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The Holmes Files - Season Winning Strategies with Kyerin Grundy #PODPOD
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The Holmes Files is an in-depth strategy podcast where Holmesy interviews some of the brightest minds in the AFL Fantasy Community. Holmesy starts big, chatting with Kyerin Grundy who was the unofficial winner in 2025, before finding out after the comp was finished that he was ineligible for the hilux due to being the brother of the Ruck Pig Brodie Grundy.
On this episode, Kyerin tells his story and reviews his epic 2025 season where he would end up as the #1 coach. The boys discuss starting squad philosophy, trades to win you the comp and much much more! This is a must listen for any coach who wants to compete at the top end!
The PODPOD is brought to you by Moreira’s Magic in 2026. All Holmes Files episodes will be available exclusively as a part of the 2026 Season Guide. As well as the podcasts, the Season Guide will also include:
- Player profiles and comments for all players in the AFL
- Best 22’s from the MM team
- Draft rankings
- DVP
- Strength of schedule
- Podcasts with Selby and Xavier Ellis
Head over to moreirasmagic.com.au/membership to pre-order now - the guide will be released early January and updated right up until the start of round 1
Follow us on X:
The PODPOD: @podpodAFL
Holmesy: @Holmesyheroes
Lewy: @LewyAF
Harmey: @jonharmey
Dos: @HKdos
Sam: @grillis03
Jordy: @jordandsena
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Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:18
Holmesy
G'day and welcome to the Pod Pod. It's your host Holmesy here, three-time top 10 finisher and twice runner-up in AFL Fantasy Classic.
00:00:25
kyerin
Thank you.
Holmes Files 2026 and Guest Introduction
00:00:27
Holmesy
We are back for the first edition of the Holmes Files for the 2026 AFL Fantasy season and I am super excited for the guest that I have on today.
Kyron's Fantasy Background and Excitement
00:00:37
Holmesy
We have the unofficial winner of AFL Fantasy Classic in 2025.
00:00:44
Holmesy
Kyron Grundy, super excited to chat to you, mate. Thanks for jumping on. I do really appreciate it. And mate, how you?
00:00:52
kyerin
Thanks, Holmesy. Yeah, thank you for having me. No, I've been doing really well. um Sort of enjoying the fantasy off-season at the moment. um But, yeah, I'm really keen come on board and chat to you.
00:01:06
Holmesy
Yeah, mate, look, what super excited
Podcast Focus and Kyron's Story
00:01:08
Holmesy
to have you. i don't know if you've you've listened to any of my podcasts before, but the Holmes Files, I like to interview some of the the brightest minds in the AFL fantasy community, and it it does typically start with the coaches that won it and the runners-up in the the previous seasons. And I'm i'm not going to lie, when when you won it unofficially last year, I was unsure of whether we'd be able to get you on for for a chat to hear your story. But I was very, very happy that you are you agreed to it, mate. So what i what I typically like to do first is just get you to sort of introduce yourself to the listeners. Let us know a little bit about your AFL fantasy background and and how you've gone before. So why don't you just introduce yourself?
Kyron's AFL Fantasy Journey and Strategy Shift
00:01:50
kyerin
Yeah, sure. um so I suppose, as they say, time time heals all wounds. or um So I've sort of um obviously was... yeah, bitter about it for the first few months. um But I'm more sort of reflecting and celebrating the great journey um and I suppose the awesome highs of the chase of finishing number one.
00:02:14
kyerin
um And that's really what I want to celebrate um is more finishing one and not necessarily not getting the major prize. um I've been playing AFL Fantasy, um since I was in high school. well I think it was called Dream Team back then. um So, ah don't know, probably almost 20 years, I'd say. um And absolutely love it. um Most of the time it was just about um competing against my mates. um So I'd join a league, um play against them.
00:02:51
kyerin
i never really took my ranking into a huge consideration. it It wasn't really the focus. um It was always just trying to finish top of my league. um And it wasn't really until a mate of mine a couple of years ago i had a good run um for the car um that I realised, oh, hang on, it's actually possible. um So that's where I started to sort of sort ah change my thinking around racing
00:03:24
kyerin
about how I could go about fantasy a little bit differently.
00:03:28
Holmesy
Yeah,
The Road to Becoming a Winner
00:03:29
Holmesy
awesome. So obviously we'll we'll get into the the win in a second, but in terms of rankings, what's the sort of the highest you've ranked outside of what you were able to achieve last year?
00:03:41
kyerin
Yeah, normally um i'm probably ranking around the low thousands. um I would be starting... I've ah come home strong towards the back end, but I'd always be too far out to sort of go for that hat. So it'd be about the 2000, 1000 mark.
00:04:02
kyerin
um This was the first time that I'd finished, well, inside the top 500. five hundred um I hadn't done any better than that before. So this was, um yeah, a big, big jump up.
00:04:17
Holmesy
Oh, mate, it was an unreal season. So for those of you that might be new listeners or or whatnot, so Kyron's the brother of Brodie Grundy who who plays at Sydney.
00:04:27
Holmesy
um He was the the runaway winner of AFL Fantasy this year. um To be honest, us in the top 10 weren't really close. We were all were all trying to hunt him down from late in the season, but we couldn't get there. But Unfortunately, due to Kyron being Brodie's brother, he was deemed ineligible at the end of the season to take home the car, the major prize. So still the unofficial winner, Kyron, but we're not going to make this too much the focus of the podcast. I want to really focus on your season, but just talk us through the
Eligibility Issue and Missed Prize
00:05:00
Holmesy
story at the end. So towards the end of the year, how it all sort of played out and and what you know what do you need to get off your chest here?
00:05:07
kyerin
Yeah, sure. um So, yeah, I sort of, you know, I started the season... you know, not really even anticipating. as I said, I've been doing it for almost 20 years. So I hadn't even thought about eligibility um or anything like that um because you never really anticipate that you're going to even be in this position. um It wasn't until i sort of went on the, i went on the traders pod and it was spoken about how
00:05:39
kyerin
You know, I'm in the running for the car and, you know, if I come first, you know, yeah, there was there seemed to be no flags and I hadn't heard anything up until, well, for the whole season.
00:05:51
kyerin
I hadn't heard anything from the AFL or from the fantasy platform.
00:05:54
Holmesy
Thank you.
00:05:57
kyerin
So I just assumed, um you know, having not hidden the fact that I was related to Brodie and being on their podcast, I just assumed that everything was sweet. Um, and then on the, on the Monday, so the morning after the season, um, they, I got a phone call just to say, hey look, um,
00:06:21
kyerin
There's the eligibility criteria. um We're going to have to look into this. And um
Holmesy's Sympathy and Top Finishes
00:06:29
kyerin
I was happy for them to look into it. I said said my bit.
00:06:33
kyerin
um And then a few days later, got an email back just confirming that I wasn't eligible. So, um yeah, wasn wasn't able to, I suppose, speak to anyone more about it.
00:06:46
kyerin
um But... trying obviously now just to focus on the fact that i was it yeah was the unofficial overall winner. um However, winning the major prize would have been would have been lovely.
00:07:03
Holmesy
Yeah, look, yeah, I can't imagine what it's like to be in your shoes, to be honest. I've ah said three three top tens. i i was I was never in the running for the first one back in 2018, but 2021 I was late. I hit the front on the last Sunday and and led right up until 30 seconds to go in that that last game.
