Mitch Robinson‘s debut was overshadowed by 2009’s most popular fantasy player injuring his knee.
The mainstream media were all talking about Ben Cousins, but fantasy coaches’ eyes were mostly glued to the progress of Andrew Raines on Thursday night, and he was having about as good a game as could be expected under the circumstances until he fell with a grimace in the last quarter and came off limping with a problem in what coach Terry Wallace described later as the lateral outside of the left knee. Dr Peter Larkins diagnosed the injury as bruising on radio MMM at the time, but no one will know for sure until the swelling goes down and scans are done in the next couple of days.
Those of us who bought him – and according to FanFooty’s databases, he is the most popular player among those of you who have used FanFooty’s Exteam feature (which is how you get live team and head to head scoring) – will be hoping that it’s just bruising and nothing more serious, because this could be the start of a 2008-level backopalypse given the continuing paucity of options around his price. With Lachie Henderson not making the Lions 25, if his owners are to be forced into a sideways trade, the options are players like Jarryn Geary, Josh Head, Shannon Hurn and Ricky Petterd, all of whom have upside and/or fitness concerns. Depending on the length of the injury, the temptation may be to rely on Stephen Hill, Jared Petrenko or the like while Raines recovers… but that’s why they were on the bench in the first place, we didn’t want to start a darn rookie in the backs! Gah!
Robinson’s excellent numbers, however, were a welcome sight to those who made the right decision, especially those who were hemming and hawing over him or Dayne Beams and couldn’t get into the sites during the 160 minutes of maelstrom. For myself, however, it was tinged with a flash of hatred for Dean Laidley. I don’t need much reason to hate him at the best of times, but I have now discovered how, even though he has named Liam Anthony and Jack Ziebell in his starting 18 for round 1, he is going to sabotage my team: he has somehow managed to convince me subconsciously to leave Robinson as an emergency and start Anthony, which could cost me anywhere up to 80 points! Grr!
Ryan Houlihan looked like being a bit of a disappointment by not joining in the party, but it was an excellent sign for fantasy purposes that he got some cheap numbers in the last quarter when he was rotated into the middle to give the regulars a rest. He’ll be right. The frustrating thing about it from my point of view is that he may very well be the nuff-nuffs’ trade of choice for Raines, if (as they wouldn’t have if they hadn’t done their research) they didn’t have Houlihan to begin with. Feh!
Those of you who were whinging in the chat about my recent potting of Chris Judd will not get a retraction. My comments were only ever fantasy related – and I didn’t rule him out of SC considerations. Give it a month and see if he’s still averaging 100 in DT. Harrumph!
I’m sure there are plenty of other aspects of this game you want to talk about in the comments, so I’ll leave the rest to you and go to bed. It’s been a big day, with the kicker being that Champion Data have decided, in their infinite wisdom, that no one should have live Super Coach scores – not even the Super Coach site! Further news on this if it comes to hand. Rest assured that the SC numbers currently on FanFooty are the right ones – beware incorrect imitations. I’ll post my teams tomorrow for you to snipe at. I hope your team went well!
Brad
March 27, 2009 at 2:38 am
The only thing that makes the raines injury bearable for me is knowing that 90% of people have him and they will all be in the same boat
mEnty
March 27, 2009 at 2:43 am
I couldn’t watch the game, caught the stats after.
Wondering, wtf happened to NG Brown in second half…?
As to Raines, I am thinking of keeping him, maybe, depending on length/seriousness of injury, who knows, could make him a unique! haha
Simonoz
March 27, 2009 at 2:48 am
Monty – from New York City – many thanks for your blogs/insight/humor over the last few months leading up to that crazy 160 minutes last night, followed by Cousins torn hammy….poor bastard.
As a newbie to this site, but not SC – I’m assuming that your around all season right to help us poor lost souls?
Certainly some surprises at the selection table last night – had many coaches punching their computer screens – and that was before they tried to log onto SC – which basically fizzled out like a lame duck.
No live SC scores this year it seems huh?
I guess the AFL does wield the power by only promoting live DT scores…..or is this a Champion Data decision?
