C Judd 3 votes.

[Gigantor]

Yep you nailed it, downgrade Smith or Swallow and strengthen that back line.
But it will be glorious if 4 solid back rookies line up rd1  :)

[NickyBoy]

DEFS: Shaw, Gibson, Newnes, Lumumba, ,Pearce, Goodes (Saad, Dick)
MIDS: Ablett, Pendles, Jelwood, Barlow, Rich, Newton, Cripps, Vandernberg  (Heeny, Miller Lambert)
RUCKS: Nic Nat, Goldy (Read)
FWDS: Bartel, Martin, Swan, Salem, Hogan, Clark (Daniel, Steele)
Cash remaining: $61,300.

Starting to look better now. Only things to work on are some rookies and finding a decent ruck cover for R3.

[tor01doc]

Saad Dick on the bench.  ;D ;D ;D

Def - excellent
Mids - likewise
Rucks - NicNat underdone but huge ceiling so worth the risk
Fwd - A bit thin and Bartel surely on the slide at last - or at least I hope he is. Maybe Belly or Hale to cover R3?

[NickyBoy]

I'm ready to ride some bad scores from NicNat but i'm hoping for some long-term gain from him. No way, I think Bartel is still a good player and would be easily in the top 5 fwds this season. Hale moves like a crab so its a no from me. Belly can be unpredictable with the ASADA investigation and his scoring could be over hyped. 

[NickyBoy]

DEFS: Shaw, Gibson, Newnes, Lumumba, ,Pearce, Goodes (Saad, Dick)
MIDS: Selwood, Sidebottom, Barlow, Parker, Griffen, Cripps, Vandernberg, CEY (Heeny, Miller Lambert)
RUCKS: Nic Nat, Goldy (Read)
FWDS: Bartel, Martin, Swan, Salem, Hogan, Clark (Daniel, Lamb)
Cash remaining: $142,100.

I went for a complete different strategy in my mids. Ablett will take some time to get back to his best so I'm expecting him to lower in price & same with Pendles. Parker & Sidebottom are great POD's who will definitely get 100+ each game.

[fasttrack13]

DEFS: Shaw, Gibson, Newnes, Lumumba, ,Pearce, Goodes (Saad, Dick)
MIDS: Selwood, Sidebottom, Barlow, Parker, Griffen, Cripps, Vandernberg, CEY (Heeny, Miller Lambert)
RUCKS: Nic Nat, Goldy (Read)
FWDS: Bartel, Martin, Swan, Salem, Hogan, Clark (Daniel, Lamb)
Cash remaining: $142,100.

I went for a complete different strategy in my mids. Ablett will take some time to get back to his best so I'm expecting him to lower in price & same with Pendles. Parker & Sidebottom are great POD's who will definitely get 100+ each game.

I think you need one of them... Their first 5 rounds are pretty favourable for Pendles and Gaz so I wouldn't expect less that 115 from both of them... Ablett with saints and melbourne first 2 rounds should play himself into form reasonably quickly... Then I think they have cats, Giants and lions in no particular order... Few easy points there!
Pendles has lions, Blues, Crows, Saints, dons who he has very good records against from memory.

Definitely need 1 of them! I think if Ablett is named r1 you pick him over Pendles.

[NickyBoy]

DEFS: Shaw, Gibson, Newnes, Lumumba, ,Pearce, Goodes (Saad, Dick)
MIDS: Selwood, Sidebottom, Barlow, Parker, Griffen, Cripps, Vandernberg, CEY (Heeny, Miller Lambert)
RUCKS: Nic Nat, Goldy (Read)
FWDS: Bartel, Martin, Swan, Salem, Hogan, Clark (Daniel, Lamb)
Cash remaining: $142,100.

I went for a complete different strategy in my mids. Ablett will take some time to get back to his best so I'm expecting him to lower in price & same with Pendles. Parker & Sidebottom are great POD's who will definitely get 100+ each game.

I think you need one of them... Their first 5 rounds are pretty favourable for Pendles and Gaz so I wouldn't expect less that 115 from both of them... Ablett with saints and melbourne first 2 rounds should play himself into form reasonably quickly... Then I think they have cats, Giants and lions in no particular order... Few easy points there!
Pendles has lions, Blues, Crows, Saints, dons who he has very good records against from memory.

Definitely need 1 of them! I think if Ablett is named r1 you pick him over Pendles.

Abletts BE will be very high at the start of the season. I don't think he will be capable to get 140+ with his mind concerned about his shoulder injury.

[NickyBoy]

DEFS: Shaw, Gibson, Newnes, Lumumba,  Goodes, Saad (Hamling, Mcintosh)
MIDS: Selwood, Sidebottom, Barlow, Parker, Griffen, Cripps, Vandernberg, CEY (Heeny, Miller Lambert)
RUCKS: Maric, Goldy (Read)
FWDS: Bartel, Martin, Swan, Salem, Hogan, Clark (Daniel, Lamb)
Cash remaining: $249,500.

Made a small change with Pearce downgraded to a rookie and Nic Nat upgraded to Maric. Not sure what to do with the rest of the money. Any suggestions?