00:07:24
Holmesy
i was I was never a chance to come over the top of you this this time around, but I i can't, yeah, I know what it's like to think that you potentially could be taking home a Hilux and winning the comp.
00:07:35
Holmesy
um So, like ah yeah, I can't imagine what it's like to win it then only to find out that you haven't done it, but still really need to celebrate an awesome achievement of of winning the comp. You can still say that you've done it um and everyone knows everyone knows that you've done it. as As much as I say, I've got two runner runners up now, there's there's an asterisk there, but,
00:07:53
Holmesy
Yeah, look, ah yeah, on unreal effort from you. And it's it's good to reflect, like like we just chatted pre-pod and you said it was good to sort of reflect on your season and and and think about
Future Participation in AFL Fantasy
00:08:05
Holmesy
what's sort of going on. will Will you play in the future?
00:08:09
kyerin
Thank you for the kind words. um i Will I play in the future? i I always say i probably won't, but I think when it comes around to it, I probably will. um oh I'll certainly, um i mean, I just love my football and the fantasy um stats and everything so much that ah I'm sure I'll probably make a team.
00:08:32
kyerin
um It may not be a classic team. I might just focus on draft.
00:08:35
Holmesy
Thank you.
00:08:36
kyerin
um But yeah, at the moment, I'm sort of, Happy just not thinking about it um up until probably, you know, the pre-season games.
00:08:49
Holmesy
Yeah, I mean, the best the best part of the, in my opinion anyway, the best part of playing AFL Fantasy is the group chats you have with people, um the lead yeah your league mates that you have.
00:08:59
Holmesy
I personally listen to lots of content during the week and and whatnot, and that that's the the part I love. So, yeah, hopefully, fingers crossed, you've you've still got that love for the game that you're You still get involved, but yeah, really, really happy to have you on, mate.
00:09:13
Holmesy
And who knows, maybe the maybe the Traders boys can pull some strings like they did with Harry Edwards back in the day and and get you a number one hat, mate, or something. So you've got but that. That would be pretty cool.
00:09:22
kyerin
Yeah, that would that would be nice. I sort of, um speaking about group chats, I suppose that the aim was always to sort of get a um get a hat.
00:09:33
kyerin
And that's often one of the main things that people say, they ask me, they're like, oh, we know you didn't get the Hilux, but surely you got a hat. And I'm like, no, nothing. So um yeah, so no, that that will be, um we'll say we'll see what the future holds.
00:09:48
Holmesy
Yeah, beautiful. But yeah, as I said, today's podcast is really just about reviewing your season. I personally have reviewed my season against yours and and we had two very different seasons to come almost close to the same spot, which means there's definitely more than one way to to play the game. I'm very interested to talk about the start of your season as you started very, very well and and
Sponsorship Announcement
00:10:12
Holmesy
I did not. But Before we do that, I do just have a bit of an an announcement for the PodPod in 2026. Hopefully the listeners by now have listened to the podcast that was dropped by Selby at Marera's Magic yesterday, if you haven't go and check that out.
00:10:28
Holmesy
ah But the big news is that the PodPod is actually going to be brought to you by Marera's Magic in 2026. So they've come on board as our major sponsor. The pod pod isn't going to change at all in terms of our podcast and and staying as normal for the upcoming season.
00:10:41
kyerin
Thank you.
00:10:43
Holmesy
But during the preseason, these Holmes Files episodes are actually going to be exclusively part of the Marrera's Magic Season Guide. So this one today coming out is going to be free to the public.
00:10:53
Holmesy
i We made the decision that the public probably deserves to hear your side, Kyron, and listen to the review of your season. But from that point in time, the Holmes Files are going to be exclusively for Morera's Magic Season Guide subscribers. subscribers So um these Holmes Files episodes focus solely on deep diving strategy um with some of the brightest minds in the AFL fantasy community. I've already got one lined up with DT Lemon ready to go and um He's a three-time hat winner and five-time top 500 finisher. So, yeah, super excited for that. In 2026, the Marrera's Magic Season Guide will be available very, very soon. So make sure you head over to marrerasmagic.com.au to pre-order.
00:11:37
Holmesy
It's not just the Holmes Files episodes. He's put a lot of effort into the player profiles. There's a lot of cool features coming up for this year, so make sure you are jumping over there and pre-ordering, Kyron. But let's get stuck into the 2025 season
Starting Squad Strategy for 2025
00:11:53
Holmesy
review. So let's go. We're going to go starting squad philosophy first, as I ah suppose that's more relevant for coaches listening to how you set your side up last year so they can start to to build theirs. But let's just talk a little bit about the philosophies of what you're looking to do when you set up your starting squad last year.
00:12:11
kyerin
Yeah, sure. um I suppose with my starting squad, I was really looking for value. um That was the main main thing where I saw there was some value. There were some key players where I didn't really mind about their price tag. I just thought I needed to have them. Yeah.
00:12:32
kyerin
But for the majority of my team, i was looking for value and also some sort of upside in their role, um whether it was a change in team, um whether it was a yeah change from playing forward to back.
00:12:47
kyerin
um That was... probably the major thing I was looking for. So I guess people like Sheasel, I was just happy to pay up for as I just thought he would be a top defender.
00:12:59
kyerin
um Gorn at the time, I was happy happy to pay up for again, um thinking he'd be a good captain choice. Dawson was similar. um But then the rest, um I was looking a lot of mid-prices as well. So people like Driscoll, Chera,
00:13:19
kyerin
um Sanders, although he didn't really um go as well as anticipated. Those sort of players were the ones that I wanted to get in there.
Aggressive Trading Strategy
00:13:28
kyerin
With um Sam De Koning with his ruck role, when that was confirmed to begin with, I thought he'd definitely get a boost in points. So grabbed him.
00:13:37
kyerin
um And then also people like... I mean, at the time, um the Zai Wanganee Miller wasn't an obvious pick. um He was someone that I've always like tracked and enjoyed watching and thought he might have a um natural progression. But certainly, um that that there was a risk there. And he was someone that if he didn't do super well to begin with, I was going to be happy to to move away from.
00:14:05
kyerin
um But I think... In your starting squad, you need to have, well, in my opinion, it's good to have a few players um that not everyone's going to have just just to give you that chance to sort of be up the end of the rankings after round one.
00:14:22
kyerin
um That's similar with Tom Powell as well. I thought that he would be someone that might have a ah jump in um his output.
00:14:29
Holmesy
Bye.
00:14:32
kyerin
low price um he was someone was happy to take a risk on and um yeah looking back now i got 120 in the first round so that certainly gave me a nice little boost
00:14:44
Holmesy
Yeah, I think, I mean, looking back, you've only got two rookie price players on field. So, I mean, that was, I think, crucial. You got off to such a good start. You you were ranked inside the top 1,000 early in that first round. I think it was 997 and then jumped pretty much up to 160 after round two.
00:15:03
Holmesy
And, Just having those two rookies on field, yes, you nailed a you know ah a Tom Power 120. You don't pick him expecting to go 120, but you you picked him with a a good matchup to start with that increased midfield role. So here goes bang.
