And with 165k in the bank

[Andrew]

This week, I did...

Matera -> I. Smith
Harris -> Thompson

Won my eliminator by 1 point. Down to 9 trades and $39.5k. Hoping David Swallow gets off at the tribunal so I don't have to trade for a week but otherwise my cash cows look good to hold. Definately wasted 2-3 trades thus far but happy with my team as it is. Shame about putting Joel Selwood as captain infront of Cox at the last minute though... cost me plenty of league games.

[Andrew]

Needing a DEF/MID in midfield to swap premiums around, which keeps Lower starting in my defence - he's looking the goods - and to cover Swan. To be clear, here's my midfield & defence lines:

DEF: Gibbs, Goddard, Delideo, Adcock, H.Shaw, Enright, Suckling (Lower, Jacobs, Toy)

MID: Boyd, Jelwood, Thompson, Goodes, Heppell, D. Swallow (Iles, Bewick, SWAN)

Should I pick up the clearly performing Hibberd for $182k? Or downgrade to Nicholson who's $104k? The plan is to swap the D/M with Goddard so I've got a premium starting in mids. Also Collingwood's bye next week means H. Shaw needs cover and Goodes may well need to be swapped into the forward line to cover Dawes, so I could start Swallow that week but I feel he's peaked.

Is it worth hopping on Hibberd now who's averaging 75?  Does Nicholson have any job security anyway? I'm favouring Bewick -> Hibberd because I can afford it, but with 8 trades left after getting in Hibberd maybe I should make sure the trade raises cash by selling Swallow. I've only got $40k in the bank currently and obviously need Pendlebury soon (easy to get him for Iles when Iles peaks?). But got other downgrades I could do, such as Knights, Darling, and of course Lower. Your thoughts?

[Ziplock]

Nicolson is also dpp from memory (cbf figuring how his name is spelt :P ), probably has nower JS but comes nearly like 80k cheaper. I wouldn't go past him for hibberd myself, not worth the price tag atm.

[Andrew]

Nicolson is also dpp from memory (cbf figuring how his name is spelt :P ), probably has nower JS but comes nearly like 80k cheaper. I wouldn't go past him for hibberd myself, not worth the price tag atm.

Yeah Nicholson is DPP and he's 78.5k cheaper. That would leave me with $219k, enough to do Iles -> Pendlebury in 2 weeks time. With 9 trades left (8 after doing the Swallow downgrade), maybe Nicholson is my man... Just to add to the difficult Melbourne don't play until Monday.

Hibberd is scoring so well, can't believe I didn't pick him up... but at least I'm getting the DEF/MID in the most effectively spot now.

[Andrew]

I'm definately getting Nicholson now, and to take on my strong eliminator opponent I'm trading out Bewick for Didak, moving him into forwards and benching Darling for this week. This also gives me further flexibility in the long haul and ships out Bewich who I'm just about writing off for the year. A big gamble for someone with my amount of trades but I'm game, as long as I downgrade one of Dawes/Knights/Darling I can still easily do Iles -> Pendlebury with 1 luxury upgrade left to do and 5 trades.

Bring it on.

[PowerBug]

Good luck bro.

[Red Pig]

Good luck bro.

+1

[PowerBug]

Good luck bro.

+1

Red Pig, stop quoting with +1.

[Andrew]

In Eliminator, I'm 60 points down and got Didak & Heath Shaw v Pendlebury & Krakouer... I think I'm going down :( If I wasn't already 60 down in arreas I'd consider myself a chance.

[Andrew]

Trades this week:

Selwood -> (no byes) Ablett
Darling -> Howe

I've got Knights & Darling who both look like they need moving on. But I'm holding hope Knights can score big v the Bulldogs and moving Darling on who doesn't look like a starting keeper anymore. After this week I look at Knights -> Sylvia, but we're still waiting to hear on Adcock's time out...

[Andrew]

I did Knights -> Callinan last week leaving me with 4 trades and $428k.

Sandi's injury obviously hurts but outside of the Cox bye this week it shouldn't cost me any more doughnuts so I'm going to take the risk in my league game (against someone who also have Cox/Sandi) and hold Sandilands until he's back. I'll just be holding onto my 4 precious trades until Pendlebury bottoms out I think as I'm just going for a League win now. Here's my starting team for this week, emergencies in CAPITAL:

DEF: Enright, H.Shaw, Goddard, Delideo, Suckling, Adcock, Lower (HEPPELL, Nicholson, Toy)
MID: Swan, Boyd, Thompson, Ablett (C), Iles, Gibbs (JACOBS, Mzungu, Didak)
RUCK: Petrie, McCauley (here's hoping!) (Cox, Sandilands)
FOR: Franklin, N.Riewoldt, Goodes, Fyfe, Dawes, Chapman, I.Smith (HOWE, Callinan, J.Tippett)

[Andrew]

Dawes out for 4-6 weeks is more important to sell than Sandilands at this point. This injury really hurts, I didn't post about it here earlier in this thread but I was considering selling Michael Johnson for either Dawes or Suckling and Suckling was too much of an unknown to jump on. Hurts so badly to think about now but that being said I was also considering hopping off Duffield for Suckling the week before I sold him for Toy. Both shocking trades.

This week, I did:

Dawes -> Lobbe (can move Petrie forward and Lobbe becomes 3rd ruck when Sandi is back)

Leaves me with 3 trades and $585k.

[Andrew]

Thinking I've probably left myself with too much cash in the bank, particularly with Heath Shaw going down, so I should've upgraded instead of getting Lobbe but he could save me if anything happens to my ruckmen. I don't know what to do with Shaw now I've got Heppell, Lower, and Adcock taking 2 spots in my defence and scoring nicely.

This week, I did:

Nicholson -> Pendlebury

To ensure I won my League game which I did. But I was always worried about him getting rested v Gold Coast and sure enough he cops a big hip & Shoulder from Warnock. Luckily my league opponent has him too but he has better backup than me. So if Pendlebury does get rested, I'll most likely bring in Burchill for Shaw and play Gibbs in midfield. Otherwise, I'll just hold Shaw until I need the upgrade.

[Andrew]

Finished 355th for the week... pretty good seeing as I was out of trades going into it!