Hyper GNR to the rescue.
Cotchin seems wasted on the bench, does he not? I even think D Swallow is overkill. At any rate, I've got forwards and defenders to upgrade before I continue working on the midfield. Good point regarding Fraser... I was too slow on Z Smith and had to live with Fraser, I do plan on upgrading before finals depending on whether Sandilands comes back or not, but while Griffin is getting games I'm happy. If Fraser doesn't play this week I'll live with the donut.