00:15:16
Holmesy
Sam De Koning, yeah, looking back on it, it's easy in hindsight, but there still was that mystery around what exactly his ruck role was going to be ah if if you think back. He was playing that sort of really strange ruck role of starting in the center bounce, but then floating back and not really having a big ruck share during the game. It was like he was the ruckman in defense. I think you had Blitzarbs in the middle. And then I think
Trade Decisions Based on Roles
00:15:39
Holmesy
even Shannon Neal was rucking up forward. So that wasn't the traditional ruck role that we normally go for.
00:15:45
Holmesy
But I think what you did super well was you started really well because you limited your rookies on field in round one, but then you very quickly...
00:15:52
kyerin
you
00:15:54
Holmesy
brought more rookies on field in round two when there was the best 18 structure. So you got that big points boost early and then you were able to trade into the the player like the mid prices you got off of Sanders really quickly.
00:16:08
Holmesy
You brought your rookies on field, which meant you then had more rookies on field for those best 18 rounds, which meant you were able to maximize your score.
00:16:16
kyerin
Yeah, and I suppose, um you know, even though I did have a great start, there was still um Perryman in round one who got the 49. That was an example of, um you know, needing to sort of get off him. um I also had Sam Wicks um who, you know, looked okay in the opening round but then it looked like more of a lockdown defender. Yeah.
00:16:40
kyerin
Coming into round two, that's, as you said, that's where I suppose I had to make some decisions. um And normally, you know, I might hold on to players like Sanders and Hollands for a bit longer.
00:16:53
kyerin
um But watching their roles... um Hollands just wasn't being used as much as I was hoping. um And Sanders, yeah, it wasn't, think he had one big quarter or something like that, but i just didn't think he was going to be the player I needed.
00:17:10
kyerin
So quickly jumping off them bringing in a Lindsay and a Rosie, um, And then when I brought Rosie in, he went for 145. that just jumped me up again. um yeah into after round two so um that was, i suppose, the big thing.
00:17:33
kyerin
going by roll um and not necessarily just going by going by name um early to early days um was how i started off
00:17:46
Holmesy
Yeah, yeah. And I love that. So you you weren't afraid to to pay up. And I think Selby talks about it in in his winning years. He didn't really start anyone priced over 100. I think there might have been a Tom Mitchell one year that was priced at 106, but he ended up going 125 or whatever it was. So you had to have Tom Mitchell, but you weren't you weren't afraid to pay up.
00:18:07
Holmesy
Sheezil, 112.
00:18:08
kyerin
No.
00:18:09
Holmesy
He's priced at 112. He ends up averaging 109. But you could have got him for slightly cheaper throughout the year. But you know when you get a player that averages 109 for the year, you can just lock him away. That's fine. Max Gorn. I'm pretty sure Max Gorn wasn't on a lot of our radars for most of the preseason. But I think it was when Briggsie got knocked out in that opening round game, which meant Gorn was going to be rucking against Keith in round one. That kind of just...
00:18:36
Holmesy
meant that majority of the clump went there because I think Tristan Cherry had that tough run.
00:18:37
kyerin
Yeah, that's right.
00:18:41
Holmesy
So it was either a Gorn or a Cherry type. um Dawson was, in hindsight, Dawson was an easy pick, but he was he was still priced at 104. He only really worked out because he went at sort of one...
00:18:53
Holmesy
I think he was going at about 115, 116 for the first half of the year before he kind of did tail off a little bit, but still went pretty well.
00:18:55
kyerin
Thank you.
00:19:00
Holmesy
So it's it's good to reflect on your starting squad, but it's also not not easy to do, right? Everything's easy in hindsight. So um looking at what we did, we did a lot of the same things.
00:19:10
Holmesy
Admittedly, I started at 26K and you started 997.
00:19:14
kyerin
yeah
00:19:14
Holmesy
um yeah You didn't nail your rookies as well as um as what some sides did.
Risk-taking with Rookies
00:19:20
Holmesy
Like you didn't start a Lindsay. i don't believe you had a Max Hall at any point. You you had...
00:19:25
kyerin
No, I missed the boat there
00:19:27
Holmesy
Yeah, you had Trader and Zach Reid as most of us did, but a lot of a lot of us might have still had a prior or someone like that, was which was a little bit of extra cash.
00:19:28
kyerin
um
00:19:35
Holmesy
So I suppose once you had your starting squad set up, your aim from then was what? Just to start trading out the deadweight mid prices and get onto the guys that were going up quickly.
00:19:45
Holmesy
Is that what you sort of aim to do?
00:19:47
kyerin
there. Yeah, pretty much it was... um Yeah, the the going by their role, um if they weren't doing, well, putting the output in I was expecting um and their price was beginning to go backwards, jumping off them as soon as possible and then going for someone who either was a rookie going up, so like Riley Bice or like a primo that was...
00:20:15
kyerin
about to get a better role or I thought was um good value, getting on them early and hoping that they would, um i suppose, give me a good couple of weeks.
00:20:27
kyerin
There was also just reflecting on my early rounds. And I think I remember thinking back now and thinking that I had, um suppose, ruined my chances of finishing high up um was in, I think there was around...
00:20:43
kyerin
Yeah, so there was a three-round period. So in round four, I went Max Gorn as captain for 90. Round five, I had De Koning captain for a 75.
00:20:56
kyerin
um And then i in round six, I went McRae captain as a... 83 and i was just so flat, couldn't pick a captain. I kept thinking, ah this is the thing that's going to cost me.
00:21:11
kyerin
um But obviously there was just natural ah progression around the other areas of the team that kept me around the mark. um But it also just goes to show that even if you don't, you don't have to nail a captain every week to finish um to finish top as long as you're fixing up the rest of your team.
00:21:22
Holmesy
Thank you.
00:21:30
Holmesy
Yeah, yeah, look, 100%. And might my story with the captain's not not the same. my my I think my captain average was 124.5 for the year, but I made my fair share of um errors with my trades early days.
00:21:44
kyerin
Hmm.
00:21:44
Holmesy
Like you you got onto some good ones. I went Perryman to Kane Farrell, who went 60-60-60 before I traded him out. you can You can make mistakes in your starting squad. it's It's a long season, but as long as you've got the...
00:21:57
Holmesy
the pieces in place of making that cash and that's ticking over, that's the most important thing. And just looking at your trades, you did that you did that so well. So your round two trades, you were getting rid of Sanders and Hollands, which were your two deadweight mid-prices.
00:22:12
Holmesy
Admittedly, Sanders came did okay. like he He was ticking over enough.
00:22:16
kyerin
Thank
00:22:16
Holmesy
And then I think he did have a 130 the week I traded him out, which really um shot his cash up.
00:22:21
kyerin
yeah
00:22:22
Holmesy
But those you know You get rid of Sanders and Hollands and you get onto a Lindsay and a Rosie who are two very good picks. You then get rid of Wicks and Perryman for Bice and Rankin.
00:22:33
Holmesy
So Bice was that must-have rookie. And there's no coincidence that we both did well and we were both early adopters of Bice. Like if you missed Bice that round, he has that 125 and then everyone else has to pay another 100K for him. That's 100K that we've made that no one else has.
Early Trade Risks for Gains
00:22:49
Holmesy
And then you get rid of Campo, who's the deadweight rookie, and O'Sullivan, who's the rookie that's not getting it done. And then you get in Marais, who's the rookie coming up, and then Ryan Marrick. So the the theme that I'm seeing here is that there's these players in your squad that you've made a mistake. They're not exactly making the money, but you were just super aggressive in getting them out and getting onto the guys that are shooting up in cash quickly.
