Trades, Byes and "Player Management"

[chatters24]

It's very interesting to see the number of side ways or "fix it" trades happening in the first few rounds this year. It always happens, you select a player due to good form in the NAB Cup, or simply due to the huge hype on fan footy. They don't perform up to expectations (sometimes 60 just isn't enough for some) and like a fat kid in a candy store, you see something else and you just have to have it! A couple of weeks ago GWS's Greene was the talk of the town after scoring 99 and 107 in the first two rounds. He since followed that up with a 54 and missing last week and many are left scratching their heads, particularly if you went Shiel to Greene.

So why do I find it interesting this year in particular in regards to how many "fix it" trades have been used so far? This year is a year of great change and uncertainty in DT with 3 bye effected rounds and emphasis on "player management" by clubs we have never experience before.

There are many out there that have manipulated their team around the 3 bye rounds, some who have chosen their 3rd or 4th best options beause they fall into the "correct" bye round, however nothing was ever mentioned about the effect of the developing cash cows would have on this structure. When a cash cow, such as Magner, fattens up and is ripe to trade, what happens then? Do you wait until another cash cow that fits into the same bye round as Magner so that it won't after that struct that you have worked on even before DT opened on Feb 1? This is going to leave your team naturally unbalanced as you select the best available cash cows. Many of these teams will be attracted to the idea of side ways or "fix it" trading of their premiums just in order to cover their donuts. Many of the coahes doing this would most likely have done it in the first few rounds. But its all good, you traded aggressively and you avoided donuts during the byes, right?

What happens when the word "player management" gets raised later in the year? It's not a question of if, its a question of when. For many coaches it will most likely full during DT finals time. Among completing "fix it" trades at the start of the season and possibly during the bye rounds, upgrading your players during the season to develop your team of premiums and the ever unwanted trades for injuries, you won't have much to work with here. This is the time when you least want to cop a donut. It will be the time when you have make up substantial ground in the overall or even make that push for the car.

Unlike last year, we no longer have the pure luxury of having 3 players on the bench. There will be much tougher things to overcome rather than jumping from one rookie to another for the sake of $25-$50k.

I thought I would bring this up for a topic of conversation as so many trades have already been burnt. What's your thoughts?

[Dave085]

This week will see a lot of rookie trades i think with Treloar and McDonald on the bubble.
Im thinking of doing it myself. I have only made a trade with Fyfe --> Cloke and Mumford --> Sandi (DOH! Apparently out this week).

There will be some frantic trading in the bye rounds. Im just stuck with the Abeltt thing. If he's out for 3 then i think its worth trading him (if youre going for overall or in a tough league match), but if he ends up only being out for 1 that will definately hurt.

[Holz]

I dont think the people who are doing mass fix it trades like myself are going for league wins, but overall. The way I see it is I will be using 6 trades during the bye most will be sideways trades maybee a few downgrades if the oppurunity comes up. With the bye rounds I will be holding on to some guys longer than I should such as Clarke will remain in my team till round 14.

So you need to manage your team with 18 trades instead of 24. I have used 4 already so I have 14 left. I wont to keep at least 4 for injuries so its looking like I will only have 5 double trades left in the best case scenario ( I now regret trading mummy to sandi). Thiis year the disparity of league teams and overall teams will be huge.

I have gone through my team and I will be forced to keep guys like Hargreaves and Giles, so have perhaps over traded, I have a feeling this year alot of teams will get burnt and I should jump on any downgrade targets aviable in the byes therfore should be trading out round 11 rookies and holding on to round 12 and 13 rookies too long. 

[T Dog]

Have done 4 - Fix it trades in R3 and R4.
R.3 Dickson and Garland out. Geary and Stanley in.
R4. Shaw and McCarthy out. Conca and Hayes ( to M5) in.
Not sure what to do with Ablett yet though. Would love to see a real medical opinion / report on him ::)

[Windigo]

The fix it trade of Broughton & Greene was a complete waste of two trades IMO.

I don't think I've really done any TBH.

Only injured players have gone as you kind of got to. If they are playing, don't trade 'em. This goes for premiums.

Fyfe>Whitecross.... :P

Mumford>Kreuzer

Carrazzo>Treloar

Magnar>Rockliff

Then next week, Kennedy>Zaharakis.

[henry]

I did two fix-it trades just for my rookies, as having the right cash cows can make a big difference. I traded in Magner and Kennedy for smedts and kerridge.