A flippin DISASTER!

This week the Viking Quest were a rabble, the only saving grace was the little man Gary, who as a captain, scored a magnificent 380 points! Despite his heroics, the team this week unfortunately slid 200 odd places in overall rankings after having climbed the rankings steadily for the last month.

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[span style="color: #ff6600;">The V.Q. TEAM BLOG! - ROUND 12

[span style="color: #ff6600;"><img border="0" src="http://tooserious.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/10/i_hate_fevola.jpg" title="I_hate_fevola" alt="I_hate_fevola" />




Team: Viking Quest
Round 11 Score: 2,121
Overall SuperCoach Ranking: 1,128
Cash stashed $46,700
Trades left: 10



BACKS
Rd 11 Scores:&nbsp; H. Shaw (78), Mattner (64), Roughead
(83), Gilbee (126), C. Cornes (66), Goddard (92), Ibbotson (77), Myers
(69), Proud (0)

This week Gilbee showed that when not shadowed by a tagger he
can dominate. His long accurate kicking was a real feature of his game
has he was the best VQ defenders with 126. Theres nothing more
pleasing then seeing your player quickly kick-to-self to play on after
a behind has been scored and Gilbee was making VQ proud with this practice on the weekend. As most would be aware direct kick-ins dont count as a stat. Chads
form on the weekend was a bit of a concern. Whats more of a concern is
this apparent knee cartilage injury hes been carrying for the past
three years. Should Port decide to reset early for 2009, Chad
could be one of those to go under the knife, much like the Kangaroos
did with several key players late in 2006. The worst case scenario is
he continues to play and score poorly, reducing further his value
because right now McLeod (despite his recent form) + $90k is
looking rather appetizing. My intuition tells me hell play out the
season and its a media beat-up. If it were that serious, hed have got
the operation after the grand final loss... much like Peter Burgoyne did with his shoulder.

Ibbotson and Roughead continue to provide solid
scores. The former is almost a lock the entire season and the latter
cant be too far off exploding with a bag of goals like Franklin last week. Remarkably, Roughead has kicked 35 goals this season playing as second fiddle.



CENTRES
Rd 10 Scores:&nbsp; Ablett (180), Goodes (153), Scotland (76), Stevens (109), Priddis (75), Cotchin (78), Bird (0), Masten (0)

Ablett (read below) and Goodes saved VQ from certain league defeat with big performances on the long weekend. Goodes,
on the back on the back of his 153 point performance (from 21
possessions with 3 frees-against), moved into the top-5 for points
scored in the league. Which is remarkable for someone famous for his
slow starts to the season. If previous years are any indication, Goodes
could be set to increase his output even more. VQ is just glad hes
available next week after what was potentially an extended break from
the AFL tribunal.

Nick Stevens had a remarkable final quarter and, as rumour suggested, did score the large marjority of his points in the final quarter.

Cotchin was again good on the weekend and is seemingly
improving with every game. He was off to a flier on the weekend with a
65 points first quarter and had it not been for some wasteful disposals
latter in the game, hed have cracked his first ton. Not to worry
though as Richmond play Melbourne this week, so perhaps we see him
score hist 1st ton and gain an inevitable Rising Star nomination.



RUCKS
Rd 10 Scores: Cox (79), Simmonds (75), Wood (0), Meesen (0)

As predicted, Cox was poor this week. Admittedly a good score for most other ruckman, but mediocre for Cox.
He was down on his average possessions and hit-outs which was always to
be expected against Sydney and one of the leagues best ruck pairings. Simmonds was better in the open expanses of the MCG and benefitted from some loose checking to sneak forward and kick a couple goals.

Cox hasnt had the best record against Essendon so perhaps
hold-off naming him captain this week. Hille is a quality opponent, so
he wont be finding it too easy in any event.



FORWARDS
Rd 10 Scores: Pavlich (111), Deledio (67),
Porplyzia (101), Brown (116), Rioli (47), N. Riewoldt (63), Fevola
(25), McKinley (0), Tippett (83)

The VQ forwards were abysmal on the weekend with only a handful of tons recorded. Brown is continuing his good form, which with Bradshaws
latest injury, should see him back to his Coleman medal winning best
(as was the case last year). The other tons recorded were from the
ever-reliable Pavlich and Porplyzia, who when thrust into the midfield, shows how important he can be.

Deledio and Riewoldt let themselves and, most importantly, VQ down with poor disposal this week. Deledio
amassed 30 possessions against the Crows, but unlike in previous weeks
was let down by his poor efficiency. An efficiency of 63% coupled with
five clangers is just downright wasteful and this showed in his 67
points. Riewoldt by no means was dominant against the Bulldogs,
but had enough of the ball to have at least had an impact. There were
no shortage of set-shots, but his kicking for goal was just plain
woeful. On at least one occasion he failed to make the distance from
about 40 meters out.

The worst, by a country mile, was Fevola. To begin with, he set himself up to for a poor game by questioning the hardness of Port Adelaide players (in particular Chad)
on the Footy Show. Then when the game didnt go his way he decided to
lash out with a spate of free-kicks and 50m penalties. Sure he was
tripled-teamed at times, but theres just no excuse for his poor
attitude and discipline. The problem with Fevola is that in
every game he shows just enough to suggest hell turn it around the
next game, but it just never happens. He is now so cheap, theres
simply no point getting rid of him. Hopefully Ratten camps Kruezer in the forward-line for the rest season, because clearly it provided Fevola more space.

This week offered up for trade is likely to be Rioli. Hes
been struggling of late and although will likely score well on a
occassion is just not going to do so on a consistent basis. VQ has just
enough cash to upgrade him to Steve Johnson, who appears to be back in form along with the rest of his team (Ottens and Chapman make a huge difference). Fortunately SJ gave away just enough free kicks/clangers in the dying moments to keep price down and enable a straight swap.

Another option, although unlikely, would be to cash-in Bird for Armfield and upgrade Rioli to a more reliable OKeefe or Franklin. Trades are premium at this stage of the game and we are only half-way there with another 11 rounds remaining.



CAPTAIN CHOICE
Rd 10 Scores: (C)Ablett (180), (VC)Goodes (153)

Ablett was amazing Friday night. Whats interesting is the
approach the Kangaroo players adopted to counter him. Rather then
attempt to tackle him, they were instructed to try and corral him
instead. Sure it meant that he couldnt break the lines as frequently,
but it provided him with much more time to dispose of the ball
efficiently. 39 disposals at 77% efficiency is always going to
translate into a big score. Heres hoping other teams adopt the same
strategy, which may have some merit considering how close the
undermanned Kangaroos got to causing an upset.

Ablett is now worth $716k and is set to increase even more
with such a low break-even. His average of 145 is 25 more then his
nearest opponent (Franklin), but is actually worth 50 points
more as he would almost always be captain (290 as captain) . Its
massive advantage to have and one which may decide many league results
to come.

This weeks fixtures look to offer up a lot of close games making a
result difficult to predict. As such, there are not too many obvious
captain choices. Geelong face Port this week at Skilled Stadium where
last year Port won in of the games of the year. Port have a number of
reputable taggers namely Kane Cornes and Cassisi, but Judd dominated the Port midfield last week and VQ will be backing Ablett to do the same.