SC Team 2018 Edition

[PassivePenguin]

Looking to get into the top 5k this year and would like to see how this team stacks up thanks in advance
Def: K.Simpson, Z.Williams, N.Wilson, G.Birchall, C.O'Shea, T.Doedee (S.Murray, A.Morgan)
Mid: P.Dangerfield, D.Martin, T.Mitchell, J.Kelly, N.Fyfe, P.Cripps, L.Davies-Uniacke, T.Kelly (P.Ahern, J.Garlett, J.Worpel) 
Ruc: M.Gawn, N.Naitanui (T.Olango)
Fwd: J.Billings, L.Dahlhaus, R.Lobb, H.Bennell, J.Higgins, D.Venables (W.Rioli, L.Ryan)

Bank: $13,400
Bye Structure (Including Birchall and Bennell but excluding rookies): R.12 - 6 players, R.13 - 4 Players, R.14 - 6 players

If you guys have any questions I will be happy to answer them and if you would like I can explain why I selected particular players

[shaker]

Welcome aboard PP your backs are a bit different maybe to risky for me Simpson has been very good for many years but 34 is just to old for me the others are ok but lacking one of the proven scorers
The rest of your team looks good , rucks getting a bit bored of this combination but hope everyone goes with it gives me a bit of hope for a little advantage and rookies well everyone is in the same boat good luck  ;)

[PassivePenguin]

Haha thanks Shaker, well originally I was thinking about a ruck duo of Goldstein and Gawn since Goldstein looks like he might have a massive year after the down period he had last season. With Simpson he may be 34 but I can see him performing well for one last season especially with Docherty out. Wilson will be the main man at Fremantle in the defence I am convinced with that and Williams without Wilson and Shaw on the decline will improve on his 94 average. For my defensive premiums I would say a 95 average will be a pass mark. I feel like Yeo, Laird and Hurley will drop in price quite a bit since.
Laird - May get targeted a bit since Lever and Smith won't be at Adelaide and we saw him taper off a bit towards the end of the season
Hurley - Never really like key position players and Hurley is no exception. With the inclusion of Saad, I can see Hurley's Disposals dropping which is what mainly gave his score. The price he is at is probably his peak which means that during the year I could pick him up for much cheaper if I see him picking up form.
Yeo - Even as a WCE supporter I am not 100% sure about whether Yeo will play mainly HB or Midfield. I would honestly prefer him playing HB since...
1. He was an AA in that position
2. He isn't as capable in the midfield where he looked lost
I also see him at peak price and should drop especially if Adam Simpson decides to move him more forward as a back up plan for when we are losing.

[Ringo]

Nice team first up Penguin. Fair explanation for some of your choices and hard to argue even though I agree with shaker on Simpson. 
Gawn and Nat get boring as that is the favoured combo.  Byes really restricting other options. Looked at Martin, Jacobs, Grundy and Ryder to go with Gawn and get stiffled by the bye set up.

Structure is sound as well.
Welcome to the forum as well.

[shaker]

Some good points PP but last year there was no way Doc could repeat his previous year .... wrong , Adams was to injury prone and would miss lots of games ..... wrong , Hurley had a bit of a slow start after a year out then turned it on expect him to start off where he finished and end up top 3 a must start for me but your team is very solid and I have given up selecting who is going to have a break out year my record is shower ha ha so proven guns and rookies for me but good luck it's early days  ;)

[PassivePenguin]

Yeah might have a look at a new ruck mix which could push me ahead of the pack. But each ruck has some underlying problem.
Jacobs - Awkward bye sharing it which may pose a problem (minor problem overall so still can be picked as is fairly consistent). With the addition of Gibbs and the Crouch brothers becoming more prolific players he may have a 105 avg season.

Grundy - Still fairly young and is only going to improve, only problem is that Nathan Buckley has stated that Cox will be playing more in 2018 and when Cox plays he averages horribly

Martin - Same problem as Grundy but instead of Cox its Archie Smith. With Brisbane's list being fairly young, will Fagan pump games into Archie Smith so that they are ready for a future team without Martin?