00:23:12
kyerin
Yeah, absolutely. um And I remember reflecting again on the season, um bringing in Riley Bice, round four, and then having his 125 sit on the bench. um So that also wasn't wasn't ideal.
00:23:27
kyerin
um But getting those players out meant that i was able to get um players with more upside into the team. um ah suppose by doing it early, like as you were saying, I was quite aggressive with it. Like all these trades in in hindsight think, oh yeah, that's obvious, like bring in these players.
00:23:49
kyerin
um But at the time they were they were fifty fifty calls, like the players might have just been moved to a new role or um i might have just seen a good quarter and a half of a player in a new spot. um But that jumping on them then and there, taking that risk, I suppose, really um paid off for me last year. I wasn't waiting to see it for two or three weeks before then jumping on.
00:24:20
kyerin
So I suppose that was where I... um was able to get in front of other people where I was just lucky with those people that I picked in going by their role um actually did what I thought they were going to do. So that that's probably one thing of advice I would take on for those people who wanting to finish quite high up
Maximizing Scores During Best 18 Rounds
00:24:43
kyerin
there.
00:24:43
kyerin
um Sort of if you're bringing in the same people at the same time as everyone else, it it is going to be hard to sometimes make that jump. So um sometimes you do have to trust your gut or just take a bit of a punt on someone, um hoping that they do go off. And if they do, that's where you've got that jump on the competition, both um by their cash gen and also by their points.
00:25:10
Holmesy
yeah Yeah, I agree with that 100%. You've got to be willing to to take a risk if you want to do well. and's i mean Let's just use Riley Bice as an example. so I remember this well. Bice was the sub in... It was either opening round or round one, he was the sub.
00:25:26
Holmesy
and Then he played that game against Frio where he was... He was nowhere for three quarters. And then in that last quarter, he basically won the game for Sydney um against Frio. Then he had his bye.
00:25:38
Holmesy
in In hindsight, he was an easy pick, but you you pick a but ah Riley Bice for two seventy k He comes in, he has a poor game, and then he's subbed or is dropped, and then and then you're in a bit of trouble. So you you took the risk, you got on him.
00:25:51
Holmesy
Ryan Maric was the same. like that That halfback role was real at the time, but we hadn't really seen it for any extended period. But you jump on him, he has that role for six or seven weeks before they start throwing him around, and he really starts to shoot up.
00:26:05
Holmesy
Even a a Christian Marais, did you get him after the 90, or did you go before he had the 90?
00:26:12
kyerin
um I got him before 90 or maybe no, after the 90. Yeah, I got him after. Moraes wasn't probably on my radar until he had that massive game, um i think, playing on the on the wing. I think what I liked about Bias and Marek that gave me more confidence um is that they were also taking the kickouts. um So I thought if they can keep that role, um you know, they're not...
00:26:39
kyerin
hopefully going to drop me an absolute disaster score as long as they're keeping those kickouts. So um that gave me that little bit more confidence with selecting those those two players.
00:26:53
Holmesy
Yeah, 100%. The kickouts, you know you're going to get ah a consistent floor. And if they have ah a game where it's living down in the back line, yeah, they can really elevate. So love that. Let's just talk a little bit about the best 18 rounds now with the opening round buyers.
00:27:08
Holmesy
So were you were you someone that was really considering the opening round buyers and not wanting to have too many players involved?
00:27:12
kyerin
Peace.
00:27:16
Holmesy
um from the same teams on a buy or you were just happy to sort of pick the best players at the best prices early days and then trade off them if you needed to? What was your philosophy there?
00:27:25
kyerin
Yeah, i honestly, i didn't put too much. um I didn't let the opening buys sort of dictate too much of my structure. um Once again, that I did use it though, the opening round to look at players who I thought would have a good role and were also um undervalued.
Mid-Season Buy Strategies
00:27:43
kyerin
i I went with, after the opening round, I went with Perryman and Wicks who both, dropped in round one a 49 and a 43. weren't the ideal picks in hindsight. But I didn't obviously want to get too many of those players, sorry, knowing that they would have an extra buyer during the year. So stayed away from those primos, from those teams, but was happy to take a punt on people who I thought were going to have a good role, knowing that down the track I could just trade them off.
00:28:21
kyerin
to either not grind or downgrade if they are doing well?
00:28:25
Holmesy
Yep. And then were you so did you, because you did this quite well, I'm just wondering whether you're actually thinking about it. So in terms of the best 18 and knowing that you were going to have four scores drop off from your best 22, were you more happy to have maybe an extra rookie on field than you traditionally would knowing that it's really about the ceiling scores that we need during the best 18 rounds?
00:28:47
Holmesy
Because, I mean, I ah found that I was having 80s and 90s just sort of stuck on my bench because I i was a little bit more mid-price focus rather than the best A team knowing that, hey, it's it's actually not a bad thing if you've got some 40s on field because they're just going to drop off.
00:28:48
kyerin
Yes.
00:29:03
Holmesy
we need We need the ceiling scores.
00:29:05
kyerin
Yeah, absolutely. um And I think for me, the opening rounds, um I was thinking, I certainly was thinking like that, more so come the mid-season buys. I was definitely had that thought um that I want to get people in who, you know, a risky pick, for example,
00:29:26
kyerin
um who has a high ceiling could really set you apart. So I think I brought in James Sicily at some point when thought he was undervalued, knowing he has the capacity to jump up in price and to get those easy plus sixes, knowing with these rookies getting sixty s and seventy s It was really about getting people who could get those big scores um because I think, yeah, there was a lot of confidence in those rookies not dropping too low.
00:30:01
kyerin
um So in the opening round, the opening a couple of rounds, I was certainly thinking of, yeah, who who can who can give me that real pop score um knowing that those people who were going to struggle, were just going to fall off anyway. And there was a lot of times during the year, um during the buys, that players who I thought would be, you know, when some of my top scorers ended up being the ones who um had their scores taken off, which um was always a surprise.
00:30:34
Holmesy
yeah Yeah, no, absolutely. i think I think you nailed it. Like, i as I said, reviewed your team. yeah You only had the two rookies on field in that first round when it was still best 22, and then you very quickly brought another rookie back on. And I i think that's so important that you just you adjusted your structure on the fly to make sure that it was primed for the best 18.
00:30:55
Holmesy
And I think that's so crucial where coaches get nervous about doing these restructures.
00:30:57
kyerin
you
00:30:59
Holmesy
They're like, oh, I can't start this person because if if it flops, then I have to restructure and that's not good. But restructuring in the first sort of three to four rounds, that's that's actually the most important element of the game.
00:31:10
Holmesy
You'd... nailing the starting squad. Very rarely do we just nail everything. It's about how you can trade into the optimal structure early to really maximize your points while still having the the number one cash generators there doing doing their job. So you you nailed that part.
00:31:26
Holmesy
And I think that was the the big reason as to why you were able to get off to such a hot start and then maintain it and launch later on. So Opening round buys, you nailed that, you limited the primos and picked upside. You came out of the opening round buys at, I think, about 72, a rank of 72, which is insane to think of that you you didn't really leave the 100 after that, i i'm not I don't think, or you weren't too far away anyway.
