Will have to watch the NAB cup regarding Petrie. There is the fear with him that he will spend too much time up forward, and playing deepforward too. Getting stuck on the line will more than likely reduce his SC score.
If he is fit, he would more than likely get a run around the ground with Hmac injured and at very least be a good cash cow or even super sub. Hard to say how good his foot is however as he trains in runners rather than foot boots. Can any medicos explain this? On Sandi, if he starts this year as well as he did last year, you will miss the boat and be waiting until too late in the season to get him for a "bargain" price. His salary graph from last year is interesting.
@ Rik E Boy I remain a Tippett faithful. He's pencilled in for now - til the NAB form (both he & the crows) confirms the risk is too high. That said, I've never been a big fan of mid-price fwds.
I have Jolly as close to a lock. With the new interchange rules you want premium ruckmen who are clearly top choice and capable of going it alone. Jolly has no real competition and could be played as a stand-alone ruck with Cloke and Tarrant pinch hitting forward and back to ease the load. Given his average first half of 2010 his price represents value and his durability is high. Sandilands I'm wavering on. He has the same positional dominance and is still likely to get some support from someone versatile like Kepler. As has been pointed out, with Cox's reduced output last year and some monster scores early he was head and shoulders above the rest, in SC as in life. I agree with Lucas though, at the price he represents a risk. I'm just not sure about his durability. I do expect him to continue to score well, but the new rules and the way he tailed off last year could mean he's 'managed' a little more early on. I think other players will get close to him this year so the risk of starting without him is minimized if you can pick up someone roughly equivalent. My only issue atm is who to include as an improver if I start without Sandi. Barring disaster I would be looking at getting him in asap after his Rd 6 bye. Petrie is a logical choice but gives more flexibility taken as a forward. Everyone else I look at seems higher risk than Sandilands. Cox is value but more likely to be impacted by the rule change. Tippett is a no for me. And Fraser has to be a chance to be subbed at a team keen to develop several young rucks. I guess if it looks like I can get a reasonable output from R3/R4 I may be more inclined to risk leaving Sandi out and upgrading. I'm sure I can get him cheaper, I'm just not sure I can get enough growth from others for it to make the required difference. Bring on the NAB so we can start getting some answers. It's all questions on questions at this stage.
I agree Jolly seems to represent better value than Sandi. On Fraser, I can see him spending a bit of time up forward rather than being subbed off. The thing GC lack most is key forwards and Frasers played that role a bit before.
Tylo, Rogan may have played forward before, but never well... Griff, it appears Wal is more sold on Jolly because he's cheaper, because he's more durable, because he has less internal competition, and because he kept pace with him from R12 onwards last year. On Cox, I don't think the rule change will hurt him, they will just need to work out what they do with Naitanui. Cox fully fit is number one ruckman and will go 75%. On Fraser, if he's the 250 people are saying, that's value as he provides cover, will probably score 70ppg. It's almost unheard of to find a rookie ruckman standing late in the season. I don't mind the thought of Jolly-Cox-Fraser-Smith, but Sandilands is one that you can be sure that he will score over 2000 points for the year. Lock it in Eddie, where Jolly even at best might struggle to get more than 1950.
I still rate Sandilands as the number one ruck this year. I'm more sold on starting Jolly but my intention is to have Sandi in my squad. I'm hesitating because his price could provide an opportunity to save a decent amount of cash if you can buy Sandi lower and get growth from someone cheaper. That said, I tend to make bad trades in the ruck so I guess I'm still trying to convince myself to lock in the two best prospects as I see it (Sandi, ,Jolly) from the start and hope for the best.
I've managed to get the rucks right the last 2 years after failing for the first 2. Definitely need to aim for 2 premiums and 2 cows. This year more than any you will need a good r3. I will be going with sandilands and jolly and hope that I don't have to use a trade unless it's for a late season slaughtering. I have no doubt sandilands will drop to low $500,000 at some point, but as Lucas pointed out, who cares as he's a keeper.
from my experience, it's a nightmare waiting and targeting one specific player to bring into your squad when he is better value. I've found that waiting for, in my case Ablett in the past 2 seasons, to drop in price, and making sure you have money to coincide with his price drop, means you're sometimes left compromising earlier trades to make sure you don't miss him. If there's a player you know for a fact you want in your squad, pay up and put him in from the start. To make best of the value during the season, I think you need to have a list of upgrade targets that you're happy to bring in if they are providing value that coincides with when you have money to spend. ie, Judd is someone I will try to squeeze into my starting lineup, but if I leave him out, I'll concede that I might never find a spot to get him in.
<blockquote>Quote from Jet on January 24, 2011, 21:20 I have no doubt sandilands will drop to low $500,000 at some point, but as Lucas pointed out, who cares as he's a keeper.</blockquote> Last year it took until about round 20 for Sandi to drop to the low 500s IIRC.