Hi all,

I dont have time for much discussion here.  Only to say that the whips are cracking for overall, and though many tipped Impromptu for a slide, he still has a few trades up the sleeve, and now the "not so secret" weapon in Joel Selwood.

I dont hold any knowledge of where hes thinking with this weeks captain selection, but he could do worse than give the Duckwood the job.

Its not easy to pull points back on the leader, but there are some past champs (Lings Bandits top 20, Buster Gonad just sneaking closer into the top 120) who are looming large for a late run.

Utilising the great work of Kel and TiB in the forums, Im going to piece together some nice stuff over the break and try to make sense of it all.

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Kel put together a good little guide to the top 20 team selections last week in the forums.   It was and is a bit hidden, but I located it, read it, and will give his summary...thanks for the great detective work mate!   And yes, I know its a week late so it may have been updated slightly with trades made last week.   But anyway it is a worthwhile guide to look at - because lets be honest how many top 20 teams had trades to burn last weekend?

Top 20 Teams - Forwards:
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19 - Pavlich, Franklin 18 - Petrie 17 - Goodes 16 - N Riewoldt 14 - OKeefe 13 - Chapman 9 - Harvey 8 - Sylvia 7 - Johnson 4 - J Riewoldt, Fyfe 2 - Cloke, Higgins 1 - Brennan, Zaharakis, Lecras, Yarran, Rioli.

Points to note: Franklin bye this week.   Goodes + OKeefe + possible J Roo in Round 19.   No one has JB.   Enough have Sylvia and Chapman to make the options interesting.   Cloke looming as a very dangerous POD.   Harvey if his injury curtails him, thats going to hurt the owners big time.   I think its interesting heaps more have Chapman than Johnson.   MPP is an interesting thing, it can warp your sanity if youre not careful.

Top 20 Teams - Defenders:
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20 - Deledio, Goddard 19 - Gibbs 14 - Enright, Fisher 10 - Suckling 9 - Scotland 8 - Shaw 5 - Adcock, Broughton, Newman 3 - S Martin 2 - B Rawlings 1 - Johncock, Birchall, Chaplin, Hurn

Points to note: Lots of teams can get Fisher on the cheap in a few weeks.   Scotland and Shaw are surprisingly under utilised.   Gibbs will need coverage in R23, and there is by deduction at least 8 teams with him and Scotland, which augurs pain to come.   5 have Deledio-Newman in combination as well.   Hmmm.

Top 20 Teams - Midfielders
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<a href="http://tooserious.net/forum?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&amp;t=966.0">[/url]19 - Pendlebury 18 - Ablett 17 - Swan 15 - Boyd 9 - Murphy, C Judd  8 - Hodge 6 - Priddis 3 - Thompson, Cotchin, Bartel, NDS 2 - Mitchell 1 - Savage, R Griffen, Moloney, Corey, Montagna, Selwood.

Points to Note: Ablett not firing wont affect too many; just allows catchup for the damage he has done to the 2 non holders.   Lots relying on Boyd, which means not having him is a POD to some degree.   Selwood is the big ace up Impromptus sleeve.   The Murphy v Judd battle is going to be really key.   Whats interesting here is everyone has their own PODs, will need to watch to see which one works out the best.

Top 20 Teams - Rucks
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20 - Cox 18 - Petrie (inc foward listings) 14 - Smith 2 - Bailey, Griffin 1 - Kruezer, Leuenberger, Goldstein, Hale

Points to Note: Lots relying on the Cox-Smith duo.   Thats where the genius of the Kreuzer trade from Impromptu could win big time.   Goldstein is not held by many (though some surely traded into him), and it appears that one of the top 20 traded into Jolly, which may have backfired when we all saw him get mauled by Goldie!   I can agree with Stkilda Thunda that McEvoy would be a brilliant POD in this area, as would Goldstein.   The issue is more the fact that they are too expensive now, and top teams can really only sideways trade.   That Jolly selection could end up a winner, who knows?

Now onto TiBs more current news of the week
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There is lots worth reading in this forum, with quite a few of the top participants contributing to the discussion.

The key issues revolve - for this week - how many teams are affected by Hawks in defence, forward and midfield, and with Callinan/Smith out, how this affects coverage.

Honestly I think if you are in top 200 and you want to make up ground you need to do it with a fairly strong run winning by over 100 points over Impromptu this week.  Much easier said than done.

Hope this post elicits some more interesting overall discussions, not just in the comments, but in inspiring people to write good forum topics in the next few days to complement the main page offerings.