The Process 21

[Mat0369]

Considering I don't have a loophole I'm happy to hold him until Treacy is on the bubble. It would have been nice to have Meek instead but that's not an option considering he will get a price rise this week and he also has questionable security

[Bully]

So what are your feelings about Tex? He's the top forward after 3 rounds & should tear the North defence apart, -35 BE & is on track to hit 500k. Worth a stab or just wait for Danger, Zorko etc.

[Mat0369]

I've got the cash but the only way I can do it is to swap Taranto/Cripps. Neither will lose cash, but I don't want to be sideways trading guys this early unless it's going to fix structural issues. I feel this week was the week to grab Tex and the ship may have sailed.

I've seen signs from both Cripps and Taranto that could result in them being keepers, role may be the issue right now for both. If I do make the move I can always go Taranto to Tex and Crippa to a mid premium with the cash I have available. I would have burnt through 4 of my 30 trades already for no net gain which would sting. The only reason to bring Tex in at this point is if you think he is a keeper.

So is Tex a keeper? Potentially. He won't average 130 on the year and will have a few low scores at some point, but I'm a little underwhelmed by some of the forward premiums. I broke it down in another thread but I feel this will be the structure of a lot of teams

Tier 1 (proven elite)

Dunks
Dusty
Danger

Tier 2 (second tier elite)

Zorko
Hawkins

Tier 3 (bounceback/breakout)

Butters
Heeney
JZ
Tex

Tier 4 (injured/role change)

Sidebottom
Marshall
Walters
Greene

Most teams will have all three of tier 1, 1 from tier two, one from tier three and one from tier 4. There may be a couple other guys that go on a run that scream must have later in the year. You can get away with him at F5/F6 if he averages 85-90 the rest of the way

[Mat0369]

Dow to Waterman next week. Pocket the cash. Parks looked okay but it's Marchbank's spot who isn't far off. Robertson the week after

[Mat0369]

Round 3

Lloyd, Laird, Ridley, Daniel, Stewart, Clark (Kosi, Highmore)
Macrae, Mitchell, Cripps, Taranto, Dow, Campbell, Gulden, Jordon (Powell, Fyfe, Scott)
Gawn, Flynn (Hunter)
Dunkley, Ziebell, Daniher, Impey, Warner, Rowe (Bergman, Brockman)

Round Score: 2264
Overall Rank: 3,159
Total Cash Left: $185,800

Positives: Daniher, Ziebell, Dunkley, Lloyd, Warner, Gulden, Ridley, Cripps, Gawn (C), Taranto, Flynn, Impey, Clark, Scott (bench)

Neutral: Macrae, Daniel, Laird, Stewart, Mitchell, Powell (bench)

Negatives: Rowe, Campbell, Dow, Jordon, Kosi, Brockman

A lot more positives this week. Bounce back games from Cripps and Taranto, Gawn captain and Neale out to Ridley were probably the highlights. Macrae was serviceable and could have had a great score if he wasn't caught on the bench in the third. Daniel, Laird and Stewart all scored in the 90's which was good without being wowing. Mitchell copped the heavy tag and scored about 89 which I can live with. He also got caught on the bench in the third quarter so he may have scored a little more.

The rookies are a nightmare. Rowe with a 40, Campbell, Dow, Kosi and Brockman all in the 20's, Jordon I traded in this week and copped the 40.

I get Fyfe back next week. That could be huge as I'm up a prem compared to this week. I'm pretty confident I will turn Dow into one of Chapman or Waterman next week. I need to figure out if I go a week early on Waterman and which rookies may require an early cull. There appears to be a few options for a double down next week as well before I start looking at a double up the week after that.

[Colliwobblers]

Good score good rank, doing nicely. With Fyfe on the bench !

Dow  :-X

Everyone in the same boat with rookies, and everyone would have had campbell and jordon on the field also.

Not your first rodeo, don't panic I guess. hard to ride dud rooks and it will end a lot of SC seasons chasing better/playing rooks.

