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Return of the STATESMAN | Holmesy’s Apology | Welcome to the Ball Boys AFL Fantasy Podcast | #PODPOD
5k Plays8 months ago
What a rollercoaster of emotions AFL Fantasy threw up for coaches in round 5. Many coaches got off to an absolute flier with a Max Gawn vice captaincy and it seemed coaches were in for a big one! However, just 24 hours later this was flipped on its head with popular premium Marcus Bontempelli putting up his worst score since 2015!! It didn’t get much better from there with other popular premiums Dawson, Sarong and Green all putting up scores that have coaches wishing they hadn’t forked out the big bucks!!! Thank goodness for the rookies who pulled through showing once again that “guns and rookies” has been a good strategy in the best 18 system. As long as you pick the right guns!!!
After much deliberation, we are finally joined once again by the Statesman who has finally been given permission from Mrs Stato to rejoin the podcast. We are also joined by special guests Mitch and Luke from the Ball Boys AFL Fantasy Podcast as they help Holmesy, Lewy, Harmey and Stato review round 5 and help prepare for the last of the bye rounds. This episode includes an apology from Holmesy, a strategy round table, player discussion and a Q&A section dedicated to our listeners as the race towards a Hilux and glory heats up!!! You won’t want to miss this episode as the lads put your head together to continue navigating you through this epic AFL Fantasy season! Enjoy!
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Lewy: @LewyAF
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Harmey: @jonharmey
Dos: @HKdos
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Transcript
Introduction of Panel Members
00:00:19
Speaker
Good day and welcome to the pot pot. It's Holmsey here talking all things AFL fantasy classic live for you on this Monday, 15th of April and boy, do we have a bumper show for you this week.
00:00:32
Speaker
start as always with our two regular panel members. We've got Louie and Harmony both aboard, but we do have the return of the great man, the Ghostman, Stato. I was wondering if you were ever going to come back to the pot after Dossie left. I know you, you boys were pretty tight and yeah, now that you've got Mrs. Stato as well, I thought potentially fantasy might not be on the cards for you anymore, but you've graced us with your presence, mate.
Stato's Overseas Trip and Return
00:00:55
Speaker
How are you?
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah, no DOS, no Stado, that's been the case. Well, after we've been on 658 bloody shows together, it was a bit hard for the hardstrings, but no, I've been overseas and I can tell you quite honestly that being overseas and not being able to think about your fantasy squad
00:01:15
Speaker
at all, let alone small amounts, is fantastic for the well-being. So just seeing the results at the end of the weekend go, oh, OK, that happened. That's fine. But now it's quite enjoyable. I'm glad to be back. Saw a weekend of footy, which was really enjoyable until the man I haven't got in my squad, Sheez, pumped out a massive score. So, God, I'm praying that he finally gets the Fin tag this week. I can't believe squads just let him do that. But anyway,
00:01:45
Speaker
Bad decision by me, but no, it's great to be back boys. Yeah. Fin tagged Flanders to 125 status. I'm sure you'll have a, you'll have a great effect on, on she's. If she's gets 125, I'm happy. Fair enough, mate. And Louie, how are you? How are you tracking at the moment, mate? How are you? Yeah, good. Thanks, mate. Uh, enjoyed the weekend of footy. Saw Port get a win, which was nice as well. Uh, yeah, no complaints here.
00:02:13
Speaker
Yeah, beautiful. And as always, two-time top 10 finisher homie, mate. How are you? Yeah, good home, Zee.
Debut of Ball Boys and Mental Health Break
00:02:19
Speaker
Just probably didn't enjoy the footy on the weekend as much as Lou Bolson's of things, given my fantasy score. But still, that was some good stuff to watch. Yeah, beautiful one.
00:02:31
Speaker
We've gone big this week. We've, uh, we've recruited some, uh, some good fantasy coaches off the top to come help us discuss this week. And we can't even really call them the new kids on the block anymore. They've, they've been around for a couple of years now and taking the landscape by storm, but we've got Luke and Mitch from the ball boys. How are you guys tracking?
00:02:49
Speaker
Good, mate. Yeah, happy to be on. And yeah, it seems like we've joined the party here. Lots of people on the call here, but yeah, happy to make our Pod Pod debut. I think listening to Stata there, I think we might need to plan an overseas trip because our mental health is going down the trip. We got the old tap on the shoulder from our better heart on Sunday and just said, we probably need to do something other than sit on the couch all week. So I think we're going to be at the dog house if we don't do something different soon.
00:03:17
Speaker
Yeah, look, that's just the humble brag from the Fosse as well. Just likes to let us know that he has money to go and do these kinds of things. And we're just, uh, poorest or second to Stevie Fizz, the poorest men in AFL fantasy. So just, just is what it is. But nah, really good to have you boys on, Mitch. I know I heard from the grapevine you, uh, you wanted to get on one of the preseason pods for one of the strategy talks, but you never know how it goes today. You might be able to, you might be able to make your way
Motivation and Fantasy Season Performance
00:03:41
Speaker
up for one of those solo pods.
00:03:42
Speaker
I think, I think it's just, um, it's, I've got to win a hat. I think is the, that's the main thing. I think only hat winners get on that show. So it's just, uh, it's just more motivation for me. I don't know, prove myself worthy. Yeah, look, you are, you are flying this year and we'll get, we'll get into our rounds and how we're sort of tracking. So I'm going to start with you.
00:04:00
Speaker
Tommy, how was your round and where are you ranked at the moment? Round was pretty hard to watch, but what was it? Sunday night, I think I was sitting in 700th and I was like, yeah, I'm up and about. This is going to be a great week. But looking at some of my scores, I was a bit worried, but on Sunday just kept creeping out and out and out. So I lost about 900 spots sitting at 3138. And my score, I haven't added this up, but I probably shook, so I'm a little bit skeptical, but it was 1-8-9-9 for the
00:04:28
Speaker
weekend. So, yeah, not the most successful. Ah, harmier, bad, tradie. Always blames his tools, mate. Come on, trust the, trust the website. It's all good. It's all good.
Fantasy Scores and Strategies Discussion
00:04:41
Speaker
State-O, welcome back. Why don't you let the listeners know how you went and how you're tracking so far this year.
00:04:47
Speaker
Yeah, good start of the weekend, but not a great finish. 1916, had a lot of the problems everyone else had. Ranks 4-3-3-2, so I know people probably missed out on the start, but round one was 21,000, then 11,000, then
00:05:05
Speaker
I've been roaching in the, as Dossie would say, in the 4,000s for the last three weeks. So up about 400 positions this week. So I need to start making some moves. So that'll be a bit of a challenge at the moment because of the 18. I think I set up my squad for the best 22 model and my worst week was the best 22.
00:05:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting. Actually, we're going to get into a bit of strategy chat later on. It might be good to reflect on this best 18 system so we can learn a bit more for next year, because no doubt some coaches would save this week with the best 18. And maybe that's something to look at next year. Lew, how'd you go this week? Yeah, relatively okay. I jumped up a couple of ranks. I scored the 1931. That brought me into 6843. So I dropped about
00:05:57
Speaker
or rows about 3,000 ranks there. So car can play and headed in the right direction. So hopefully that keeps continuing. I think that's the fourth week in a row now. Yeah, mate. Absolutely flying from where you started off in round one. Myself, I had the 1986 this week, pretty decent. And that's actually brought me into 182nd overall. So just outside that home. Do you need a bit of support, need a counselor?
