Come the start of the season, the majority of fantasy players were looking at A-League teams' pre season and winter transfer signings to find bargain defenders to put in their 5 defensive slots in order to have the ability to spend big on the premium midfielders and strikers. In Josh Schon’s A-League Take Away - Round 4 piece, he touched on these cheap defenders and how they are ‘flopping’ at the moment. Never fear, there is a solution to your defensive issues.
Before round 1, the most popular options were McGowan [now at 104k, 36.4% ownership and 7pts total, referred to as (104, 36.4%, 7)], Doyle (109, 18.8%, 11), Hamill (100, 19.6%, 2), Hingert (143, 7.4%, 1), Gersbach (102, 10.1%, 3) and Madaschi (98, 9.0%, 0).
McGowan and Doyle looked strong options for the first few rounds but have now been replaced by Malik and Fenton respectively. Hamill was a good option to play while Topor-Stanley and Spiranovic were out, but the two are now coming back into fitness, and Gersbach looked like he could get game-time after a strong pre season but fell out of favour after having to focus on his HSC exams within the last couple of weeks. Madaschi and Hingert, due to injury and not being selected respectively, never found their way into their team's first XI's.
Most had at least 2 or 3 of these players and due to circumstances are now left with a massive problem in having cheap scoring options in their defensive three. Below are a few options for resolving these problems. Depending on how many trades are left, there may be the need to select a couple of these options:
Sideways trade (<150k)
These players, available for a similar price range to the cheapies mentioned above, have stepped up to create more options down back for fantasy players. Gallagher (132, 13.5%, 11), Sim (137, 15.1%, 9) and Stefanutto (148, 12.6%, 6) all have over 10% ownership, but are certainly getting far more starting time for their respective teams.
Others such as Galloway (148, 1.3%, 8), Murnane (122, 1.0%, 7), Golec (147, 4.5%, 2) and Poscoliero (125, 0.0%, 2) have extremely low ownership values and could prove to be great PODs (players of difference) in your defensive ranks, with Galloway perhaps being the pick of the bunch at a slightly heftier price tag.
Mid-priced upgrade (150k-200k)
Mid-priced defenders will give you more reliable scores and generally get more game time than their cheaper counterparts, but choosing from this list involves sacrificing money from higher up in the pitch, but may be necessary to keep the balance.
Georgievski (151, 5.4%, 7), Neville (152, 6.5%, 11) Risdon (153, 6.2%, 8), Djulbic (175, 6.3%, 12) and Bosnar (178, 16.8, 12) are at the cheaper end of the mid priced section and all seem to be first choice at their clubs at the current point in time, with Bosnar the chance of scoring from free kicks.
Slightly pricier, but still not premium options exist with Cole (195, 6.2%, 2), Malik (198, 3.4%, 11), Roux (198, 11.1%, 8) and Elrich (183, 31.4%, 22) who are perhaps more likely to score offensive points, as Elrich has already showed in Adelaide’s unorthodox 3-at-the-back system. Cole, when the Wanderers’ fixture become suitable, also has the chance to play further up the pitch and take advantage of the OOP (out of position) concept.
Bringing in a premium (>200k)
Last but not least is the option to bring in one of the consistent performing fantasy defenders from the A-League. They boast a hefty price tag of over 200k but their pedigree of scoring points through keeping more clean sheets and scoring from set pieces makes these the optimum option down back. I would only recommend 1 or at maximum 2 of these players as spending too much down back, particularly early in the season, could make you fall behind.
Ognenovski (253, 7.1%, 33) has been the pick of the bunch so far, rewarding all of his owners with a massive 33 points thus far despite being overlooked by many at the commencement of the season due to injury concerns.
Topor-Stanley (24.7, 12.2%, 2), Petkovic (224, 5.1%, 12), Smith (221, 14.5%, 6), Delpierre (211, 26.6%, 18) and Kisnorbo (225, 4.2%, 15) have all proved their worth in the past and if the cash is there to splash, then certainly these guys are your best options to bring in points from the defence, with Delpierre perhaps being the best value-for-money if he recovers from his latest hamstring injury.
Closing Reminder
When choosing defenders, always look out for their fixtures ahead and in the case of the Wanderers and their opponents, look out for byes and DGWs (Double Game Weeks) as well as considering the gameweek 6 & 7 international games where the Socceroos, All Whites, Austrians, Macedonians and Olyroos are all among the teams who will pluck talent from A-League clubs over the upcoming weeks.
Late Edit
To add to the defensive problems, Tom Doyle is now going for treatment on a foot injury that will force him out for an expected 2-3 weeks, while Delpierre will miss at least 1 more week with a hamstring injury after being a confirmed absentee for this week's game against Newcastle.
