SIX down, 17 to go.
EXHALE. A whirlwind period that saw 18 games played over an 11 day period is behind us, giving coaches a chance to take a well earned day off. With no more Thursday night games until Round 13, the VC loophole luxury is gone now and we next 4-6 weeks are going to determine who’s a real chance to challenge for the car and which coaches are just making up the numbers. FYI it’s never to early to start planning for the byes.
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MY TEAM
2203 – The number of Game of Thrones spoilers I had to avoid at work today
ALL in all, Round 6 went pretty well for the Large Fry’s & Coke. Fielding Sydney Stack over Jack Scrimshaw was arguably my only hiccup, as I once again moved up a decent chunk in the rankings. Some of my bench rookies need to be culled, which will help me build up my bank account to hopefully move another rookie off my field in Round 8.
FRY’S FAVOURITE FIVE
Honourable Mentions: Dylan Shiel (136), Jaeger O’Meara (134), Tim Taranto (130), Mitch Duncan (130)
+5. Scott Pendlebury, Pies (MID, $685K – 148)
COMETH the moment, cometh the man. Pendles usually plays his best footy when the stakes are at the highest and this was once again the case on Anzac Day last Thursday. After chalking up 38 touches, the Pies skipper was awarded a third Anzac Medal and will most likely have three Brownlow votes coming his way too.
+4. Patrick Dangerfield, Cats (MID, $768K – 138)
SITTING on 42 at half-time, a lot of owners were expecting Danger to once again scrape his way to a low triple-figure score. Instead, the 2016 Brownlow Medalist excelled with 96 points in the last two quarters, including 55 points in the final frame, dropping one of the highest scores of the round.
+3. Brayden Fiorini, Suns (MID, $749K – 137)
FIORINI continued his red hot form against the Lions, totalling a season-best 137. With just 32 games under his belt in the AFL, Fiorini is showing signs that he’ll be a fantasy star in the future, helping Gold Coast as they climb back towards relevance.
Image from goldcoastbulletin.com.au
+2. Liam Shiels, Hawks (MID, $624K – 145)
TALK about an impressive return from injury! Shiels showed no signs of rust as he ran amok in Launceston, putting forth a complete performance against the Blues. Shiels has shown the ability to score big in the past, however, I wouldn’t be trading him into my side just yet.
+1. Tom Hickey, Eagles (RUC, $496K – 141)
WOAH. Sometimes, random players bob up with an impressive score and this week, Tom Hickey claimed that honour. The avoided Eagle had arguably the best game of his career as West Coast’s sole ruckman, not only winning 32 hitouts, but adding 25 touches, seven marks, five tackles and a goal for good measure. Take a bow Hickey.
FRY’S FRUSTRATING FIVE
Dishonourable Mentions: Jake Lloyd (85), Rory Sloane (82), Alex Witherden (71), Nic Newman (66)
-5. Lachie Whitfield, Giants (DEF/MID, $791K – 39)
IT’S unfair to give Whitfield the -5 this week, with injury playing a prominent role in his miserable outing. He battled on bravely after copping a big cork, but added just 12 points after quarter time, including a doughnut in the final period. Owners could be forced to move Whitfield on this week even if he doesn’t miss time, due to his enormous breakeven (173).
-4. Tom Liberatore, Bulldogs (MID, $587K – 57)
TOM Liberatore’s fine form to start the season has quickly come to a screeching halt. After three ton’s in a row, Libba has posted just 129 points in the last fortnight, plateauing in value. A lot of coaches were expecting him to climb into the middle $600K bracket and if he struggles again when they play the Tigers, it could be time to move him on.
-3. Dom Sheed, Eagles (MID, $600K – 60)
SPEAKING of plateauing in value, the Andrew Gaff effect is a genuine factor in Dom Sheed’s scores. With a three-round average of 70, Sheed’s high scoring season openers seem to be a thing of the past and similarly to Liberatore, it’s time to explore other options.
-2. Brad Sheppard, Eagles (DEF, $620K – 46)
A lot of coaches were stung by trading Brad Sheppard in following his blistering first five rounds. Averaging 98.8 during that time, over 1,300 coaches took a punt on Shep, who rewarded them by failing to top 50. His low score did come in a drubbing at the hands of the Cats, but it’s not a great sign for owners, who thought they were getting a smokey top-6 DEF.