00:31:52
Holmesy
What was your philosophies and your thoughts coming out at 72 and what you needed to do in upgrade season moving towards the mid-season buys?
00:32:01
kyerin
Yeah, so I guess that was probably the main the main thing there. I was, um yeah, coming out around, but i was about, yeah, i wasn't I didn't drop out the top 100. And I guess that's where I was really trying just to focus once again um on players who were going to have a role change, um who I thought there was value in people who I felt as though ah were going to,
00:32:32
kyerin
not necessarily change the whole structure of the team, um but had that upside. So if we think about, if I'm looking through my team here, um bringing in those rookies, so like a Caden Cleary, getting him early um to then upgrade Garcia to a Petrarca who I thought was going to be a very um top forward. getting um Bringing Powell in, sorry, getting Powell out after he sort of dropped off.
00:33:06
Holmesy
Did his job, yep.
00:33:08
kyerin
Did his job and then brought Ned Long in. um So that was probably ah perfect sliding doors moment there. So jumping off power as he did his job.
00:33:20
kyerin
Long, who was getting his... um I think he had a massive game against the Crows in Adelaide. um and then he...
00:33:31
kyerin
he think the coach then said, oh, yeah, like Long won't be the sub ever again or something like that um after that game. and And I love the way he tackled and, you collected the disposal. So I straight away pretty well just jumped on. So I didn't i didn't wait. um couple of weeks to see it, I was sort of ah oh yeah, the coach has said no longer sub.
00:33:56
kyerin
um I'm going to take a punt there. And that that really paid off because then he was then able to obviously increase his...
00:34:05
kyerin
pay his um price while also scoring really well. So it was a matter of really just getting those players in who I thought um had that pop. There was also getting off Bice after he um started to drop off again. like He did his job um and going early on Bergman when he got that midfield role.
00:34:29
kyerin
um Similar, trying to get Peatling when he, I think it was an injury to Matt Crouch. So getting Peatling in um quite soon. and were probably the main the main areas that i was really focusing on.
00:34:44
kyerin
And in hindsight now, it's like, yeah, like they were obvious trades, but um at the time when you're doing it so early, it is really a 50-50 call that a lot of them paid off for me just by focusing mainly on upside and um their role, knowing that I could always trade out if it doesn't go to plan.
00:35:09
Holmesy
Yeah, mate, look, the the themes of your trades, they all go along the same line and and it's perfect. So you're you're ranked 72 at this point. it's It's very easy to think, oh, I'm off to a hot start here. I need to start going to the top and bringing these guys in. And and you did go to the top, but you didn't overpay for any players. So as you mentioned, you brought in a Petrarca, who was your upgrade, who was who was underpriced at that point and and a a top forward at that point.
Reflecting on Successful High-Risk Trades
00:35:35
Holmesy
you You tried with a Sicily. Now, that one didn't pay off, but at the same time, you were looking for someone who was underpriced who could potentially score in line with the top six, all while you're trimming your rookies, which is super important as we know rookies have that sort of, unless they're a Levi Ashcroft, Nick Dacos, Harry Sheasel type, they've got that sort of five to eight week cycle where they get to the top of their price and they've done their job and then you trim them off to get on the next guy.
00:35:43
kyerin
Mm-hmm.
00:36:00
Holmesy
You then brought in Dacos who who was we all thought was underpriced at the time. Now, he wasn't necessarily underpriced. He was probably around that 100 mark, but there was times where he was priced at 110 and there was times where he was priced at 100. So you you got on there at the right time.
00:36:17
Holmesy
um you
00:36:18
kyerin
Yeah, i just couldn't I just couldn't sit through. i was trying to hold off getting Dacos, but I just couldn't sit through any more games. I i remember watching the Anzac Day game and it just he just seemed open everywhere. I just, for my own sanity, I just had to jump on. i was trying so hard because I know he does get those tag games.
00:36:38
kyerin
um And yeah, it was a lot easier to sleep at night having Dacos, but um he was one that... um Yeah, I was trying trying to hold off of, um but in the end, he he had some big gains, which helped.
00:36:53
kyerin
I know one that sticks out to me, one of the trades that were really, um that worked out, there's probably two. One in rounds, I brought in Heaney in round 12, and at the time, he hadn't, yeah, he wasn't having a massive season, um but he He just started to get more midfield time. He was looking stronger, um still pushing forward and kicking goals.
00:37:17
kyerin
And he was quite, I felt, undervalued um at that point because of his slow start. Jumping him in round 12 and then think um he had a great run. got...
00:37:31
kyerin
he got
00:37:31
Holmesy
He had that 160 as well, didn't he?
00:37:32
kyerin
i Yeah, so he had 100 and – so round 15, he went 111. Round Round And then, yeah round had that which saw me jump from oh i was fourth come go when it in went into second but um i suppose that was that was a big one because not many people in the top end had Heaney.
00:38:02
kyerin
um And that's where my thought process also i went, reflecting on the season. i was like, oh, I need to have some players who... um So I was sitting around that I couldn't really jump out of the 10 to 20 mark for a few weeks.
00:38:18
kyerin
So was like, oh, i have to take a punt on someone who is to be a little bit of a point of difference. um And yeah, Heaney just had that stretch where he just went off. um Yeah, kicking goals and getting lots of touches.
00:38:31
kyerin
I also brought in Zach Merritt. This was another sliding doors moment. Yeah. It was, i remember it well, it was the Essendon versus Gold Coast game and I'd stayed away from Merritt all year.
00:38:39
Holmesy
Thank you.
00:38:46
kyerin
um And knowing that Gold Coast gave up a lot of points to mids, at the time there was a lot of chatter about getting in Caldwell, get Caldwell in for the game.
00:39:00
kyerin
um And people were off Merritt because he was getting tagged and the role wasn't
Key Trades Leading to Top Rank
00:39:06
kyerin
quite there. But round 17, I jumped on Merritt and um put the vice captain on him, thinking he'd have a big bounce back game. And then he got the 145, which I had the V on. So the 290 as my captain loophole at that back end of the season, followed up with...
00:39:31
kyerin
the Heaney 166 is the thing that really jumped me to be in contention um or and be leading, I think, as of round 20. Yeah, from from round 20 onwards, those were the two things that i think really helped propel.
00:39:47
Holmesy
yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, you nailed that. And and what i'm what I'm getting from this is that you weren't, yeah, as I said, you weren't overpaying for players. And and we do, we get into this mold where we see we see ah a premium go on a run for two, three, four weeks.
00:40:01
Holmesy
And we think, you know, we've got we've got to get on this guy because it's just they're just taking the season away from me.
00:40:01
kyerin
you.
00:40:06
Holmesy
but they're priced at 105, 110, you pay that 110 mark for them and they go 110 or they go less. At that point in the season, yes, they're scoring well for you, but they're not actually you're not you're not they're not outperforming their price.
00:40:20
Holmesy
And that's that's what the name of the game is until you get to that you know luxury season of of trading guys in and out once your team's complete. The aim of the game is just to maximize your points on field by picking players that are going to outperform their price.
00:40:32
kyerin
Thank you.
00:40:33
Holmesy
Because if you're getting players that are outperforming their price, That's how you're gaining rank on people. You're not gaining rank on people by picking players who score what they're priced at or at the worst case is actually paying for a player and they score less than what they're priced at. And that's what all of your trades leading up to the to the early ah to the mid-season buyers were about.
