If you have any questions on something not covered here, or just want some specific advice for your team, I will again be participating in the Zeebox Live Fantasy A-League chat on Friday at 2pm Eastern, so click the link at the appropriate time and join the discussion! Otherwise you can use the comments section at the bottom of the page or contact me on Twitter. You can find the full list of squads for this round here.
Brisbane Roar v Wellington Phoenix
Phoenix unavailable: Carlos Hernandez, Kenny Cunningham (international duty), Michael Ridenton, Louis Fenton, Paul Ifill (injured), Milos Lujic (contract ended)
Captaincy options: Thomas Broich, Stein Huysegems, Jeremy Brockie
After burning all of the coaches who captained him last week, Besart Berisha has announced he's leaving Brisbane at season's end to join the Victory. Some coaches are surely wondering if this means he's going to be mothballed at Brisbane - I'd think this would not be the case. He's clearly the top striker in the competition and I think Brisbane would be mad to drop him unless there are internal problems. That said - he's suspended for this week, so if you are majorly doubting him at the moment consider trading him. His absence should see Thomas Broich return to the false nine position that reaped rewards for him previously. Brisbane have lost their last two at home, are undermanned, and now face a red hot Wellington, so this should be an interesting contest. Ivan Franjic is still out, suggesting you should consider offloading him as it's far too much money to have sitting on your bench. To make things worse for the Roar, Matt McKay and Liam Miller could also miss this week's game. Corey Brown is back from the Young Socceroos - though whether he features or not is in question.
It rained goals for Wellington last week, with Carlos Hernandez grabbing a double, Stein Huysegems his 5th goal in 5 games, Kenny Cunningham his 2nd in 2, and Jeremy Brockie broke his duck off the bench, netting for the first time since the 4th of November (also against Victory). The major issue I have with Hernandez is his lack of goals, stemming from his tendency to shoot from long range, low percentage areas - should he start shooting from higher percentage positions like for his first goal on Saturday, he may start to justify his price tag. However, both Hernandez and Cunningham miss this game through international duty. Current leader and Nix fan Ben dG thinks Huysegems will take up Hernandez's number 10 position, with Brockie playing up front. Owners of Jason Hicks will be happy to see that he is expected to start after being omitted on Saturday, while Reece Caira is back from the Australian under 22s. Michael Boxall played another 90 minutes on Saturday, a boost for his bid to take the right back spot. He should definitely be on your radar. Doug Kors' wonderful analysis of Saturday's demolition is also worth your time.
Adelaide United v Melbourne Heart
Heart unavailable: Patrick Gerhardt, David Williams (injured), Dylan Macallister (released), Andrea Migliorini (contract ended)
Captaincy options: Jeronimo, Marcelo Carrusca, Mate Dugandzic
Adelaide, unbeaten in the last six games, are still uncertain prospects in fantasy football. The return of Bruce Djite saw Jeronimo shifted to the right wing, a position held by the injured Fabio Ferreira. Ferreira is expected to return in some capacity this week, meaning Jeronimo may be shifted to the left wing or face limited minutes. Marcelo Carrusca scored Adelaide's winner and picked up man of the match points, however for me he's massively overpriced and too injury prone. Michael Zullo came off early with a hamstring problem - as we've seen already this season hamstrings can be very problematic, so if you have him I'd consider trading. We're yet to see any sign of Awer Mabil producing end product, so even if he continues on the left wing in Zullo's and Cirio's absence you're probably not going to get many points out of him. Ryan Griffiths is another candidate to play there, though he seems short of the fitness require to start at the moment.
The obvious standout in Heart's first win for the season was Mate Dugandzic. As this article from Kate Cohen shows, Dugandzic has become a key player in the new Heart system. Of course, how useful he is to fantasy coaches rests on the Heart going on with it and starting to win games. At just $214k he's a very tempting option though, and after travelling to Adelaide Heart have consecutive home games against Sydney and Perth. The potential for points is certainly there, it just remains to be seen if Heart can perform against teams stronger than they awful Jets side they dispatched on Friday night. Harry Kewell's name seems to be coming up a bit, but frankly I would not be spending $317k on a player who so far has produced just one assist. Orlando Engelaar could be an interesting pick at $169k, though we'd want to see what he is capable of in a full game, and which position he is likely to take, before committing. That said, with his size he should always be a threat at set pieces. The bigger news of course is that the Heart has been bought by Manchester City - I wouldn't be factoring this into any fantasy team plans though, with the new owners stating that they will just be observing until the end of the season. Both Andrea Migliorini and Dylan Macallister have left the club, so if you have them for some reason, move them on.
Central Coast Mariners v Newcastle Jets
Jets unavailable: Ben Kantarovski (suspended), Scott Neville, Mitch Cooper (injured), Nathan Burns (loan deal expired), Joel Griffiths (awaiting international transfer clearance)
Captaincy options: (none)
Though hardly convincing, the Mariners were good enough to see off Sydney, and now face a Jets side who sacked Gary van Egmond this week. Though very cheap, goalscorer Mile Sterjovski is too inconsistent and does not play regularly enough to be considered, while both Matt Simon and Daniel McBreen continue to struggle for goals. Mitchell Duke remains the highest scoring Mariners forward, and he hasn't found the net since Round 7. Bernie Ibini seems a long way off starting or being a fantasy option and all of their other midfield options play too deep to be any value. So for the Mariners, you have Liam Reddy - the cheapest number 1 keeper in the league - and cheap-ish defenders Storm Roux and Zac Anderson. Trent Sainsbury and Josh Rose are both far too expensive for my strategy, but Sainsbury's recent form has seen him be traded into a few teams, perhaps as a premium replacement for Franjic. Something else to keep in mind going forward is the Mariners involvement in the Asian Champions League - the Mariners play their first game on February 25th, in between Rounds 20 and 21.