Image from thewest.com.au
-1. Dustin Martin, Tigers (MID/FWD, $582K – 68)
THIS is why you don’t get sucked by one excellent score. Dusty backed his 110 from Round 5 up, with a 17-touch, zero mark display, as the new FWD eligible ‘premium’ continued to anger the AFL Fantasy community. There’s a chance he can still return to an average of 85-90, but it’s a slim one at this stage.
TRADE TACTICS
IN – DOWN back Shannon Hurn‘s (DEF, $689K – 109) form needs to be taken seriously, with the Eagles leader one of five defenders averaging over 100. For nearly $100K cheaper, coaches might want to take a punt on Bachar Houli (DEF, $593K – 125) who has a favourable draw coming up. There are a few unique midfielders in red hot form such as Brayden Fiorini (MID, $749K – 137) and Dylan Shiel (MID, $717K – 136), both of whom are currently in less than 4% of sides. Shane Mumford (RUC, $517K – 113) continues to put his hand up as a genuine option for anyone who doesn’t own one of the big three (Grundy/Gawn/Witts) and could still potentially save you money by moving to Big Mummy.
IF you missed the boat on Jack Ross (MID, $322K – 92), have no fear, Will Hayes (MID, $241K – 71) can still be nabbed for a reasonable price. That duo appears to be the best downgrade picks at the minute, along with Round 5 debutants Noah Answerth (DEF/MID, $198K – 75) and Josh Corbett (FWD, $174K – 33). Answerth proved a lot of people wrong with his solid debut, hopefully boosting his job security moving forward while Corbett should be better than his score on the weekend suggests. Nick Larkey (MID, $202K – 82) is the other popular target this week after an impressive first game of 2019, but let me remind you he played two AFL games before this one, scoring a grand total of 23 points. Proceed with caution.
OUT – THE biggest talking point this week will be how coaches handle the Lachie Whitfield (DEF/MID, $791K – 39) situation. If he misses any time, given his huge breakeven it’s wise to trade out Whitfield, and honestly, even if he plays it might be wise to explore trading the Giants gun. Moving him down to a solid $550K-$600K option can free up the money to get another rookie off your field. The owner of the 4th highest breakeven at 143 is Devon Smith (MID/FWD, $648K – 41), who has looked like a shadow of himself to start the year. While injury also affected his score this week, Smith is averaging just 80 for the season, and while he still holds some value I’d look to trade him out.
AS another week passes there are a handful of cash cows/rookies who can be moved along. Matthew Parker (FWD, $315K – 61), Jack Petruccelle (FWD, $370K – 35), Sam Collins (DEF, $330K – 45) and Zak Butters (MID/FWD, $370K – 57) are probably at the top of the pile as their breakevens are getting close to their averages. There are a few others who are close, but unless you can get to a premium I’d be patient and resort to moving bench pieces to maximise cash generation as the byes draw closer.
WAIVER WIRE MOVES
IN you draft leagues, there are a few relevant players to either add straight to your teams or place on your watchlist. Liam Shiels (MID, 53% – 145) is an obvious one, who sits on a few waiver wires, however, he’s had his annual 140+ score already. Charlie Constable (MID, 43% – 83) returned for Geelong this week and if he’s floating around then it’s worth adding him to your squad along with Sam Petrevski-Seton (FWD, 54% – 91) who is having a career-year for Carlton right now.
ANOTHER good FWD target is Joe Daniher (FWD, 13% – 99), who is putting up respectable numbers now that he’s fit and firing. You probably won’t have the luxury of adding Brandon Ellis (DEF, 69% – 111) given his high ownership, but Nick Hayes (DEF, 30% – 106) has put a few decent performances together and could be worth a look. Finally, in the RUC department once again it’s slim pickings, but if Tom Hickey (RUC, 34% – 141) keeps playing this solo dolo role, he’s could be an interesting target.
MY MOVES
DOUBLE down this week to generate money is my most likely move. I’m not going to get sucked into moving my premiums around again, while the idea of landing Andrew Gaff/Adam Treloar is tempting. These moves would leave me with around $300k, which I could hopefully use to remove another rookie off my field for Travis Boak next week.
My Trades
S.Collins→ N.Answerth
M.Parker → N.Larkey/J.Corbett
Peace ✌