Pre-season Update From All Clubs

[Mr.Craig]

An interesting article which highlights who is making big improvements on the track this off-season. A lot of potentially fantasy relevant names are thrown around...but who are the ones that are going to step up in 2014?

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-12-14/preseason-update

[ADEZ]

Notes of interest:

Dayne Zorko has taken a huge step forward with his endurance and is now one of the Lions' front-runners

Tom Rockliff is back running after a back complaint

A knee injury prevented skipper Marc Murphy from producing his brilliant best this year but he says he is up to three months ahead of where he was at the same time last pre-season.

Prized recruit Dale Thomas (ankle) had a delayed start to the Blues' altitude training camp in Arizona and has been eased into his workload.

Travis Cloke has added some muscle :o and has not missed a beat

Alex Fasolo is expected to be in contention for selection having recovered from his foot injury

Clinton Young played just two games with ankle and hamstring problems dogging him. He is being taken along gradually to have him right to go when the season starts.

Dayne Beams had an awful start to 2013, a quad injury causing him to miss the first 15 rounds, but he has had a solid pre-season building upon the good form he showed late this season.

Anthony Morabito (knee) continues to be monitored but has participated in the large majority of sessions. Can the Dockers finally get him on the park?

Shane Kersten (knee) have also started the pre-season in the rehab group. All of them should be fully fit by the time the NAB Challenge begins.

Ryan Schoenmakers, Matt Suckling and Alex Woodward are on track to play in round one as they recover from their ACL injuries from last year

Mitch Clark, who has set his sights on a NAB Challenge return, is still having his training program managed.

Dom Tyson has been nursed through the early parts of pre-season

Jack Ziebell has lost 6kg as he continues to improve his aerobic fitness,

Brandon Ellis has consistently led the hard-running drills

Lance Franklin finished in the middle of the pack in his first official hitout with the club, just behind noted runner and fellow key position player Ted Richards, to impress the coaching staff.

Tom Mitchell, recovering from ankle surgery, will start running over Christmas and take part in skills work in late January

Nic Naitanui (groins) and Beau Waters (shoulder) are on managed programs but for the most part the Eagles are injury free.

[Jroo]

Cheers MC and Adez, very helpful info, as most of the players mentioned are fantasy relevant.

[Ricochet]

Notes of interest:

Travis Cloke has added some muscle :o and has not missed a beat

This plus the new rule change could mean Cloke goes to the next level again

[Holz]

Alex Woodward will he actually play round 1?

if yes you have to consider.

And yeah Ric im really tempted to pick up Cloke.

[Toga]

Nice work fellas. Not sure if Zorko's noted improving aerobic capacity means he could be in line for some more midfield time & a spot in my team next year! :o

Good to see my boy Brandon Ellis is again looking like one of the fitter players at Punt Rd once again, this guy's gonna be a star :)

[nrich102]

Zorko wont play mid.

[Vinny]

I absolutely hate Cloke, more than anyone in the AFL. Will avoid him at all costs. He always looks angry, the feeling I wanna set for my team :P

[Jukes]

Clokeyyyyyyyy <3

[dirkdiggler]

any initial thoughts on how the rotation cap might impact. ?

Swan is one that concerns me...he is so heavily rotated..perhaps meaning more time up the ground this year? We saw he play up forward on the odd occasion last season....maybe this will increase this season.. and impact his oinkability ?

[Mr.Craig]

any initial thoughts on how the rotation cap might impact. ?

Swan is one that concerns me...he is so heavily rotated..perhaps meaning more time up the ground this year? We saw he play up forward on the odd occasion last season....maybe this will increase this season.. and impact his oinkability ?

I honestly don't believe there's going to be much impact at all, both in terms of the game or fantasy.

Currently we are running at an average of 133 interchanges. The cap will reduce that by 13. For the sake of the following argument I will exclude the sub...

133 interchanges divided by 21 players = 6.33 interchanges per player per match.
120 interchanges divided by 21 players = 5.71 interchanges per player per match.

That's approximately a 10% reduction per player if it was evenly spread amongst the team.

In the case of Dane Swan he has been off the ground this year 16.5% of the time. If the 10% reduction of interchanges directly resulted in a 10% decrease in the amount of time he's actually off the field then that percentage would be 14.85%. This equates to about 18 minutes off the ground compared to the current 20 minutes.

Will that extra 2 minutes have a meaningful impact on his ability to perform as he has done in the past? Probably not. He might not be as dynamic in fourth quarters but you never know, he could actually snag a disposal or two with that added game time.

Obviously there are variables I haven't factored in but I guess my point is that spread over a whole team a small reduction in total interchanges shouldn't have a noticeable impact on individual players. Some current players seem to disagree with that but I guess only time will tell.

[dirkdiggler]

any initial thoughts on how the rotation cap might impact. ?

Swan is one that concerns me...he is so heavily rotated..perhaps meaning more time up the ground this year? We saw he play up forward on the odd occasion last season....maybe this will increase this season.. and impact his oinkability ?

I honestly don't believe there's going to be much impact at all, both in terms of the game or fantasy.

Currently we are running at an average of 133 interchanges. The cap will reduce that by 13. For the sake of the following argument I will exclude the sub...

133 interchanges divided by 21 players = 6.33 interchanges per player per match.
120 interchanges divided by 21 players = 5.71 interchanges per player per match.

That's approximately a 10% reduction per player if it was evenly spread amongst the team.

In the case of Dane Swan he has been off the ground this year 16.5% of the time. If the 10% reduction of interchanges directly resulted in a 10% decrease in the amount of time he's actually off the field then that percentage would be 14.85%. This equates to about 18 minutes off the ground compared to the current 20 minutes.

Will that extra 2 minutes have a meaningful impact on his ability to perform as he has done in the past? Probably not. He might not be as dynamic in fourth quarters but you never know, he could actually snag a disposal or two with that added game time.

Obviously there are variables I haven't factored in but I guess my point is that spread over a whole team a small reduction in total interchanges shouldn't have a noticeable impact on individual players. Some current players seem to disagree with that but I guess only time will tell.

I think, with respect, it's a slightly too simplistic view. I would suggest that clubs will rotate more strategically and it's unlikely that they will use rotations in the same way. I think there are plenty of other factors to take into account...But as you say time will tell....who knows.

[Mr.Craig]

I think the key point is that the cap is only 13 below the league average (at least when I made that post) so it hopefully won't have a huge impact. Also keep in mind that clubs can still interchange during the breaks giving them added opportunities which would bring them almost back to the 2013 average anyway.

Tbh I'd rather see Swan sitting in the pocket than on the bench because I cry whenever I see one of my players on the pine. :'(