Again thanks – could NEVER have put together an semi-decent without you.
Best, SimonOz
ben
March 27, 2009 at 3:41 am
i couldnt get in to get broughton out of my side so im stuck with broughton and suban on the bench with an injured raines…
Chad
March 27, 2009 at 6:31 am
Stupidly i went Houlihan to raines on the last day to save the 50k. If the knee is bad i might have to re pay that 50k and the more valuable trade to get houlihan back on board. Lets hope the knee isn’t that bad.
Deledio was crap, but got some garbage for me to get to 85, 85 from newman is good enough. Simmonds 97 is a good start and raines scored well until the knee.
I think an interesting point though monty, is that round 1 scores only count in 1 price change instead of the normal 3. Which is bad for mitch robinson owners, but good for joel bowden owners.
Jesterface
March 27, 2009 at 7:30 am
@ben
I’m in the same boat….
darcyd
March 27, 2009 at 7:31 am
same traded houlihan to raines to save the money i am an idiot
Locky27
March 27, 2009 at 7:51 am
There was lots of downhill skiing in that game, so i wouldn’t be too scared by Judds ‘high’ score. It really should have been a lot higher.
korza
March 27, 2009 at 8:09 am
Congradulations to fanfooty for holding up on what was a nightmare for all fantasy sites.
Thanks Monty on your wisdom to provide us with a an alternative to mainstream media.
PS:Your D/T S/C sides were up last night i cant seem to find them.?
Geoff
March 27, 2009 at 8:11 am
Glad to say I didn’t have Raines. Had him in my team a few years back and he drove me mad so wasn’t going to follow up again. Houlihan was great, in the end. Managed to get in and change Broughton with Petrenko, I’ll have a full team but wish I’d kept Robinson
Orba
March 27, 2009 at 8:24 am
I was one of the lucky ones who sarcrficed the 50k to upgarde from raines to houlihan. I just think he is a much “cheaper” player as in gets sleasy sideways kicks and what not but his 6 tackles really suprised me i must say. Also traded enright for scotland which alhough he didnt get the 100 i was hoping for there was definitely signs that once he gits fit he will come very good.
On the downside had brown who looked awesome early and then when they started to get thumped wallace leaves his best skilled player sitting at full forward. WTF????? Was he not seeing the amount of turn overs coming out of defence? Why not put brown as a sweeper? What a tool!
Deledio also was shocking but still got 85. I guess that could be seen as a good sign??
Just curious what was everyones thoughts on jacobs game? Im not sure how how many people in my boat with jacobs and spencer as the backup rucks? Im a little concerned that one stevens, carazzo, fischer and walker are back even though they are not ruckmen jacobs will be gone!!!
LASTLY. How did bruce matthews from the sun not have wiggins in his best?? I thought he was the best man on the field and yet he didnt even give him a vote?? What a tool!! Im guessing no one backed wiggins on the new fantasy sportingbet site??
Ant
March 27, 2009 at 8:37 am
Let’s hope the vestigial organ/Laidley incarnate that is mark harvey does the right thing and plays Suban and/or Broughton for the next few weeks to cover for Raines.
Heater
March 27, 2009 at 8:38 am
Raines – depending on the extent of his injury I’ll keep him for the moment. If he is out for sometime the biggest problem is who to replace him with…..
Houlihan – Glad to see he got easy possies in junk time. He will be the best cash cow down back IMO.
Boomerforbrownlow
March 27, 2009 at 8:39 am
I was happy and sad about last nights game but in a different way to most. I couldn’t celebrate Robinson’s debut as I couldn’t get the site to work when I tried to bring him in for Beams but two days ago I swapped Raines to Geary after having Raines in my team for 3 weeks so I was happy to see him go down :p
wardy
March 27, 2009 at 9:06 am
raines is a spastic, good luck to you all rectifying that injury prone point bleeder…
The Hard Word
March 27, 2009 at 9:09 am
What are some of you people on? People that traded Raines out are happy at their decision!! It is a horrible deision not to have Raines in your team, he has been playing for 5 years now and had 22 games in 2007 & 2006. Now with Richmond’s game of kicking around in the back Raines (if fit) would have been racking it up, not to mention that he pushes in the middle as link player at times. It was always a risk as he is injury prone but it’s one that everyone should have been willing to take duw to his price. Swapping him last minute for Geary, Houlihan, Hill etc. is not a good coaching decision. In hindsight it might have been the “lucky” decision but not a good one. If you are doing trades like that I would love to see the rest of your team. And people….. face it, you’re probably gonna have to trade him out so stop with the hoping.