00:06:25
Speaker
Yeah, well, actually, it's probably disappointing rank. Just on that state. I do, I do have a bit of an apology to make to the various group chats that I'm in. They haven't seen the best of homsy this last month. Mitch copped it as well. I need to be better. I need to be better. I'm going well. I need to get my emotions in check because it's no good. It's no good.
00:06:52
Speaker
I'm working on it. Thanks. Thanks, Data. Have you met? Pleasure. Pleasure, mate. Beautiful. All the ways. I don't know if you can take me seriously now, Mitch. How'd you go? Yeah, mate. Well, you must be going pretty bad because I pipped you by one point, I think. So I had the 1987, which, look, considering some of the scores that didn't count for me, I'll take it. I'll take it for this week. It did move me up.
00:07:18
Speaker
I feel like I've got a world of hurt coming this next round. But for now, we're going all right, moved into the top 1000. So I think we're going to move up about 700 spots. So I'm sitting at 821 at the moment, which compared to last year is, it's pretty good. But I think this next week's going to be maybe a different story. But last week, not so bad, scoring wise, definitely got saved the best 18. Yeah, nah, being in the top 1000 at this time of year, definitely a good launching pad and
00:07:46
Speaker
Who knows with Crouch going out, I know you've got that bullet. Who knows, maybe Dawson will go back in full-time in the midfield and might, might help you out a little bit there. But Luke, why don't you round us out? Well, if you're asking how the weekend was, Thursday night I was king-dingling. I was perked up on the couch there. The head was about to wobble off the neck. I was very happy with myself. And then Friday night, um, we all know, we all know how that turned out. My, my billion dollar trade in Target.
00:08:11
Speaker
gave me a stinky 50 score. But fortunately, the weekend panned out all right. I scored 1987, which is exactly the same as what you scored. Yeah, all the top, mate. Do you guys have the same team or what? I knew the conspiracy theorists would come for us here. But I think we actually had four or five podcasts. We grew up a different team, guys. You talk about group things, mate. That's like Osmosis here. The rank is just inside 2K now, which is positive. So it's the highest I've ever been. In fantasy anyway.
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah, nah, very, very good
Trade Strategies and Hot Topics
00:08:42
Speaker
to hear, lads. So let's just quickly go around, round table, give our plus three and negative three. Hami, I'll start with you. Oh, well, I'll take the easiest one. Harry Sheasel, 159. What an absolute gun. Love watching him play when you own him in fantasy. Minus three.
00:09:00
Speaker
I'll say Bond, but because I had him as my VC, too. So I took him as my VC instead of Gawn. So that's cost me a few points as well. So, man, it was a good thing that I fell asleep on the couch and didn't watch most of the second half. Yeah, far out, Hami. That's brutal. But I'm glad you decided to take the 53 on and get a few more points after that. You're a bit worried there. But, Lou, what about you?
00:09:26
Speaker
My plus three goes to Rowan Marshall on debut got the the 138 started off a little bit slow and Slightly worried given that I've burnt my VC on Nick Martin on the Thursday of Friday night or whatever it was but Came home strong 138 got to be happy with that
00:09:46
Speaker
In terms of my negative, I've given it to Blake Howes, which is a little bit stiff. He scored the 68, but had he sort of returned to regular program with his sort of 20s and 30s that he was doing a couple of rounds ago, then I would have fielded closey for that 94, which would have been nice and got a few extra points there, but I didn't have too bad of a week really. It's a bit of a tricky one to pin on someone.
00:10:11
Speaker
I'm see if you got that music handy because I seem to remember Louie punching out some messages in the first and second quarter that saints game complaining about how poor he done by getting in Rob Marshall. That's true. Actually, Louie, we need an apology. You were you were fuming that you went Marshall over Whitfield.
00:10:31
Speaker
Yes, sometimes it's like that though when you've got two options in the same game and you're toing and froing and Whitfield got out to I think a 45 point first quarter and you're just kicking yourself.
00:10:43
Speaker
Yeah, I was probably carrying on a little bit, but. Oh yeah, it's reassuring. You know, it's other people too. He's such a dangerous captain. It feels like Locky Whitfield. It's sort of a 120 or it's a 33 injured buddy 66 captain's score. So played it safe there. Yeah, beautiful stato.
00:11:08
Speaker
Well, firstly, I need to say, I feel for harmony here. When you do that, and I'm pretty sure Luke and Mitch both had Gorn as VC and so did I, but you miss that one and you go and roll into a VC as someone that pumped out 140 the week before, gives you a 53. You are sweating bullets for the rest of the weekend and to your support.
00:11:31
Speaker
secure a good captain's squad because you know how much that impacts. So that's 2,000 positions, a miss of bloody 80 points. So my plus three this week, look, he's been great since he's been in my squad and I'm assuming everyone here has him in Tom Powell. Just great, even when he doesn't get hold of the footy, he tackles a lot. So he just finds a way to build it.
00:11:58
Speaker
Oh, sorry, mate. Sorry, apologies. Well, Bont's a better buy, obviously. He lost 53. He's only 60 points below. Sorry, Army. I honestly did not know I wouldn't have dragged that in. My negative three is Harry Schusel, because he's not in my freaking team. But to be fair, that's probably on me. So,
00:12:17
Speaker
I'll give it to Jordan Clark, who, a tough matchup, yeah, put Adelaide, but really good start. And he's had a good season so far, and he's probably got a really good three next games coming up. But Jordan Clark giving me a 66 points, 93 points shy of Sheezel. Yeah, yeah, rough stat. Hopefully, Freya will have a few good match-ups to come. So no doubt, I think he'll reward you with some good scores. But yeah, Sheezel's just on another planet at the moment. Mitch, how about you?
00:12:48
Speaker
I'll give
Player Role Changes and Trade Decisions
00:12:49
Speaker
it to my two trade-ins this week. Sam Closie and Sam Flanders, the two Sams, they did me good. So I had the toss of a coin whether to take that 68 from a Blake House. And I think 10 minutes before the game started, that Essen game, I sort of went stuff it. I'll throw the dice out and put Closie on my field and got an extra sort of 20, was that 26 points? And Flanders being tagged to a 125, I'll take that any day of the week.
00:13:14
Speaker
good trades, get the plus three. The negative three has to go to Jordan Dawson, but also to Matthew Nicks, putting your all Australian midfielder in the forward line. Because why not? I don't know. Let's get, let's get buried in there. It works, mate. I don't know. We'll talk about that a bit later. But yeah, the negative three just has to go to the decision that I have to make this week with all my Adelaide Crows players, because yeah, not something I wanted to have to think about this week. So yeah.
00:13:43
Speaker
Beautiful, Luke, how'd you go? Plus three, negative three? Yeah, plus three for me is Zach Butters, but it's got nothing to do with his fantasy scoring. It's got to do with that really fake extension of the arms that in no way, shape or form could be associated with picking up the football, but for whatever reason, managed to keep him in my team and Port Adelaide's team this coming week. So Zach Butters, well done there.