00:40:54
Holmesy
Yes, as I said, they didn't all pay off with your Sicilies and whatnot, but it was very clear what you were trying to do, which which was awesome. So we'll we'll get into the back end of the season in a little bit, but in terms of leading up to the mid-season buys, were you putting too much planning into your spread over the five weeks or was it still just pick the best players at the best prices?
Managing Player Buys Post-Buy Rounds
00:41:14
Holmesy
So I know for myself personally, being the first year of the five mid-season buyers, I wanted to be as balanced as possible.
00:41:22
Holmesy
And I probably started looking at it around about round nine or round 10. um But what were you sort of thinking there?
00:41:30
kyerin
Yeah, so i guess with my middle buys, I was just really wanting to make sure, like I hadn't put too much thought into it from the, until probably two weeks before the buys begun. I thought, oh, I better check my buy structure.
00:41:45
kyerin
um And then from there, those two weeks leading into the buys, I began sort of planning how i wanted to structure it. And I really just wanted to have, because it was best 18, I just wanted to make sure I had at least probably just only 19 reliable players. So um I didn't really mind um who they were. I just wanted to have at least 19 reliable. I wasn't trying to get... um you know In the 20s, I wasn't getting too caught up with how many green dots as long as I had 19 I knew that the week before I could do a couple of trades to bring 19 in, um allowing for that one bad score would hopefully drop off.
00:42:29
kyerin
i'm I was also looking at making sure i had a balanced premium. So I didn't want all my primos on one or two buys and then the other three weeks... um struggling with a lot more rookies, ah which was one of the reasons why I brought Heaney in um early on is because I didn't have many primos on the Swan's buy um and thought, yeah, he could be someone that would help balance that buy structure. So they were the two big things for me, not getting too caught up with how many green dots I had, but trying to make sure that
00:43:11
kyerin
I had about at least 19 or 20 going into each week with a balanced amount of premiums. So there was ah obviously a bit of um a bit of thought went into that leading up to the buys and also during the buys, making sure I was trading people um in who had a buy structure that suited my team.
00:43:34
Holmesy
Yeah, and I think that's so crucial as well. So back in the day, and it it was more evident when we only had the three buy rounds because it was you know six teams on a buy.
00:43:40
kyerin
She's a prophet.
00:43:42
Holmesy
it was It was a lot harder to navigate. But I think with the five rounds of buys, personally for myself, I just wanted to try and be as balanced with my premiums as possible. So I wasn't going too in-depth of you know or how many how many total players do I have in terms of rookies and all that kind of stuff.
00:43:57
Holmesy
I was still making sure I was maintaining my bench but it was more just about trying to make sure the premiums were balanced so I'm pretty sure come round 12 when the buy started I think my my premium structure was 4 on each buy which I think held me in good stead as I went along through I did you know Maybe in hindsight, I could have stacked the later buyers a little bit more, so maybe had an extra premium on round 15 and 16 and then potentially look to trade them off um once we got there. is i'm I'm pretty sure I had a complete side at about round 14, which meant I wouldn't have had a rookie on field if we were leaving the buyers in that particular round. But can you remember back at what point in the season you had that quote-unquote completed side?
00:44:43
kyerin
Yeah, I'm just sort of looking back now and I feel um i was probably a little bit later. i was happy to sort of keep um during those buys.
00:44:54
kyerin
I wasn't as aggressive as trading off all my mid prices to make sure um I could feel the strongest team each round as such. I was happy to sort of keep some players on my bench.
00:45:08
kyerin
Um, as long as I had not 18 on, on the field. So i was a little bit later to finalizing my team. I reckon i was probably more like round 16.
Post-Buy Round Team Strategy
00:45:21
kyerin
sixteen um but even then I still had players. Well, mean, it's in Clumpeter's side, but i still had people like Chera who I knew I wanted to get off of. And, um,
00:45:33
kyerin
the Ned Longs who I knew I'd had to eventually jump off of as well. um But yeah, round 16 was where I had that completed side.
00:45:43
Holmesy
Yeah, and I love that point that you made in terms of not wanting to trade off all of your players throughout the buy to field the strongest team for that particular round. Because I do feel like some coaches get in the trap of during the buys trading out players just to make sure they're maximizing their points for that particular round and then coming out at the end of the buys.
00:46:05
Holmesy
and actually having a worse team than when they actually went into the bias. So there was a lot of there was a lot of buzz names. Now, I know you you got on a Bergman early and he was good in patches, but his role was up and down.
00:46:16
Holmesy
um Whenever he swung back into defense, his scoring really dropped off. You had a ah Sam Doherty who was in and out and then put up some scores, but also had some stinkers. You had a Callum Mills who was a bit of a buzz name who would put up his 60s. And then you bring these guys in throughout the buys and then all of a sudden you get to round 17 and you've got four or five mid-prices that aren't really helping your side because you don't have enough trades to get off them. And I suppose that was my big my big thing about why I was able to launch in the back end of the season is that I i did the same as you. i
00:46:51
Holmesy
I wanted to make sure that who I was bringing in was an actual underpriced or a gun best 22 player and not necessarily worried about, ah you know, I've only got 20 playing here and I'm a premium short. i i need to trade out one of my premiums to bring in another one, which which might not actually work out better for me in the long term.
00:47:10
kyerin
Yeah, I ah totally agree there. And um I suppose it took a little bit of I don't know how other people play the game, but like um discipline in a way because like I know in the past um and if i but my rank wasn't so high, um for example, when a Ned Long or a Chera, you know, I've been waiting for them to trade them, I would be so ah so keen to trade them as soon as they got to their buy. i wouldn't really think about –
00:47:44
kyerin
what the flow and effect is for the other buyers, I would just be like, yeah, Long's done his job, um time for him to go. ah but I was really putting, sticking to, I suppose, my original philosophy with runs, um their role and their upside. If I still felt like Long was going to be important in the further by by plays, giving me that 18 and 19, I was holding on to him. So just being, having a bit more foresight than just, you know,
00:48:15
kyerin
you if it's round 15, just making sure I've got the best round 16 team, it was like, no, what would this then mean for round 17 and 18? eighteen So um certainly had to sort of plan plan that and also not just um trade with my heart, but probably trade with my brain.
00:48:37
Holmesy
Yeah, perfect. can you Can you talk to me a little bit about what you did with your rucks during the bites? So ah back in the day, I was known as the set and forget guy. I i started Grundy and Gorn and just didn't touch him for the year. And there wasn't many that that did that at the time. Yeah.
00:48:53
Holmesy
ah This year I completely changed. So i actually traded TDK earlier than most. I i traded him before he got injured and then throughout the buys, I think I went to Cherry and then I traded i traded Marshall to Cherry and then I traded Gorn back to Marshall.
00:48:59
kyerin
Thank you.
00:49:07
Holmesy
And then at some point I traded Cherry to Grundy and like i I think I traded about seven times in my ruck line. what What did you do with your rucks?
00:49:16
kyerin
Yeah, from from memory. So I started out with, yeah, Gorn because I thought he had that good matchup early um and De Koning with that upside. And I pretty well kept kept that going um until round nine where I got off De Koning and brought in Marshall.
00:49:37
kyerin
And Marshall had that bit of a slower start to the year from memory um and bringing him in back banking on the fact that once again, he was underpriced, has the number one rut role.
