Guns-and-Rookies with no Forward Rookies!

[Colley Dogs]

With the first round fast approaching there’s a strong case for a Guns-and-Rookies approach with no starting Rookies on the forward line. And you can blame that on the Rucks! Get five Guns up front with at least one being a Ruck DP (who isn't playing this coming weekend), and if Blicavs or Currie aren’t named then swing Ryder/Roughead into R2. There are too many question marks over the non-DP Rucks to run with a set-and-forget strategy, and if you’re going to roll the dice it makes better sense to go with a Rookie at R2 than splice out 1.1 million on two premiums who offer little or no value.

With regards to structure, the biggest mistake is to set out with preconceived notions of a Guns-and-Rookies or Mid-priced approach. The playing list for any particular season should always determine your structure, and this year it’s screaming Guns-and-Rookies.

In my view Guns-and-Rookies means 14 Guns who will consistently give 100+, two mid-pricers who fall in the 200,000 â€" 300,000 category (i.e. expensive rookie types rather than cheap premium types), and six starting Rookies who can average at least 70 over the course of the first eight rounds. Balance in terms of structure across the four lines is simply not important. Those six Rookies can sit anywhere; all that matters is that your chosen players maintain their expected average.

The optimal Gun-and-Rookies set-up for this year will spread something like this:

Defenders: GUN; GUN; GUN; Vlastuin; Goodes; Pittard (Terlich; Stevenson)
Midfielders: GUN; GUN; GUN; GUN; GUN; Mid-pricer; Rookie; Rookie (Rookie; Rookie)
Rucks: GUN; Blicavs (Rowe; Currie)
Forwards: Ryder/Roughead; GUN; GUN; GUN; GUN; Mid-pricer (Rookie; Rookie)

Having Roughhead or Ryder as one of your GUN forwards gives the advantage of being able to wait and see if one of Blicavs or Currie starts, and if neither do then simply swap Roughhead/Ryder with Rowe and promote your best Rookie Forward to F6.

Now is the time to decide on your structure. You don’t want to be messing around redistributing the weight of your team in a 10-day rolling lockout. I’m convinced that a Guns-and-Rookies approach with no starting Rookie on the forward line is the best first step into this particular season. Teams that have a strong base, whilst at the same time offering flexibility, will have the greatest edge going forward.

[fever]

i didnt go through that with a fine tooth comb, but banking on blicavs/currie as r2 will likely put you 20-50pts behind the 8ball from the get go.

[Colley Dogs]

But you're not banking on them, as with 5 premium forwards - one of which is a Ruck/Forward DP - you can very quickly turn your team into one with two premium Rucks. I suppose what it comes down to is this: who's going to score more between Blicavs/Currie and Macaffer/Neade/Spangher/Lee? In my opinion the Rookie forwards have a ceiling of 70, whereas Blicavs and Currie could potentially score 90-95 if named.

[FOOTY IS BACK]

^^^not going to avg 90-95 lol

[Colley Dogs]

If they're named as the number one ruck (which I'm not saying will be the case for the entire season), they will score 90+. But in any case... that's just like my opinion man.

However, if you would like to witness my team crashing into the mountain firsthand, you (and any readers of this post) are welcome to join my league. There are three spots up for grabs, and over the past 5 season the team that has won it has finished in the top 300 overall.

League Code: 120166

[Sabretooth Tigers]

 ;)
Don't see what all the fuss is about. What you drop on rookie R2 you gain back perhaps with interest on the gun forward.
Iv'e gone Maric  Blicavs   // Currie   Rowe
Franklin   Cox   Ryder   Zorko   Rockliff   Karnezis   // Macaffer   Neade.
Cheers and best of luck.   8)