00:14:05
Speaker
My negative three, I was going to obviously go the bond. I think Hami jumped into the bond there. So I'll go with the Wang. It wasn't the worst score, but it was around three of Wang versus Boner. And just to steal Dossi's phrase a little bit, I just think that the Wang might lack a little bit of the thirst. There might be a little bit of quenchedness. As soon as I Wang any more, I thought you weren't playing at home. Oh, sorry.
00:14:32
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I had him as well. Got to 90, which isn't the worst thing in the world. But for someone like me that doesn't have Whitfield, it kind of hurts when Whitfield has a 48 point last quarter. And yeah, Nasir only gets to 90. My plus three, look, I'll give it to Max Gorn. No one here has the real obvious one as the VC. But also, I'll really give it to Closie. So I ended up benching Sanders on Friday night.
00:15:00
Speaker
not thinking that he'd get subbed or anything like that, but just, you know, in a best 18 system, I find it's always best to try and loop early if you can. You never know when there's going to be a freak injury or something like that happens and it just happened to work out in my favor and I could swing some DPP and bring closely on the field. And I think that in the best 18 system probably got me about an extra 30 points of what I would have had if I hadn't have done that. So 30 points
00:15:24
Speaker
is going to be very handy towards the back end of the year. So very happy with that move. My negative three, I'm going to give to Luke Jackson, a tough matchup in port that rucks against port have actually been going pretty well. And I'm not going to lie, there was a bit of a fist pump on Thursday when Darcy didn't get named that one more, one more game of solo rock, but 74 just didn't quite get it done. And I guess I'm pretty lucky that they have the Eagles this week, but hopefully I can get him out of my team some point soon. He's done his job, but yeah, it didn't really like the 74 on
00:15:54
Speaker
the weekend. All right, lads, quick update on the Pod Pod Challenge. Now, we do have a bit of royalty. We officially have the number one ranked coach, Jordan, with his team. Get out of the, what's that? Get out of the kiln, whatever that says, which is unreal. So we've got the number one coach in the Pod Pod Challenge, which is awesome. And we still have another three coaches on top of that in the top 10 as well.
00:16:17
Speaker
Josh, Kyle and Patrick with their team sitting at six, seven and nine and 21 coaches inside the top 100. It's fantastic to see at this time of year. And hopefully next week it'll be 22 when I enter the top 100 and stop complaining so much.
00:16:34
Speaker
It's your favorite time of the week. Why don't you give us a Content Creators Cup update? Yes, we'll do, mate. And an extended update of the Content Creators Cup this week with the two additional participants on board. So, look, warning got over on against me, which is a shame. And Jepa beat Stado. Jepa 2066. Man, that is a score, isn't it? Incredible.
00:17:00
Speaker
Um, Luke, one point, is this right? One point we never reads from coach's panel. Awesome. Uh, sorry, it was ridiculous. Isn't like the last two minutes of the game, but you know how the scores are all cool. Like I'm gonna play out with buddy one plus one, let alone scores dropping off here and scores. And in the last minute I got it. So
00:17:23
Speaker
Nice one. Holmes, he got a huge win over Nathan from Hat Chat. Lou just went down to Jake from Hat Chat. And where are we? Mitch? Mitch has got a win too over Bales. So nice work for those that got the win. Not including myself. Is he after being Bales the bar or is he still the master beta? I'm not too sure now. No, he has to be the boy.
00:17:52
Speaker
He's got Bond and Dawson, right? Bond and Dawson for Bales?
00:18:01
Speaker
Yeah, no, he's still doing well. We love love bows. Friend of the show. All right, lads, let's get into some hot topics. Now, it's our last round of best 18 before we get back into a regular best 22 model as Stata likes to put it. So Stata, we haven't really heard from you for a while. What are you looking to do with your trades this week to ensure that you're as best set up as you can possibly be coming out of this round and into round seven?
00:18:30
Speaker
Well, it's a marathon, it's not a sprint, so I'm not about the short-term fixes. I'm going to play the long game, so I'm going one up, one down. So it'll be one rookie down and one rookie up. Thankfully, I had a little bit of cash, so I'll be bringing in
00:18:47
Speaker
hopefully a top six forward, but certainly someone that's gonna make cash in points for the short to mid term. So it is purely the straight bat. And I do have Matt Crouch, so I'm gonna hold him, just park him on the bench. It's best 18, it's the best week to do it. If I just went and spent all my cash in getting shoes, I'm point hunting, I'm paying the max price, it's actually pointless because it just leaves me further behind.
00:19:16
Speaker
straight back for me, I like my defensive line. I reckon it looks pretty good. It's just missing one and also probably day costs at the end. So happy with that. I'll keep got to keep working on that midfield. And I think we thought we had three really good rookies for a long period of time. That isn't the case due to injury and
00:19:40
Speaker
coach management. So we're probably left with one who gets defender status soon. So I'm going to try and get as many rookies off the field as quickly as possible and want one left in the midfield come rolling into the best 22.
00:19:59
Speaker
Yep, so we'll circle back around to that stat. I think your point on Matt Crouch is interesting. I thought I'd get another perspective from Mitch who also has Matt Crouch. What are you looking to do with him this week? Are you holding him as well or are you going to look to use that cash?
00:20:12
Speaker
It's, it's an interesting one. If, if there wasn't the changes that were being made at Adelaide, I would probably unquestionably hold him. But because of what they're doing at Adelaide and the trajectory that I kind of foresee happening with
00:20:29
Speaker
either his role or the role of others around him and the game plan, because he benefits a lot by Adelaide being a high stoppage team, the highest in the comp last year. If the others are going to run through, they're going to reduce the amount of stoppages that they play, that's going to affect him poorly. Or if they're replacing him, he's not getting as much game time or CBAs, it's going to affect him poorly.
00:20:49
Speaker
So when I traded him into my team, I thought I was getting a low 100s guy. If that's not going to be the case, I think, if I could guarantee that, I'd probably be looking to trade him this week. But it's hard to sort of know exactly what's going to go on. So at the moment, I'm leaning trade.
00:21:07
Speaker
But I'm also assessing how important it is to get maybe some of these rookies that are putting up big scores and setting really low break evens and using this as a chance to maybe do a double downgrade and get rid of some of my red dots. So it's a bit of a hard call. At the moment I'm leading to trade, but I've got a lot of time for me to overthink that. Yeah. And I went exactly the way you were thinking Mitch straight away, but
00:21:36
Speaker
went and did my nice 10Ks on an evening and had a think about it. And we've got Jay Clark losing money now, unsure whether he's got job security, got the chance to roll him over to someone that's actually going to make cash and then upgrade, which means the, and there's risk to it, right? Because you could be 100% correct.
00:21:57
Speaker
that he rolls back and not in the team, especially if Sam Berry goes and pops out a preseason game like he did. There is that risk, but I'm pretty comfortable. He's actually the best clearance player. So I think he's the one they're going to need to keep rolling in.