Ryder - Rd.10 bye with no Fwd/Ruc options means I will have 21/22 players in Rd.10 which is not ideal but it means he will be available for every other bye which would be a big positive. If possible I will probably turn Nic Nat into Ryder after Rd.10 if there are shades of Nic Nat dropping.

Goldstein - Decent Bye, Has averaged 120+ before as a ruckman which is massive. Last season apparently he as battling with a bit of an injury which has been fixed up now. The last time he averaged fairly low the next season his avg was 110+. My only worry would be Preuss with North being in a rebuild right now which may mean he has stints in the ruck.
So with that analysis I have narrowed it down to two different options.

Primary Option:
Gawn, Nic Nat - Fairly safe with almost everyone choosing this option with good reason. Nic Nat might see some limited minutes however since coming back from an ACL is hardly easy. Lycett/Vardy might take up a bit of the ruck and Nic might not be as confident in his knees as before. Gawn after coming back from injury burned quite a lot of people but his history says he will be back up.

Alternative (Set and Forget):
Jacobs, Goldstein - Little chance of either going down and places me in an interesting position against the rest of the competion. Both will be looking to improve (Goldy after a down season and Jacobs after losing the GF). If these two avg 95-100 I will give them a passing mark but I can see them averaging more.

The rest of the Rucks I'm not really a fan of due to the reasons I labelled above. Tell me what you think about the Alternative option vs. My primary option

[shaker]

Yeah might have a look at a new ruck mix which could push me ahead of the pack. But each ruck has some underlying problem.
Jacobs - Awkward bye sharing it which may pose a problem (minor problem overall so still can be picked as is fairly consistent). With the addition of Gibbs and the Crouch brothers becoming more prolific players he may have a 105 avg season.
Grundy - Still fairly young and is only going to improve, only problem is that Nathan Buckley has stated that Cox will be playing more in 2018 and when Cox plays he averages horribly
Martin - Same problem as Grundy but instead of Cox its Archie Smith. With Brisbane's list being fairly young, will Fagan pump games into Archie Smith so that they are ready for a future team without Martin?
Ryder - Rd.10 bye with no Fwd/Ruc options means I will have 21/22 players in Rd.10 which is not ideal but it means he will be available for every other bye which would be a big positive. If possible I will probably turn Nic Nat into Ryder after Rd.10 if there are shades of Nic Nat dropping.
Goldstein - Decent Bye, Has averaged 120+ before as a ruckman which is massive. Last season apparently he as battling with a bit of an injury which has been fixed up now. The last time he averaged fairly low the next season his avg was 110+. My only worry would be Preuss with North being in a rebuild right now which may mean he has stints in the ruck.
So with that analysis I have narrowed it down to two different options.

Primary Option:
Gawn, Nic Nat - Fairly safe with almost everyone choosing this option with good reason. Nic Nat might see some limited minutes however since coming back from an ACL is hardly easy. Lycett/Vardy might take up a bit of the ruck and Nic might not be as confident in his knees as before. Gawn after coming back from injury burned quite a lot of people but his history says he will be back up.

Alternative (Set and Forget):
Jacobs, Goldstein - Little chance of either going down and places me in an interesting position against the rest of the competion. Both will be looking to improve (Goldy after a down season and Jacobs after losing the GF). If these two avg 95-100 I will give them a passing mark but I can see them averaging more.

