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The Boys are Back! | PODPOD AFL Fantasy Starting Team Draft | #PODPOD
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They tried to escape, but Holmesy has dragged them back in! With the AFL Fantasy classic platform opening, many coaches have now been scrambling to create their first team (or 20th) for the upcoming 2025 AFL Fantasy season. It is the best time of year, with every team being created seeming like it is the one that will take home the coveted Toyota Hilux
On this episode, Holmesy has brought the big PODPOD staples Harmey and Lewy back with a bang. After a quick catch up, the boys got involved in a PODPOD classic, where they took turns drafting an AFL Fantasy classic side from scratch. With many players discussed, this episode gives an insight into what goes on when building an AFL Fantasy classic side. With a few vetos and some rogue picks, this episode is not to be missed!
This episode was brought to you by Magic Sports. Magic Sports have a number of new products to help take your fantasy games to the next level:
AFL Fantasy Team Picker
Bolter is a platform that allows you to pick your AFL Fantasy classic side before the game has opened. Not only that, there are a number of awesome features for you to help build your starting squads:
- tool for preseason to help select your starting squad
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- bye detector, priced at, breakevens and other advanced stats
- http://picker.bolter.team
Slyder
- plenty happening in the draft space in 2025 and Slyder has something for every drafter
- customised leagues, including trading draft picks, custom bye round scores and utility positions - all free
- tools for your draft, mock draft lobby, ranks, weekly waiver wire articles
- single entry survivor comp - free entry and prizes on offer
- http://slyder.team
Follow us on X:
The PODPOD: @podpodAFL
Holmesy: @Holmesyheroes
Lewy: @LewyAF
Statesman: @Statesman33
Harmey: @jonharmey
Dos: @HKdos
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Topic Overview
00:00:20
Holmesy
G'day, and welcome to the Pod Pod here. It's Holmesy talking all things AFL fantasy classic on this Monday, 23rd of December. That's right. The game has opened. And for that, i've ah I've got some special guests. I want to call them now. You know, two familiar, familiar voices. I'll start with the first one. Hami, two-time top 10 finisher. Nice of you to grace us with your presence. How have you been, mate?
00:00:46
Jon Harmey
Yeah I've been going really well. Thanks Hamsy and the game's open and I've started tinkering with a few players. I certainly got a bit more work to do to and dive into the stats around people's last year and the year before but now it's exciting times and yeah hopefully over the Christmas break I'll get a chance to do some of that.
00:01:08
Holmesy
Ah, good to have
Launch and Game Structure Discussion
00:01:09
Holmesy
you back, mate. And, uh, the creator of the Pod Pod, not Dossi, the real creator. We've gone back. We've got perennial top 1K finisher, Louis, back on the mic. Good to have you back, Louis. How are you?
00:01:22
Lew
thanks mate yeah it doesn't uh doesn't quite have the same ring to top 10 finisher uh the old perennial top 1k but uh it's good to be back mate you've uh you've roped me in i've um tried to step back away from it a little bit but uh once the game opened i think something awakened in me and uh keen to talk a little bit of early 2025 fantasy definitely coming from ah Fair way out. I haven't paid any attention to any of this over the offseason, which is quite unlike me. But yeah, why don't we start talking about it today?
00:01:57
Holmesy
Nah, that can be good in a way, mate. It's all sort of, you know, fresh ideas, not really sort of influenced from anything else at the moment. So I'm keen to get your thoughts. What we're going to do today is a bit of a pod, pod classic. So we're just going to catch up, have a bit of a chat about the game and then we're going to draft a draft a squad. So we'll go over the rules a little bit later on before we do that.
00:02:19
Holmesy
but Let's just have a bit of ah a chat about the hot
Opening Round Strategies
00:02:22
Holmesy
topic. So as we just mentioned, AFL fantasy classic has launched for the 2025 season. At the moment, there's no change to the fabric of the game, unlike the other platforms with this flex plot and whatnot, but we've got opening round back.
00:02:37
Holmesy
um which sees GWS and Gold Coast having the round two buy and then four players on the round three buy in terms of Brisbane, Sydney, Collingwood and Geelong. And then the buyers are done in round four. So we finished with Hawthorne and Essendon. So Hami, I'll throw to you first. What did you learn last year with the opening round buy and how are you looking to sort of build your starting squad moving forward this season?
00:03:01
Jon Harmey
Yeah, I've been having ah a little bit of a look, mate, and the things I sort of noticed is there's a number of teams that um don't have that early by, which are quite favorable. I don't mind the idea of the Bulldogs, St Kilda, North Melbourne, Freo, Adelaide. So that that's all quite good for coaches.
00:03:19
Jon Harmey
um We've got that ah buys round two, three and four. So that round three buy teams are a little bit of an issue, but I actually also looked ahead um to to the mid-season buys. And I can see that Freo and St Kilda have got quite a um like a good bite round together. So that's going to be positive for people that are looking at um the, you know, Philippu Macrae types with St Kewter Marshall as well. So yeah, so that's interesting. But ah from memory, the only thing I really took away from last year was
00:03:54
Jon Harmey
It's sort of um because you don't have every team playing.
Strategy Reflection from Last Year
00:03:57
Jon Harmey
The highs are higher and the lows are lower. If you think of that, those that score well in round zero, the price increase, I think, was sort of amplified a bit. And those that didn't go well makes you very um like it's a real disadvantage to start with anybody that bombs in round zero.
00:04:16
Lew
Do you feel like the early buyers affected you at all last year, Hami?
00:04:19
Jon Harmey
probably I actually probably overcorrected for it too much and was put off by players where it may not necessarily have needed to, but look, for me, I'll just be making sure I don't, you know, ah double up, triple up on on too many players that have got the same buy in round two, three, four. I'm still quite keen on any mid prices and um rookies that have got a buy. It won't really worry me too much. If if a rookie or a mid price it goes well in round zero, I'll probably be inclined to start with them anyway.
00:04:51
Holmesy
Yeah, it seemed last year, especially any rookie that got off to a good start, you had to pick. I think Seth Campbell from Richmond was a forward for Richmond, but he got his cash gen going with that sort of 60 and opening round. It might have even been a bit higher and anyone that started him was actually rewarded quite well. So definitely a bit of a cheat code to have a look at the rookies. And mid prices, you're going to have to think about a little bit more to see whether it was a one-off game or not.
00:05:20
Holmesy
Speaking to Chris and Tom, who were one and two last year, was it was pretty obvious that they didn't really pay too much attention to the to the opening round buyers. They were just picking the best players at the best prices. And Chris was a little bit more aggressive where Tom was a bit more conservative, but they both had the same sort of theme where, yeah, they picked the best players and and they kind of adjusted when they needed to. And who knows, with some force trades early on, it might've been a bit different, but I think if they're if they're the right player, Lou, you're more than happy to pick them.
Importance of Rookies and Draft Strategies
00:05:51
Lew
Yeah, definitely. um I think last year I probably did the same as Harmony where I was sort of, I'd lay my head on the pillow at the end of the night when the fantasy mine was ticking over and um depending on the night I was either pro sort of picking players that had that early buy or totally against it.
