Another Defender Thread

[RaisyDaisy]

OK, so we're 7 rounds in and I just thought it would be a good idea to try and gauge how defence is looking this year

Based on what we've seen so far, I think we could say that as of now it's looking like the top defenders for 2015 will be

McDonald
Houli
Shaw
Hodge
Rance

Besides McDonald (we cannot ignore his form this year though) the other 4 have solid history of being able to average enough so as of now I think it's fair to say these are the Top 5

From this point on, I think it's anyone guess

Birchall, Enright, Fisher, Simpson, Smith, Hibberd, Picken, McGovern, Docherty, Yeo, Thurlow, Murphy, Taylor, Burgoyne, Pittard, Higgins etc etc are all possible options of being Top 10 this year

Hibberd and Smith stand out to me, because they have solid history and are down this year

At 391k I am really tempted to bring in Hibberd this week. I know he hasn't been scoring well and there's the whole WADA stuff, but for his price I'd much rather have him on field then someone like Tosh or Brown

Am I crazy for considering Hibberd? Surely there's enough upside for 391k?

Also, who goes first? Lumumba or Ox?

[GCSkiwi]

I started Hibbo, and if I could have my time again I would :P I wouldn't be picking him up until he actually puts up some decent scores - 6/7 rounds so far he's been sub 85, his price is low because he's been terrible.

From your list, Birchall, Simmo, Murphy and arguably Fisher all have history too. Fisher can score, question is just his durability. I'd rather fork out a bit more for one of these blokes than try to skimp on Hibberd. If he turns it around then get on him but at the moment you're getting what you pay for.

[Deadly6]

I wish I had paid 391K for Hibberd instead of 495k at the start. He is playing OK but just not having a real big impact on games. A bit like Brodie Smith, you won't lose out on value but they could end up top 10 or top 20, it's hard to know, and frustrating.

[jcuz001]

Get rid of lumumba before oxley, both of them have pretty much the same breakeven but oxley has a better average.
Thats my reasoning at least.

[jamsmalls]

I think ill be looking to get in Birchall soon.

Brodie Smith will be between 300k-350k over the next couple of weeks, will be hard to ignore that value!

[jfitty]

Great topic RD!

It certainly is shaping up that way. But the thing is the scoring difference by the end of the season between the top 5 and the rest might not be that much!

I reckon as long as you have 6 of any of the guys you've listed there you'll be right.

[YoungGun]

current backline is very weak.
shaw, newnes, lumumba, saad, oxley, goodes (brown, lever)

the grand plan is to somehow be able to trade brown to Smith after rnd 11, as well as somebody (goodes/lever/oxley) to Houli. Really love the look if Houli and Smith will be too good to ignore when bottomed out in my opinion

[RaisyDaisy]

Pretty confident that I'll be bringing in Rance this week, giving me a backline of McDonald, Shaw, Rance, Simpson and Lumumba

I'll either trade Brown to Lever and upgrade Ox to Rance, leaving Harry at D5, or I'll punt both Ox and Harry, meaning I'll still have Saad, Lever and Tosh filling D5&6 but it would give me cash to upgrade Cripps next week

Either way, Rance is most likely coming in to bolster the line, then I can FINALLY focus on upgrading my mids

So I wont bother with Hibberd

[Chrispy75]

Get rid of lumumba before oxley, both of them have pretty much the same breakeven but oxley has a better average.
Thats my reasoning at least.

Good reasoning, but byes could influence the decision.  I need less r12 players so Oxley goes for me.  Lumumba can be traded before his bye r13.

[shaker]

My current backline is Docherty , Smith , Higgins , Lamumba , Newnes , Saad , Tosh and Brown on the bench with McKenzie in the mids if needed , mine and I guess a lot of other peoples backs have been a rancid pile of excrement this year so I have decided to totally ignore it unless donuts are going to happen and finish the rest of my team then see who is worth keeping and who isn't , best plan I can come up with just not going to waste trades on it ATM

[ScottieD]

Reckon Malceski warrants a place in this discussion also.  I have lined up McKenzie to Smith in the week leading into R12 bye.  Thinking of trading(downgrading) Oxley to Hibberd this week (given Oxley has peaked for mine BE = 95).  2 factors have prevented me from pulling this trigger as of yet 1. WADA 2. Oxley playing GCS this week and could exceed 95 and kick start another boost to his 3 week rolling average.  Finally I'll upgrade(/downgrade) Saad to Malceski, pushing Lumumba to the bench covering for backline and midfield as necessary, providing an emergency loophole option and leaving me with a backline of:
Docherty, Shaw, Higgins, Malceski, Hibberd, Smith [Lumumba, Doughnut].  Idea being that I have 7 blokes that can score well and will have spent the minimum on all of them (300-500k).  I reckon they'll score as well as any 6 defenders on the run home and I'll have spare cash to use in the midfield.

[Grufflez]

Get rid of lumumba before oxley, both of them have pretty much the same breakeven but oxley has a better average.
Thats my reasoning at least.

HA! when looking at slaughtering cows this week i ended up looking at the same thing and decided Ox was better to keep than Lumumba.

[Jesty]

Rance and Smith will be in my team soon I think

[TexR74]

Yeah need help with this too. Not sure whether to upgrade Lumumba to T McDonald or get in Rocky for Salem (via Swanny to fwd) Which is more of an urgent need?

[HotTiges]

Giving serious thought to Mumba to Ranca this week..

Backs would be..

Shaw,Pittard,Rance,Newnes,Oxley,Saad (brown/tosh)

Geez it looks better without mumba