The rest of the Rucks I'm not really a fan of due to the reasons I labelled above. Tell me what you think about the Alternative option vs. My primary option

Primary option baaaa baaaa just can't go along with all the other sheep can't see them flogging NN early if ever he is an impact player and always spent extra time on the bench just see them handling him with kid gloves early plus he had knee issues before he did his ACL

Alternative is a point of difference to the majority myself I am just about convinced to go with Ryder and burn a couple of trades if no cheap player pops up see him being very close to being top ruck it might all blow up in my face but would rather do that than try and predict breakout players ;D

[PassivePenguin]

So I updated my team a bit after incorporating some of your advice and strengthening the defense and not focusing too much on speculative picks which may or may not breakout. Got rid of Kelly since outside players are not as valued in SC (looking at you Hanners).
Anyway here it is:

Def: M.Hurley, E.Yeo, R.Laird, G.Birchall, C.O'Shea, T.Doedee (S.Murray, A.Morgan)
Mid: P.Dangerfield, D.Martin, T.Mitchell, N.Fyfe, P.Cripps, B.Ah Chee, L.Davies-Uniacke, T.Kelly (P.Ahern, J.Garlett, J.Worpel)
Ruc: M.Gawn, N.Naitanui (T.Olango)
Fwd: J.Billings, R.Gray, L.Dahlhaus, H.Bennell, J.Higgins, D.Venables (W.Rioli, L.Ryan)

Bank: $59k <- Have more money so can be more flexible with how I do things

Keeping Gawn and Naitanui since it makes me happy as a WCE fan to have a player in each line it frees up money in other areas as well.

With the Gray pick, I'm not convinced he will play 100% forward with the inclusions of Watts, Motlop and Rockliff (especially this guy), Port won't need to rely on him so much in the forward line. I mean lets not forget he has averaged 110 before so he is a straight lock.

This team probably resembles a more tradition guns and rookies type which may set me apart from others.
I could turn Martin into Sloane (Who I am liking at the moment) and then turn the rucks into my alternative option.
So tell me what you guys think overall compared to my first team

[DCAK]

Haha thanks Shaker, well originally I was thinking about a ruck duo of Goldstein and Gawn since Goldstein looks like he might have a massive year after the down period he had last season. With Simpson he may be 34 but I can see him performing well for one last season especially with Docherty out. Wilson will be the main man at Fremantle in the defence I am convinced with that and Williams without Wilson and Shaw on the decline will improve on his 94 average. For my defensive premiums I would say a 95 average will be a pass mark. I feel like Yeo, Laird and Hurley will drop in price quite a bit since.
Laird - May get targeted a bit since Lever and Smith won't be at Adelaide and we saw him taper off a bit towards the end of the season
Hurley - Never really like key position players and Hurley is no exception. With the inclusion of Saad, I can see Hurley's Disposals dropping which is what mainly gave his score. The price he is at is probably his peak which means that during the year I could pick him up for much cheaper if I see him picking up form.
Yeo - Even as a WCE supporter I am not 100% sure about whether Yeo will play mainly HB or Midfield. I would honestly prefer him playing HB since...
1. He was an AA in that position
2. He isn't as capable in the midfield where he looked lost
I also see him at peak price and should drop especially if Adam Simpson decides to move him more forward as a back up plan for when we are losing.

Hi Penguin, I like your team mate, it's pretty much good to go for now.  Don't worry about your ruck selections being 'boring', the question is are they good selections and I'd say yes absolutely they are.  As for Goldstein, don't do it!  He had a Barry Crocker last year and old mate Preuss will probably carve into his ruck time even more than last year.

[Peter]

Another option in the Rucks is Kruezer - good season in 2017 and has Cripps coming to prime as a clearance player

[PassivePenguin]

Another option in the Rucks is Kruezer - good season in 2017 and has Cripps coming to prime as a clearance player

Kreuzer is an interesting option but the thing with rucks is that the top 2 is almost never the same in Supercoach and plus he is quite pricey at 600k. But he will be in my options if I can see he is fully fit and doesn't look like going down after the JLT.

[Money Shot]

Love your teams structure and love every pick in your team apart from Gray. I know you have said that he has scored 110 in the past but I would prefer to wait and see and pick him up after his bye (along with Barlow) as I think they both could go 100+ but think that the likes of Heeney, Franklin, Billings and Greene are more likely too. That is just my opinion however.

