Lessons Learnt

[CFC 1979]

research, research + more research

and don't second guess your decisions

edit; also this year i have kept a spreadsheet of my rook's with price, ave, BE and expected price rise/fall
has been very handy come trade time and when to offload rook's

[bundyboy]

definately....research your own....and then DON'T change your mind at the last minute because of what people say in these forums !!

4th ruck is a definate waste, and mpp is really pretty important in my opinion...

[charliesheen]

Stay away from H. Shaw

[The Silent Partner]

Unique to a point,  consistent scorers dont be tightarse get them. Dont be too unique as you can gain just as much by choosing the right captain. MPP rookies are gold. Keep your eyes peeled at the teams that aren't playing finals now and are blooding some young uns. See who is tearing up the track pre season if they have interrupted pre season they are 'sure' to drop get em later on. And last of all find a good psychic.

[j959]

ha, ha! lol silent, 'find a good psychic' ...   :D

Really like Piccollo's pt on the 'heavily relied on players' ...

my two cents - don't be too eager to cash in those cash cows - eg Duigan (rd7), Lower (rd12) ...  :(
i don't chase points (eg Guerra) but i shouldn't have off-loaded some cows early on
wait and be patient because prices just go up and down ... such is the nature of the game.

[charliesheen]

ha, ha! lol silent, 'find a good psychic' ...   :D

Really like Piccollo's pt on the 'heavily relied on players' ...

my two cents - don't be too eager to cash in those cash cows - eg Duigan (rd7), Lower (rd12) ...  :(
i don't chase points (eg Guerra) but i shouldn't have off-loaded some cows early on
wait and be patient because prices just go up and down ... such is the nature of the game.

Aggressively trading rookies when you sensed weakness got you to where you are now, with a fully upgraded team before round 10.  Sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn't.   You could just as easily use the J. Darling example, where people held him way to long and lost between 50-100k. 

As long as the rationale was solid (at the time), I personally feel the outcome doesn't really matter.  IMO, A lot of it comes down to luck.

I think a lot of people are dwelling on what they did 'wrong', but they should be also be focusing on what they did right, and what you can take out that is applicable for next year.

Just something to think about.

[Torress]

yes i agree charliesheen, positives and negatives. yea culling rooks and hanging on to rooks has a massive element of luck. if only we could live in hindsight!! we'd all win huh!!??
ive stayed between 2500-5000 overall for ages now. to go any good overall u really need to start the right prems as well as ofcourse the right rookies! but i started broughton/jelwood who i still have now, i started rioil/nroo who i still have now. riding joel selwood has hurt but have not been able to justify trading him!!
yea these last 2 seasons have made it evident to me that the rookie mpp's play a key role. again identifying role changes within teams from season to season is vital. it is pivotal to pick players without interupted preseasons. but who would of really picked the rise and fall of some teams this year, for example WCE!! and the saints/dogs going poorly. you could easily right an essay on this subject!!

[bowyanger]

Most of the stuff previously posted I already had a handle on.
I did a massive amount of research even before xmas last year...it was a waste of time as the madia pretty much blurted out all the players I had picked as cash cows...
The most skill comes in picking your team before rd 1 lockout...rest is a high amount of luck
Im never going to pick a key forward again because of players getting triple teamed such as Jroo & NRoo
Im going to target the new generation of stars in the 22 - 26 yo bracket (6 year rule) such as Gibbs, Lids, MMurphy, JSelwood, Pendles
Im not going to pick any player over 550K before rd 1. I didnt want to do it this year but gave in to BJ & Swan...If I had have got them at 500K it would mean an extra premium upgrade without cashing in cows = would have spare trades to get rid of players underperforming / playing injured
I reckon 211 has had his day...them big feet cant carry the big lug anymore
Stay away from Higgins, Rioli, RMurphy, Adcock, Chappy & other injury prone players

[Spite]

and next year i plan on choosing a premium midfield, and backline and choose rookies/midprice players in rucks and forwards... and with 20 + trades ? next year, it will be plenty to upgrade by the end of the year

I went a 5 premium midfield and did quite well. Selwood, Pendles, Murphy, Boyd and A. Swallow which worked a treat :D. When the multi bye came around, all of them fired which pushed me up quite a bit overall :D.

Went with Ryder in the Ruck and in hindsight, too much time up forward hurt his scoring :(. Probably go 1 Premium and 1 up and comer next season in the ruck. Will save the cash for that little extra risk.

Research deeper into rookies than this season :P. Didn't get on Curnow as well as maybe another 2-3. Not to mention some trade down targets not panning out (especially in DT).

*Peace Out Pplz.

Woah that sounds like my team HP! I started with Swan, Pendles, Boyd, Bartel and Montagna. If I had chosen murphy instead of Montagna and Priddis instead of Bartel, I'd be right up there. Starting with Ryder as my second ruck with Cox, was also a terrible terrible choice. Didn't get curnow, libba or heppel either. Started with 3 weeks around the top 500, and find myself 6k atm on the way up from 15k a few weeks ago. 3-4 changes to my starting team (Murphy/Priddis and heppel over otten, and no ryder) would probably have cemented a top 1-2k place :S

[Macman5005]

You have all missed the most important point.

ALL WAYS LOCK IN RELTON ROBERTS BEFORE ROUND 1 ;)

[AndrewY]

As a 2nd year player I have learnt that joining a strong league as compared to a random public league really keeps you grounded. Just glad to stay in the top 8 this year with a reasonably strong team compared to top of ladder last year and being clobbered in finals. Having close scoring games has been a lot more interesting even those I lost by less than 50 or 100 pts this year.

[Justin Bieber]

and next year i plan on choosing a premium midfield, and backline and choose rookies/midprice players in rucks and forwards... and with 20 + trades ? next year, it will be plenty to upgrade by the end of the year

I went a 5 premium midfield and did quite well. Selwood, Pendles, Murphy, Boyd and A. Swallow which worked a treat :D. When the multi bye came around, all of them fired which pushed me up quite a bit overall :D.

Went with Ryder in the Ruck and in hindsight, too much time up forward hurt his scoring :(. Probably go 1 Premium and 1 up and comer next season in the ruck. Will save the cash for that little extra risk.

Research deeper into rookies than this season :P. Didn't get on Curnow as well as maybe another 2-3. Not to mention some trade down targets not panning out (especially in DT).

*Peace Out Pplz.

Woah that sounds like my team HP! I started with Swan, Pendles, Boyd, Bartel and Montagna. If I had chosen murphy instead of Montagna and Priddis instead of Bartel, I'd be right up there. Starting with Ryder as my second ruck with Cox, was also a terrible terrible choice. Didn't get curnow, libba or heppel either. Started with 3 weeks around the top 500, and find myself 6k atm on the way up from 15k a few weeks ago. 3-4 changes to my starting team (Murphy/Priddis and heppel over otten, and no ryder) would probably have cemented a top 1-2k place :S

Ouch Spite! I worked my way up from like I think 30-50k (somewhere in that region) to top 6k at my peak. Simmered down to 11k now and trying to get into that top 10k by years end hopefully!

I have traded in Priddis and Mitchell (Selwood suspension) after that start. Didn't get Curnow but mid rookies were good considering....

I had Sandi as my First ruck which of course didn't do so well. Now have Bailey/Smith/Lobbe rotating that second ruck position as Sandi got axed a few weeks back for cash :o.

Hindsight is such a cruel thing if we had known these things :'(

*Peace Out Pplz.