With Gary van Egmond gone the Jets are something of a mystery - this article suggests new manager Clayton Zane is going to 'simplify the game plan.' But however the Jets set up, what is of interest to coaches is who is going to be dropped. Right now, there is no information on this, so unless we hear anything between now and the lockout coaches will have to hope their Jets players - should they have any - will be lining up. The Young Socceroos have returned, though it's uncertain as to how much game time any of them - Adam Taggart, Andrew Hoole, Josh Brillante and Connor Chapman - will get. There's no sign of Nathan Burns returning to the club at this point, so he should be traded out if you haven't already done so for some reason. The Jets are bereft of real fantasy options anyway, so any shakeups should not affect too many coaches - only those who own cheapies like Sam Gallaway and Jacob Pepper. Interestingly Joel Griffiths is yet to be added to the game, though he can't play until his transfer is resolved anyway.
Melbourne Victory v Sydney FC
Sydney unavailable: Terry Antonis, Peter Triantis, Rhyan Grant (injured)
Captaincy options: James Troisi, Archie Thompson, Kosta Barbarouses, Gui Finkler
Mitch Nichols has been transferred to Cerezo Osaka, so if you've held onto him in the vain hope Victory would manage to keep him, it's time to trade him out. You have a few options in other sides, as I've mentioned above, while at the Victory he can be swapped straight out for Gui Finkler if you like. Though there is now another option at Victory - the big news is that Tom Rogic has been added to the game for the very reasonable price of $250k. Compared to what we have been paying for some of the top midfielders, this seems like an absolute steal. Keep in mind though he has not been playing much football of late, so it may take him a few games to get going. Maybe have a look at him once Victory have completed their bye in Round 19. It's also worth considering that Victory have a tough run ahead - only four games (including this one) at home remaining plus the derby against Heart, two trips to Perth and another to Wellington, potentially exacerbated by their Champions League involvement (should they qualify). Any of Victory's attackers can be considered here for captaincy, as you'd expect they'd want to bounce back from that horrific loss coupled with the fact Sydney are in a major slump.
For the Sky Blues, things are not looking great at the moment. Despite playing 248 minutes in the last 3 games, Alessandro Del Piero has neither scored nor registered an assist. Ranko Despotovic now has only one goal in his last 5, while Corey Gameiro played his first full game wide on the right of midfield - not really a high scoring position for fantasy football. Marc Warren continues to get a game for some reason, however with Sydney's lack of clean sheets he's a 2 points per week bench option only. This also renders Sydney's other defenders too expensive, considering you'd want to be playing them on the field at their prices. There's really nothing to consider at Sydney right now. New signing Milos Dimitrijevic has been added to the game for $150k, however he's probably not anywhere near being ready to start, nor is he likely to be a big scorer.
Western Sydney Wanderers v Perth Glory
Glory unavailable: Scott Jamieson, Travis Dodd (injured), Ryo Nagai (loan ended), Luke Radonich (omitted)
Captaincy options: (none)
NB: Tomi Juric has been included in the squad despite having picked up his 5th yellow card - the club has confirmed he is suspended.
With both Shinji Ono and Youssouf Hersi playing 90 minutes in the loss to Adelaide, it's fair to suggest that both could be under threat of being benched or omitted as part of Popa's rotation scheme. Tomi Juric was largely ineffective in his 74 minutes, and will miss this game through suspension. Mark Bridge (16 minutes) and Brendon Santalab (45 minutes) could both be starting this one. I'd expect Matthew Spiranovic, rested for the last two games, will start against Perth. Both Mateo Poljak and Jerome Polenz remain under an injury cloud, so owners of the latter should ensure they have cover - owners of the former shouldn't have a defensive midfield player like Poljak in their team. All of this rotation makes it difficult to recommend owning Wanderers players, and indeed making them captain. Further adding to this is the bye the Wanderers have in Round 19, along with ACL involvement beginning on the 26th of February.
New signing Nejbosa Marinkovic, a number 10 who fancies himself as a dead ball and long shot specialist, enters the game for the nice price of $175k. Of course, we need to see that he's starting and signs that he's capable of generating points before bringing him in. He may soon join Adrian Zahra as a cheaper midfield option from Perth. Marinkovic's arrival may spell the end for Ryan Edwards, previously deployed as a 'combative' number 10 under Ali Edwards. Indeed, the Glory are actively trying to send him back to Reading, despite his desire to stay at the club - in other words: trade him out. Jack Clisby was benched for William Gallas, suggesting Riley Woodcock will be holding onto the left back spot for the time being. Shane Smeltz played 34 minutes, more than twice what he played against the Heart, however he could not repeat his goal scoring heroics. I'd suggest if you are considering Smeltz wait until he's fit enough to start. Jamie Maclaren is now 'fit again' after being 'injured' last week.