00:22:13
Speaker
And I'll get a two-for-one package rolling in the best 22, but you're right. There's risk because there is change The thing that I'm just seeing here is that to start the season the first three rounds He's going 73% time on ground 74% 74% and and the CBA's are all very high as well like he's gone and
00:22:30
Speaker
What has he done? 68%, 82%, 71%. The last two games, those also dropped down to 55% each. So the drop in CBAs and the drop in time on ground plus the suspension plus the unknown as well.
00:22:45
Speaker
It's very nerve wracking and around where a lot of other moving pieces are going. And, you know, I'm going to have a look because I've got a few loops you can, I can loop on and have a look at a score from someone like a Riley Sanders. I can have a look at a score from a Darcy Wilson. If they pop huge scores, it gives you a bit more confidence to hold a player like that, but it's also the Friday night as well. So you don't get to see a whole lot, which also makes it a bit more difficult. So it's a real tough call for me at the moment, but yeah, I'll have to have to think on it a bit more.
00:23:15
Speaker
I'll go to you, Luke, for this one, because Mitch is a bit of a salty owner. So with no emotional skin in the game, what would you be doing with a Jordan Dawson? Look, I think that, to be honest, I think that maybe people like Mitch are going to be forced into a situation where they need to hold Dawson this week, just with, you know, other things that are going on. Obviously, Stato mentioned that there's some cash Jen to be had.
00:23:41
Speaker
uh, elsewhere as well. And then obviously, if you're a Crouch owner, that's a whole separate thing as well. Um, I think that we've heard in previous seasons, really, really good quality coaches talk about in, in their runs to hats and cars and the likes that when they see a role change of the premium, you know, they were able to get off a week earlier than everyone else. So they, you know, it was something like that that they've spoken about as being pivotal, pivotal, uh, in their run. So if you perhaps dodge some of the other bullets, um,
00:24:12
Speaker
and you could consider trading, I think it could be one of those things that kind of gives you an edge, especially given that Adelaide 1, I don't know how they're going to interpret that internally, because maybe from the outside looking in, it was probably a game that they stole. But maybe that lends itself to, hey, this new system that we're running, you know, might be good.
00:24:33
Speaker
Yeah, and it's tough too, right? Because no crouch this week, you would assume that Dawson's back in that role that we've seen him dominating in the past.
00:24:42
Speaker
So you trade him out and he goes big again, but then you're still unsure about what could happen the week after. I don't know if he's out of form or whether he's injured, but he's just nowhere near the level that we know Jordan Dawson can play at, so. As someone who's watched him a lot this year, I started with him. Like, his scores have been fine up until this week, but he actually has been pretty bad. In terms of, I know, like, if you look at, we don't play this game, but if you look at his scoring at Super Coach,
00:25:08
Speaker
like, his kicking has been terrible. Like, a lot of the, the blame, instantly, we think of goes to players like Matt Crouch and a lot of those guys, but, but he's, he's honestly, especially the first couple of weeks, he was not doing very well. Like, he wasn't the accurate, silky kicking Jordan Dawson that we sort of remember from last year. Now, whether that is something that turns around, I think he's a gun player. I think it can turn around, but it's not
00:25:32
Speaker
there was a serious form thing going into this game that probably lent itself to him putting his hand up, saying, I'll go forward because I've been sucking. Yeah. Far out tough, especially for, for draft owners as well, that probably would have used a first round pick on him. They're in a, they're in a pretty big hole at the moment, but he was going at 108 prior to this. So, you know, the 60 might just end up being, being an outlier and he can turn it around. And as Lou always says, you know,
00:25:58
Speaker
where we're going to be looking to target these type of players as they come down. And if you're the one that jumps off and then you get your returns to doing what he was doing, what we know he can do, then you might look like a bit of an idiot. But yeah, don't envy you with that choice.
00:26:11
Speaker
Mitch. And just for the listeners, can I just say that there's a lot of people on this podcast, a lot of great ideas and thoughts, which are going to be slightly different, but there are, there are effectively three adults and two children. One comment was made and Luke and I are just giggling and smiling and the rest of them are just serious and on the button. So if you, if you want to take advice, uh, go to, go to Louie, go to Hammy, go to Holmsey,
00:26:37
Speaker
and go to Mitch, just leave Luke and I alone. It's a fair call. Glad to have you back, mate. And I'm sure our odds will now be going back out to an hour and a half. So yeah, cheers for that. Can't wait to get it back later. Luke, I'm going to go to you because you got on Twitter very early Sunday night. You posted your trades. They had a double downgrade in it and you said, I'll see you next week.
Downgrade Strategies and Cash Generation
00:27:01
Speaker
24 hours on. Are you still as big on the double downgrade this week as you were last night?
00:27:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's where I'm at and it's something that in previous years I've always done as well. Generally, there's one week where I sort of just hold back a bit and get the cash generation ticking over. I've got a few good options in Graham and Drury or at least I do myself with, I think their break-ins are high 20s, minus high 20s.
00:27:28
Speaker
They should be making plenty of cash over the next couple of weeks, but it's also just a good opportunity to sort of hide behind that best 18 system. I've got a couple of loops that I can use and I just think if I'm going to do it anyway and I might have to down the line, if it wasn't best 18, I may as well do it while it's in that system. And yeah, like I said, I can sort of get away with it a little bit there. And what it does, it also gives me a bit of a chest to work with next week.
00:27:58
Speaker
We've got all these premiums coming down, plummeting down really, and we'll talk about a few of those a little bit later on.
00:28:06
Speaker
I'm hoping that post this round, I can start going one up, one up, one up, one up for multiple, multiple weeks. We've got guys that are pretty fattened at that 600K range. Be it a Massimo, Williams, Closie won't be far off by that point. Bono, he's got to go at some point. Robert Sharp, Fischer, Dempsey, these guys are all on the heels of that 600K mark, so it's not going to take a lot of cash to get them up.
00:28:34
Speaker
Uh, right now I want to grab that cash and then hopefully get on a bit of a run, uh, in the, in the next couple of weeks. Yeah, it's look, it's, it's interesting. I admittedly, when I first spoke to you about it yesterday, I wasn't too sure about it, but thinking about it, there's an idea that I even
00:28:52
Speaker
and thinking about is going double down from a house and a McCurcher, that could potentially give me enough money next week for a double upgrade. So say I've got someone like a Luke Jackson and a Riley Bonner who have the Port matchup coming up.
00:29:07
Speaker
I could potentially look to target a day cost and a Flanders or Zork or someone else that I don't have and double upgrade in that week. So I'm not really like, yeah, I'm missing out on a premium this week, but in best 18, is it going to hurt me that much? I'm not too sure. And then look to really attack the week after with essentially a double upgrade. It's something I'm working through. It's not going to be possible with the Jordan Clark because you're not going to make enough money from that downgrade. Yes, you're going to get his cash ticking over though.
00:29:34
Speaker
Um, but you know, if, if Jordan Clark's dropped this week for danger coming back, then he might not lose cash anyway. And it might not be the worst thing to have him as a bit of a loop option. Um, when we do go back into the best 22 the week after, but that's something I'm working through. Hami out of the rookie. So we've got Graham, jury and neon all well, Graham's obviously the more expensive one, but all with a break even in the negative twenties out of these three, if you were going to double downgrade, who are the ones you're looking to target the most?
