Premium Geek Out! (Geekin’ Out – Fantasy Footy)

Yeah, nah…looking forward to captaining Half Back Flanker this weekend.

It’s not like we needed another excuse to sit in front of the computer but on Monday night, Half Back Flanker spent a solid couple of hours participating in an online live draft, putting together a kick-ass squad for the AFL website’s new fantasy footy competition…the Premium Dream Team! With ten teams taking part, each with 60 or so seconds to select players for their team, the process was smoother than expected, though keeping track of which players had been picked up was a little difficult.

Anyway, here is the Half Back Flanker squad for the Premium Dream Team and a few notes to follow:

DEFENDERS: Craig Bolton, Jordan McMahon, Michael Johnson, Scott Stevens, Andrew Welsh, Andrew Mackie, Grant Birchall.

MIDFIELD: Brad Green, Brock McLean, Rhys Shaw, Chris Judd, Matt Priddis, Brad Sewell.

RUCKS: Dean Cox, David Hale.

FORWARDS: Dean Solomon, Quinten Lynch, Leigh Harding, Matthew Stokes, Alan Didak, Matthew Richardson, Brad Fisher.

Notes:

• With pick three in the draft and the big ruckman from the Eagles available, how could we say no! This also allowed us to concentrate on other areas before picking up a second ruckman.
• Our draft plan was to pick players based on their average scores per round so far this season…but that fell out the window in round two of the draft when we got sucked in by the big name and grabbed Chris Judd at pick 17. With around 40 midfielders averaging more than him, it probably wasn’t the smartest choice at that stage…and his prospects for a greater second half to the year are in doubt too!
• Fortunately, the plan worked when Andrew Mackie and Matt Priddis, who have both missed a few games this season, were still available after round five. With Richo picked up in round three, our side has the top ranked ruck and forward in average score per round, the third and fifth-ranked defenders (Mackie and Jordan McMahon) and the fifth-ranked midfielder (Priddis).
• We have the only two forwards who average over 100 per round (Richo and Didak) and four mids who average over 90 (Priddis plus Brad Green, Rhys Shaw and Brad Sewell). Brock McLean was still available in round 20 and after a 127 last start, here’s hoping he can produce at that level more often for the rest of the year.
• Our second last pick was Bomber Andrew Welsh and, surprisingly, his average score per round is good enough for 16th among all defenders, while our last pick was Freo’s Dean Solomon who averages 71 as a forward.

So, the first opponent is Sox F.C., who has Fevola up front and a mean group of mids including Hodge, Goodwin, Carrazzo and Luke Power. Hopefully, Hodge will not be ready to resume after his hamstring problem…

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So while we are looking forward to seeing how our Premium Dream Teams fares, let’s not forget the teams in Herald Sun Super Coach and AFL Dream Team. They both won last week, with the Dream Team side still undefeated, but both squads seems to be suffering from too many low-to-mid priced purchases based on making a profit and not enough re-investment in star players who consistently produce big numbers.

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Super Coach: 18,002 points, 12,364th place overall – up a few thousand places…nice.

League: 12 points (3-3), 101.44% – 9th place. Back on the winners list!

Last Start: Defeated Roo Boys 2,095 to 1,848 – a good team performances helped cover for a few shockers, could have been more with Ben McKinlay (65) in the forward line instead of the bench.

Good: 130’s from Nathan Foley, Nick Stevens and Jono Brown plus a 128 from Cyril Rioli! Finally, a good week for the defence…but for one exception (see Bad). Double points from Pavlich (222) also helped.

Bad: Sean Dempster typified St Kilda’s effort on the weekend with a lousy 27 while Sydney’s Craig Bird, in for the injured Bachar Houli, could only manage a 30. Is it bye bye Birdy this week?

Ugly: Kurt Tippett went from Rising Star to a mere eight fantasy points? Sure. he’s a young guy who will have his ups and downs this year….but eight freakin’ points?

Next opponent: 11th placed Roc Roc Xaviers – topped 2000 last week with great scores from the forward line. We need to keep winning to stay in touch so…dare we say it…it’s virtually an eight-point game!

Potential changes/trades: Now is the time to pick up rookie Tiger Trent Cotchin before his price hike and either Jarryn Geary or Craig Bird and the leftover cap leaves us enough to invest in a blue-chip defender or cash in Josh Hill for another star forward. Will Tadhg Kennelly be fit this week and even if he is, can we trust that he will last the match anyway?

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Dream Team: 15,989 points, 15,550th place overall – Super Coach might be on the way up but Dream Team is sliding down the overall rankings.

League: 24 points (6-0), 114.23% – 2nd place – despite the overall slide, we are yet to taste defeat in the League.

Last Start: Defeated Shamo 1,614 to 1,500 – very fortunate to be playing a team that is not really trying anymore!

Good: Nick Stevens, Deledio and Brad Johnson clearing 100, Chad Cornes with a 91 in his first game back from a finger injury and Garrick Ibbotson (81) is one piece of good news for the Dockers and doing wonders for our defence.

Bad: Low scoring defenders, including new recruit David Myers (22) , Sean Dempster (37) and Michael Osborne (43). Paul Chapman’s late withdrawal proved costly while more hamstring trouble for Stuart Dew results in a low score and the belief that a trade might be the better option.

Ugly: The Adelaide Crows…well Tippett (14) and Andrew McLeod (26) at least. Can’t afford too many more off games from McLeod, particularly with little in reserve on the bench from our defenders.

Next opponent: 5th placed Whysie Boi…only dropped one match and would have beaten us by a mere three points had we played last week.

Potential changes/trades: Rookie-listed Demon Shane Valenti would provide a tidy profit if we pick him up now for either Josh Hill or Dew. But if we do this and get Cotchin in the midfield, it leaves us thin in defence and with only eight trades left. With finals a real possibility, do we hold back on profit-based trading and saves our moves for the business end of the season?

Come on, Chappy…we need you back this week!

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Dream Team Eliminator:

Eliminated! And it wasn’t even close…1,986 to 1,614 against St. James Streakers. So now the focus goes onto the Premium Dream Team comp…