00:06:09
Lew
toot and froad from that and ultimately I think as you mentioned Chris and Tom probably had the right approach where they weren't as sort of fixated on it and they sort of took it as it comes and picked the players on their own merits without that sort of buy around asterisk. I think I'll probably very early days probably still try to avoid having too many on those early buys but it's certainly not going to be ah like this massive deciding factor hanging over my head that I'm going to absolutely having to avoid these players at all costs.
00:06:44
Holmesy
Yeah, I suppose the big one that's different to last year is in round three where we're going to have the four teams on the bias. So I think that probably needs a little bit more thought. What was that? Sydney, Collingwood, Brisbane and ah Geelong. So we've already got some household names that people are looking to lock in. You know, Bailey Smith is going to be hard to ignore.
00:07:05
Holmesy
Callum Mills, if he's got the rollback, Kitty Coleman, um either of the Ashcroft brothers, ah Matt Roberts, any of the Geelong boys such as Holmes, Stewart, like there's lots of names there. So I think that round we're going to need to be a little bit more careful and conservative. um But on the other round where there's only two and yet you can hide behind the best 18, as long as you've got your pretty much your full squad playing, Hami, I think ah think we're going to be all right.
00:07:32
Jon Harmey
Yeah, that best 18 is always the saviour, isn't it? So um got a safety net for for those who are starting with a few of the players on those buy rounds.
00:07:40
Lew
It's interesting how much this opening round is now shaping our starting side. So if we've got, um let's say we've got seven or eight rookies, um whoever out of them pops, you're pretty much guaranteed to jump on.
Mid-Season Strategy and Trading
00:07:54
Lew
And if there's a couple that come out of the woodwork, which yeah sort of weren't on your radar, if you think maybe an Ollie Dempsey last year, who was only owned by a sort of three, four, 5% of the comp, and even half of them would probably be just their luck.
00:08:08
Lew
um to have them in their squads, they're all massive fans. It it pretty much is so much um direction coming from the opening round now, isn't there?
00:08:19
Holmesy
So while you're saying, Lou, we just shut the podcast down and then we just come back for after opening round. No point.
00:08:25
Lew
ah I'm saying Jep is probably out of a job. um Sorry Jep. Junior is no longer. It's just opening round auditions now. just But it is such an interesting way to play. ah um I'm actually coming around to this opening round sort of strategy where it just adds that extra layer of strategy um to the game instead of sort of running it through to around 12 when your normal buy sort of start.
00:08:49
Holmesy
Yeah, well, it is interesting, especially now that's onto our next topic, that there's now five mid-season buyers. So that's going to be spread over rounds 11 to 15, meaning that really for a third of the season, we're playing best 18 AFL fantasy. So it is something different again. We clearly don't have Stado for his 8, 10, 12 model. he's doing his 8, 10, 12 crypto currency challenge at the moment. But over, you know, that's 15 trades that we get to use over the mid-season buyers, which is which is a lot of trades. Hami, have you put any thought into, you know, mid-season buyers? Is it because it's a lot bigger this year, we can we can kind of hold off a bit and just make sure that we're a little bit more structured up towards the mid-season buyers because it I feel like, you know, if
00:09:37
Holmesy
Chris and Tom had their team sort of complete around 11 this year that there's going to be a lot of full premium teams come around 11,
Developing Premium Teams by Mid-Season
00:09:44
Holmesy
12, 13 if they play their cards right.
00:09:46
Jon Harmey
Yeah, I do agree. It feels a bit touch easier for us, really, if anything. I mean, you got that extra week where it's best 18 and an extra trade. So I mean, really, it should have been what? Best 19 or best 20 potentially because you got another week of it. But yeah, we'll say I think every a lot of teams will come out of that mid-season by period with completed teams. And then it opens the door for that sideways trading at the end of the season, which can get actually get some people unstuck.
00:10:18
Holmesy
Yeah, I know it was the complete opposite, was it? chris ah Chris loved that time of year he was able to do all of his aggressive moves and set himself up and and Tom was hating it, making some some wrong moves. So it is a very difficult time of the year where you're not really worrying about upgrading. What I found interesting though is, and I think it's more of an AFL fantasy classic strategy now, Lou, compared to years gone by with the rolling lockout, but Chris had 24 premiums. I know the year before the coaches that were right up the top were, you know, getting 23, 24 premiums. It's not something I've ever managed to do when in my, um, successful seasons, we didn't have the rolling lockout and I didn't build enough cash, but have you put any thought into, you know, the 23, 24 premiums and, and trying to play that loop loop game?
00:11:07
Lew
Oh, not particularly yet. um It's sort of a continuation of a couple of years ago. A lot of coaches would have that one rookie that hung around all season that was able to pop that, you know, 70 or 80 every now and then and you sort of um put them on your field and hope and loop them on in previous years. But now that the game sort of had trades added, there's a bit more strategy and we're learning different ways to sort of ride players and um and and play the game in general, I think it's become sort of in vogue where you can have that 24th player without inhibiting your team too much.
00:11:36
Jon Harmey
Thank you.
00:11:43
Lew
so um Last year was the first time where we've probably seen it ah really become quite effective. I think it remains to be seen if it's going to be a strategy that we sort of employ year on year
AFL Fantasy Draft Rules and Team Structure
00:11:57
Lew
from now on. But as you said, we're going to be competing our teams even quicker. So it might be that yeah you're able to facilitate facilitate that 24th player reasonably comfortably through those four buy rounds mid-season with your three trades each and then coming out of that. so um I think there's probably a likely chance that we'll be looking at 24 premiums towards the end of the year and playing that loop game and in a line where it might be a little bit tricky. So forward or defence is probably the ones I'm eyeing off straight away. But um yeah, it's it's new age fantasy, isn't it, OMG?
00:12:33
Holmesy
Oh, mate. I ah think I probably had about 20 or 21 premiums last year by the end of it. And yeah, Chris has 24. But yeah, it's it's definitely a strategy because you're uming and aring about, you know, who do I upgrade to? Who do I get off? And just because you want to get off a player for one week because they have a bad matchup doesn't mean that they don't have a good run coming up, which kind of sucks. So these coaches that can get 23 or 24 and just bench the one with the bad run or or play the looping game is is definitely a strategy, but hey, where we're a little bit far ahead. It's only December. So, Hami, Louis, what we're going to do is Pod Pod Classic. So we're going to draft a team. Okay, so we're going to go snake draft. Hami, you're going to be the number one pick. Louis, you're going to be the second pick and I'll i'll be the third. I'll get the double on the turn.
00:13:20
Holmesy
We are still going to invoke the, the Dossi Vito pick because Louie and I were discussing off air the other day, Harvey.
00:13:24
Jon Harmey
Ooh.
00:13:28
Holmesy
We, we do know that you still go a bit rogue, so we need to have.
00:13:31
Jon Harmey
Well, I made it with that Dossie.
00:13:33
Holmesy
Yeah. we've We've got no stato to pick Isaac coming for us at D2. But yeah, we're going to we're going to build a squad. um A bit of a caveat here is that I've already filled in some of the bench positions. So I've already put Toby Travaglia and Josh Gibbs on the bench in defense.