00:30:05
Speaker
You know, I actually don't mind the idea of Garcia as well from the saints.
00:30:11
Speaker
depending on what happens there. But who did you say, sorry? You said Graham. Graham's going to be, I think, 327K and then you've got Neon, I think, at 244 and Drury about 260. So all going to fly up in cash, but we have seen with it, you know, Harvey Thomas came good this week. But if one of these guys drops back to a 30 or a 40, like we have seen them in the past, then yeah, they're going to make cash this week. But
00:30:37
Speaker
their cash might be stunted the week after. So we still got to look for job security and roll with these rookies. So who would you be looking at?
00:30:45
Speaker
Ah, great. No question on that one. His role was solid as, and he's probably got versatility to play in other roles. Can't say the same for Biggie. I mean, he's only just got a game, and he's a key back. And Blake Drury, well, we saw him for about four games last year for an average of about 40. So I really don't think that either of those two, you could say, have great job security, as well as a little bit surprised by Lou
00:31:13
Speaker
floating out Drury there, but I can understand why he would want to be doing it from a cash gen if he can hold his spot. I mean, he scored 100, didn't he? Amazingly. So, yeah, out of the three, yeah, Graham's the one that I'll be looking at target out of those. Depending on what happens with Garcia, I wouldn't write that off. I think that, yeah, he's proven to be a good scorer in the VFL, so I think he's one to keep an eye on as well, mate.
00:31:38
Speaker
So then a quick hypothetical harm. So say you're going to Graham from a McCurcher type where you're only really going to make 150 to 160 K. Are you then looking to just upgrade to the best available player that you can because you're going to be caught in no man's land a little bit. What are you going to look to do with your second trade?
00:31:57
Speaker
Well, I guess that is a position that I'm in, even though I have banked some cash last week, but I'll tell you what I could do. I could go Massimo to Tom Powell. I could go Matt Crouch up to someone who's a discounted premium like Daikos or Gordon, somebody like that.
00:32:16
Speaker
just still getting a bit of an up break. So I guess I didn't really see Crouch and Massimo as being keepers for the full season anyway. So they've probably done the most out of what I think you may get from them this season. So you could put them on top of somebody who's mid priced to get somebody who you believe is a discounted premium player.
00:32:38
Speaker
So you're still erring on the side of still going one up, one down and improving your points on field rather than the double downgrade that it's going to get your cash going, but you're not necessarily making your team stronger on field this week. That's the way I'm leaning at this point. Yep. Yep. Beautiful. Nice contrasting opinions and it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. I mean, let's be honest, we're all just chasing DT Lemon at this point. The man's a freak.
00:33:05
Speaker
Uh, we will see how we go. All right. Let's get into some of these premium options and I'm going to throw this one to you, Luke. So I'm going to give you five midfield premiums. Oh, sorry. And one, and one rock. And I want you to sort of talk through which one of these you'd be sort of looking to target and where you'd be looking to go. So we've got Noah Anderson off the back of his 154. Sam Walsh, uh, returning with a 145. The man's just an absolute freak.
00:33:32
Speaker
Uh, Rowan Marshall, the ruck at 138, very expensive now, but looks to be, you know, up there with Max Gorners, the two clear number one rucks. Uh, you've got Errol coming off his buy at 930 and you've also got Daikos coming off his buy at 907. So where should coaches be looking to go here?
00:33:49
Speaker
These are all good options. I don't think coach can really mess this one up here. Noah Anderson, he looks like he's going to be that number one mid at Gold Coast now. I think we all sort of thought Took was going to take that mantle again. I'm not sure everybody predicted the sort of meteoric rise of Matty Rowell in that midfield as well. He's been playing unbelievably.
00:34:11
Speaker
But I think it's Noah Anderson who's that number one man, that dimmer does look towards. Obviously has a high ceiling, we've seen that over a number of years too, relatively high floor too. One thing I did notice though, he does have, and I'm not sure if the numbers necessarily back this up, but last year we were all burnt with those two Darwin games away last year with some of those Suns. And obviously Noah Anderson plays for the Suns, so that's just a little flag there.
00:34:40
Speaker
I don't think you can go wrong with a Noah Anderson. Sammy Walsh is an interesting one to me. He is obviously a star and the old, old Sam Walsh scored for fun.
00:34:55
Speaker
it was not till last year where he started to get a little bit shaky and he still had that scoring power but he almost sort of hovered at that 90 range for weeks at a time and yeah he was getting injured but I do sort of question whether or not Sam Walsh can keep this up obviously he's not going to go 145 each week but
00:35:17
Speaker
I'm keen to hear your thoughts on this one's statement. Is Sam Walsh, do you think it's just as simple as return to 110 plus Sam Walsh or do we need to put a little bit of weight into what happened last season where he was sort of hovering around that 90 to 95 mark for long periods of the season?
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah, to be quite honest with you, I want to say a little bit more. He's got a tougher position this week. Second up after injuries, always the tough one because you're just not used to the match fitness and the rigors of the game when you haven't played for so long and your body's quite sore. So I want to see how he recovers returns.
00:35:59
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just really mindful and a bit worried. And I think we're all the same, right? We're a bit nervous when players don't have a full preseason. And that's exactly what's happened to Sam. Yeah, I think that's where I'm at too. I'd just like to see one more week. And if he is the real deal, then he's still going to be quite valued for us. So love that one. Errol Golden, $930k.
00:36:27
Speaker
Uh, you're not going to go wrong with Errol Gordon either. It's, it's always tricky talking about, uh, premiums like this because they're all good options. I think the one flag here is that he's got that round 12 by, uh, and obviously most coaches have sort of half the North Melbourne side already. Uh, we've got a few Sydney players and maybe an Isaac Heaney and Maddie Roberts, and, uh, maybe you've got Tom Green, Lockie Whitfield. These are all guys with that round 12 by. So, uh, not only are you going to be juggling that come that
00:36:57
Speaker
period of time, you're also going to get less games out of someone like an Errol Goulden than you would, for example, someone with a later buy, like a Nick Daikos, who we'll talk about now.
Premium Players Impact
00:37:09
Speaker
907K, so he's lost the, what, 75K on his starting price or thereabouts. He's going to be probably the number two defender, dare I say, with what Harry Sheezel's been able to do.
00:37:24
Speaker
Not sure anybody would have predicted that at the beginning of the season, but I think he's a 110 guy. He's got the ceiling. We've seen consistently going 140 and he's going to be a big part of
00:37:35
Speaker
uh, sort of pulling Collingwood up by the bootstraps and, and marching towards September, I think. So, uh, Nick Daikos, this is probably going to be as low as you can get him and captain option. Obviously also a vice captain option up until about round 12. He's got a ridiculous amount of early games, uh, which we love to see. So he's sort of, um, compounds your interest there a little bit as well. Well, on that, on that Luke, cause you're the, you're the port man. Will Port Adelaide put any time into him?
