Attack from the backs: 2010 Dream Team structure v1

The balance of attractive and cheap fantasy options has swung towards backs like Levi Greenwood.

First, a little primer for those of you reading this type of post for the first time. The “structure” posts set out a bunch of shortlists for three price bands of players at each position: premiums, mid-prices and cheapies. For the purposes of this post I have merged the cheapie and rookie categories that you will see in the Fanplanner list page. These shortlists contain players who I consider to be valid choices for each position, not sorted by any criteria other than price. In addition to noting the names on offer, the point is to illustrate the depth at each position by indicating a suitable mix of players from each price band.

Those of you who remember my all-premium back structure from this time last season – which I stuck to personally, save for an ill-fated concession to Andrew Raines – will perhaps be surprised to learn that I’m almost going all the way the other way, by advocating the diversion of a lot of money into the forwards this year.

BACKS
3 premiums ($375k+) from: Brendon Goddard, Ryan Hargrave, Jason Gram, Corey Enright, Simon Goodwin, Paul Duffield, Jack Grimes, Nathan Bock, Greg Broughton, Chad Cornes, Andrew Embley, Heath Scotland, Rhyce Shaw, Andrew Carrazzo, Sam Fisher, Jed Adcock, Luke Hodge, Heath Shaw, Andrew Mackie, Lindsay Gilbee
4 mid-prices ($200k-$375k) from: Brad Symes, Chris Newman, David Mundy, Adam McPhee, Michael Johnson, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Grant Birchall, Josh Drummond, Brent Guerra, Shannon Hurn, Ashley McGrath, Xavier Ellis, Michael Hurley, Josh Gibson, Daniel Pratt, Joel Macdonald, Scott Selwood, Nick Malceski, Nick Suban, Alex Rance, Lachie Henderson, Levi Greenwood, Marcus Drum, James Hawksley, Simon Buckley, Matthew Broadbent
2 cheapies (-$200k) from: David Myers, Rick Ladson, Tom Collier, Ryan Schoenmakers, Beau Waters, Rory Sloane, Tadhg Kennelly, Shaun McKernan, Josh Hunt, Jesse W. Smith, Brad Sheppard, Daniel Talia, Mitch Farmer, Matt Maguire, Jeromey Webberley, Jackson Trengove, Jordan Lisle, Phil Davis

MIDFIELDERS
2 premiums ($440k+) from: any save for perhaps Shane Tuck and Tyson Edwards are valid options at this stage
2 mid-prices ($220k-$440k) from: Jordan Lewis, Travis Boak, Adam Cooney, Andrew Swallow, Brent Moloney, Cale Morton, Andrew Embley, Brad Green, Ben McGlynn, Steven Salopek, Bradd Dalziell, Brock McLean, Luke Ball, Shaun Burgoyne, Brady Rawlings, Daniel Wells, David Mackay, Brad Ebert, Callan Ward, Tom Swift, Trent Cotchin, Chris Masten, Jack Ziebell, Rhys Palmer, Daniel Kerr, Andrew Walker, Liam Shiels, Ryan Crowley, Clinton Young, Patrick Dangerfield
4 cheapies (-$220k) from: John McCarthy, Sam Sheldon, Matthew Broadbent, Rick Ladson, Daniel Connors, Tom Scully, Jack Trengove, Dustin Martin, Anthony Morabito, Ben Cunnington, Pearce Hanley, Jake Melksham, Jordan Gysberts, Kane Lucas, Lewis Jetta, Mitch Farmer, Michael Barlow, Rohan Bail, Ryan Bastinac, Tony Armstrong, Sam Blease, James Strauss, Luke Shuey, Mitch Banner, Jarrod Kayler-Thomson

RUCKS
1 premiums ($380k+) from: any are valid options at this stage
1 mid-prices ($200k-$380k) from: Matthew Kreuzer, Kurt Tippett, Dean Brogan, Angus Graham, Shane Mumford, Simon Taylor, Brad Ottens, Mark Seaby, Matthew Leuenberger, Tyrone Vickery
2 cheapies (-$200k) from: Jamie Charman, Robert Warnock, Wayde Skipper, Trent West, Andrew L. Browne, Jarred Redden, Daniel Currie, Matthew Lobbe, Jackson Trengove, Ayce Cordy, Jordan Roughead

FORWARDS
3 premiums ($400k+) from: any save for Drew Petrie (suspended) and Steve Johnson (injured) could be argued for
4 mid-prices ($200k-$400k) from: Chris Knights, Brent Harvey, Lance Franklin, Robert Murphy, Matthew Bate, Adam McPhee, Cyril Rioli, Mark LeCras, Robbie Gray, Michael Osborne, Richard Douglas, Jack Ziebell, Barry Hall, Hayden Ballantyne, Brent Staker, James Polkinghorne, Patrick Dangerfield, Brett Burton, Lachie Henderson, Michael Walters, Chris Yarran, Patrick Veszpremi, Sam Wright
2 cheapies (-$200k) from: Ben Reid, Austin Wonaeamirri, Jack Watts, Sean Rusling, Trent Dennis-Lane, Luke Tapscott, Jordan Lisle, Matthew Lobbe, Scott Gumbleton, Phil Davis

The only name missing here who is prominent in the Fanplanner is David Hille, as I expect him to miss early games. Otherwise you’re probably not going to see a whole lot of surprises at this early stage. With the likes of Bastinac, Cunnington, Trengove and Morabito classified as centres only (according to the latest snippets from the 2010 Prospectus), the depth in the forward rookies is deplorable this year. Things aren’t much better in the back rookies, so it’s up to the centres to pull us through the early part of the 2010 season with start-worthy scores. This situation will probably change as the preseason rolls on and some more draftee and AFL rookie options look like debuting in round 1. At this stage, going with a preponderance of mid-price improvers in the forward and backs is the prudent plan.