00:13:53
Holmesy
um I've got Max Heath on the bench as R3 and then I've got Dan Curtin, Ashton Moyer on the bench in the forward line and then Clay Hall just as a utility. So we've got the full field to pick plus the two um bench spots in the midfield. I thought that just kind of leaves the structure up to debate a little bit rather than just completely filling out the bench.
00:14:15
Holmesy
Um, but I've also put in some elevated rookies on the bench too, just to make sure sure it's a little bit realistic. So the listeners are going to get an insight into how we, uh, pick a squad. We are the pod pod.
00:14:26
Holmesy
So I'm going to put in one more rule and this is a little bit just throwing it out there boys, but I want you to pick one player that has an ownership of under 10%.
Draft Picks and Player Analysis
00:14:35
Holmesy
If you can. Okay. So we'll see how we go.
00:14:39
Holmesy
Um, you're on the clock. Yeah, oh I've got the the list up. I'm just creating the team as we go and I'll give updates as we go along.
00:14:39
Lew
Are you going to write these down as well, Holmzy?
00:14:47
Lew
OK. All right.
00:14:48
Holmesy
Okay.
00:14:48
Lew
Cool. Cool.
00:14:50
Holmesy
So, Hami, you're going to start us off.
00:14:53
Jon Harmey
Hmm, I'm gonna try and pick some different ones because I'm seeing a lot of vanilla players been circulated at the moment around the around the comp.
00:15:04
Jon Harmey
Okay, I'm gonna try and get all my picks under 10% if I can. How about...
00:15:10
Lew
i'm glad We've got the veto.
00:15:10
Holmesy
okay okay dossy
00:15:12
Jon Harmey
That's gonna be hard on the forward line though, isn't it? Geez.
00:15:16
Lew
All under 10%.
00:15:17
Jon Harmey
um
00:15:18
Lew
Yeah, good luck.
00:15:20
Jon Harmey
All right, well, I'll put this one up. It's not it's not really that out there, but I'm going to go in the midfield. Sam Walsh, 6.7% ownership at the moment by the looks of things, averaging 106 last season.
00:15:34
Jon Harmey
So we'll plug him in to start. No early buy, so that's good too.
00:15:37
Holmesy
Okay, okay, Dossy?
00:15:40
Holmesy
Yeah, okay. i just Just quickly, Army, talk us through that one. We won't do it for all players, but Sam Walsh, not a name that's really circulating at the moment. ah You think he's got all the all the tools to be the number one scoring player in the comp at that price?
00:15:53
Jon Harmey
ah Look, number one draft pick going back. Excellent runner. Came into last preseason with a cooked back. I just think that if he's training well and has a good preseason, I think that um he could be a very good pick next year. Yep.
00:16:13
Holmesy
Don't mind that at all, Hami.
00:16:15
Lew
What what but do you think and he goes as a score prediction, Hami, sort of 1-10?
00:16:18
Jon Harmey
ah Yeah. Look, I'll try and pick, you know, well obviously you want every player to go up in value. Um, and I don't think he's going to go. and I don't think he'll average below 105, put it that way.
00:16:32
Lew
Wow. That'd be a good pick if he does that then. Yeah, I can see him going back to that sort of 1-10 zone. and See a little bit of regression from Cripp's post-Brown low.
00:16:40
Jon Harmey
Yeah.
00:16:43
Jon Harmey
yeah
00:16:45
Holmesy
The most dominating Brown low season in history, hey? Wasn't it 45 votes?
00:16:48
Lew
45 votes.
00:16:49
Jon Harmey
Crazy.
00:16:52
Holmesy
All right, Louis, hit us up.
00:16:54
Lew
um Okay, well, I'm gonna go to the other end of the spectrum. i'll um I'll get a couple of the easy ones off the way. Forward line Bailey Smith, ah he's probably gonna be in just about every single serious team this year. He's only owned by 67%. I expect that to sort of be um maybe 99% of um competitive coaches will have Bailey Smith to start this year. So, yep, Bailey Smith, forward line.
00:17:23
Holmesy
Yeah, it's hard not to go with the crowd, isn't it? it's It is interesting though. Geelong and Hawthorne are very similar in the way that they spread their points. I think Geelong, the highest averaging player was Max Holmes with 95 and then there was a lot of players in that sort of 80 and 70 mark, but not some real high scorers, but yeah, it's Inside mid-roll, you'd think big runner, Geelong to dominate games down at GMHBA stadium. It's it's hard not to hard not to pick Bailey Smith. So I like that pick. Lou, as a lot of us do.
00:17:57
Holmesy
I will start us off with a ruckman, because I'd love to see you boys with the second ruckman. I'm going to go in and put in Tom DeConin. What's his ownership at the moment? Because what do we got there? 21.8%. So pretty highly owned at the moment. And I can see why. um Scored very well with without Pitnet in the side last year.
00:18:23
Holmesy
Question marks on his body on whether or not he can hold down that solo rock spot for the whole year, but I think it was pretty obvious last year. They started the year with him a solo rock, whether or not that was because Pitbull was injured or not. I'm not too sure, but then they went to that throughout the season as well. and I think Carlton play a lot better with him as the solo rocket opens some things up for them. So, Tom de Koning as my first ruckman, and then let's just go vanilla as well in the forward line. We'll continue on. I'll just put in Caleb Daniel. Caleb Daniel, where are we? 514K, I think priced at 50, going into a North Melbourne backline where we've seen scoring in the past. and
00:19:07
Holmesy
Although we expect a little bit of progression from North this year, they kind of have to. um They can't stay down there forever. You would think that he's a big part of moving the ball from the back line and should out score that 50 price tag quite significantly. I would have thought, Louis, you're up.
00:19:24
Lew
All right, yeah, I like those two picks there, Homzy. I'm going to go into the rock line as well then since we've only got one spot left. I'm massive on this guy this year.
00:19:34
Holmesy
Oh.
00:19:36
Lew
I think he's going to be the highest averaging fantasy player. um of the year was a mid-price pick last year to start the season. Some people were a little bit cagey on whether it would happen and then I think by the second part of the year everybody was on board. um This is a guy who went over 150 three weeks in a row and just honestly started to take the piss from a fantasy perspective in the last sort of um ah'd I'd say probably 12 weeks of the fantasy season and that's Tristan Cherry so broke out last year went at 115 absolutely frightening ceiling and and a pretty high floor at that as well going did drop the 57 but then outside of that you have to jump up to 83 so
00:20:23
Lew
I think as a captain option, as um a role that's not going to change, there's nobody really clipping at his heels. Tristan Cherry, the R1 in 2025 and number one captain option most weeks I think.
00:20:39
Holmesy
Hami, what do you think about big Tristan Cherry?
00:20:42
Jon Harmey
I don't mind the idea. I sort of haven't got a fixed view on the rock line yet. I mean, you sort of try and chase value.
00:20:50
Holmesy
i can add I can add that. So i've done I've done a bit of fixture analysis and it's only on last year's numbers.
