It’s a small selection of players who played their second game this week, but let’s trudge through them anyway.
Backpocalypse
Scott D. Thompson, KAN BAC. DT: 15503 selections, $83,500, -19 BE, 41 avg. SC: 28767 selections, $94,200, -93 BE, 75 avg.
James Frawley, MEL BAC. DT: 2904 selections, $131,700, -2 BE, 50.5 avg. SC: 3490 selections, $221,200, 4 BE, 64.5 avg.
Marcus Drum, FRE BAC. DT: 2494 selections, $225,800, 12 BE, 78.5 avg. SC: 5081 selections, $293,300, -12 BE, 94 avg.
Andrew Welsh, ESS BAC. DT: 1377 selections, $327,000, 91 BE, 77 avg. SC: 3754 selections, $383,800, 121 BE, 55 avg.
Oh Scott, I had such high hopes for you. I even christened you Scott DT. Then you got dropped for round 2, and then dropped out of my squad too, as in many others. Those 15,000+ hardy souls who kept the faith for the four intervening matches between your first and second appearances, who suffered through many trial and tribulations in the sorry excuse for a position that the fantasy backline has been this year, then had to endure another sub-50 DT score from you. Admittedly you’ve turned in two 75s in SC, so your 28,000+ owners in that comp are reasonably happy, but the rookie situation in the backs is not as urgent in exotic stat comps due to the fine performances of Harry Taylor, Nathan J. Brown and Austin Wonaemirri which show up much more in SC than DT.
Drum is the only other player who interests me in that lot, due to his debut performance against the Crows. Those who were keeping a close eye on him this week in the Cats game would have seen more to like. His price makes him a tricky pickup nevertheless, even in the barren wasteland of the backs. My major concern continues to be that Drum’s role is pretty much Chris Tarrant‘s role, and Tarrant is being paid too much by Fremantle FC not to be back in the senior 22 soon. Then again, we would have thought that of bloody Joel Bowden, and after three weeks he’s no guarantee of getting back into the Tigers this week.
Centrageddon
David Armitage, STK CTR. DT: 9935 selections, $133,200, -46 BE, 73 avg. SC: 13578 selections, $175,300, -61 BE, 83.5 avg.
Clayton Hinkley, FRE CTR. DT: 1680 selections, $83,500, -19 BE, 41 avg. SC: 1878 selections, $94,200, -17 BE, 37 avg.
Adam Thomson, PTA CTR. DT: 981 selections, $270,000, 55 BE, 73.5 avg. SC: 774 selections, $372,000, 55 BE, 84.5 avg.
Adam Bentick, CAR CTR. DT: 193 selections, $339,000, 104 BE, 75 avg. SC: 270 selections, $438,600, 120 BE, 71.5 avg.
I picked up Armitage myself for my DT squad last week, although I admit it was a bit of a desperation move. A 55 after his his initial 91 in DT wasn’t great – if you are picking up Armitage at this stage you probably need him to fit right into your 22. This week against Richmond, who have suddenly figured out how to tackle and put pressure on opposing midfielders again, will be another stern test of his ability to find the pill.
On Hinkley, Freo don’t need yet another inside/outside mid with poor skills. They’ve already got at least 15 of those blokes on their list.
Forwardystopia
Chad Jones, WCE FWD. DT: 3352 selections, $139,100, -6 BE, 55 avg. SC: 1575 selections, $239,400, 50 BE, 47 avg.
Ryan Murphy, FRE FWD. DT: 2409 selections, $150,800, 20 BE, 46.5 avg. SC: 2539 selections, $200,000, 58 BE, 31 avg.
Neither of these boys are producing 22-worthy scores, so if you’re looking to milk your forward cash cows then I wouldn’t bother with these two.
So, that’s all of the players who are new to the bubble this week. I can’t bring myself to make any of them my Bubble Boy of the Week. Just not enough quality there, even with Armitage sitting on such a low breakeven. Ah, but there is another group of players who have been sitting on the bubble for many weeks now, just waiting to play their third week of the game. There are some good rookie backs who are in this situation and are in line for selection this week, including Albert Proud (BE of -1 in DT/-14 in SC), Jake Edwards (-28/-30), Scott Selwood (-22/-69) and Matthew Spangher (-29/-42). There is also Matthew Whelan who returns from a one-game suspension this week as a back priced at $181,500/$265,000 with a BE of 14/-8. Finally, there is Stuart Dew, who has a BE of -48/-9 and has recovered from his hamstring injury. Yes, I know that Dew is a continuing injury risk, but I believe he is firmly in Alastair Clarkson’s plans for the rest of the season and if fit he will get games and have some days out like he did against Melbourne in round 1. In particular, Dew looms as a very tasty downgrade for owners of Josh Hill, Bernie Vince and Jason Porplyzia. For these reason, Dew is my Bubble Boy of the Week.
UPDATE: Turns out Dew is only an emergency this week, which certainly bursts my bubble! Given the lack of quality in the backs this week, I’ll have to switch to Whelan.
