8 rookies in the Midfield - Help me find the flaws

[Big Mac]

As the start of the season looms before us and so many midfield rookies are putting their hand up, it is becoming more and more apparent to me that stacking the midfield with rookies, could be a smart decision this year. Think about it, assuming you go guns and rookies the whole way, you'll have 6 starting rookies in the midfield, while still having two strong premiums there. You also have 2 premium rucks, no risky midpricers or rookies starting in the forward line, and you only have to start two rookies in defence. I can't really find many flaws with this plan, so I put it to you guys, is this strategy a viable option this year?

[big_cox21]

name 10 rookies who will be options?

[kilbluff1985]

need a Ablett/Pendlebury as captain options

[Dayze]

Lucas, Stevens, wines, hill, lonergan, Mitchell, Omeara, crouch, blicavs, Viney, jones.
All likely to start round one.

Saying that the idea is insane and u would be 100,000 spots back after the first round.
Imagine how hard it would b too upgrade an entire midfield

[milisha98]

There is only really one issue; you have to find at least 5 viable downgrade targets all in the mid-field. This strategy worked in the past (with the expansion teams), but this year it maybe a harder ask. That said, this is the strategy I've chosen to pursuit this year. With the number of good mid-field rookies this year you're shooting yourself in the foot by not picking the players that are most likely to increase in score the most.

To those who think you'll go backwards a long way after the first round need to do some reading on the Magic Number. Oh, and I want to be in your league ;-) So long as the salary spent is the same, you're still paying for the same number of points (provided you're not doing something silly like putting money on the bench, and not putting your "C" on an super-premium).

[Peter]

Imo, the flaw in this proposal is that you will therefore fill up with fwd premiums (as I have) and back premiums. Outside the std two of Bg and Bg, most def premiums will score 90-100, whilst mid premiums usually go 110-130. Therefore, you can be 40pts down, unless you get lucky

[jimmytigs]

harder to get away with a plan like this now because of the extra trades,in past if you scraped a few games early then you could clean up at end of season with a stronger team when the nufnuffs had all burnt their trades by rd 12.But now you will still lose early games & the nuffnuffs will be around a few more weeks(all season in dt).Im talking strictly in league context because i dont give a toss about overall,if talking overall your completely wasting your time.

[Strange Brew]

I've been on this strategy all preseason until this last week. My mid structure was 2-2-6, (Gablett, Pendles, Mundy, Moloney, K Stevens, Wines, KMitchell and O meara starting, with viney and crouch on bench). This meant i had 5 premo-ish def, 5 premo fwd and Leuy and jacobs in ruck.

This plan could still be viable, however, as has been pointed out the midfield is where most points are scored, and the emergence of some decent def rookies (Pittard, Stevenson, Goodes, Vlastuin, etc) means there's money to made from the backline. Add to this that while some "premium" defense options include heppell, hartlett, grimes etc,  they could realistically only average 85-105 over the year, whereas similar or slightly higher priced options in the midfield could average 95 - 115, players like hannebery, mundy, rich. Its also easier to upgrade the backline with fallen premiums around the 400K mark than the midfield and it's these reasons that swayed me.

I'm now rockin a 3-0-5 defense and 3 -2- 5 mid, while keeping forwards and rucks strong due to lack of rookies and uncertainty over mid-price options. So i guess i'm saying that i still like loading up on midfield rookies, but dont go overboard and limit the amount of starting mid rookies and increase starting def rookies. The hit in def scoring early will be more than made up by the midfield replacements.

[Converted]

You could get lucky with this strategy - but definitely not worth risking your whole season!
Midfield rooks usually have the largest price increase for obvious reasons, but also remember they are the hardest to upgrade to due to their huge starting price and consistency, meaning they usually dont have one-off bad games like most forwards and defenders have, making them available at impressive discounts.
Gotta take some risks, but they must be calculated!
Good Luck

[tor01doc]

I'd be much more willing to risk my rucks than mids.

Esp with Cox and DPP to come to your rescue if needed.

Get at least 3 really top mids, and if you are serious about overall, then 4 mids will be needed.

If league, then you'll get away with a slower start and a steady cash build to peak for finals.

Good luck.

[Lions01]

Imo, the flaw in this proposal is that you will therefore fill up with fwd premiums (as I have) and back premiums. Outside the std two of Bg and Bg, most def premiums will score 90-100, whilst mid premiums usually go 110-130. Therefore, you can be 40pts down, unless you get lucky

True but at D5/D6 or F5/F6 the money you saved would upgrade a Rookie to an extra premium which might that cover 20-40 point loss.

I'm personally not a big fan of this strategy, as mentioned above there seems to be some reasonable backline Rooks this year and I think we can play a few Rookies from there. I'm pretty much following your structure, loading up on the forward line, and balancing the rest of the team out

[Big Mac]

I hear your concerns and your reasons against this strategy, but I urge you to read this article. http://www.supercoachscores.com/threads/23-2010-8-Rookie-Midfield

I also thought of a way to have 3 premiums in the mids. I could downgrade heppell to Docherty, downgrade D. Martin to Karnezis and then upgrade Viney/Crouch/Jones to JPK. But is this worth it?

[Strange Brew]

Yeah i also read that earlier in the preseason Big Mac, and i liked the reasoning behind it too. That said, there are some differences between 2010 and 2013 supercoach, obvious one being the 8-10-4-8 team structure, and that changes things a lot.

2010 required coaches to have more depth on the ground in the fwds and def. The final 2 playing spots in the fwds and defs in my opinion are quite hard to fill correctly, requiring decent fantasy knowledge and preseason research, but most people including myself would usually settle for 'thereabouts' f6-f7 and d6-d7 players averaging between 75's and 90's. By the same token, everyone's midfield would usually be full of ultra premiums, with m6 averaging ~100 - 110, usually more in recent seasons.

This year however with the extra midfield spots, everyone will be clamouring to get the best possible midfield, and even with limited funds, m7's and m8's will score significantly more than what the f7 and d7 players would have in 2010, and more than the f6 and d6 of 2013. So basically, the teams that can fill their midfield relatively quickly will score higher scores and more consistently earlier than the teams that have all other lines filled first and still trying to gather the cash to fully upgrade the midfield.

I'm all for picking the best rookies, which i feel are still in the mids, but as i've said before, there's rookie talent in the backline that should also be exploited. Plus it keeps you in the hunt for overall and league wins earlier in the season and sustain it for longer in the season.

Just my 2 cents, and if your confident in the 8 rookie midfield, go for it. Gotta be daring to be the winner in this game 

[Strange Brew]

And yes, i think its worth downgrading Dusty and Heppell, for either an elite prem or 2 breakout contenders, ie Rich, fyfe etc