00:20:52
Jon Harmey
Yeah.
00:20:56
Holmesy
So clearly it's all going to change, but he does have the second toughest ruck run to start over the first six rounds. but we saw last year, that didn't matter, did it? I mean, those big 150s at the end of the year came um in some pretty soft ruck match ups, but, oh man, it's gonna be one of those things. You know, I love paying up for a ruckman, but at the same time, all it takes is a slow start and you're you're behind the eight ball, but he's a very, very good player. He burnt me last year. He won my draft. ah I love the man, but he definitely burnt me last year.
00:21:28
Holmesy
Just can he sustain the high tackles?
00:21:28
Jon Harmey
Things
00:21:30
Holmesy
That's the only thing like, do North improve? Does that mean they're less reliant on him? I'm not too sure, but he he's got a ceiling as good as anyone.
00:21:37
Jon Harmey
I don't think much changes for North. So, I mean, I think he's just going to do a similar thing. It's not as if they brought in another Ruck to play with him, is it? So, I think that he'll be a pretty reasonable player. Paying up for a Ruck, I'm okay with at the moment. Like, who who out of the defenders, midfielders, are you paying top dollar for as your captaincy option? I think there's a few question marks through the midfield and defence.
00:22:05
Jon Harmey
Yeah, I think it's a pretty solid tactic at this point.
00:22:10
Lew
The thing with these rocks as well
00:22:10
Jon Harmey
But, but I mean with it. Yeah.
00:22:13
Lew
Sorry, homie. Like Tristan Cherry, and we'll throw Rowan Marshall in the same basket. Gorn has been up there in abouts too, is that ah even though you do pay this premium for him, and yeah, we're paying 110 plus, these guys have a really consistent history of having a down game where maybe they only score 80, and the price the break even goes right up. Everyone goes, ah, sweet. Next fortnight or so, I'm gonna jump on this guy who is a bit cheaper.
00:22:41
Lew
and then they drop a 140, they drop a 150 and the break even goes back down and you're sort of in no man's land again where this guy hasn't dropped as much as you thought, he's not coming on the way down and this is I suppose the whole set and forget argument of what you do just begin the season but yeah for me I think the consistency is there where you're not necessarily going to get them a ton cheaper than what they're coming in at anyway.
00:23:10
Holmesy
Yeah, agree, Lew. And you start a mid-priced rucks, so say you go a TDK and a Darcy, who you know you know you want to get to the big dogs eventually. But if if they start well, you're you're pretty much committing to not getting a cherry or a marshal or a gaunt, whoever the R1 is, until around that sort of mid-season
Draft Strategy and Cost Management
00:23:27
Holmesy
buy. And if they've if they've started the year going at 110, 115, 120, then you can find yourself a little bit behind the eight ball, especially if everyone's captain captaining them every week. So good pick, like it. Hami, who you got for your second pick?
00:23:40
Jon Harmey
Okay, so we're snaked out, I've also got two here. um
00:23:43
Holmesy
Yep.
00:23:44
Jon Harmey
i so Look, with defenders, I'm struggling a little bit this year, so I'll pick a defender who wears his ownership. Let's have a look, 0.6%.
00:23:57
Jon Harmey
And that's Liam Duggan. ah He had two scores last year in the 20s, so I reckon he's not at top dollar, and he has a good buy as well. So we'll see what happens with West Coast in the pre-season, as in new coach, um midfield structure, defensive structure, with Liam Baker going in there. So anyway, we'll plug him in for the moment, see if Louis Vitez that one.
00:24:25
Jon Harmey
ah
00:24:25
Holmesy
actually really like I actually really like that Picami. I've done it ah done a little bit of research on on Duggan just because I think a lot of the top price defenders are at their price or have a little bit of regression and Liam Duggan went at 95, 96 the year before and And then if you take out those injured scores, he actually went at 95 throughout the second half of the year, I think it was. So that's about what he is, but it is a ah clear watch on his role now that they've picked up um Baker and Graham and and whoever else. We just don't know where he's going to play. Word is midfield um and you don't know how well he's going to score in that midfield, but I like that as as much as any December pick. So well done, Hami. What's your second pick?
00:25:07
Jon Harmey
This one might fire up Louis being a big port supporter, of but I'll put in at 10.3% ownership. Connor Rosie in the midfield again had a couple of injury interrupted games there last year. So may come in slightly discounted.
00:25:26
Holmesy
Louis, can you talk us through Rosie? I'm a little bit worried. I'll give my thoughts in a bit, but what are your thoughts on Rosie?
00:25:35
Lew
Oh, there's probably a little bit of hesitancy there. um He went 106 the year previous, so we know he's capable of doing it. um He's got a really high ceiling on his day. 2024, what do we make of it? I think, to be honest with you, um it was a fairly young player, first year captain.
00:25:56
Lew
getting married, having a child. I think there were a lot of responsibilities that sort of clashed as one um and which also culminated in a couple of injuries throughout the year. So we've got four so floor scores of 51, 43,
00:26:12
Lew
70, 72, so there's a couple of concerning scores there but that's off the back of injury being underdone and all that. So I think you can build a pretty consistent um case there for saying that there's some scope for improvement. I think you can get back to that 106 range. um The question's probably about where does JHF sort of sit within that. Just butters keep on tracking along at 110 but No, I think Connor Rose is a good pick there and yeah hopefully in his second year as captain he sort of bounces back with a full bill of health.
00:26:50
Holmesy
Yeah, my only thoughts with Rosie. I'm not sure if the 106 days he can get back to him, not from him as a player. I just think it was a last year port kind of signaled a new changing game plan where wines came back and they went to a bit of a spread midfield. So you had Rosie, you had Butters, you had Horned Francis, you had wines and you had Drew. So you had the five of them and they were all, they were all in there around that sort of 55, 60, 65% rather than some of these other teams where they have the midfielders in their sort of 70, 75, 80%.
00:27:24
Holmesy
That would be my only, my only flag and concern is that they, they keep going with that midfield and, and because there's a little bit more forward time involved, it just means those ceiling scores aren't quite as frequent, but definitely has the scope, scope to get back.
00:27:37
Holmesy
So don't mind the pick, Hami.
00:27:39
Holmesy
Lou, what about your third pick?
00:27:39
Lew
um I was just going to say, I've expected a bit of a change as well, again, from Port's game style, because they're not going to be bombing it to Dixon every single week anymore.
00:27:49
Lew
So I'm not sure where they sit on stoppages, but I think maybe there'll be a few less um rebounds out of their forward 50 and maybe a couple of extra stoppages there. So there there might be some, there might be an effect on that.
00:28:03
Lew
So what did you want me to get onto to there? My pick there, Holmsey.
00:28:07
Holmesy
Yep, let's go your next peak, Lee.
00:28:08
Lew
um Okay, let's go into, let's go to the midfield. We'll go another um vanilla pick. I know I'm calling them vanilla, but these are gonna be players that are in most teams because there's ah there's a great case to make for them and that's Tim Taranto. He comes in priced at 95. We know that he's he's basically been a perennial, sort of 105 plus guy. um A little bit down last year due to injury.