With the rucks I agree that it could be a position where you could get ahead of the pack but in saying that Gawn is a real chance at being the number 1 ruck come seasons end so you need to lock him in and Nic Nat is just too cheap to ignore for mine.

Look at Big Boy McEvoy if you want a real pod ;) I think he could be a top 3-4 ruck this season.

[PassivePenguin]

Love your teams structure and love every pick in your team apart from Gray. I know you have said that he has scored 110 in the past but I would prefer to wait and see and pick him up after his bye (along with Barlow) as I think they both could go 100+ but think that the likes of Heeney, Franklin, Billings and Greene are more likely too. That is just my opinion however.

With the rucks I agree that it could be a position where you could get ahead of the pack but in saying that Gawn is a real chance at being the number 1 ruck come seasons end so you need to lock him in and Nic Nat is just too cheap to ignore for mine.

Look at Big Boy McEvoy if you want a real pod ;) I think he could be a top 3-4 ruck this season.

In terms of forwards if I turn W.Rioli into a 117 Rookie, I have enough in the bank to turn my Forward line into..
Heeney, Greene, Billings as the premiums. Would you say this is better? All 3 have potential to be in the top 5 of forwards so this could be another avenue I go through.

Big Boy McEvoy is an interesting pick but there was a period between Rd.9 and 16 where his scores were subpar so it might be a consistency issue. Also worried about Ceglar who might get stints in the ruck.

[SilverLion]

Love your teams structure and love every pick in your team apart from Gray. I know you have said that he has scored 110 in the past but I would prefer to wait and see and pick him up after his bye (along with Barlow) as I think they both could go 100+ but think that the likes of Heeney, Franklin, Billings and Greene are more likely too. That is just my opinion however.

With the rucks I agree that it could be a position where you could get ahead of the pack but in saying that Gawn is a real chance at being the number 1 ruck come seasons end so you need to lock him in and Nic Nat is just too cheap to ignore for mine.

Look at Big Boy McEvoy if you want a real pod ;) I think he could be a top 3-4 ruck this season.

In terms of forwards if I turn W.Rioli into a 117 Rookie, I have enough in the bank to turn my Forward line into..
Heeney, Greene, Billings as the premiums. Would you say this is better? All 3 have potential to be in the top 5 of forwards so this could be another avenue I go through.

Big Boy McEvoy is an interesting pick but there was a period between Rd.9 and 16 where his scores were subpar so it might be a consistency issue. Also worried about Ceglar who might get stints in the ruck.

Would steer clear of Greene personally, safer options available.

[PassivePenguin]

Love your teams structure and love every pick in your team apart from Gray. I know you have said that he has scored 110 in the past but I would prefer to wait and see and pick him up after his bye (along with Barlow) as I think they both could go 100+ but think that the likes of Heeney, Franklin, Billings and Greene are more likely too. That is just my opinion however.

With the rucks I agree that it could be a position where you could get ahead of the pack but in saying that Gawn is a real chance at being the number 1 ruck come seasons end so you need to lock him in and Nic Nat is just too cheap to ignore for mine.

Look at Big Boy McEvoy if you want a real pod ;) I think he could be a top 3-4 ruck this season.

In terms of forwards if I turn W.Rioli into a 117 Rookie, I have enough in the bank to turn my Forward line into..
Heeney, Greene, Billings as the premiums. Would you say this is better? All 3 have potential to be in the top 5 of forwards so this could be another avenue I go through.

Big Boy McEvoy is an interesting pick but there was a period between Rd.9 and 16 where his scores were subpar so it might be a consistency issue. Also worried about Ceglar who might get stints in the ruck.

Would steer clear of Greene personally, safer options available.

Greene is a pick due to the fact he is in his contract year and there have been reports that he could be looking at a $1 million contract. With changes to the MRP his suspensions could lessen and he is arguably GWS most important player. Turning 25, hitting the prime of his career.

basically Contract Year = Big Big Year (i.e Dusty, Kelly, Fyfe in the 2nd half of the year)