00:38:03
Speaker
this week, if he, if he spends time at half back, they tried to play Lockie Jones on him last time and that didn't work, but through the midfield, Willa, Willa Willem Drew sort of put some time into him because, you know, coaches might be scared off with that Port Adelaide matchup, but we speak so much about trying to go early and get ahead of the comp. And if you can go this week, he kills it and then everyone's trying to get him the week after, then you're ahead and you can, you can plan your trades and keep getting ahead. So can they go there this week?
00:38:30
Speaker
Yeah, I think they can. We saw last week that he was able to go 101 on Finn McGinnis. Obviously that tag was dropped quite late in that game, but he's a superstar and I don't think Porter going to necessarily hinder their own game plan in order to stop one player against Pies. I think they'll back their system in. I've got no doubt he'll get some attention there, but I still think Nick Dacos has the potential to get off the chain too.
00:39:00
Speaker
Maybe he only goes a hundred this week, but you've already got him in your team now and you can sort of move on and tick that box and know that you're going to have a top two defender for the rest of the year. Yeah. Don't mind that. Oh, I did say get ahead of the comp, but I did forget that 50% of the comp already have day costs. So you're kind of matching.
00:39:18
Speaker
Yeah, very interesting. All right, Luke, this time, this one's for you. So I'm going to give you three players here. We've got Sorong, Green, and your boy, Bont, unfortunately. Two weeks in a row, two, well, Bont, not the second week, but some pretty underwhelming scores for these premiums. Is there anything from these players that you're seeing can be caused for concerns or is it really just match up dependent and you can see them bouncing back? Yeah, I think you kind of summarized it well before HomeZee when you said that
00:39:45
Speaker
when you have a couple of bad scores from a guy that's, you know, a guy that's priced like this and you kind of admit defeat and trade off, you're only one week from looking like a fool when everyone else jumps on when they're bottomed out. So my, what I'm doing with Bont anyways, I'm going to see it through. He's averaging 53 for me, but hopefully that's six up this week. So I thought that sounds awful. Doesn't it sound bad? Sounds so bad. Bobby, Bobby, Thomas had that right, mate. He's averaging a hundred. It's underperforming. He's averaging a hundred.
00:40:16
Speaker
had the Gorn VC to, to marry it out. But yeah, I think for, for these guys, you know, what I'm seeing is, is their role and maybe it's just a, some anomalies and it's just, it's probably a bit, would be a little bit too risky to jump off because these guys could put a 150 on your head any given week. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
00:40:34
Speaker
As we said just before earlier in the show, we're all going to be targeting these players when the price is right. So unfortunately you've copped a bit of bad luck, but you just got to stick fat and hope that they turn it around sometime soon.
00:40:46
Speaker
All right, boys, what we're going to do before we get into these questions, we're just going to do a quick fire time to go. So I'm going to throw a player at you, give just your quick thoughts and whether or not it's time to go. So, Mitch, I'll start with you. John Newcomb has been an absolute fail of a starting pick. Hopefully owners have got off by this point, but 40 on the weekend. Is it a stage now where you have to hold because he's just so cheap that you're not going to make any money anyway, or do you just cut your ties and chop?
00:41:15
Speaker
Oh man, I would have last week said hold. He drops a 40. That's another level of bad. I think it's so bad that I think there has to be something going on. So I think I'm just cutting my losses and he's got North Melbourne this week. I still think you got to chop him. I think he's been that bad that it's just hemorrhaging from your team. So I think he's got to go.
00:41:40
Speaker
Yeah. There's averaging less points than what Massimo is in the midfield. So I think you're right there, Mitch. And I want nothing to do with Hawthorne. I just want no stocks in Hawthorne whatsoever. Totally agree.
00:41:55
Speaker
Steve and I talked about it yesterday, and Steve's theory is that Hawthorne's game style has changed quite dramatically. It's quickened up, and he's too slow. So he's not part of the transition. So the only time he really gets in there is the stoppages. So it's the only time he's actually involved. And as Holmes just said, no piece of Hawthorne we should be all avoiding. Yeah, Kami, if he's named this week,
00:42:24
Speaker
Colby McCurcher, time to go, or is there a world where we can hold him? Well, he's got a two in his average. Yeah, I think he's got to go, mate. He's there to make your money. Well, he's not going to do that, really. And I just come off that injury in the first quarter. I just can't see in the short term is going to be that helpful. So I think that he's got $575,000 on his head. I think it's probably time to go.
00:42:54
Speaker
I mean it's not just the two either, it's the roll change. He's gone from that cushy half back roll where he was putting up mid 70s for us week to week to going into the midfield.
00:43:04
Speaker
Uh, quite often young players, they're not always ready, uh, to play certain positions. And he's been a little bit underwhelming in that role. So his scoring's reflected that. And yeah, the two, I think with the 87 breakeven, you're going to start losing cash now. If he, if he does play, unless he absolutely kills it this week, if named, so he's got to go, right?
00:43:25
Speaker
I'll start a petition that we move Shesil to the half forward line, use his ball skills like Dawson to hit the targets inside 50 because lucky he's just not getting enough of the ball. Move Colby back to the half back and give him the same credibility that Shesil had in his first year. That's the answer. We all know that you can't use the technology to start a petition, mate.
00:43:55
Speaker
Just something on that. I'll tell you, North have actually got a pretty good run coming up, so I'm quite glad that I held Fisher even though he hasn't been going that well. Hopefully he gets that cushy half-act flank with Schiezel and they do a bit of back and forth.
00:44:11
Speaker
Yeah, don't mind that. Hami, Lou, Blake Howes, so rewarded owners with a 68 on the weekend. Yes, it's his buy. Christian Salem out for the short term. Can we hold him to try and get a little bit more cash or do you just cut your losses? Mate, take the money this weekend and try and get up somewhere else. Oh, look, if your trades facilitated, I think it's probably time for him to go. He's had the buys, made you plenty of cash at this point.
00:44:38
Speaker
So you got a 45 break even he comes up against Richmond round seven. If he's sitting in your D eight spot, which I'm presuming he would be for most coaches. I don't know if he's the highest priority. I think you can still squeeze sort of 2030, maybe even 50 K out of him yet. And, um, just a little bit of extra cover there. And, uh, yeah, I'm sitting on the fence. I think you can keep him. He's not going to hurt you. I think you can trade him and he's not going to hurt you either.
00:45:06
Speaker
Yep, love that, Luke. Last one for you, Stado. Tazzy Boy, Riley Sanders has been subbed twice this year. Bevo doing Bevo things. Is it time for him to go?
00:45:20
Speaker
No, I don't think it is actually, but obviously it could go one or two ways. You could drop in for this and Mick Mouldhouse had his way. That's what will happen. It's a bit of an old school way of thinking, dealing with old school players. It's not the way of the future. You'd think he could use it as a learning opportunity and really fire him up and give him a big game or opportunity.
00:45:42
Speaker
I'll hold either way. If he gets dropped for one week, I'll hold. I believe he'll get back through. But I think we can all jump on a petition if someone else can put it together for me and get rid of Bevo so we can get a bit more security for our players too.