Secondly, don’t go trading your Browns and Deledios, especially for players like Wiggins. You have good players in your team and shouldn’t be thinking of trading them to players that performed in one week. Watch the games and see why players got what they got. Superstars will always remain superstars. Deledio has one of the worst games ive seen him play (both performance and DT) and still got 85. Imagine when he plays!!!
Also watch rookies like Mitch Robinson. Out of all the players (like Kruezer) who scored insanely unrealistic scores for themselves, I think that Robinson was one of the few that actually will continue. His workrate is unbelievable and his aggression at players and the ball are that of a seasones AFl player.
Anyway that’s my two cents
The Hard Word……. Out
Nick
March 27, 2009 at 9:11 am
Judd resting up forward was interesting to see. I’m not sure who is going to get the flick when Stevens comes back round three, Ratten looked really impressed with Robinson, you’d be crazy to drop him wouldn’t you?
Richmond got exactly what they were asking for that game, dropped uncontested marks in their defensive fifty, turnover after turnover, I couldn’t believe I thought they would have a chance at the finals this year. I’m sorry, they looked sub-VFL. It was embarrassing to watch and I’m a Fremantle fan, I should be used to it.
So long as Raines is given a definitive diagnosis and a definite return date sometime within a month then I’ll keep him. If he sounds at all like he’s being wrapped in cotton wool then I’m jumping off him as quickly as I can. I’m not interested in waiting four weeks to be told Friday afternoon when the team sheets are done that they’re going to play it safe for another week, over and over.
Cousins injury looked pretty ordinary, with all the buildup and pressure on him I half expected his leg to be flung off Luke Ball style as the muscle went. I feel for the bloke and his club’s supporters, it just about summed it up for them, taken out of the game on less than 50 points without much more to give.
Good returns out of Gartlet and Jacobs. I expected 20 points less out of each but they both played into space to take marks, very impressed.
Larry
March 27, 2009 at 9:51 am
Like the tigers of old… it was great to see Richo kicking the dirt again, that’s when he’s at his most entertaining.
Same as many others, I got stuck with Suban and Broughton on the bench and Raines…
ZergMinion
March 27, 2009 at 10:10 am
Dare I say it’s round 1, and all these stats and the result are pretty meaningless aside from the injuries.
Won’t be the last shocker suffered by a supposed good team in round 1.
The 30 Spartans
March 27, 2009 at 10:17 am
I did fairly reasonable last night, considering Deledio and Raines, whom everyone would have had anyway both didn’t (Raines lesser degree) put the scores we were expecting. I had an average of 87.25 between 4 players: Judd, Houlihan, Raines and Deledio, which is somewhat okay.
I’ve missed the Robinson boat, by picking Otten over him. However I’m confident he Otten will outscore Robinson in the long run.
I think in regards to trading Raines, I might wait it out depending on the extent of his injury, but seeing as I took the Goddard risk I’m a bit paranoid, luckily I got S.Hill and Petrenko on the bench for coverage whom should both play.
Socko
March 27, 2009 at 10:24 am
To Boomerforbrownlow, I’m so happy the highlight of your night was seeing Raines ‘go down’. Have you ever heard of Karma. You wanna start hoping Brent Harvey doesn’t do his knee and require a full reco in the coming week or two. It might bring some joy to similiar grubs such as you. What sort of a dog gets delight out of player injuries? Care to retract your earlier statement grub?
