Competitive SC For Dummies.

[Phasir]

Phasir's Competitive SC For Dummies.

  So it's come to that time of year again where all but one team's failed to reach that coveted #1 Overall, position, so we turn our attention to the coming year with eyes of optimism that "it'll have to be our turn soon."   Simple maths tells us that we can't all finish a year in the #1 overall ranking spot, but we can set our sights on something a bit more realistic whilst keeping that holy-ground in sight.  We're just going to need to remember the lessons we've learnt over the last futile seasons of trades and injuries.  So, let's set out the 5 most important guidelines for competitive Dream-Teaming, then we’ll go through them all in a minute.

• Picking the right rookies
• Picking the best, most reliable premiums
• Resisting the itchy trade finger
• Plan for the byes
• Get lucky

1 ~ Picking the right rookies seems simple enough, but there's some underlying figures to look at before selecting them.  The difference between winning and losing often comes down to what rookies you field, even more so than what mid-priced/premium players you've got out there.  Firstly look at their age, mature aged recruits have a proven history you can check back through on their state level's team stats, some even let you go back years seeing progression.  Secondly make sure to check NAB scores, and team positions, see if there's any recently made holes in the team's list that are there to be filled by your rookie.  Thirdly R1. if they're not named, but you know there's another rookie who is, you may have to leave him for a future cash cow, because we all know there's no point having a cash cow that isn't getting games (Couch from Melb.  this year anyone??)



2 ~ Picking the right premiums seems like a no-brainer as well, but we can all get burnt by a non-performing premium, Leuenburger, Mumford, Rockliff, Murphy & Gibbs this year to name a few.  The only advice I have is to say that these premiums are in your team to provide the brunt of your points from the start of the season through to the finals, if their scoring is erratic your entire teams' scoring will be erratic, so, what's the best way to avoid this potentially disastrous premo-minefield? I'd suggest listing proven guns, avoid going for one year wonders, look at O'Keeffe from Sydney, definitely past his golden SC years you'd assume, but he had a dominant year capped off with a captain’s knock in this years' Grand Final that saw him leave with the Norm Smith & probably would've netted him well over 170.  Other fellas of note are Boyd(WB) Ablett(GC) Swan(COLL) I’m not saying these guys are old, but in terms of our SC teams we tend to avoid picking players past 27 for some unknown reason they're deemed to be "slowing down" I'm as guilty of this misnomer as anyone.



3 ~ Resisting the itchy finger is one of the most difficult things to do all season, the trades we get to start the year never seem to be enough, but its that exact fact that makes this game so enthralling to play.  The key is to avoid trading in the flavour of the month, Stanton this year in particular, also its key not to ditch an underperforming premium, unless there's been an injury you're likely to lose more points by downgrading than you would had you kept them, and after all that you now have one less trade to save a doughnut from an injury.  Then there's the 'under-priced' players that you feel obligated to bring in for the sake of bringing them in (see Fyfe this year) we know they're capable, but there's a reason why they're under-priced, usually due to an injury that could very well re-occur, or just handicap them enough to lower their scoring to that of an adequate rookie.



4 ~ Possibly one of the most crucial points these days as the AFL seems set on its 3 MBR's.  There were a few methods to combat them this year, I'll outline them and then let you decide on their merits for yourselves.

MRB Strategy: 1.  The Tank Round, using this strategy the player will select the majority of their team from players with their bye falling on the same round so they have their best team on the field for 2 out of 3 rounds, this can be risky, but you could be looking  at winning some league rounds, so if you're focusing on league this could be for you.

MRB Strategy: 2.  The Spread, this one takes a bit more planning & savvy trading leading up to the byes, the goal here is to field a whole team every round of the byes, this will lower your single round scores during the byes due to missing a fair few premiums through each round, so it can see you lose one, two, or even all three league matches during the  byes.  However this strategy can see you net a bigger overall score over the three rounds the choice is really up to you.

The key with either of these is to make sure you stick to your plan, if you start trading in & out players crucial to the setup you put in place which compromised the start of your season so you could gain ground during the byes you'll have wasted a lot of points, cash & trades in the process, obviously there'll be injuries which will throw a spanner in the works, but they're a challenge that'll have to be worked around for your strategy to work effectively, hold firm & stick with your strategy.



5 ~ Now the most important rule of all, bring all your four leaf clovers, rabbits feet, wear your favourite undies and socks, stand on your head with your fingers, toes and other bodily attachments crossed, because at the end of the day, so much of SC does come down to luck, all the planning in the world can get you to a position to challenge for the #1 spot, but at the end of the day it'll be down to the bounce of the lovely, lemon shaped ball we know and love :P



Thanks for reading & if any of you have some more suggestions feel free to chuck a comment on. happy SC'ing ;D