Round 1 players team advice

[Drak]

Thought we should have a serious discussion about team strategy and players for the opening rounds.

I saw Ringo state that negating opening round players should be the preference. What do we think here?

Will it matter if it all comes out in the wash over the season with the amount of games played in the end?

Please post your opinions, thanks in advance.

Drak

[Ringo]

My simple explanation is that teams that have the Rd 0 bye play 23 games in SC whereas teams that play rd 0 have only 22 games.  So basically you drop prem points over the season hence the comment to have minimum Rd prems.
Agree however a lot of teams are looking very similar at the moment. Apart from rookies most teams have only 2/3 prem different.

[GoldDigger]

... but doesn't the KFC SuperCoach AFL season begin in round 1, and not in Opening Round?

[Ringo]

Yes but players that played in Rd 0 have byes in Rds 2, 3 , 5 & 6 where other teams have their 2nd bye in Rd 0 meaning that prems who play Rd 0 have 1 less game to play than other teams which may effect overall scores etc.

[Mat0369]

It's also best 18 in those rounds. I am not going to load up with 2 to 3 prems from each team to leave me 4 to 6 players short on a bye week, but it doesn't make sense to ditch them for someone else when you feel like they're going to be top end in their positions.

If I am 50/50 on a couple of guys and they play opening round it will help my decision since I get an early look at them, seeing how they score and what role they have in a real game.

Walsh is the perfect sideways corrective option if he kills it the first two weeks. The round 2 bye makes it easy to sideways trade to him if you have a prem that is struggling or an injury hits. You could also just start him if he is THAT good in round 1 knowing you don't have to burn the trade. A rookie like Laurie for the Dees presents more value when you get a free hit on the opening round score and a price rise in round 2. Grundy's value is too good to pass up, the Swans have a round 5 bye but I'm still going to pick him and try and field 18 that week with one ruck or hopefully luck out with Sweet playing.

Like I understand the theory of having an extra prem play in those rounds, but there is another way to look at it. If player X averages 3 more ppg over the other 23 games of the season, that's 69 points you make back up. If you are looking at that one week in isolation, if you're prems score 115 on average, you need that rookie to score 46 to break even. If they score 46 in a bye week they're probably not counting anyway.

[Ringo]

2 ways of looking at it as you say. You can look at Lions/Carlton Prems after observing 2 games and then make a move on them prior to price increase.
I am starting Gawn/Grundy and if necessary can upgrade 1 at their bye if need be. Daicos is the other Rd 0 prem I am starting atm.

I am also watching the major byes as well with the 11 prems I have atm it is 2/3/2/4

[Drak]

Solid reasoning lads.

I feel like people who can hold on to these massive amounts of trades because of proper team planning with the byes will be left with a mountain to use at the pointy end.

[Mat0369]

The key is to try and finish your team off as quickly as possible and get the dud scores off the field. I think the forward line is where it will be won and lost, there are currently no stand out forwards and picking the right starting options will go a long way to getting ahead in the overall.

Opening Round is possibly the best or worst thing that will happen this year, we're all either going to get sucked in by 1 score to bring someone into our team that is a complete flop, or we get a look at players with a free hit to start them in our side the next week with a great score under their belt.