Muppet Executioner
March 27, 2009 at 10:30 am
Listened to my mate last night who was on the train who was crying to me on his mobile on his way back from the G – I felt awkward sitting there in my loungeroom listening to him bawl – Geez, to think they’ve got the rampaging Cats at Cardinia next week. That’ll be a really long trainride back for him – he’ll have to take a bucket to catch all the tears
hamish
March 27, 2009 at 10:31 am
monty judd didnt even play that good last night, yet still scored 100 what more can you ask of him
ronl
March 27, 2009 at 10:34 am
What’s the use of having lockout at 7:40 if you can’t use the site in the two hours prior to that? The teams are posted at 5pm but it’s impossible to juggle your bench, emergencies etc because the site is grossly overcrowded. Not good enough. Like many others sold Houlihan for Raines – because of lockout couldn’t get Thompson out of midfield to make room for Robinson – I’ll really be crying in my beer when Bombers get pasted on Sunday.
Rob
March 27, 2009 at 10:34 am
Didn’t rule him out for SC? “He is a risk few should be taking”. Nice try Monty.
Nige
March 27, 2009 at 10:35 am
I will take a ‘wait and see’ approach with Raines. I’m covered on the bench to persist with Raines through an injury.
Will be relying on some rookies playing though.
Muppet Executioner
March 27, 2009 at 10:36 am
Yeah f..kin a right Socko – an injured player is not something to be happy about – pull your head in Boomerforbrownlow – this isnt Youtube where you can just flame other users for the sheer fun of it like some moronic antisocial teenage punk – I’d like to think tha Fanfooty is a better place than that
Muppet Executioner
March 27, 2009 at 10:38 am
Good thing I took the mail on Cuz and cut him out of the final 30 – feel sorry for the poor bloke
korza
March 27, 2009 at 10:46 am
Yeah i agree he is a dog….
Jake
March 27, 2009 at 10:47 am
does anyone know when raines’s injury details will be realesed, like the actual report not just some prediction cos im unsure whether to keep him, what is everyone else thinking????
Relentless
March 27, 2009 at 10:47 am
I would wait before pushing the panic button on Raines. I am personally satisfied with his score last night given his starting price. At the worst make him your first upgrade/downgrade or bench him and wait for him to recover, the Doc on MMM didn’t seem to think it was that serious.
Key is hang in there and don’t make any rash decisions, a long round and season ahead.
Brad
March 27, 2009 at 10:48 am
@ Socko
“hear hear” mate.
@ Boomerforbrownlow
You are an amoeba that feeds on the parasites that live on shark shit.
Muppet Executioner
March 27, 2009 at 10:59 am
On Mitch Robbo’s R1 debut – As the young actress said to the vicar “you have come a long way very quickly”
Muppet Executioner
March 27, 2009 at 11:05 am
SEN is god this morning – KB not so much – really like Neil Balme’s soothing intellect and intelligence – he reminds me of my footy mad but gentle grandad now passed
Orba
March 27, 2009 at 11:06 am
Hardword i never said anything about picking up wiggins, i just said he dominated last night and didnt get a look into the papers top5 which i thought was stiff. Their is also a new betting site “sporting bet” where you can bet on players DT scores. I had a few bob on brown last night (wooooops!! Although i was excited to quarter time) and wiggins top scored so i dont think anyone would have seen that.
And on Raines i dont think its a bad coaching decision to not have him. Maybe 90% of people would disagree but from the game i watch of him he doesnt mark the footy and lets be honest blokes like judd and mitchell can get away with that because they get 30 touches with tackles, but when your a running handballing defender your just not going to post big scores. Raines is a good player, he is not cheap and sits out like houlihan getting 6 points everytime he gets on his own. Last night Raines was involved in an awesome passage of play where he dashed out of defence had 2 handballs and a kick for 7 points. It was great to watch! 2 minutes later houlihan gets a sidewast kick for pretty much the same points. Thats why i personally chose him over raines. You cant go and say its a bad coaching decision.
