Memph's Team

[thefuzz]

Yeah I'm a little hoping berger isn't right for round 1, it will cause literally 50%+ teams to have a major reshuffle of there team while others will be able to find an alternative by swaping just a few players. Curious to see what people would do if Leuenberger wasn't an option.

I'd just straight swap to Vardy if he's having a good NAB cup, or if not downgrade Sylvia too Byrnes then upgrade Leuey to Goldy. Easy.

Goldy gets too many points from hit outs. It would drive me nuts watching his score increase by 1 measly point at a time. Obviously I can solve this problem by not watching the live scores, but come on, it's DT.

[Memphistopheles]

As for Cox - with the doubt over Nic Nat he'll play and fire from the start of the season despite a little finger niggle. Everyone was saying he would drop off last season but I locked and loaded him and he delivered once again. Turns out he and Maric were the only really consistent super premium rucks, tonning up week after week.

Also can you name 6 forwards who will average more than him? I can't - therefore he's in my team. Plus Goldy and Lewy are too tempting as cheapish rucks. Also I just see having a third and fourth ruck as a waste with the new rules. If anything I could downgrade Lewy once he's made cash, dpp in Cox to the rucks and get a forward premium.

PS - I hope you got some constructive criticism out of my post :D

"Everyone was saying he would drop off last season but I locked and loaded him and he delivered once again."
But he did drop off though lol. 107.5 average down to 99.6.

6+ forwards who will average the same if not more
Rockliff
Cloke (maybe)
Franklin
Chapman
Stevie J
Zorko
Thomas (when fit)
Robinson (maybe)
Pavlich
Bartel (maybe)
Walker (maybe)
Wright (maybe)
Sylvia (maybe)

There's 7 who will certainly average more if not the same for less money, plus 6 who have a decent chance.

Yes he was down on his output from 2011 but Cox was still the top scoring ruck in 2012 - in my opinion that counts as delivering.

Ok so Maric would have been a better starting option but this season I just can't see a similar choice for a ruck to break out like that (excluding Lewy). Vardy might improve a bit but unless Hmac goes down he won't do enough to justify a spot imo.

I believe Cox will average ~100 again which, based on last season, puts him as the second best forward. A premium forward averages around ~90 so anyone who will average ~100 is a no brainer (Buddy will be traded in as soon as I can afford it).

Even if Cox drops of a little to average 95 that would still have made him the =3rd highest scoring forward based on last season's averages. In seven out of the last 8 seasons he's averaged over 95 and that low average was in 2010 when the Eagles struggled so I don't think is unreasonable.

None of the forwards mentioned have the same consistency. You're essentially predicting all those 7 guys (up to 13) to average ~100? I'll eat my hat if that happens. Franklin will and I believe Rockliff and Johnson will as well and possibly Chapman but the rest I don't think so.

There are only two arguments for not having Cox in my opinion.

The first is his age but he's shown remarkable durability for a ruckman in his career and has shown no signs of slowing down. In preseason he's still been running like a midfielder apparently. Also with the Eagles having a premiership window open this season his hunger will still be there. Plus if he gets injured early I trade him to Buddy.

The second is if the Eagles drop out of contention again and the club wants to put more time into the youngsters (Lycett) for the future. However they are well and truly in contention this season IMO and if they want a chance of winning the flag they need Cox firing

Or if they do play some of the prospects it will be while Nic Nat recovers from injury rather than Cox.

Anyway thanks for the discussion Jukes but barring injury (a leg/back one not a finger niggle) Cox is locked into my team as a forward and i'll be backing him to finish in the top 6 forwards.

[Memphistopheles]

Yeah I'm a little hoping berger isn't right for round 1, it will cause literally 50%+ teams to have a major reshuffle of there team while others will be able to find an alternative by swaping just a few players. Curious to see what people would do if Leuenberger wasn't an option.

I'd just straight swap to Vardy if he's having a good NAB cup, or if not downgrade Sylvia too Byrnes then upgrade Leuey to Goldy. Easy.

Goldy gets too many points from hit outs. It would drive me nuts watching his score increase by 1 measly point at a time. Obviously I can solve this problem by not watching the live scores, but come on, it's DT.

Worse DT strategy I've heard - not picking a player who should score well because they accumulate their points slowly. Who cares about how quickly he gets there as long as he does ton up.

If Lewy doesn't come up I'm changing my strategy and getting in a true premium ruck to accompany Goldy. Probably will be McEvoy or Jacobs. I do prefer Sandilands and Ryder but there's a a turf toe cloud and a doping cloud hanging over their heads at the moment.

[Grannyboy]

Might be an idea to put a dpp in the mids to help early on especially with 5 rooks. I dunno about Thomo as a premo, he does go nuts every now and then but his scoring rate seems to drop a bit when Danger and Sloane and the like get up and running, he's getting on a bit too.
I assume that's the rookie Lonergan not Sam in the mids there.
Not a bad team though, backs rucks n forwards.

[Memphistopheles]

After doing a bit of tinkering with my team in the last couple of days I am really, really pleased with how it has turned out.

Only problem is I kind of don't want to post it here because it looks so damn good.

Quite a lot has changed from the opening post by the way.

Think I'm going to log out from dt now and just leave my team excepting injuries/rookie changes.