Shenton is cooked. Is Morabito the answer for M10?

[Serial_T]

So after Cam Shenton's sub affected score on the weekend, he now has a price of $272,781 (av. 57.1) and a BE of 67. It looks like his price has peaked. What are the downgrade options out there for a M10 spot?

There is the potential for a "hail Mary" to a basement priced rook, with the aim to take the cash and run. Then there are the plethora of sub-$200k guys out there who aren't really guaranteed a game.

So my question to you guys is this: is Anthony Morabito ($194,692; BE 42) finally an option? His job security is secure, and has scores of 31 and 40 from little more than a quarter each - so you know he can crank out the points. The risks are (a) that he could play as a specialist sub for the remainder of the season due to his versatility and ability to be a quick impact, or (b) if he does play a whole game, he might not be able to run out the game and has a ceiling of about 60-70 points. But there is also the chance that he builds on his match fitness, and can begin to play out the season with a 60-80 point average: he could potentially make you a handy $100k or so leading into the final week in R23.

Really I don't see any other players in the <$200k range that have good security. Most of them are most likely to do a "Jed Bews" and clog up your last bench spot with no value to trade out.

[RookieDTer]

I unfo need more cash than Shenton to Morabito can offer. I'm thinnnnking Aiden Riley who has a terrible average of 42.... but a BE of only 1.

I already have Honeychurch, but, what about him for you?

I can't even find a good mid-price option unfortunately (Logan/Martin) were the best DEF or MID I could find (I'd have to play them as D6 for now).

[Toga]

I'm looking at either Morabito, Honeychurch or Dom Barry

[blues boy]

Jumped all over honeychurch because he gives me that dual position as a MID/FWD

[Adamant]

I need to free up 130k to go Swan to Rocky so will have to settle for O'Rourke if he's named again.

[Capper]

How many trades do you have left??

[upthemaidens]

How many trades do you have left??

At a guess, probably 2 a week until the end of the season   :P

[dirkdiggler]

So after Cam Shenton's sub affected score on the weekend, he now has a price of $272,781 (av. 57.1) and a BE of 67. It looks like his price has peaked. What are the downgrade options out there for a M10 spot?

There is the potential for a "hail Mary" to a basement priced rook, with the aim to take the cash and run. Then there are the plethora of sub-$200k guys out there who aren't really guaranteed a game.

So my question to you guys is this: is Anthony Morabito ($194,692; BE 42) finally an option? His job security is secure, and has scores of 31 and 40 from little more than a quarter each - so you know he can crank out the points. The risks are (a) that he could play as a specialist sub for the remainder of the season due to his versatility and ability to be a quick impact, or (b) if he does play a whole game, he might not be able to run out the game and has a ceiling of about 60-70 points. But there is also the chance that he builds on his match fitness, and can begin to play out the season with a 60-80 point average: he could potentially make you a handy $100k or so leading into the final week in R23.

Really I don't see any other players in the <$200k range that have good security. Most of them are most likely to do a "Jed Bews" and clog up your last bench spot with no value to trade out.

iI don't see him as the specialist sub, I think Freo are just managing him very responsibily. Lyon said that he's more ready to play a full game this week than he was against GWS....so he is definitely building. BUT...looking past his injury, you probably should consider the massive competiion for places at Freo...and Hill and Walters locked in to return soon, with De Boer and Sheridan both pushing hard for spots.

[Serial_T]

The sub is an interesting position. Most sides use it to blood youngsters who don't have the tank for a full game yet, or to nurse back a player from injury. Then you have sides like the Bulldogs who use specialist subs (Gia) to fill a role: to be versatile enough to replace most players on the park in the case of injury, and to have the ability to make an impact on the game if brought on late in the game.

When finals come along, I think you'll find most of the top contenders will start using the sub with those specialist players. With Fremantle, they have tried players like Sutcliffe, Suban, C. Pearce, Neale and Sheridan in this role over the last couple of seasons. Sutcliffe, Suban and Neale have now worked their ways into the best 21, and C. Pearce and Sheridan are now on the fringes. This now asks the question: who will Freo use as a sub in the lead up to the finals in preparation for the finals (where they won't want to be blooding rookies or playing half-fit players).

Coming back from injury over the next 2-3 weeks will be McPharlin, Silvagni, Walters, Hill and Ibbotson. You can rule a line through McPharlin, Hill and Silvagni for the sub role, and I couldn't see Ibbotson doing it for anymore that a week: he's not really an impact player, and is limited to a defensive rebounding role (although they could do a DPP switch via Chris Mayne!). That really just leaves Walters.

As for Neale, Sutcliffe and Suban - they are possibilities for the sub role during finals, but Neale has established himself in the midfield core and Suban lacks the ability to impact the game with a burst of speed in the last quarter. That just leaves Sutcliffe.

So we look at Freo's best 22 once all the players come back:

Spurr - Dawson - Duffield
Johnson - McPharlin - Ibbotson
Mzungu - Crowley - Hill
D. Pearce - Pavlich - Mayne
Walters - Clarke - Ballantyne
Sandilands - Mundy - Fyfe
I: Barlow, Suban, Sutcliffe, Neale
E: Morabito, Sylvia, de Boer

But we all know that Ibbotson and McPharlin are injury prone, so let's just budget on one of them being missing at any one time. That switches Sutcliffe into the half back line, and promotes one of Mora, de Boer or old mate Sylvia into the sub role.

So who will Freo be using as a sub in the last six weeks of the season? Maybe Walters for a week or two. Maybe Ibbotson for one. But with one eye on the finals, Freo will be trying to decide on who to vet for the vest role when it matters. It really comes down to Sutcliffe, Morabito, MDB or Sylvia. Of those four, the most versatile and the one with the greatest ability to impact a game with a burst of speed or a touch of class is Morabito. At 189 cm and 93 kg, he can play anywhere on the park, giving great flexibility to Ross Lyon - and we all know of his silky skills.

So to cut a long story short, I believe that Morabito will be the finals sub for Fremantle. They will play him in all remaining games for 2014. But given there will be players like Walters and Ibbotson coming back over the next six weeks, there is a very good chance that Morabito will play at least 3-4 games without the vest (namely against the Saints, Carlton and Brisbane). This means that his DT/AF price should increase significantly from his current price, as well as give you a player that at a pinch could give you a handy score come DT finals time.

[Serial_T]

Mitch Honeychurch has been omitted this week. This further strengthens my hesitance to pick up a young bloke who might only play once or twice.

[RookieDTer]

Mitch Honeychurch has been omitted this week. This further strengthens my hesitance to pick up a young bloke who might only play once or twice.

Mitch is on the extended bench as he plays Sunday, I thought?

[LF]

Mitch Honeychurch has been omitted this week. This further strengthens my hesitance to pick up a young bloke who might only play once or twice.

Mitch is on the extended bench as he plays Sunday, I thought?

Final teams are out and he didn`t make the cut

[RookieDTer]

Mitch Honeychurch has been omitted this week. This further strengthens my hesitance to pick up a young bloke who might only play once or twice.

Mitch is on the extended bench as he plays Sunday, I thought?

Final teams are out and he didn`t make the cut

Thats flowered, coz Shenton is obviously out too!