00:49:50
kyerin
De Koning seems as though he's on the decline, um bringing him in. Then I rolled with Gorn and Marshall for a few weeks um and then got a little bit creative,
00:50:04
kyerin
um thinking Cherry, was going to explode in the back end of the year. so got off Marshall, I think was around 13 or so and brought in Cherry.
Ruck Strategy Evolution
00:50:17
kyerin
um In hindsight, probably should have just brought in my brother, but brought in Cherry. He didn't really go as well as expected.
00:50:29
kyerin
He just didn't seem to... Yeah, belaying the tackles and um he didn't... I was better off just keeping Marshall that whole time, but went with Cherry. So that one also didn't really pay off in terms of, yeah, looking for upside and roll. Cherry just sort of kept that role.
00:50:48
kyerin
But then getting rid of him... It looks like I went with a Luke Jackson in the ruck. I believe he was solo ruck for a little bit. So jumped on, jumped on, got Jackson to play ruck.
00:51:04
kyerin
um And then round 19, finally, finally saw the light and um got Brodie in and and he he finished the year um obviously really strongly.
00:51:17
Holmesy
yeah Yeah, and I did end up being a bit of a ruck merry-go-round. I did the same. So brought in Cherry. I think you can remember back. He had the Eagles first round after the buy, and we all thought he was going to have that have a 150, but that didn't eventuate.
00:51:26
kyerin
Yeah, that's right.
00:51:29
Holmesy
And then he did sort of he did slow a little bit. um I traded off Gorn at his buy. If you can remember back, he just had that. hed He was priced at 120. He'd gone on an insane run.
00:51:40
Holmesy
But the money you could make going from a Gorn down to a Marshall was just too good to pass up, knowing that Gorn had a bit of a tougher run um after his buy. And then I think we all we all ended up going Grundy once Cherry cherry knocked out that Melbourne bloke and got suspended.
00:51:56
Holmesy
So, and i mean, Grundy, your brother was putting up some amazing numbers, yet none of us were going there.
00:51:56
kyerin
Yes. yeah
00:52:01
Holmesy
Just, I don't know, He'd had ah yeah he'd had a slow couple of years, but we all knew what he could do and and that was just a no-brainer to go there. But yeah, just just fascinating to to think about. ah I suppose we were able to do it because of the cash gen that we'd had for the year.
00:52:15
Holmesy
Like our squads were in such a good spot that we were able to do these trades throughout the buys to kind of... propel our points up a little bit where, yeah, if you if you didn't have the cash gen and you're wasting trades doing that, you can find yourself getting in a little bit of strife. But it's just, yeah, something I adopted this year, which was which was pretty cool. So let's let's talk final phase of the season now. So you've left the buyers...
00:52:37
Holmesy
ah So you ranked three after round 17. So that was your big jump that you said where yeah I had merit as well, but you had the Heaney 160 and your squad was in a good spot.
00:52:48
Holmesy
What were you trying to do after the mid-season buys to to win the comp? What were ah what were you thinking?
Maintaining Top Rank Strategy
00:52:55
kyerin
Yeah, so obviously at this point, um overall rank round three, i was still um sort of pinching myself a little bit how how the net, like I just kept going up the ranks.
00:53:09
kyerin
um And I guess that gave me confidence that what I was doing and my process leading up to this point, um I just decided that I was just going to make sure I stick to that same process for the next year however many weeks there was.
00:53:27
kyerin
um And that's helped in a way because um often, you know, your second guess decisions or your, you know, it's not easy to make these calls when you're high up in the rank.
00:53:42
kyerin
um But just going back to my set structure of what I want in the team or what I'm looking for really helps. So I guess in the back end,
00:53:55
kyerin
You know, having a well, got him a bit earlier, but having a McKercher as soon as he went down back, like, um that was huge.
00:54:03
Holmesy
He was crucial, right?
00:54:04
kyerin
Yeah, that was...
00:54:05
Holmesy
And it's not about looking at price tag, but I was the same. I got him, I think, round 12 or round – oh, it wouldn't have been round 12. That was his buy. But it was either round 13, round 14.
00:54:17
Holmesy
Priced at 60. A lot of the times you're not thinking to go there at that time of year. But he he was a top six defender right up until the end and we were able to get him for such a low price. So he was he was crucial.
00:54:28
kyerin
Yeah, having having him was huge. um Butters, you he had a few really good games for me. um The game he was subbed out, no, the game he was tagged, sorry, against Geelong, I had him on the bench, which was quite lucky.
00:54:46
kyerin
um So that also helped.
00:54:47
Holmesy
one of my biggest One of my biggest regrets that because I had i had the Tom McCarthy 90 sitting on my bench.
00:54:49
kyerin
Yeah.
00:54:53
Holmesy
And and this this is the this is the game theory in AFL fantasy, right?
00:54:53
kyerin
Yeah.
00:54:56
Holmesy
So I was chasing you and I'd come second before. So for me, it was car or bus, right? Like ah i was going to finish high. I was going to get the third hat. So I really wanted to try and chase you to win the comp.
00:55:09
Holmesy
And in my head, I was like, I've got the 90 sitting there. The 90s, it's safe. I should do it. but if But if he has ah if he has a ah ceiling game, I'm going to kick myself because I'm i'm trying to i'm trying to chase you down. I need 200 points to chase you down.
00:55:24
Holmesy
And Wines had a 120.
00:55:24
kyerin
a
00:55:26
Holmesy
I think Drew had a 110. Like the the points were there against Geelong. Butters just the same same earlier on in the year. He just couldn't get away from O'Shean
Luxury Trade Phase and Game Theory
00:55:35
Holmesy
Mullen. And yeah, that was having him for a 30 on my field.
00:55:38
Holmesy
I felt sick.
00:55:38
kyerin
oh
00:55:39
Holmesy
that's It's part of the game, right? Like it's it's not just, yeah.
00:55:41
kyerin
Yeah. Yeah. I had the opposite, i suppose, um thinking. yeah you were You were chasing. At this point, so this is round 21. At this point, I was already overall ranking of one.
00:55:55
kyerin
So I had the McCarthy 91 as a loop option. And I just remember thinking, like, what can do me – more damage here, like playing a Butters and him not doing well or like not playing him and him going a 120. And i just decided
00:56:16
Holmesy
Yeah.
00:56:17
kyerin
I think that was also the game where Rosie was a late out. And um that threw me with other trades. And I was like, I'm just going to bank a 90. um And that also helped because, yeah, a lot of people who were chasing me, um like yourself included, had that Butters 34, which just sort of kept that gap, um just all the extra 60-point gap um coming into the later rounds.
00:56:44
kyerin
light arounds
00:56:46
Holmesy
Yeah, you nailed it. Yeah, it's interesting. were you Were you someone that looked to trade in the 23rd premium? Did it happen naturally? Did you did you do it?
00:56:57
kyerin
was I was, did, who did I do? I went with, um it wasn't like my be all and end all. Like it wasn't a major focus of mine. um i really wanted to make sure team,
00:57:10
kyerin
tame um my a my actual field was as strong as possible. I went with the 23rd premium relatively late. So I went with, um It might even have been around 24, like right at the very end there.
00:57:29
kyerin
I decided to bring in Travis Boak on his final game.
