only a quick first look Jase but first question is what does your bye structure looking like ?? and second is do you have any Essendon players you are considering if the Essendon 34 are found guilty or if they get off?

My thoughts:-
I was a little surpirsed you managed to fit in 14 players over $400k with 4 premiums in the mids as most teams I have seen so far this year only have 13 or one of their mids a little riskier than Griffen.

I can see some reasonable value in most of your picks but with only $55k in the bank and a lot of dirt cheap (sub 130k) rookies some of which might need replacing by $150k-$200k types I can see you possibly having to trade in a genuine midpricer to fit into the salary cap prior to Round 1, which in my opinion leaves you very exposed to your mid-priced picks

Very true. I had been considering someone priced around Brad Crouch instead of Ben Newton, but that meant playing an extra rookie in defence and I just can't see there being enough cheap options back there this year to make it work.

Definitely considering Lycett. He is the same-ish price as Bontempelli and could take that slot in the next week or two, particularly if NicNat is a no show over the preseason.

If R1/R2 goes down early, plan B at the moment is to trade down to Lobbe or similar priced option instead.

I gotta say, I like the spending structure.

Reckon Karny is gunna get an actual crack this year? Will be a must have if he's named in round 1, for sure.

Just to add another team to the discussion:

Def: Shaw, Newnes, Suckling, Savage, Mayes, Kolo K (Dalgleish, Goddard)
Mid: Ablett, Pendles, Beams, Sloane, Van Berlo, Brayshaw, Duggan, Heeney (Anderson, Boekhorst, Freeman)
Ruc: Goldstein, Naitanui (Cox)
Fwd: Martin D, Bennell, Swan, Martin J, Clark, Steele, (Lamb, Lambert)

Seems to be a lot of rookie options this year. I like that.

Defence rookies look horrible this year. Historically, they've been excellent starters due to the low ceiling of the D6/7 position- but this year, I don't see it.

Haven't done much research on byes yet TTH. Ablett and Pendlebury share a bye I think. That's about as far as it goes currently. I think the early upgrades are where bye consideration is most important, starting team should be best value available, as long as it doesn't totally imbalance byes.

I really don't like picks between 150k and 400k. I didn't especially want to spend 200k+ on Newton for instance, but he looks better than the other options at this stage. I am less worried than you are about finding sub-150k players during R1. They will be around, but just might not be the guys I have listed in my team today.

I like the idea of being prepared for the worst.

If your ruckman goes down early, it's a heck of a lot easier to trade in that swing R/F up forward, than it is to drop everything and trade out a 2 week ruck injury.

I like the Clancee pick. Don't know if I'll have the stones myself to go with it though!

Sandilands could be a unique pick this year. Fancy that after being in most teams last year (due to massive starting discount of course).

I'm unconvinced about Clark, especially at F4. He didn't look ready during first NAB hitout, would need to do a lot more in the preseason to make my starting team.

130k is a fair amount of coin to have left over. Have you considered upgrading Geary to a higher-priced DEF option?

Karnezis looked nice in NAB1, just need to see if he is infront of the other similar types at Collingwood. More likely to be named R1 than not at this stage in my view.

I have looked at KK a number of times, he's just awkwardly priced. Will continue to watch him closely.

No Robbie Gray chief - interesting gamble, especially after he pumped out a 28 disp, 3 goal 169SC on the small Norwood Oval which hampered Port's running game - and he done all that whilst suffering the FLU!!!

And considering that there were 8 extra players in that game compared to regular season, 169SC was a massive score.

Overall average SC per player in regular games is 75 per players, average in NAB is about 63 I think.

And for the 3rd quarter, he played one handed and he hugged puppies at half time and made a thousand ladies weak at the knees walking down the race.



T'was a good game, no doubt, but I don't like judging my premo's on the pre season.

On Essendon, would take Hibberd if no penalty applies.

Goddard or Chapman could be interesting if the 34 are rubbed out for extended period.