The Process 21

[Mat0369]

Darcy is a walking injury and Lobb is out long term. I don't think either option is bad at R3.

[Bully]

The solution with Briggs is to select Flynn, good chance you get 1 playing most weeks. If Briggs nails the spot you can sit Flynn at R3 until his time arrives. I see this arrangement as largely fool proof.

As far as the rookie score is concerned, it's risky but if you manage to pull in a 60 then it's probably worth it. We all know that Williams is a good shot for a 95 average & that is perfect for his price. Carlton will also be wanting to see a return on their investment.

That solution only works if Flynn can be picked as a defender which he can't be. You need coverage down back and you need Williams to outscore the other player by about 100 points on the season.

Then again, Meek looks pretty good @ R3

There is this as well. If Flynn is picked Round 1 Briggs won't be. I'd pick Flynn in that case, but if Briggs gets the nod I'd start Meek at R3.

Thinking outside the box here, most years we select a floating donut, usually at r3. If this spot is taken with a playing ruck then I don't see an issue with playing that man at D8. I will be watching Bailey Laurie with keen interest, could be the perfect DPP pairing with Briggs.

As for Meek, will be interesting to watch his dual with Darcy, could be a Riley O'Brien scenario or could be a 1 round wonder.

[Samsturmfels]

Current side as it stands

Lloyd, Laird, Mills, Stewart, Clark, Briggs, Kosi, Highmore
Neale, Fyfe, Gaff, Cripps, Taranto, Campbell, Bruhn, Powell, Brockman, Gulden, McNeil
Gawn, Grundy, Meek
Martin, Ziebell, Daniher, Impey, Dow, Warner, Bergman, Rowe

16k left over.

I have had a number of guys in and out of my side including 5 premiums down back in one draft. Dom Tyson is one that I had in after the North game and then thought about it a little bit more before taking him back out. If he plays he could be a great rookie priced player but then I saw how many mids North were missing that are due back for Round 1.

After watching the North game it gave me a little bit of cold feet over Simpkin/Cunnington in my side. LDU looked amazing, Anderson is due back along with Garner. If Cunnington gets thrown forward a bit more I'm not sure how he will score. Simpkin is also most likely to get tagged and that is something he struggled with last season. I'd personally rather wait and see before trading one in but I could flip again on that before the start of the season.

To upgrade Cunnington I had to downgrade Heppell. It allowed me to bring in Gaff who I think will benefit from the rule changes with the way he uses his running ability to cover the ground and receive handballs.

I am also targeting kick out specialists in defence. Stewart and Lloyd both fill that role. Laird is playing as a permeant mid so I think he picks himself. I'm not sure that Mills looked all that comfortable playing in the midfield at CB's and played better on the wing when pushed out. He is the one I may look to offload to a Daniel/Ridley type. If Williams doesn't get suspended he is the obvious pick so that's also an easy downgrade.

Like you said on my thread, your team structure is very similar to mine. Although a pod, im not sure about the Gaff pick (only highest average ever is a 108.

[Mat0369]

Gaff isn't in my team anymore. It's changed about 5 times since posting this but with the same structure.

4 prem defenders and Clark
Neale, forward in the midfield, Cripps, Taranto M5 and rookies
Gawn, Grundy, Flynn/Hunter/Meek
Premium at F1, Ziebell F2, Daniher, Impey, rookies

I'm still undecided in my D4 with Lloyd, Laird and Stewart locked

Unsure of M2 and if I work out my cash to upgrade the forwardine player to a Macrae. I've gone cold on Heppell as well after using the Tooserious calculator.

Forward line is pretty set pending rookies. Same with rucks

[Bully]

Top looking team, curious to know your approach with R3?

As for M2, plenty of choices available, Dusty looks to be ripping value so maybe go that way. All reports are he's tearing up the track & looks primed for a big year.

[Mat0369]

I had Dusty as my F1 for a while and then swung him into my midfield and moved Dunkley into my forward line. After downgrading Heppell I had about 150k to play with. I could also downgrade Flynn/Meek to Hunter to give me 175k. That allowed me to upgrade Doc to one of Mills/Ridley/Daniel and upgrade Dusty to Macrae. That still leaves me with Fyfe at M3, Cripps at M4 and Taranto at M5

[Ringo]

Looking good Matt. Only issue I see is will you get a price rise from Hunter as I think he goes when Ryder comes back but that is unknown at the moment.

[Mat0369]

Looking good Matt. Only issue I see is will you get a price rise from Hunter as I think he goes when Ryder comes back but that is unknown at the moment.

It's pretty much the same with all the rookie rucks. We don't know who gets the nod out of Flynn/Briggs and both could be in and out. Meek is in as long as Darcy is out. That could be a couple rounds or it could be half a season. At least if Hunter gets a gig you get a ton of cash out of the move. If he gets dropped you get a loophole option.

[Mat0369]

So Flynn has been named for Round 1 along with Hunter. I'm trying out a two rookie ruck set up and my side looks like this

Lloyd, Laird, Daniel, Stewart, Clark, Butts, Kosi, Highmore
Neale, Macrae, Fyfe, Martin, Cripps, Taranto, Dow, Powell, Brockman, Gulden, Scott
Gawn, Flynn, Hunter
Dunkley, Ziebell, Daniher, Impey, Campbell, Warner, Bergman, Rowe

12 keepers. When I look at ownership percentages my team is actually pretty cookie cutter which is surprising. Butts, Impey and Bergman are my only players under 15% ownership.