[Mat0369]

Yeah Dow is the dog. He only made 9k to top it off so what a dud pick in the end. His midfield time completely disappeared this week and he just doesn't hunt the ball in kick mark scenarios.  He was stiffed a little but even at a 40 he was a trade this week.

I feel my team is looking okay with the cash I have in the bank.

There are a couple of upgrade targets I have identified that I want, it is going to be tricky to bring them in unless I have rookies pushing 300-400k which will probably be about 4 weeks away. If Daniher, Impey and Gulden can keep it up it should be an easy swap. Some of the guys I am looking at

Defence - Ryan, Houston, Doc, Mills, Williams, Hurn, Rich and Luke McDonald are all in the running for my last spot

Midfield - Oliver, Steele, Guthrie, Brayshaw, Merrett, Neale, Petracca and Gaff

Rucks - Grundy

Forwards - Dusty, Danger, Zorko, Hawkins, Sidebottom and Marshall

[Mat0369]

Round 4

Lloyd, Laird, Ridley, Daniel, Stewart, Chapman (Kosi, Highmore)
Macrae, Mitchell, Fyfe, Cripps, Taranto, Clark, Gulden, Jordon (Powell, Brockman, Scott)
Gawn, Flynn (Meek)
Dunkley, Ziebell, Daniher, Impey, Warner, Campbell (Bergman, Rowe)

Round Score: 2074
Overall Rank: 4,317
Total Cash Left: $173,700

Positives: Ridley, Laird, Stewart, Chapman, Macrae (C), Fyfe, Mitchell, Gulden, Gawn, Dunkley, Ziebell, Impey, Warner

Neutral: Lloyd, Cripps, Taranto, Clark, Rowe (bench), Powell (bench), Campbell, Brockman

Negatives: Daniel, Jordon, Daniher, Scott, Hunter>Meek

This week was a freaking mess. It started with Flynn out and a potential donut in the ruck. I had two choices and settled on Meek over Treacy. I had a look at the ruck split between Meek and Darcy and found they preferred Meek in the ruck. I figured if I could pocket 80k over two weeks and then downgrade to Treacy later it may have been worth the trade. Then Meek spent 50% TOG, Darcy dominated, he put up a 30 and only made 30k. Absolutely horrid trade against my better judgement and feels like a pretty big waste. I was better off copping the donut.

Daniel has been a crapshow and the suspension at least allows me to trade him out. He has lost me about 80k and seems to be without a position which is even worse. The Dogs prefer a combo of Dale, Wood, JJ and Williams launching their attacks out of the backline and he was thrown into the forward line after HT.

Jordon was a waste of a trade. I was contemplating Tex and figured Jordon will make at least 150k. His cash gen has completely stalled and it wouldn't shock me if he is out of the team.

Jordan Clark also getting thrown deep into the forward line was horrendous for his scoring. To add to the pain Taranto had 10 clangers and Cripps got ripped off a 110+ score magically losing 10 points at HT.

I have a few options this week and I think I'm going the aggressive route. Daniel is out. I could turn him into Jones and bypass Waterman. I then look at either Danger in the forward line or Lyons in the middle as a POD.

If Flynn doesn't get named and Meek is dropped I'll have to look at Grundy and fix my ruck line.

[Colliwobblers]

i had a shocker too mate about the same score. gruny C over gawn, daniels daniher and a couple spud rooks onfield....

could be worth sorting the rucks with the luxury of daniels $$ never going to be an easy trade to get done

jones looks safe for awhile in the port side.

[Bully]

Not a terrible score under the circumstances, Grundy needs to be your first upgrade however.

[Mat0369]

I was tossing up Steele, Oliver or Danger for an upgrade this week. I ended up passing on Steele and I'm waiting to see team announcements tomorrow.

