An opinion of the Bargain Ruck Theory

[nillation]

The Bargain Ruck Theory (BRT) is something I’ve seen thrown around for a few years. Most recently proposed by nick1408 (it looks like he is the originator too) in an article on DT Talk here

http://dreamteamtalk.com/2011/02/25/bargain-ruck-theory/

The article was followed by lots of flaming and trolling in the comments so I decided it was best to post my thoughts over here. In short nick1408 proposes that money spent on rucks is money that could be better spent in other positions, particularly the midfield. He suggests that you pick basement price rucks that may see some games and use the money to add an extra gun somewhere else or provide your team with another captain option. He justifies this by pointing out the lower average of the “premium” rucks compared to other positions and often the inconsistency that causes this. He also uses his own teams over the last 2 seasons as examples.

While it’s good to see a fresh idea I don’t think the BRT really flies. The reason for this is that your net points don’t actually increase. Players are priced for a reason and unless they are discounted or undervalued then the price is a very accurate representation the average that player will make. The BRT has negative effects too; the ceiling of your team is reduced and the potential for improving the overall team value is crippled.

The BRT does not provide any benefits except for reducing risk in an area that has burnt many coaches in the past. The bottom line is that you get what you pay for. Redistributing money doesn’t increase your score unless you are taking it off the bench and planting it on the field (there are exceptions). Pumping up the output of one area is completely negated by the reduction in another. The only time it’s a good idea is to attain those must haves in each position (think Goddard, Swan, Chapman) or provide another captain option and even then you should consider restructuring your team first.

The single largest reason against the BRT is that compared to other positions basement price ruckman do not get games and score much lower. An extra keeper in your midfield is an occupied position that could be used for a cash cow and increase the value of your team. Midfielders traditionally yield the best cash cows but even forwards and backs have provided reasonable performers recently (Rockliff, Podsiadly, Broughton, Rioli, Wonamirri). Rucks, however, are very lucky if they increase their price by 150k.

A Bargain Midfield Theory would be more plausible in my opinion but it’s still not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Spreading rookies out over the positions allows you to access the best rookies and guns in each area, not just being restricted to one, and increases your versatility.

A coach who can make cash faster can upgrade quicker. It would make more sense to adopt the lock and load approach for the rucks and pick two guns off the bat knowing that the odds of more than one rookie ruckman shining is not worth it.

If you’re still reading well done. Every coach aims to have a team full of keepers before finals and to do so the coach needs to make money fast. Eventually, the coach who began with the bargain rucks will want to upgrade them to keepers and when they go to do so they will find that they don’t have enough money or had left it too late in the season. Building on this, they will also find that while they were able to keep up with teams early in the season and smash out some big scores with their power midfield they just can’t keep up in the second half of the season when the midfield cash cows are being harvested.

I don’t like seeing 100,000 different variations of the same team so I’m a little conflicted about dismissing the BRT. It simply isn’t for me. But remember, the team that wins this year will take risks and will break the mould. It will be trades and timing that separates the winner from the rest so don’t be afraid to take a chance and try something unique.



As an aside this is what has worked best for me in the past and what I will continue to employ. The best ruck strategy is to pick a gun and a mid priced improver. I will use examples from my previous three years because I fared very well with this combo. It provided high scoring while increasing value and keeping spots for rookies open.

2008

Cox, Troy Simmonds, rookie, rookie

Simmonds went on to average top 3 that year and I think was actually 2nd for points because he played every game.

2009

Cox, Hamish McIntosh, rookie, rookie,

Hamish McIntosh was top 4 on average and 2nd for points. A quick trade from Cox to Clark yielded good results.

2010

Sandilands, Hille, rookie, rookie

Hille increase in price substantially and was a quick trade to cox when he got injured.

[Prospector_1]

Great post, thx.

[Chopps]

fantastic post. good stuff