[IntegralX]

So Flynn has been named for Round 1 along with Hunter. I'm trying out a two rookie ruck set up and my side looks like this

Lloyd, Laird, Daniel, Stewart, Clark, Butts, Kosi, Highmore
Neale, Macrae, Fyfe, Martin, Cripps, Taranto, Dow, Powell, Brockman, Gulden, Scott
Gawn, Flynn, Hunter
Dunkley, Ziebell, Daniher, Impey, Campbell, Warner, Bergman, Rowe

12 keepers. When I look at ownership percentages my team is actually pretty cookie cutter which is surprising. Butts, Impey and Bergman are my only players under 15% ownership.

Structure notwithstanding, I can't say I like that team at all. There seems to be a lot of wasted dollars in there to only wind up with 12 keepers and 2 of them being low end keepers in Cripps and Taranto. Far too many expensive rooks for me, I can see cash generation being an issue if they don't score well early.

[Mat0369]

I'm starting Cripps and Taranto regardless. Cripps has been a 115+ player before and I see him getting back. There is way too much value in picking Cripps ad I don't see him as a low end keeper. Taranto I'm expecting to bounce back and best case scenario becomes a top 10 mid, worst case I sideways him later or he sits at M8 and averages 100-105. The one guy in that midfield I would trade out if I had spare cash would be Dusty. To make the move I would probably downgrade Butts to Briggs and run the loophole at D6 using Kosi and Highmore assuming they both get named.

Here are the rookies we have available so far

Defence

Lachie Young - 200k for a guy that isn't high possession and not an intercept player off HB.
Jetta - Hard pass
Butts - In my team. He looks to have a good opportunity at the intercept role along with Doedee. He is 21 so he is mature and coming into his second season of playing games for the Crows.
Cox - 1k cheaper than Butts
Briggs - Likely not to play
Jones - Likely not to play
Kosi - In my team and just about every other team
Highmore - See Kosi and may not even play.
Murray - Ankle injury and may not play anyway even if he is fit. Also likely out when Talia returns in a fortnight and almost impossible to move at a basement price

Midfield

Tyson - Too risky with North missing Cunnington, Anderson and Dumont
Dow - In my side. Expected to play a lot of midfield and coming into his third season. Based on score history he is risky but he is going to be tougher to bring in if he does perform.
Campbell - In my side and will play off HB for the Swans. Amazing kick of the footy.
Perkins - 50/50 proposition and is pricey
Bruhn - Looked class but will play deep forward and need goals to supplement his scoring.
Powell - In my side and will play this week. He is playing higher up the ground than Bruhn so if I had to pick one it's probably Powell.
Ely Smith - Didn't even get named for the pre-season game. even though he has been 'tearing up the track'. I doubt he gets a gig and if he does he is on the fringe.
James Jordan - Brayshaw, Viney and Oliver all didn't play in the pre-season game. That would push Jordan into the reserves pretty quickly
Ralphsmith - Two games at HB before getting dropped? It's also Pickett's spot at HB so he won't play.
Sharp - May get the Rayner spot and could be worth it. Probably the only one I am missing
Brockman - In my team. Looked good but the worry is when Wingard comes back he goes out.
Downie - In the Hawks article this week they did not list him as a potential debutant. He didn't look great either in the first half of the game against North.
Lazzaro - He could play and be out just as fast round 2 with the North mids set to return over the first three weeks.
Gulden - In my side
McNeil - Probably only one of him or Scott gets the gig as the cheapie mid. Scott looked better and McNeil is probably prone to the string of 30's considering his role.
Scott - In my side

Rucks

Flynn - Yup
Hunter - Yup

Forwards

Ziebell - In just about every side
Daniher - See Ziebell
Impey - Averaged 74 playing at HB two seasons ago. His JS is also pretty good so I'll pick him
McDonald - Pricey and a KPP
Henry - Probably only in for the period Walters is out
Cahill - Pretty expensive and I don't think he will score very well
Chandler - See Cahill
Warner - Was everywhere in the game against the Giants. Looked really good and the spot is there for him.
Henry - Awkward priced and playing deep in the Pies forward line may not be ideal. Could be a decent downgrade option if one of Impey/Daniher/Ziebell flops and he performs.
Fullarton - He may play round 1, but how do you think the Lions are going to go with Hipwood, Daniher and Fullarton all up forward? They're going to provide 0 pressure when the ball hits the ground and are quite top heavy. From a team balance perspective I don't see it lasting all that long.
Jones - Young key forward in a terrible team. No thanks
Evans - Pass. If he does play I don't know how he holds the spot.
Bergman - In my team and is fringe in terms of even getting named.
Rowe - In my side
Waterman - Looks to have fallen out of frame for round 1.

The way I see it is I pay a little extra for the quality cash gen or I get stuck with a bench of crap that's dropped after 2 weeks and lots of 30-40 score slow burn rookies. Worst case the Impey/Dow picks don't work out and I can easily downgrade them with my two correction trades. If they do pan out it is going to be a lot harder for others to bring them in.

[Bully]

So you are going without Grundy or Gawn?

[Mat0369]

I'll start Gawn and go without Grundy. If the rookie rucks pan out they should be the biggest money makers

[RoughRed]

love the precis on the rooks - pretty hard nosed but fair IMO
Reckon you can sit out Thursdays and Fridays game and make changes if need be before Saturday Start time knowing who will be playing
Thursday Cripps, Dow and Martin affected - zero rooks?
Friday only Macrae? Scott, McNeil and henry as rook?
Saturday hard decisions but 8 teams playing

[Bully]

I'll start Gawn and go without Grundy. If the rookie rucks pan out they should be the biggest money makers

Risky but I see the logic. Just gotta hope Briggs doesn't spoil the party.