00:57:34
Holmesy
I did say that actually. Yeah, I did.
00:57:35
kyerin
Yes.
00:57:36
Holmesy
i thought I thought you went Harry Mackay because I was obviously watching you and i I saw that you had, it was looped from the forward line and Harry Mackay had a thing out a soft matchup to finish against Essendon maybe.
00:57:47
kyerin
Yeah, believe so. He but he kicked a few goals.
00:57:49
Holmesy
Travis Boat, far out, that it worked for you.
00:57:49
kyerin
Yes.
00:57:52
kyerin
Well, yeah, not how i was expecting. I think he got there in tackles. um I sort of was hoping... Well, yeah, he ended up getting high 90 or a low 100, something like that, which I obviously would take.
00:58:06
kyerin
would would type But I was expecting, um you know, Port to feed him the ball a bit. He did take one kick out um because I was worried about... the Sam Darcy matchup because i've thought I had Sam Darcy in my team, in my forward line, and he was just so... I loved watching him. Like, I love him as a player, but his scoring was so volatile. And I thought coming into about the final round...
00:58:32
kyerin
he's my F6, what's the one area that could cost me like the number one rank? I felt like everywhere else was solid, um but a Darcy, you know, low score, a Darcy 20 or a 25 might have been that thing um to cost me. So that's why I was really keen to use that extra primo, hoping for a boke 80-90 just to take Darcy's um score off.
00:59:01
kyerin
And then that also worked really well. I forgot what Darcy got, but I remember watching the game um and yeah, don't think he scored many. um Might have been 50.
00:59:12
kyerin
So that was another... um tick that that worked out. I know Boak wasn't like the most, um he certainly wasn't on my radar in all the other rounds.
00:59:25
kyerin
But on a final game like that, I was yeah hoping for a bit of a boost.
00:59:31
Holmesy
Yeah, yeah. No, love it. And as as you say, the the Port Boys in that matchup, as as much as it hurt me to have um Butters and and Rosie go poorly the round before, but when they both go 150 in that final round, that sort of sort of kept me in the hunt considering I also had Rowland Anderson who put up 50s for me.
00:59:48
Holmesy
So that was, yes, highs and lows.
00:59:50
kyerin
Yeah, well, that was my that was my big thing. I um forgot exactly who who I traded, but I was um coming into the last round. i was like, oh, who should I get? Because a lot of it's like, should I match people? Like I never had a Lockie Ash. should i Should I try to get a Lockie Ash in? He's been a bit up and down. Should I go more unique or should I bring in like a Goulden? Like who should I Yeah.
01:00:14
kyerin
um And I just, I didn't have a Rosie or a Butters and i was like, oh, a lot of people around me do. um They're versing Gold Coast, softer matchup.
01:00:27
kyerin
It's Ken's last game. um They could hurt me, but I've got, I don't know what the time, I had about 150 point lead. I was like, oh, surely they won't hurt me that much. oh I'll focus on um getting Darcy covered instead.
01:00:43
kyerin
and then when I looked at the scores and I forgot what they got, but I think it was almost like 300 combined. i was like, wow. And at that point, um a lot of the gap that I had was sort of erased.
01:00:58
kyerin
Yeah.
01:01:00
Holmesy
Yeah, no, it was a crazy last round. before Before we wrap up, can you just talk me through just quickly your strategy for luxury trade season? So I know a lot of coaches hate it because you often end up, the player you trade out actually ends up going better than the the player
Focus on Matchups and Roles for Trades
01:01:16
Holmesy
you trade in.
01:01:16
Holmesy
Were you we looking just purely one round at a time? Were you using like a DFS for DVP for you know multiple stretches? what were what we What was your strategy for luxury trade season?
01:01:27
kyerin
Yeah. um For the back end of the year, it was certainly focusing on their runs. So um I would just back in their run again. So I think I got a Jack Sinclair in, um you know, not not expecting massive scores each week.
01:01:47
kyerin
But backing in their run that overall, they would outscore um another person's run who might have had a few um tags coming up. So I guess my philosophy with upgrade season in the back end of the year is not really focusing on... um what they have done currently, but looking at their role and their next three or four game matchup and backing yourself in that over the next three or four games, they'll score more points than that current person. But um obviously we've all been there. You trade out someone and then, yeah, the person you traded out goes goes massive. But as long as you've had the foresight
01:02:35
kyerin
to know that over the next few weeks they're going to have a better run. um Usually it pays off and um knowing as well in that back end, like I did bring a merit in knowing that he had a good run, but knowing that as soon as those tag games came up, um he was going to be the first one that I trade out. so even though he was getting those big hundred scores, um knowing the trades were coming, he was the one
01:03:10
kyerin
I would get rid of straight away. So certainly looking at the games to come um and backing in over a few-week period, who's going to score you more? Because, yeah, obviously the prices don't really matter um towards the back end of the year. It's just who's going to give you the most points.
01:03:30
Holmesy
yeah Yeah, absolutely love that, mate. We all we all look for the the rolling 22, the best 22 and try to bring those guys in. But really, it's about projecting what they're going to do to finish the year or or even just a two, three, four-week run, not necessarily what they've done done previously.
01:03:45
Holmesy
So yeah, I absolutely love that.
01:03:46
kyerin
Thank you.
01:03:48
Holmesy
We've gone over an hour, so we will wrap up. But can you just, just for for our listeners, can you just wrap everything up in a nice little, you know, how do we help them for 2026 and just an overall sort of learnings of of what it means to be successful?
Conclusion and Key Takeaways
01:04:01
kyerin
Yeah, sure. um I suppose the major things that i would have learned is um going by role. looking in the preseason, um the opening rounds, all the different where people are spotted at training. um Yeah, who's got that halfback role? who' Who's going from the forward line into the midfield? Who's taking kickouts?
01:04:25
kyerin
Those are the sort of people who should be on your watch list. um And then obviously, taking into account price. So if their role is good and you think their price is unders, then ah think they should be starting in your teams. um Also, there's people that are just clearly elite players and you need them and you feel like you need them in your side, then start with them.
01:04:54
kyerin
So there's yeah there's some players who it I believe it's okay to have a few players in your team where you spend up um banking on um some good scores, but you would want to make sure that the role the role is there. So um I guess that that would be the main thing. You're looking at players who are going to go up in value and then being quick to jump off of them if they're not and get on people who are
01:05:21
Holmesy
Yeah, mate. Absolutely love that. Kyron, thank you so much for jumping on. As I said, I was really looking forward to this chat and yet yeah, i I learn so much when i when I do these podcasts. I really love it. So really, really appreciate it, mate. For everyone else, make sure you're following us on X at PodPod AFL. I'm at HolmesesHeroes.com.
01:05:43
Holmesy
I'm looking forward to to really continuing on these Holmes Files episodes throughout the preseason. So as I mentioned earlier before, make sure you head over tomorrowsagic dot com to to pre-order your season guide. Hopefully the guide will be up very soon and and these podcasts will start becoming available.
01:05:59
Holmesy
For the regular PodPod listeners, we'll be back on Monday beginning with our positional previews. The preseason is just about to heat up and it is the best time of the year. So enjoy it. Have a good... ah Have a good rest of the holidays, Kyron. And yeah, hopefully we see you playing AFL Fantasy again this year.
01:06:16
kyerin
Thanks, mate. Cheers.