With the first of the bye rounds upon us, The Inner Sanctum’s Supercoach PODcast team take an in-depth look at the rookies on offer, the possible strategies to tackle the bye rounds, the impact the new dual position player announcements have on our team and the captain/vice-captain choices for this week.
Rookie Roulette
As the season progresses the importance of picking the right rookies for your side increases. When deciding who to bring in, don’t simply be seduced by one-off big scores, look for players at this stage of the season that will keep their spot in the team until the very end.
One such player is Eddie Ford (123.9K – FWD), who has been a shining light for the North Melbourne Football Club the past two weeks with scores of 102 and 83. He has been able to get plenty of it, and his use has been exceptional, with his 18.5 average disposals coming at 87% disposal efficiency. Given their ladder position, expect plenty of games to be handed to Ford and the young brigade of Arden St.
This brings us to the other main option this week, George ‘The Warden’ Wardlaw (193.8K – MID) (not a confirmed nickname, but let’s make it happen!). The Warden burst onto the scene with 85 points against the Swans; however, he could only manage a poultry 43 against the Pies. With respect to the latter, don’t let this throw you off. The Pies have been a sink for midfield points against this year, with top-rating midfielders like Josh Dunkley (84 points), Zak Butters (67 points), and Sam Walsh (92 points) all having off games against the team on top of the AFL ladder. Expect him to bounce back this week against the Bombers.
Other potential options include:
- Kieren Briggs (254.4K – RUC) – averaging 105.5 for the Giants in the ruck, and might be a possible downgrade option for Max Gawn/Brodie Grundy.
- Christian Salem (390.4K – DEF) – a possible D6 option who has come back from injury to score 88 points on the weekend after 78 the week prior.
Dual Position Player (DPP) Changes
All the talk before this round was around the potential for some big names to be awarded dual position status, but unfortunately, there was only one star who registered the 35% game time in a different position to warrant the change.
Jack Macrae has gone from a MID to MID-FWD. Two weeks ago, you may have been reluctant to bring him as a forward, as his average has him placed 6-8 in terms of forwards. Two scores in a row of 145, however, mean he will now be a huge trade target. If you think he can keep his average around 105, then he is worth the cost of $574K to bring in as a forward.
Unfortunately, Max Gawn fell just 0.1% short of becoming a RUC-FWD, so those who brought him early hoping he would become DPP will have to stick with him in the ruck only. Sam Walsh was also close to becoming a MID-FWD, however, his last two weeks have seen him play more midfield time and miss out.
Other left field options you may like to consider who are now dual position players are Ben Hobbs, Chayce Jones and Dylan Williams, but it may be worth it only if you consider them keepers come season’s end.
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Bye Round Strategies
When making your trades this week, keep in mind that it’s your best 18 players onfield (including any emergencies used) who make up your score during these next four bye rounds. A lot of Supercoach players will be targeting the Roos rookie pair of Wardlaw and Ford, which will mean two fewer available players for the Round 15 bye, where quite a few popular premiums will also be unavailable.
Ideally, look to be trading out players from the four clubs who have this week’s bye (Brisbane, St,Kilda, Fremantle and Sydney) if targeting downgrade options such as Ford and Wardlaw. Bringing in premos this week only for them to be missing in action a week or two later may be counter-productive unless you’re desperate for league wins to keep your season alive.
Captain’s Corner
With the bye rounds comes the ease of utilising the captain loophole, with all non-scoring players an option. And with many of Supercoach’s big and consistent scorers playing in Round 12, there are plenty of options to consider.
Christian Petracca’s recent run of consistently high scores would be the first choice for Friday night, however, given the opposition on Saturday afternoon out West, Nick Daicos may well break Darcy Parish’s most disposals in a game at Optus Stadium of 44 and score beyond 150. Daicos is a logical choice for VC, and with the likes of Marcus Bontempelli, Tim English and Tim Taranto still to come on Saturday night and Sunday, Supercoach players will have two good shots at a big ‘C’ score. Whatever the case, with only 18 players scoring this round, the choice of captain may decide on your league win(s).
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