[NickyBoy]

Final team. I'm fairly happy with this team but just waiting to see which rookies play.

DEFS: Shaw, Gibson, Newnes, Lumumba,  Goodes, Saad (Brown, Mcintosh)
MIDS: Fyfe, Sidebottom, Priddis, Parker, Dangerfield, Cripps, Newton, Cockatoo (Heeny, Anderson, CEY)
RUCKS: Maric, Goldy (COX)
FWDS: Bartel, Martin, Swan, Salem, Hogan, Clark (Saad, Lamb)
Cash left: $3,800

[Samsturmfels]

no Ablett.....

[NickyBoy]

Final team. I'm fairly happy with this team but just waiting to see which rookies play.

DEFS: Shaw, Gibson, Newnes, Lumumba,  Goodes, Saad (Brown, Mcintosh)
MIDS: Fyfe, Sidebottom, Priddis, Parker, Dangerfield, Cripps, Newton, Cockatoo (Heeny, Anderson, CEY)
RUCKS: Maric, Goldy (COX)
FWDS: Bartel, Martin, Swan, Salem, Hogan, Clark (Saad, Lamb)
Cash left: $3,800

Oh how times have changed... I wish I could go back and fix this team  :(

Current Team is:

DEFS: Shaw, Gibson, Newnes, Lumumba, Hunt, Mckenzie (Mcintosh, Hamling)
MIDS: Fyfe, Priddis, Danger, Parker, Lewis, Rocky, SJ, Cripps (Heeny, CEY, Saad)
RUCKS: Goldy, Maric (COX)
FWD: Martin, Dahl, Swan, Tmitch, Tarrant, Clark (Saad, Bont).
Trades left 16
Cash remaining: $99,300.

First bye is affecting me a lot, here is the team for this bye
DEFS: Shaw, Gibson, Newnes, Lumumba, Hunt, Mckenzie (Mcintosh, Hamling)
MIDS: Fyfe, Priddis, Danger, Parker, Lewis, Rocky, SJ, Cripps (Heeny, CEY, Saad)
RUCKS: Goldy, Maric (COX)
FWD: Martin, Dahl, Swan, Tmitch, Tarrant, Clark (Saad, Bont).
Only 12 playing with Mckenzie on the borderline (maybe 13). Should I do any trades this week? When Melbourne has their bye I plan to offload Lumumba and jump on Broadie Smith for a straight swap. Not sure of any other trades to do currently with a lack of rookies emerging.

[GCSkiwi]

Wow, mate you could be one of the only people who's really going to struggle this round but then be sweet as next round!

Not much you can do there from the looks of it, Tosh to A. Pearce, CEY to Boston and Clark to Gray nets you 3 more players this round, the best fwd out, and 211k left over going forward, and I think it leaves you still in good shape for the next round. But still copping 2 donuts so it's unlikely to get you a win, see if you think it's worth it...

[NickyBoy]

I decided to cop the loses since i was in too much of a hole and save my trades for later rounds.

This round i'm going for lumumba --> Smith and Saad ---> Sloane.

Future trades will be either Kmac or Taylor Hunt ---> Edwards. CEY ---> Boston next round. Leaves me with 160k~ to then upgrade Cripps to JPK. However, if these are my future trades then it leaves me with 9 premo mids when rocky comes back. Should I trade Rocky or SJ out for some cash generation when another rookie pops up?

[NickyBoy]

Last week of the bye trades
Mcintosh ---> Yeo
CEY ---> Boston
SJ ---> Pendles

My team is now

DEF: Shaw, Gibbo, Houli, Yeo, Newnes, Smith (Hunt, Hamling)
MIDS: Fyfe, Pendles, Priddis, Danger, Parker, Lewis, Rocky, Cripps (Mckenzie, Heeny, Boston)
RUCKS: Maric, Goldy (Cox)
FWD: Martin, Dahl, Tmitch, Swan, Bont, Steele (Tarrant, Saad).

I have 2 upgrades to do: Tarrant and either one of Mckenzie/Heeny. I plan on leaving cripps for the rest of the year at M9.

Next week trades: Hunt ----> Edwards
That gives me enough money to upgrade Tarrant to either Goddard or even motlop. Or I wait another week in hope of getting Gray after he drops down some more.
I hope Mckenzie plays for Saints so he can rise in price which makes it easier for me to upgrade him...

[NickyBoy]

DEF: Shaw, Gibbo, Houli, Yeo, Newnes, Smith (Hunt, Hamling)
MIDS: Fyfe, Pendles, Priddis, Danger, Parker, Lewis, Rocky, Cripps (Mckenzie, Heeny, Boston)
RUCKS: Maric, Goldy (Cox)
FWD: Martin, Dahl, Tmitch, Swan, Bont, Steele (Tarrant, Saad).
Cash remaining : $84,400

I was hoping to go Hunt ---> Edwards but looks like he may get the axe. Only other option is colquhoun but now i'm left with 499k to upgrade Tarrant. My dilemma is do I roll the dice with Gray in hope he drops by a large sum and Tarrant can try achieve his breakeven (2% chance of that). Or do I pull the trigger and just take Boomer instead?