Image credit : http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2014/10/20/1227096/062589-2b50fbce-57f9-11e4-8677-4f002b90f226.jpg
Before round 1, the most popular options were McGowan [now at 104k, 36.4% ownership and 7pts total, referred to as (104, 36.4%, 7)], Doyle (109, 18.8%, 11), Hamill (100, 19.6%, 2), Hingert (143, 7.4%, 1), Gersbach (102, 10.1%, 3) and Madaschi (98, 9.0%, 0).
McGowan and Doyle looked strong options for the first few rounds but have now been replaced by Malik and Fenton respectively. Hamill was a good option to play while Topor-Stanley and Spiranovic were out, but the two are now coming back into fitness, and Gersbach looked like he could get game-time after a strong pre season but fell out of favour after having to focus on his HSC exams within the last couple of weeks. Madaschi and Hingert, due to injury and not being selected respectively, never found their way into their team's first XI's.
Most had at least 2 or 3 of these players and due to circumstances are now left with a massive problem in having cheap scoring options in their defensive three. Below are a few options for resolving these problems. Depending on how many trades are left, there may be the need to select a couple of these options:
Sideways trade (<150k)
These players, available for a similar price range to the cheapies mentioned above, have stepped up to create more options down back for fantasy players. Gallagher (132, 13.5%, 11), Sim (137, 15.1%, 9) and Stefanutto (148, 12.6%, 6) all have over 10% ownership, but are certainly getting far more starting time for their respective teams.
Others such as Galloway (148, 1.3%, 8), Murnane (122, 1.0%, 7), Golec (147, 4.5%, 2) and Poscoliero (125, 0.0%, 2) have extremely low ownership values and could prove to be great PODs (players of difference) in your defensive ranks, with Galloway perhaps being the pick of the bunch at a slightly heftier price tag.
Mid-priced upgrade (150k-200k)
Mid-priced defenders will give you more reliable scores and generally get more game time than their cheaper counterparts, but choosing from this list involves sacrificing money from higher up in the pitch, but may be necessary to keep the balance.
Georgievski (151, 5.4%, 7), Neville (152, 6.5%, 11) Risdon (153, 6.2%, 8), Djulbic (175, 6.3%, 12) and Bosnar (178, 16.8, 12) are at the cheaper end of the mid priced section and all seem to be first choice at their clubs at the current point in time, with Bosnar the chance of scoring from free kicks.
Slightly pricier, but still not premium options exist with Cole (195, 6.2%, 2), Malik (198, 3.4%, 11), Roux (198, 11.1%, 8) and Elrich (183, 31.4%, 22) who are perhaps more likely to score offensive points, as Elrich has already showed in Adelaide’s unorthodox 3-at-the-back system. Cole, when the Wanderers’ fixture become suitable, also has the chance to play further up the pitch and take advantage of the OOP (out of position) concept.
Bringing in a premium (>200k)
Last but not least is the option to bring in one of the consistent performing fantasy defenders from the A-League. They boast a hefty price tag of over 200k but their pedigree of scoring points through keeping more clean sheets and scoring from set pieces makes these the optimum option down back. I would only recommend 1 or at maximum 2 of these players as spending too much down back, particularly early in the season, could make you fall behind.
Ognenovski (253, 7.1%, 33) has been the pick of the bunch so far, rewarding all of his owners with a massive 33 points thus far despite being overlooked by many at the commencement of the season due to injury concerns.
Topor-Stanley (24.7, 12.2%, 2), Petkovic (224, 5.1%, 12), Smith (221, 14.5%, 6), Delpierre (211, 26.6%, 18) and Kisnorbo (225, 4.2%, 15) have all proved their worth in the past and if the cash is there to splash, then certainly these guys are your best options to bring in points from the defence, with Delpierre perhaps being the best value-for-money if he recovers from his latest hamstring injury.
Closing Reminder
When choosing defenders, always look out for their fixtures ahead and in the case of the Wanderers and their opponents, look out for byes and DGWs (Double Game Weeks) as well as considering the gameweek 6 & 7 international games where the Socceroos, All Whites, Austrians, Macedonians and Olyroos are all among the teams who will pluck talent from A-League clubs over the upcoming weeks.
Late Edit
To add to the defensive problems, Tom Doyle is now going for treatment on a foot injury that will force him out for an expected 2-3 weeks, while Delpierre will miss at least 1 more week with a hamstring injury after being a confirmed absentee for this week's game against Newcastle.
Image credit : http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2014/10/20/1227096/062589-2b50fbce-57f9-11e4-8677-4f002b90f226.jpg