Personally, my DEF is going alright; although McVeigh wasn't superb. Broadbent & Suckling lifted, McDonald was a great D8 choice and my two DEF bench rookies Cameron and Georgiou have played the first three games. My MID premiums are fine, Dale Thomas can stay if I need him to, and even though I don't have Tyson, my on-field rookies of Ellis, Polec, Dunstan and bench rookies (both also DPP links) of Tom Langdon and Lewis Taylor are going along swimmingly. Rucks are a non-issue (Mumford, Sandilands, Currie, Thurlow).
I would assume most teams are in a similar position and they're most concerned about their forward line; particularly the rookies. Lewis Taylor is the only forward rookie I'm having positive thoughts about, but like me, he's possibly in a lot of midfields.
Jay Kennedy-Harris
Didn't meet his breakeven of 14 or 15, scoring 12 and dropping $3,700. Worst of all, leaving him with a breakeven of +25 this week. Best case scenario for JKH is that he at least keeps getting a game, hopefully not as sub, and at least provides us with an option to be emergency if need be.
Jarman Impey
Hasn't exactly set the world on fire in terms of his scoring, but he's averaged 48 and seems to be a nice emergency each week, providing he's not sub and providing he holds his spot. Job security seems ok. Breakeven is -5 so he will make plenty more cash, but doesn't seem a good starting option unless his scoring picks up.
Gary Rohan
The former #6 draft pick fooled us all. Quiet game in rd1, injured in rd2, sub in rd3. This would be acceptable for a F7/F8, but there is no way I am sticking 170k on the pine. He could turn his fortunes around and start scoring ok, but he's already lost $200 and his breakeven is +40. the great thing with Rohan is that because of his starting price, a downgrade makes cash and an upgrade is easier than other rookies.
Patrick Ambrose
Showed his potential slotting 3 goals against Hawthorn, among some other stats. Would've hurt some teams with the late withdrawal, but will now have others considering a Rohan to Ambrose trade this week. However there's a number of factors steering me against him. He may be out longer than just the 1 week, we won't know until we see an injury list. What is his job security like once Ryder, Bellchambers and Dempsey are all available? Winderlich stepped into to his role and slotted 4 goals, Hardingham kicked 3 in his absence, his late replacement - Jake Melksham - played a solid game, Nick Kommer is coming back through the VFL from injury and Leroy Jetta and Zac Merrett were the best players in Essendon's VFL side. Just saying to tread carefully.
OTHERS
Michael Close has already risen in price and only 1% of coaches actually considered him and I would not be confident about his job security. Lewis Taylor has also risen but could still make you around 40k with a Rohan downgrade. His job secuirty also looks a bit more solid after injuries to Josh Green and Daniel Rich. Zac Merrett, Tim O'Brien, Lincoln McCarthy have all missed playing third games after ommissions from their respective sides in round 3 and Matt McDonough didn't even make his second game. Therefore I would not bring any of them any because job security will always concern me. Daniel Menzel (GEEL) is a nice price and Daniel Markworth (STK) is highly rated at Saints, but both are coming off knee reconstruction, which is concerning in itself and who knows when they'll be match-fit and ready to play. Brant Colledge played one game for West Coast and his prospects might be improved with the LeCras injury, but again I wouldn't trust his job security. Dean Towers was one of Sydney's self-appointed most improved over the pre-season, Sam Lloyd and Mitch Honeychurch may get a chance, but who knows when exactly and Jack Billings and Alex Fasolo are in way too much of an awkward price range for players with unknown job security.
PREMIUMS & MID-PRICERS
lt's not ideal that premiums such as Dangerfield and Martin have been somewhat underforming. Their scores would be more concerning if the rest of your team failed too. I had a nice balanced team so I'm going with the saying, "stick by your premiums". Zorko was salt in the wound for most, especially those that brought him in purely as a corrective trade for players like Pavlich and Franklin, who played good round 3 games. But seriously, stick by them, because if you're teams like mine then you'll be more worried in the rookies. Josh Caddy and Shaun Higgins are also concerning some SuperCoaches, but Higgins scores 73 points in the first half against Tigers and just failed to go on with it, while Caddy I think people will need to stick by until the rookies are sorted out. Maybe if you're feeling that your F6 is ok then you can instigate an upgrade of Caddy.
What I recommend doing.......
Higgins/Caddy to F6
Work Shaun Higgins into your F6 spot. His current scoring isn't acceptable for F5 but I believe it is for F6 and let's face it, there's not many good enough rookie forwards scoring solid enough to sit in F6. If you possibly can, see if you can do the same with Josh Caddy if you don't have Higgins. The only way I can do this is by downgrading Dale Thomas, who I was going keep, to a rookie. I am thinking of the following possibilities to make that happen:
- Thomas to K.Kolodjashnij and sending Luke McDonald or Tom Langdon to the midfield.
- Thomas to Tyson still makes around 50k, but may not be enough for a good upgrade on Rohan unless you have stacks of coin spare.
- Thomas to a cheap rookie like Dylan Buckley (133k), Lewis Taylor (137k), Crouch (117k, if you're confident in him playing a third game). But this move, for me, would see me place Tom Langdon onto the field in MID as I'd be more confident in his scoring abilities.
- Thomas to Josh Kelly. Doesn't make the most out of all the options, but still makes 130k and Kelly is a #2 draft pick who's looked solid. Job security and scoring potential seems fine.
What if.......
You don't have Thomas ? And instead you have Tyson, Kelly, Macrae, J.Merrett or Jaensch in that poistion? Well I wouldn't go trading them. You might have the risk Rohan to Taylor or Ambrose if he is named this week. The positive of that is that Ambrose is 102k. That might give you enough cash to at least lock in a solid upgrade for Caddy or Higgins at the F5 spot if that's what you want to do. I don't normally recommended small upgades that have risk, but if you want to do that, Steven May (only risen 40k and averaging 99.7) could be a quick fix for the time being. He is playing well and will continue rising in price for a little while yet.
It all depends on how much salary cap you have. From trades made after round 2 I was lucky enough to have 95k sitting in the bank. So for me, a trade of Thomas to any of the rookies that are Josh Kelly (212k) or cheaper, I can upgrade Rohan to a 450-550k forward. It can be a bit more tricky for those without any room on their salary cap. Maybe ride the bumps with Rohan once more and do two downgrades over the next two weeks to make a great upgrade on Rohan.