00:28:37
Lew
He's in the worst team in the comp with a lot of young players I think there's a lot of responsibility for him and he should get plenty of opportunity in that midfield so Tim Toronto priced at 95 and probably expecting 105 plus there's which is ah which is enough as your M2 I think
00:28:55
Holmesy
I like the Toronto pick, but I'm also well aware that for him to score well this year, he's going to need a a Rory Ladd, Jack Steele type season in a lower side where he's just the main guy and he he does everything because Richmond just, I feel, aren't going to score well and they're going to get pumped a lot of weeks.
00:29:15
Holmesy
um which is going to make it a little bit difficult. I'm a big, big sort of market share guy and Tim Taranto's nine, uh, his 95 season this year actually had his market share up there with some of the good midfielders in the comp. So it's going to take something special. Um, but he definitely, he definitely can do it. He's your prototype. He's a fantasy player. He's never going to get tagged. So as long as he has a ah ah clean bill of health, I think he's going to be a good player, but I'm not sure those 110, 115 days are going to be there just because of how bad Richmond are going to be. But Lou, I do like that pick and he's been in my initial starting squad as well. My third pick and I'm going to get my lowly owned player out of the way. And I'm interesting to hear your boy's thoughts on this one. So I'm going to go in defense.
00:30:00
Holmesy
Plays from Melbourne saw a shift into the midfield last year, more out of necessity when Petrarca went down and and Oliver wasn't himself. But I think Melbourne, a little bit of changing of the guard, they need to switch things up. They need to get some of these young players in. Trent Rivers, Hami, what do you think about Trent Rivers?
00:30:19
Jon Harmey
Yeah, I don't mind the idea. I sort of been looking at him a little bit myself, but um where I have got to as of today is that he's not that good a pick because the midfield would be Petrarca Oliver, Vaini,
00:30:38
Jon Harmey
And then it's your rivers and their draftees, I reckon, and Sparrow occasionally, if he's in the team. So I just felt like when he was scoring well, he had a couple of really big games and that's when Petrarca wasn't there. Well, Petrarca will be there. And I don't know if his avenue to scoring um is as good as it was last season. So yeah, I can see why you would be looking at him, but I'm probably at this point, not that keen.
00:31:10
Holmesy
Yeah, I'm happy to have him in there more from a structure point of view right now. um Real easy to pivot around to someone at that price point. But it is an interesting thing to look at the Melbourne midfield this year. They need to, you know, they're facing a Richmond West Coast style cliff with Gorn coming and they need to, they need to switch things up. So it'll be very interesting to see how that midfield lines up. um But I'm happy to put him there for now.
00:31:35
Holmesy
With my second pick, I will go a little bit more vanilla and what's the saying? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I don't know how many times I'm going to go back to this bloke, but Jack McRae as a forward priced at 70, moving to St Kilda, they have no midfield. i I did a bit of research on that. They have, they have no one. So you can't see him going worse than 70 in that midfield.
00:32:01
Holmesy
uh, in a forward line where we're pretty, pretty thin as it is. Um, I think he's just a lay down pick and the, the, the community is going to go there. So your, your safety with numbers as well. So Jack McCray ready to ruin my 2025 season, like he did my 2024 and 2023, but let's go back. Lou, let's get your next pick.
00:32:23
Lew
Okay so for my next pick I'm going to go with Isaac coming. He's gone over from GWS to Adelaide, he's priced at 61. We've seen that he's sort of an 85 guy off that halfback flank at the Giants, goes to the Crows for a little bit more opportunity. um They don't have a lot of people sort of getting into his points there. I think Brodie Smith's going over that cliff and wasn't necessarily best 22 end of year and Melira I'm not sure he's gonna make it. Hinge can sort of play that third tall so I'm liking what coming um can sort of put down in that defense of Adelaide
Finalizing Draft and Team Evaluation
00:33:04
Lew
at 61 I think it's pretty low risk there so yeah I like him in the midfield to hopefully go 85-90 and make us a bit of cash early.
00:33:14
Holmesy
think it's even less than that low. I think it's 56 with a bit of a bit of a discount, which makes it even more appealing. Already had a preseason hammy. The word out of Adelaide, he's already, he's already dealing with the hammy. I do like the pick hammy, but do you, can you see him getting stuck on a wing at all? Or do you think they've recruited him to play that distributor role out of halfback?
00:33:34
Jon Harmey
Look, ah I'm not sure. We're going to have to watch Adelaide, I think, um because he definitely can play on the wing. That's sort of where he ended up at GWS, I think. But ah look, ah I don't mind the idea of coming, but I think he's only really had a good season at AFL level. He's definitely had, you know, Stado would be telling us he dominates the VFL scoring. but um yeah And ah for the same reason, I didn't mind Peetling and I've sort of been having a bit of a look at some of the track watching reports. I don't mind on that, but the coming is getting a bit of a hype. Peetling's not even getting a mention at all. So I'm not sure what's with that. So look, yeah I think we'll just need to see it because there's a lot of risk around the guy as he enroll and body and new team. But there is definitely a world where he's a very good pick.
00:34:24
Holmesy
Yeah, I suppose it'll just be more of a structured debate whether we want to structure up with the three rookies or whether we can find some cash to to maybe play coming as an M6 and then you're looking at an M7, M8. I think playing him at M5 with the the value that we have in the forward line this year, I think that's goingnna going to leave us a bit thin. But yeah, Luke, I like that pick, especially in December. Hami, you're back to back. are you goingnna Are you going to have a player that's more than 5% owned or are you just going to stick with the real pods?
00:34:52
Jon Harmey
and what What do we need and and how are we going for money?
00:34:56
Holmesy
Yeah. So, okay. So that's a good point. So at the moment in defense, we've got Duggan and Rivers. Our midfield is Walsh, Rosie, Taranto and Cumming. We've got our two rucks locked away at the moment, pending vetoes with Cherian DeConing.
00:35:10
Holmesy
And then we've got Bailey Smith, Caleb Daniel and Jack McRae. So we still need four defenders, four mids and three forwards with 6.91 mil.
00:35:17
Jon Harmey
Ah yeah, heaps.
00:35:19
Holmesy
So we're flying still cash wise.
00:35:20
Jon Harmey
All right, mate. Okay, well, I'll take a couple. Let's have a look. I'll take um a defender in Colby McCurcher. um The guy has got a two in his average from last year, and it's talking and going to the midfield. Well, okay, that may happen, may not. If he doesn't, like if even even if he is in the midfield,
00:35:43
Jon Harmey
it's a chop out and his main roll is still off the back flank I reckon so um excellent junior scorer come in did nothing wrong last year so I'll take Colby there and then the next one I'll take if we've got plenty of money stuff at Emma's well to take a decent mid
00:35:58
Lew
I won the time trial too, Mikocha.
00:36:01
Jon Harmey
Yeah, he's a fit guy. I'll take Andy Breschel, dear Launceston bastard.
00:36:03
Holmesy
Kazzy, Kazzy bias.
00:36:05
Lew
Just a bit, uh...