00:45:59
Speaker
Fair enough, mate. All right, let's get through some of these questions before we finish
Considering Parrish as a Trade Target
00:46:03
Speaker
up. Luke, I'll go to you first. This one's from Joshua Griffiths. He's looking at targeting Parrish. He wants to bring him in for the Anzac game, which is then followed up by the Eagles. Do you think this is forward thinking that can send you up the ranks, or do you think, given that he hasn't shown anything this year, that that could be a bit of a disaster?
00:46:22
Speaker
Yeah, I think the logic that he's gone behind there is that Parrish loves a dangly, doesn't he? But this is a tough thing. Part of the game is targeting under priced premiums, isn't it? But then there's a certain point where you go, well, why is this guy so under priced? And what he's performing, what he's doing, is it actually reflective of where this guy's actually at? And Parrish for me is an intriguing one in that boat. For whatever, I've
00:46:47
Speaker
might be a little bit of a parish hater. But for whatever reason, I have full full trust and respect in his midfield teammate in Zack Merritt. But for some reason, parish for me is is a guy that I just feel could could hurt you. But I know also in previous seasons that he's gone absolutely bananas, too. It's not one for me, despite the dangly game in the West Coast. But, you know, there's every chance I've got egg on my face with that one, too. So
00:47:14
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you, mate. That Essendon midfield is all Zach Merritt at the moment and Parrish is seriously out of form.
00:47:22
Speaker
I think he's probably a victim too of Essendon wanting to play a pretty quick brand of footy, chipping it around. And he doesn't seem to get involved in any of that anymore. They probably don't want his foot skills too much. So he's not someone I'm looking to target, but every man has his price if he can turn it around. Luke, this one's from Michael. With the rookie crisis in the midfield, are we looking to upgrade to mid premium? So such as a Walsh and then look to hold the forward defender rookies or yeah, what are we, what are we thinking there?
00:47:53
Speaker
This, this is an interesting one. And I kind of wanted to just talk to everyone about, um, like defense in general, defenders in general, because we've obviously got two decent rookies going through there, um, closely. And then Graham has, um, defended DPP, but we've also got in what a week's time, just over a week's time, we've got guys like Nick Martin, of course, uh, we've got Mitch and I aren't but Bonner owners with the ability to go back to defense. So.
00:48:19
Speaker
I just kind of want to throw it probably back out to the group and say, what, what are the strategies there? Should we be looking to like move off a guy like, if you look to move off a guy like Fisher early this week, for example, because you know that you're going to have, you know, Nick Martin going back there. How's everyone looking to manage that kind of influx of defenders that we're going to have in the next little bit?
00:48:39
Speaker
It doesn't worry me what's beside their name. You want that completed squad first. So there'd be a couple that just stay purely in the midfield for me. And as I said before, I think my defence looks pretty good with one exception, but we will never talk about him again.
00:48:58
Speaker
But I will probably at the right point bring in day costs as well that will probably come into my midfield knowing that there will be a fair bit of mucking around. I just think it creates flexibility for us. I think the forward line is a real challenge. I heard
00:49:15
Speaker
Holmes, he talking about releasing Luke Jackson at the moment. He's the, if we don't include Blake Jewry, and I don't think any of us want to, except for Lou, of course, who's getting the most under priced premium in the country. But Luke Jackson's number five averaging forward, and I just can't see who pips him.
00:49:37
Speaker
at the moment. I know his scoring power is not going to be as great with Sam Darcy there. So at the moment, I'm just thinking I'm letting Fisher roach away. Hopefully he picks it up over the 80 average. But God, it's tough at the moment to see who else is going to be there. And I don't think outside Simpkin
00:49:59
Speaker
that we're going to get anyone that's relevant with the DPP change for Ford. So I think that's our biggest battle. And I think that's how the car will be won this year is sorting out your Ford line the right way. I think Sanders could be the big DPP addition there. I know he's only a rookie, but we discussed his scoring power earlier. And if he can get a run on there, I think he's someone we can hold at F6 and into probably the mid-season buyers.
00:50:28
Speaker
I think based on what I heard from the traders podcast, that one's going to be close. I don't know if it's a foregone conclusion that he's going to get forward status, especially if Bevo keeps subbing him off instead of just resting him forward. So have contingency plans, I reckon, for that one. What I will say, though, is if you've got someone like Dempsey versus a Sharp, one's a forward, one's a midfielder. They're both averaging basically the same, 78 versus 77.
00:50:50
Speaker
like who you're trading Dempsey up to if you can get like a Sam Walsh who you expect to be 105 plus averaging player is there 105 plus averaging forward that you can get in in the same position unless you don't have Flanders I wouldn't I wouldn't have any confidence in those other guys so just simply by doing more you know the points upside from that trade then it probably does lend to
00:51:15
Speaker
keeping the rookies on the forward line unless there is like a severely underperforming rookie that you've got sitting there or an obvious person to go for but you know Dempsey even you know like a Harley Reid of these last couple of games like we're happy to keep those guys there based on what they're doing at the moment and the options that they can go to.
00:51:35
Speaker
Do we really have a rookie crisis? I felt like it's easy to make cash this year so far. I mean, I might turn you to... I just think this week, Stado with McCurcher, Sander's getting subbed, Clark. Like, yeah, just the cash gen kind of being stunted from that end. But yeah, we've had it pretty good so far. And yeah, Mitch, I echo the same thoughts as you regarding those forward rookies, I think.
00:51:59
Speaker
Dempsey and Reid have shown now that they're very fieldable options and we know a week's a long time in fantasy and who knows one could be rested slash managed slash put up a stinker. But at the moment you've even got Wilson who's scoring quite well. Lazaro was subbed but he came in and scored quite well in that game too. So yeah, potentially just holding off on upgrading and spending your money in the forwards and hunting the midfield premiums I think is a good play.
00:52:26
Speaker
Don't forget Carl premium Thomas as well, the great man. Yes, agree. Man, what a roller coaster. I thought my season was over when I traded him in last week and then he comes on and yeah. Those scores do not make any sense at all. We had the apology music. I don't need to do this again. My team's alright. Hami, Hami, what order would you rank Walsh, Dacos and Young as trade-in targets? Hey, Young is a trade-in target. Yeah, okay.
00:52:53
Speaker
Well, Walsh, Dacos and Young.
00:53:00
Speaker
Jeez, I probably, I probably still have to say Daikos is the number one target. There's not much money between what's young. Yeah. Okay. So all of them, there's not a, there's only like 50,000 between them all. So I probably say Daikos because he's probably got the highest ceiling of the three. Walsh, I'm just, I'd like to see it for another week because I'm not
00:53:24
Speaker
completely convinced and Terra wasn't there either. So yeah, I'd like to see what's happening there this week. And I don't think he'll get away from you too badly. So probably while she's been young as a third. But yeah, I guess we'll see. Louis, this one's from Johnny. He's wondering, is Matt Croucher hold with trading out mass the priority or would you hold mass and trade out crouch?
00:53:52
Speaker
Yeah this one's going to depend on the back end of your best 18 I think if you can sort of hide behind it with a couple of scoring potential rookies and and hold Matt Crouch I guess that would be the play get Massimo up to a big dog but
00:54:07
Speaker
I'm also all for trading Matt Crouch, too. I think it's probably a good opportunity to do so. Regardless, he's put a bit of cash on his head now and you can jump over to even an Uber premium at this point. Personally, I would trade Matt Crouch and just deal with Massimo one more week, but either decision here is going to be okay, depending on what your 18 looks like.