Pongolites
March 27, 2009 at 11:08 am
Hey Monty,
Just wanted to say you’ve done a stand up job in the last couple of weeks man. Thanks for all your work and articles such as this one.
up_thedons
March 27, 2009 at 11:08 am
anyone who thinks there an idiot for trading houlihan for raines in the last few days (me included) needs to realise you gotta have faith players luck will improve eventually. thats what im hoping for drummond this year and gumby next!
Shane
March 27, 2009 at 11:10 am
Monty, I have Judd but agree with your comments. He never takes marks so he is quite often BOG with a score around 100, which is still a good score but not top shelf. That’s why I’ll never have him as DT captain, but always have him in SC.
Keep up the good work, this is a great site!
longa
March 27, 2009 at 11:13 am
monty ur a joke. judd gets 100 with only 23 possessions and 1 mark. and at only 378000 i dont think he needs to avg 100 to be a worthy pick up
Muppet Executioner
March 27, 2009 at 11:15 am
Dont panic about Raines – dont even think about pushing the button until you see the sides next week. Everyones’s gone Raines mad today – and remeber the golden rule –
dont drink and trade
hairy
March 27, 2009 at 11:16 am
ha ha muppet
Muppet Executioner
March 27, 2009 at 11:30 am
Cuz has just arrived at Prahran Medical in a silver Subaru…..
Knox
March 27, 2009 at 11:31 am
I was always going to have Raines in the DT but he sucked me in SC as well. Raines frustrated the hell out of me 2 years ago with SC but here I am again wondering why i picked him in SC.
Gets the ball runs into traffic, disposes of it under pressure.
Aaron
March 27, 2009 at 11:32 am
hey monty ive done the exact same thing in my team, feel that pain…lets just hope anthony gets as much of a run
Devastated
March 27, 2009 at 11:33 am
Mark Harvey, the fuckwit, has left Stephen Hill out of the team for Sunday but Suban is named on the interchange bench.
Aaarrrrrrrrrggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At least Petrenko will be able to cover for him, but that is one less week that little cash cow will have to graze in the lush DT paddock. 🙁
Raf
March 27, 2009 at 11:35 am
I didn’t take Houlihan on purpose, because I regard him as a hack who will average 70 and make not enough money to justify that starting price.
I don’t think being able to get to 90 in junk time of an absolute procession is a useful guide to how he will score for the rest of the season, but if the nuff-nuffs trade Raines to Houlihan because of it I won’t say no 🙂
m0nty
March 27, 2009 at 11:39 am
Thanks for all your kind words, fellas. And yes, I would hope that FanFooty is a better place than that… I was deleting false rumours in the comments before lockout, for instance. We do require a bit of decorum here.
Aaron
March 27, 2009 at 11:45 am
i couldnt get on to do any changes, good to see suban in. Where do you think he will play monty? get much of a run? wat bout anthony?
Muppet Executioner
March 27, 2009 at 11:49 am
I couldnt believe what Devastated said until I saw it – maybe Harvs in his bizzare logic is trying to learn Hill that nothing gets taken for granted. I hope the Doggies wallop them though the tote has the Doggies as outsiders? I had a big quarter quad last night but didn’t cover the Carlton blow out. It paid over $2K. I enjoy watching footy less whan I’m punting on it – why do I do it?
Thall
March 27, 2009 at 11:57 am
As a WCE supporter, and once having a Cousins man-crush, I think subconsciously alot of people didn’t want this fairytale to succeed. I do not take delight in injuries, but I thought his game prior to that showed signs of promise …. But nothing to match all this media hype. It was a bit of a circus, so im glad he’s removed for a few weeks to get used to it all again.
Raines …. Fingers crossed its just bruising. Pretty sure ill keep him on the bennch if its a 3-4 week injury. Patrenko and Broughton should have him covered.
So is Steven Hill not in the 25 for the Dockers? Definite? That really peeves me. Stupid Bomber Harvey. Idiot.
Oh yeah …. So I had Uni on Thursday until 4pm. I rushed home to make my change from Broughton to Suban …. Only for the site to be overloaded. I then realised I hadnt picked my Emergencies. Should only get 1 zero …. thanks Lachie Henderson.