00:36:09
Jon Harmey
I'll take Andy Breschel, 4.4% owned in the midfield. Freo have got a good Buy and no early by so average two hundred and four hundred and five last year and i reckon is a good chance that he could be doing that again so um if money is no object home see will put him in for the moment.
00:36:35
Holmesy
Yeah, like that. Like that. here You did have a very good finish to the year. Relatively consistent. I think you had a bit of a slow start or during the middle there, you had a bit of an injury. Has a really good run to start mid field wise and you'd think, Freo, it's now or never for their list build. so I do, I do kind of what I love, Brayshore. I do kind of worry now that Sorong and Young are in there that, you know, do they go there the Brisbane model where, you know, they don't really have the one big scorer, but they just have a lot of midfielders that sort of average around that 105 to 95 mark. So maybe, but yeah, I do really like Brayshore and he has the ceiling like no other, especially at Optus Stadium. So ah captain option, VC option every week. So yeah, we'll put him in there for now. Hami, Lou, you're up.
00:37:21
Lew
Alright, well, let's go with the flavour of Freo Dockers since you mentioned them. um This is a guy I keep toing and froing between Jace and Horn Francis, but since we've got this 5% rule, I'll chuck him forward.
00:37:36
Lew
And that's Shai Bolton. So he comes in priced at 73. He's done 86 in the past at Richmond. I think he can play that hybrid midfield forward role at the Dockers. We know the Dockers love to share it around and they all have quite a high scoring ceiling on their day. um I'm expecting to see some center bounces as well as some scoreboard impact. and I'm sort of thinking in like a Michael Walters type mode. I wouldn't say I'm confident he can be top six, but priced at 73. I can see him pumping that up to an 85, which I sort of like the improvement there. And um he has shown a bit of a ceiling in the past. So if he can get on a bit of a run nice and early next season, then could have a little bit of a pot on my hands there.
00:38:32
Holmesy
Army, what do you think about the shy Bolton pick?
00:38:35
Jon Harmey
I don't love it. I don't know.
00:38:38
Lew
That's the right way.
00:38:39
Jon Harmey
I just think that the Frio's mid...
00:38:40
Lew
It's a rogue pick.
00:38:44
Lew
He doesn't actually file under 5% ownership either, but we'll count that one.
00:38:48
Jon Harmey
Yeah, Frio's midfield frea is meat fields pretty solid these days, isn't it? I just think that there isn't going to be the opportunity for him there and they need a good forward. So I feel as though he'll probably be stay at home more than getting a run through the midfield.
00:39:05
Holmesy
Yeah, a bit of an Isaac Rankin, maybe 30% CBAs, but you are right, Harmony Freeo, I've been screaming out for it a real damaging forward. I know Shilts left, but you know, Boltons puts a lot and a lot on Shilts.
00:39:20
Holmesy
That's right, Luke, we'll see how we go. We might need a bit of cash later on um when we start getting through. So oh I'll go to my next pick. This player priced at 99, went at 108 the year before, plays for a high scoring team, is the number one midfielder where they don't have to have a lot of depth. And that's Tom Green. I really liked Tom Green this year. I know he has has the early buy, um but especially if we end up with a ah structure that allows only two rookies on field in the midfield with some of these rookies we have, I think they'll be able to cover him in round in round two when he has his buy. I think he has all the tools to be the number one player in the comp if he can if you can still work on that outside ball. We know what he does in the in the contest, so I'm happy to happy to have Tom Green in there at this time of the year. Do you have any ah objections to that, Louis?
00:40:14
Lew
ah No, I love Tom Green. I think he can go back to that 110 that we saw a couple of years ago. Only sort of knock is the buy there, but as we discussed at the top of the show, it' it's not really something that we want to focus on as much this year. So, um yeah, Tom Green. I would be surprised if he didn't have that upside in him this season.
00:40:36
Holmesy
Yeah, he's got that that built-in seven into his score and we did see him. Although he didn't miss a game, he he came back pretty slow and he wasn't himself. So without that seven, he's a 104 player and I can see him going back to that sort of 107, 108, maybe even 110 and be one of the the top eight mids. So happy to have him in there.
00:40:56
Holmesy
My next player for, you know what? I'm struggling with defense this year. So I'm going to leave that up to you boys to see if there's a little, some other names I haven't thought of. So in the forward line, he's very popular for good reason. um Moved into the midfield in the the back half of last year was injured, but in the four games that he played in the midfield, I think he had two nineties and two tons with one of them being a pretty big ton. And that's Mateus Philippou.
00:41:23
Holmesy
for the same reasons that McCray's an option. He's an option with um the lack of midfield depth at St Kilda. They're a high scoring team and um I think he's going to definitely outscore or d he's definitely going to outscore the price that he's at and there's no reason why he can't go 80, 85, 90 and potentially be a keeper for us in the forward line. A very vanilla pick but I can see why the community is going there, Lou.
00:41:44
Lew
You said you did your research on the science midfield, and you said McCray was the only guy.
00:41:52
Lew
So what's he doing in there?
00:41:52
Holmesy
True. So I'm already contradicting myself.
00:41:54
Lew
He snuck in, has he? Nah. I think i think this is a yeah this is an exciting pick, isn't it? It feels like every single year we have that guy on the forward line who's about to break out.
00:42:07
Lew
and Sometimes they don't. I can remember an Andy Brayshire a couple of years ago. I spent think he spent one year not breaking out and then the next he went bang.
00:42:15
Jon Harmey
Yeah.
00:42:15
Lew
James Warpool, Bailey Smith. um definitely fits the mold here and I think the opportunity is going to be there so a bit of a junior pig back in his day if he can push 90 95 it's going to be a smash play that one
00:42:31
Holmesy
Beautiful loose, so we still need three defenders, two mids and a forward. So where are you going with your next pick?
00:42:36
Lew
um Okay, I'm gonna go into defense. I'm not sure how we're going on cash, but I suppose that's what Vito's are for. I'm pretty keen on this guy and that's Jaden Short. um Had a down year last season, which is why we get him priced at roughly, what is it, 80 is it? So um nice and cheap. We know that he can go 100 plus when he's got that nice juicy half back roll. Richmond, I can't see making leaps and bounds up the ladder. So I think there's gonna be plenty of um opportunity to see the pill down in defense for Jaden Short. He's going to be obviously one of the more mature players in that side too so they should be looking for him. um I think he can punch that average back up to sort of 95 plus so yeah I'm really liking Jaden Short next season.
00:43:26
Holmesy
Yeah, I think maybe it's going to be a little bit tougher to to be back to that sort of 95 that he's been previously, but with the with the Richmond defence, there's going to be a lot of ball down there.
00:43:37
Holmesy
If he's got the market share on the kick outs and they you know they need a hold and and not get pumped and they chip around, I think, yeah, Jaden Shorts is as good a pick as any priced at 80, so really like that one, Lew.
00:43:47
Lew
see If that happens, um I'm thinking 95's a minimum to be honest, though those kick-ins are just a free 25 points every single week.
00:43:57
Jon Harmey
He's a good kick too, isn't he?
00:43:57
Holmesy
Yep.
00:44:00
Holmesy
Harmy, two picks.