00:54:31
Speaker
If there's ever a week to hold Massets this week playing North Melbourne, I think there could be a bit of cheap easy ball that he hasn't been able to get over the last few rounds. Luke, this one's from Brisbane AFL Fantasy. He's ranked in the 3K range and his plan is to grab Heaney so he can hold rank. Do you think that's the play or do you chase value still with Walsh and attack the guys that are ahead of you?
00:54:55
Speaker
Heaney is an interesting one because you're effectively, you're paying top dollar now, aren't you? So if you're getting him in now, you're probably hoping that he can at least continue what he's doing, if not give you a little bit more. But the other thing with him too, is like in the right circumstances, I can see a perfect storm where John, big horse, long mite says, okay, we've, you know, settled back into our midfield and you can go and spend some more time before, which would just be like an absolute stitch up if you've paid top dollar for him.
00:55:24
Speaker
I think my general feel would be now that, similar to paying top dollar for some of those other guys that you maybe hold off and see if something goes wrong. And maybe you can get a leg up on the rest of the competition. Walsh, I think is clearly value if you can stay on the, on the park. But then I think someone brought up before that, you know, Carlton went on that really good run at the end of the year there where Walsh kind of went missing fantasy-wise a little bit towards the end there too. So
00:55:51
Speaker
Um, I'm not sure how I feel about him, uh, either, but if, um, you know, his best fantasy scoring is easily, um, over what you're paying for him still at the moment. Yep. Like that from you, Luke, Mitch staying with you. So still with the Walsh theme for Tim, is it reasonable to trade Roberts early if it does get you to a Walsh?
00:56:13
Speaker
Yeah, I'm always okay trading a rookie early. I think if it's the difference and it's like the difference between him and what's a Colby McCurcher. So what's that? About 70, about 80K difference. If that's the difference when you're getting the premium that you want versus the premium
00:56:31
Speaker
that you're settling for, I'm always of the opinion that you can go early on these guys. So yeah, I think that's fine. I do like Welsh. I do think that there's a few interesting variables at play here, but there was a lot of up and down with this role last year. Like on the weekend, he had 70% CBA attendees. So
00:56:51
Speaker
there was no chair, which is which is one of the probably the main things you want to watch. But there's also no docketty this for the rest of this year, which who was there last year, and he was a big sort of outside ball winner. Now, Walsh got his points from tackles, but there was also very little marking in that game, guys. So he could he could easily turn some of those tackles into marks and score in other ways. So I do think he's a bit of value. And I've got no dramas going early on a rookie. They're there to make cash the other day.
00:57:20
Speaker
Yep. Agree there. Stado. We're going to go old school here. I want a Stado stamp of approval, if he can. They're hard to get. Tom Kennedy is going 5th to Drury, which is going to get him the Kercher to Walsh. Leaves him 1k in the bank, but it does mean that he misses out on Graham.
00:57:40
Speaker
Yes, granting cash gen by bringing jury is going to make money for a few weeks yet and taking someone losing cash as a rookie breakeven that is high to a primo that's on a low breakeven with 145. So that's a stamp.
00:58:00
Speaker
Well, there we go. Our first Stado stamp of approval for the year and probably our only one if Stado doesn't come back if Mrs. Stado has her way, but we'll see how we go. Lou, last one for you. Steve, classic not draft Fizz, friend of the show, loves his classic. I want you to talk about Isaac Rankin.
00:58:21
Speaker
Yeah, I'm actually not off of this call, to be honest. It's something that I was talking about a couple of weeks ago, where the crows do need to try something, throw him into the midfield and see how he goes, had 20-cent of bounce attendances, and reflected that with his fantasy score of a 106, I think. The fact that they got that win is really encouraging for the crows, and it was just another dynamic in that midfield.
00:58:47
Speaker
I'm not sure I jump on straight away. I think I'd like to see it one more week just to know that that role is potentially solidified in there for a couple of weeks. But he's an absolute star, Isaac Rankin. And he's a good scorer even as a small forward, let alone when he's up the ground and in the midfield. So I give Isaac Rankin a tick. I think he's a big one to watch over the next couple of weeks.
00:59:13
Speaker
Do you think this is Stevie Fizz's draft hat talking though, draft mind? Is it, is he a classic option? I know we've got a lack of options in the forward line, but he'd really have to go 90, 95 to be a good pick from where he's at at the moment. Three goals on the weekend.
00:59:30
Speaker
Yeah, potentially mate, but we're talking about this bare cupboard of rookies and I think coaches are going to have to get pretty creative outside of F5 to be honest with you. And if you can identify a good fixture, a good run of games to come, I don't mind coaches thinking outside of the box and getting those points. We've seen that match ups with key forwards, for example, sometimes they can put up one forties and there's always a couple of coaches out there that do identify that jump on and
01:00:00
Speaker
and it pays dividends for them. So yeah, I'm a big fan of getting creative in the forward line because we're not going to get much post round six in terms of these DPPs. And look, that's what two months away until we get any more. So yeah, I think it needs high consideration. Some of these guys that are on the outskirts of that F six range
01:00:22
Speaker
Yep. Love that from you. Good close out, mate. All right, lads, that's it. I'd like to give a massive thanks to Luke and Mitch from The
Ball Boys' Content and Upcoming Shows
01:00:30
Speaker
Ball Boys. Thanks for jumping on for your Pod Pod debut. Really valuable and love the work you do over there at The Ball Boys. Why don't you just give the listeners, let them know where they can find you and what you sort of have planned.
01:00:42
Speaker
Yeah, you can find us anywhere you get podcasts, Bullboys, AFL Fantasy. We're also on YouTube. So we do a couple of shows a week. We'll be recording our podcasts straight away after this one. So it'll probably be up by the time you listen to this one. And then we also do a show on a Friday afternoon, a live show.
01:01:01
Speaker
coming with all sorts of technical difficulties if you guys want to go and check out that and see what's happening next. So check us out there and I'm going to be like a fire or something. But yeah, just just on YouTube on podcasts and you can find me on Twitter at ball boys fantasy is the main main sort of plug.
01:01:23
Speaker
Yeah, beautiful. You beat me to it. I was going to say the live shows are a regular listen for myself, but I just make sure that I tune in about five to 10 minutes after the scheduled start because otherwise it's a bit of a wasted time. But now that you're back, why don't you give the listeners just a quick, quick closing thought about coming into this round, our last best 18 round.
01:01:47
Speaker
Yeah, well, we're really in upgrade season and you got to find the plan and try and think what you're doing for the next two or three weeks to make your decision, to make your calls. Make money, upgrade, get the rookies off the field. That should be the plan for the next three or four weeks. Yeah, love that from you, Stado.
01:02:05
Speaker
Thanks listeners. Make sure to follow us at Pod Pod AFL over on X. Make sure you subscribe and give us a rating and review on Spotify or Apple podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. And yeah, really looking forward to this round and hopefully moving into that top 100 would be really good. And I promise you won't hear any whinging from me in the group chat. Farewell.