We did climb 5,583 places in the overall this week, so not too shabby, but not too unexpected either when you're ranked around 35k! In the leagues we lost two of our three TS leagues, to be placed 13th, 6th, and 6th in those, and won both of our public leagues, to be placed 7th and 5th in those.



We made a couple of trades going into round 7, dropping Dwyer for Stevie J (hindsight says we should have dropped Macaffer instead, but either way those points were on the bench). We also got rid of Gibbs for Lester, which obviously gave us some points and some cash, but time will tell if this was a good trade or not.



The team for round 7 looked like this:



Defence:
Goddard 107
Heppell 78
Heath 49
Stevenson 48
Terlich 108
Lester 67
Midfield:
Ablett 152 Captain 304
Pendlebury 96 (VC)
Dangerfield 147
O'Meara 89
Wines 61
Neade 28
Viney 104
Vlastuin 105
Ruckmen:
Cox 96
Leuenberger 112
Forwards:
Rockliff 153
Westhoff 70
Kennedy 83
Franklin 86
Zorko 70
Johnson 123
Bench:
Dixon 0
Goodes 0
Cotchin 0
Crouch 0
Gawn 88 (E)
Currie 0
Macaffer 63 (E)
Rowe 0



In the backline the Gibbs -> Lester trade saved us a donut, made us some cash, saw Goddard get a fair bump on his way to 107, and saw Terlich play really well for 108 points. The Port defenders let us down, with both Heath and Stevenson scoring less than 50, and only one of them having a valid excuse.



In the midfield we again had a scoreless bench thanks to Cotchin's holiday. We gave ourselves a look at Pendles, and when he spudded it up, kept the captaincy with permacap, and reaped the rewards with a 304 point score! We also watched on as Neade continued the poor performance from Port with a 28, while Wines managed a well-below-average 61.



In the rucks we had Cox and Leuey go head to head, and Leuey won by 16 points, even though he had to also face NicNat. Impressive performance there, also by Gawn on our bench, with an 88.



In the forwards the Port woes continued, with Westhoff binging in a lowly 70. These woes spread to Buddy only just making is paltry average of 86, while Zorko continued his disappointing season with a 70. Rockliff however hit his straps with a team-high 153, and Stevie J had to do well, as our upgrade from Dwyer!



As for missed points, it all comes down to DPP for the donors this week. While we missed just 2 points on captain selection, although we never would have picked Rocky over GAJ, the bench selection did cost us a bit. Our two scoring bench players outdid their onfield mates, requiring a DPP swap of Gawn into the rucks, Rowe to the ruck bench, Cox to the forwards, Stevie J into the mids, and Neade to the forward bench. Doing this would have scored us an extra 60 points, while Macaffer's 63 points were lost to the bench either way, which would have been where Dwyer's 99 points would have also been.



Now you can head on over to the donor forum and join in the discussion of what trades to make this week (I'll share a secret with you: we're considering Wines to Priddis!!!!). While you're there, leave some tips on captains and emergencies this week, and keep us slowly heading in the right direction.