00:44:00
Jon Harmey
ah
00:44:01
Jon Harmey
Okay, two picks. Look, I'll stay with my tactic of taking low players. And you just let us know when we start running out of cash here, Holmes. I'm going to take ah Christian Petrarca in the midfield, who I think is going to play in midfield, comes in priced at 90. So a good chance he'll put five points at least on that as a premium type midfielder. And, you know,
00:44:26
Jon Harmey
We'll see how he goes.
00:44:27
Holmesy
ah
00:44:27
Jon Harmey
He doesn't have the early buy.
00:44:30
Holmesy
All right, so boys, so we've still got five spots we need to fill, including the two bench spots and we're down to 813K. So we're going to have to start to veed off here. We've currently got six mids, six big mids and a mid price.
00:44:38
Jon Harmey
Yeah, too much. Thank you.
00:44:43
Holmesy
So keep that in the back of your mind.
00:44:46
Jon Harmey
Well, I'll help us out, Holmsey, and I'll take that last forward spot. And I will plug in Hugo Garcia from the Saints, just to round out that Saints forward line. um And he comes in priced about 42 or something. And if he is a best 22 player um at the Saints, he scored well in a VFO last year, I think he could be a good pick.
00:45:08
Lew
If he is best 22.
00:45:10
Jon Harmey
Yep.
00:45:12
Lew
I like it.
00:45:12
Holmesy
And he can get the ball off Jack McRae.
00:45:13
Jon Harmey
say
00:45:16
Lew
And Philippu now.
00:45:17
Holmesy
And Phillip who?
00:45:17
Jon Harmey
Ah look I reckon he-
00:45:18
Lew
we might actually We might have to di dip into Stato's crypto wallet here or get a veterans list or something because we're running out of
Budget Management and Team Balance
00:45:26
Lew
cash.
00:45:26
Holmesy
All right, Luke, I reckon there's a veto coming here.
00:45:31
Lew
No, I just need to correct the ship up a little bit here. So I'm just going to pick a rookie on field in defense. um Toby Travaglia don't know much about him, but um pretty much every man and his dog saying that he's going to be a decent fantasy player.
00:45:50
Lew
at some point for us so if he gets around one debut um put him down in your black book and ah rookies in defense come at a bit of a premium generally so hopefully he can score on field for us sorry i can flip him out perfect
00:46:05
Holmesy
Beautiful loot. Now i I already had him on the bench, but what I'm going to do is I'll put him on, oh, that's right. I'll put him on field and then I'll just put that Saad El-Hawali from Essendon on the bench.
00:46:16
Holmesy
Um, heard some, some good things about him. So that's going to, going to help fix this up a little bit.
00:46:22
Lew
And then we we had Gibcis there as well, didn't we?
00:46:22
Holmesy
Um, but yep.
00:46:24
Lew
So that that's our standing defense, is it?
00:46:27
Holmesy
Uh, no, so we're still, still one defense spot.
00:46:30
Lew
Yeah.
00:46:30
Holmesy
Um, all right, what are we going to do here? I'm going to, because we're running out of cash, I'm going to, I'm going to give us our first veto and I am going to veto.
00:46:43
Holmesy
Sorry, homie. I'm going to veto Petrarca. Um, I just want to see how that looks him coming back. he He seems fit, but there was a lot going on in the off season. Um, like, well, there was a lot going on in the off season with the trade and then coming back from that injury. I just want to see that first. So we're very heavy in the midfield. So the truck has gone and I'm just going to try and get us a little bit of cashier. So I'm going to go and rookie in the midfield and I'm going to go Levi Ashcroft.
00:47:11
Jon Harmey
Mm hmm.
00:47:11
Holmesy
I am a little bit worried, not because of his fantasy credentials. I just want to see how he fits into that Brisbane team, the the premiership team. He's clearly going to play what role he has. I'm not too sure. I mean, his brother is struggling to get midfield time. He's only getting sort of 40%. So I doubt he's going to be a high midfield type player, but I can't say they're being in any issues in getting the ball on the wing or as a half forward. So I'm happy to put in Levi Ashcroft.
00:47:37
Holmesy
And then in defense, um I'm going to put in Kitty Coleman. So two Brisbane Lions players. Once again, Coleman might not get up for round one, having done the ACL in round zero. How does that look with him coming back now that Zorko's back there? I can't see them changing that after he they've just won the flag and he was all Australian.
00:47:58
Holmesy
Ashcroft, not Ashcroft, so it will, you know, leave our Ashcroft maybe, but, um you know, Wilmot came on. um We had a couple of good players back there. So I'm not sure how his role is going to look, but I'm happy to put Coleman in there at this time of year. So that's our defense done. We still have three spots we need to fill. So we've got a midfield spot and then the two bench spots, Louis. We've only got 236K. So we're going to need a veto here to find some cash, mate. So where are you going?
00:48:27
Lew
um yeah okay i'm gonna get rid of hugo garcia i'm not sure it seems like um dossie never really left on that one um i'm going to pick up Elijah Hewitt um and we'll chuck him on field as well so and he was drafted 2022 back end of 2022 i think uh Played a couple of games last year. um Obviously a bit of a shit show for the Eagles and never really got got running there. Highly rated first round draft pick I think. He'll start to come on and a few track watchers have said he looks the good. So it's a bit of a mature age rookie. Let's chuck him on field up forward.
00:49:15
Holmesy
Yeah, don't mind that pick, Louis. Hopefully it gets a little bit of mid time, has that mid forward roll, as it's going to be pretty tough to be a ah good scorer for the Eagles in the forward line. But yeah, third year high draft pick has been plagued with injury. I think he's going to be a ah pretty popular pick in you all of our teams. Hami, you're going to need a veto and it's going to need to be a big one um because we still have three spots to fill and we've got 325K. So a big veto is going to get it done for us.
00:49:45
Jon Harmey
Easy.
00:49:45
Holmesy
who Who are you taking out?
00:49:47
Jon Harmey
Shay Bolton can go. And we'll go with another rookie just to save some money there. Then let's um let's get Dan Curtin from Adelaide in as a forward line player.
00:50:00
Jon Harmey
Hopefully he gets a bit of a go through the midfield. So don't know, I don't think your expectation in score is scoring is going to be huge, but he's cheap. So we'll bring him in. That'll balance the ledger a little bit, won't it?
00:50:14
Lew
so we're just bringing in another rookie then are we or we got him on the bench
00:50:19
Jon Harmey
Now I'll just drop shape drop Shay Bolton.
00:50:19
Holmesy
We've got him on the, bit we've, we've got him. Yeah, I had Dan Curtin on the bench.
00:50:22
Jon Harmey
Ah, yeah. Well, that's cool.
00:50:24
Holmesy
Um, so do you have an, we just met a,
00:50:24
Jon Harmey
Ah, well, yes spring in yeah, yet another rookie. ah Who's another one that's cheap. i Get Kakko. Maybe Cleary.
00:50:34
Lew
um here Getting vetoed for a rookie.
00:50:35
Jon Harmey
Maybe Cleary.