My gut said to trade Jordon to Waterman but Goodwin came out and backed him this week. He also said that due to the May injury they swung the team around and it hurt Jordon. I still don't think he will average all that well but he may make some more cash. I'm still unsure who I downgrade for Waterman and it's now Oliver vs Danger with my gut saying Danger will tear North to shreds.

[Mat0369]

Round 5

Lloyd, Laird, Ridley, Stewart, Chapman, Kosi (Clark, Highmore)
Macrae(C), Mitchell, Fyfe, Cripps, Taranto, Powell, Campbell Gulden (Jordon, Brockman, Scott)
Gawn, Grundy (Flynn)
Dunkley, Ziebell, Daniher, Impey, Warner, Bergman (Waterman, Rowe)

Round Score: 2252
Overall Rank: 3,153
Total Cash Left: $103,700

Positives: Stewart, Kosi, Macrae, Fyfe, Powell, Gulden, Gawn, Grundy, Dunkley, Ziebell, Daniher, Bergman, Scott (bench), Rowe (bench), Jordon (bench)

Neutral: Lloyd, Laird, Chapman, Cripps, Taranto, Warner

Negatives: Ridley, Campbell, Mitchell, Waterman

So there is more good than bad. I had to trade Daniel to Grundy to avoid the donut. The other option I was tossing up was Hickey and he injured his PCL so I lucked out there. I'm probably being harsh on Lloyd and Laird but both were below their averages this week.

Mitchell is getting about 30 touches a game but it's not converting to points. He has dropped in cash significantly so those that started without him appear to be the winners right now. The clanger numbers appeared to hurt him today.

Cripps and Taranto are becoming victims of circumstance and it's hurting my team. Cripps will come out, absolutely dominate and then have a quarter where he disappears. This week in the second he copped a free against that resulted in a 50 and goal to Port. It absolutely killed all the work he did that quarter and the chance at a ton. His DT has also been higher than his SC which is not the norm. The glimpses that he can rip a game apart are still there but it's not happening over 4 quarters.

Taranto seems to be following a similar script. 11 clangers last week killed his score and this week it was his disappearing act in the 2nd quarter.

The backline is going to be the trick this week. If Highmore doesn't return I may be facing a donut. I was pretty set on Clark>Jones but Jones looks a bit battered and may need a rest. Hopefully the 8 day break is enough for him to get up.

The trades I am considering this week

Clark>Jones as mentioned earlier
Gulden/Warner>Walsh

Gulden, Campbell and Warner may all be close to topping out. Walsh is the most undervalued mid right now based off points to price. I wasn't sold on Walsh heading into the season and felt he would be more of a DT option since he can turn it over but his scoring this year has been ridiculous. It leaves me with about 20k/5k in the bank depending which one I trade out of Warner or Gulden

[Bully]

I'll probably cut Gulden this week, think he's settled into a scoring pattern and it's clearly on the decline. BE of 51 very achievable but cash is king right now.

I'm probably bringing in a mid, toss up between Walsh & Neale. I like Walsh but the Curnow tag aside I think Neale is the one who can make you pay if you don't have him.

[Mat0369]

If you can afford Neale it might be the time to bring him in. For 560k I don't think I'm going to get much better than Walsh since I already have Titch.

Gulden's scoring appears to have settled into the 60's range. The reason I am thinking Warner is Rowbottom. He appears to be fit having played VFL and will chew into those CB's. Both should hit their BE's but I don't know how much more cash they will make

[RoughRed]

I'll probably cut Gulden this week, think he's settled into a scoring pattern and it's clearly on the decline. BE of 51 very achievable but cash is king right now.

I'm probably bringing in a mid, toss up between Walsh & Neale. I like Walsh but the Curnow tag aside I think Neale is the one who can make you pay if you don't have him.

If I had a functioning backline I would be taking Neale (already have Walsh)
IMO Neale will be moving into some serious SC scores over the next weeks
I think the Lions know they need to protect him, and are working on that, plus he was moving so much better so maybe the back issue is resolved