00:50:37
Holmesy
is, uh, yeah, is Barry going to play Louis for Port Adelaide?
00:50:41
Jon Harmey
Hmm.
00:50:42
Lew
Yeah, I'd be surprised if Joe Berry doesn't play in and not get opportunity early. I like Joe Berry.
00:50:49
Jon Harmey
I really wanted him, didn't I?
00:50:49
Lew
Wait, Cacao will be pretty similar as well.
00:50:52
Jon Harmey
Yep. We'll put Barry in. He must be slightly cheaper than Kakko.
00:50:57
Lew
Yeah, only just.
00:50:59
Jon Harmey
Okay.
00:51:01
Jon Harmey
Is it still me then, Himesy? Or is it just about done?
00:51:03
Holmesy
still Still back to you. So we've got the we've got the three ah midfield rookie spots to go, the two bench and the one on field. So should we go ahead and just put in...
00:51:12
Jon Harmey
ah Yeah, yeah, let's.
00:51:13
Holmesy
ah Yep, don't mind that at all.
00:51:15
Jon Harmey
Let's put in Josh Smiley from Richmond. He should get a decent run added in at a developing time.
00:51:27
Holmesy
So we'll put in Smiley.
00:51:31
Holmesy
Big, big body midfielder. Haven't seen much of him, but it looks like he can find the pill and Richmond are going to be screaming out for that sort of big body midfielder so I can see him getting games early. Now, Lou, I'm going to break the rules here because we've got 459K and we've still got two mid midfield bench spots to fill. So we're going to put the rookies in, but I need you to give one more veto just to give us a little bit more cash to do this. So you're going to have to veto one player.
00:51:59
Lew
Or, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to veto Rivers, I reckon.
00:52:08
Holmesy
Yep.
00:52:08
Lew
ah think Just a bit too much of a question mark there. And what do what price do you need me to bring him down to?
00:52:16
Holmesy
Uh, uh, maybe someone in the 600, 700 K mark.
00:52:23
Lew
Well, let's go. I can't say I'm um heaps keen on this guy, but he's gonna be popular and he's definitely someone I'm not gonna be stubborn on. And that's Callum Mills.
00:52:36
Holmesy
Yep. Don't mind that.
00:52:40
Holmesy
All right, so 541K. So we're going to need some some rookies that are that are lower here. So if I go Langford for Melbourne. All right, so we've got 216K for the last bench spot, which still isn't enough. So, Hami, once again, I'll break the rules. You've got the power. Give me one one more veto to make a little bit of cashier and then we'll fill out that last bench spot.
00:53:07
Jon Harmey
216, did you say? Why don't you put in Xavier Lindsay instead, and then you still get a 230, so then you can bring in one of the cheapest rookies.
00:53:10
Holmesy
Yeah, which just isn't all right. Let's do that.
00:53:18
Jon Harmey
I don't know who you're bringing. Just, it's only a place harder, isn't it? Putting Khadine Cleary from, ah oh no, he'll be a forward.
00:53:22
Holmesy
Yeah.
00:53:26
Jon Harmey
You had Holden, yeah, Clay Hall. You already had him, so, yeah, I don't know.
00:53:29
Holmesy
Yeah. I've already got him yet.
00:53:31
Jon Harmey
Just put in Harry Rouston from, yeah, yep.
00:53:32
Lew
Put in Caleb Smith. He should get a good go.
00:53:38
Holmesy
All right. Uh, I can do that. All right. So I'll read it out to you boys. So in defense, we have Liam Duggan, Colby McCurcher, Callum Mills, and Jaden Short, Kitty Coleman, and then Toby Travaglia.
Podcast Conclusion and Future Insights
00:53:56
Holmesy
And then we've got our bench rookies. Our midfield, with we've gone up in the midfield, which is good to see. So we've got Walsh, Brayshaw, Green, Rosie, Taranto. So the five big boys. So we haven't really taken on any of the Clayton Oliver, Sam Docherty, Will Day types. Isaac Cumming at M6 with Levi Ashcroft and Josh Smiley. Our rock line, we have Tristan Cherry and Tom DeConning.
00:54:24
Holmesy
And then in the forward line, we have Jack McCrae, Matthias Philippou, Bailey Smith, Caleb Daniel, Elijah Hewitt, and Dan Curtin. Lou, what are your initial thoughts?
00:54:34
Lew
Looks like a pretty strong team, doesn't it? um Definitely some vanilla picks in there. We've got some nice consistency through the midfield and some uniqueness, I think. I'm i'm not sure Walsh, Andy Brayshaw, and probably Rosie will be Heap's popular pick, so I like that.
00:54:53
Lew
Going against some of the more popular ones like you said there as well. Homsi like an Oliver, like a Day, um like a Peatling as well. um And then in defence, I like these guys.
00:55:05
Lew
I think he made a good case for Duggan. Bouncing back, McCurcher seems like he's on a good trajectory. um This is a solid first draft for December. What what do you think in Hammy?
00:55:15
Jon Harmey
Yeah. Yeah. And I'm pretty happy with what we've come up with there.
00:55:21
Holmesy
Look, I'm going to, I'm going to put the team out there on Twitter. So if anyone wants to, on XO, if anyone wants to copy it and wants a Hilux, then you're free. Dossie will probably put that team in, although it's probably still a little bit vanilla for him. so On that note, boys, ah we'll wrap up there. ah Look so good to have you boys back. It's always good to chat fantasy. Hami, we know you got to work, but but thanks for jumping on. Have you got any closing thoughts for the listeners? Are we going to hit and we're going to be hearing a bit more from you over the off season and into 2025?
00:55:52
Jon Harmey
Yeah, yeah. Oh, look, I've been pretty busy. Had a lot going on. But um yeah, it's this exciting time, isn't it? It's sort of just about the best part of the season for the fantasy ah coaches, because you're just watching all the um reports coming out from the media. You're trying to get that starting squad nailed down until round zero drops and stuffs to the whole lot. But um no, it's I'm looking forward to it, homesy. So yeah, have a great break, mate. And we'll talk in the new year.
00:56:20
Holmesy
Yeah, have a good Chrissy.
00:56:21
Lew
I am ah question how busy you are bringing up sort of Hugo Garcia's in December, to be honest with you. You're deep in the weeds, mate.
00:56:31
Jon Harmey
Ah, dear.
00:56:32
Holmesy
we weren't We weren't going to have the veto rule, we thought with Dossi gone and Stata wasn't going to be necessary. But Lou, you were spot on the mark.
00:56:40
Holmesy
He's still a bit rogue.
00:56:40
Lew
Yeah, I can spot him.
00:56:44
Lew
He's got that cheeky little ah glint in his eye. He knows what he's doing.
00:56:49
Holmesy
That's it. Well, lads, thank you very much. And I'm sure we will we'll catch up soon. To everyone else, we do have another podcast coming out this week and have some things in the in the work. So make sure you' you're subscribed on X at Pod Pod AFL and make sure you're subscribed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. If you could leave us a ah rating and review, um that would be appreciated. But for now, hope you all have a good Chrissy in a new year. Stay safe and and we'll be back to chat soon.