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AFL Trial Match Overeactions with Checkers from Marmalade! | #PODPOD
95 Plays3 years ago
Happy Birthday, Lewy! With Lewy having the night off with birthday celebrations, his old mate Checkers steps in to fill the void — joining The Statesman and Dos to chat about the AFL trial games from an AFL Fantasy perspective!
Checkers kicks torps in his spare time, growing a huge following as a founding member of the @marmalade_aus TikTok channel. What many people may not know, is that the man has a wealth of knowledge in the AFL Fantasy arena!
Formerly part of the Lane Kicking podcast with our very own Lewy, Checkers finished 11th in AFL Fantasy in 2019!
Listen as the lads go through a stack of interesting names, requested via The Official PODPOD Facebook Group.
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Transcript
Introduction & Special Guest Checkers
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of the Point of Difference AFL fantasy podcast, a different look at AFL fantasy classic brought to you by the keeper league pod. This episode, we're overreacting to the trial matches as always, and we've got a special guest, fantasy coach DJ and now famous tick tock star. It's checkers.
00:00:36
Speaker
Welcome,
Excitement for AFL and Fantasy News
00:00:37
Speaker
everyone. It's been a great weekend of watching footy. This is the Pod Pod. I'm your boy, Dossi here with Stado, the regular, the statesman. Big accolades for him in the fantasy arena, mate. How are you going?
00:00:50
Speaker
I'm very well, very busy boy at the moment, but I still found some time to watch a bit of footy on the weekend. And the only thing I'll say, Dossie, I need about an extra $6 million because I'm hot on that many players, but just don't have the coin to buy them all.
00:01:06
Speaker
You are, aren't you? You're a full hype this season, but I'm up and about. You're absolutely up and about. Another man that's up and about. He's bloody exploding on the TikTok these days, but he does have a big AFL fantasy background. He's been kicking talkies all over Adelaide, though, on his TikTok channel, Marmalade. One half of the duo, I reckon. But check his. How are you, mate?
00:01:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty good to have a footy back. I mean, we've watched a little bit of AFLW over the last few weeks and the Winter Olympics, but there's nothing like a bit of a Dusty Martin streaming out the center or Brody Grundy hitting down, you know, hitting down the rocks. So it's good to have some actual footy back and, you know, be able to just get back into the fantasy news and see the Twitter start to blow up a bit with everyone getting all excited for fantasy season.
00:01:54
Speaker
So it's so, it's so fun and it's so good having, yeah, the, the AFL men's back, um, with us, but what's, it's so weird. This, this week was so weird as a fantasy
Challenges of Analyzing Trial Matches
00:02:05
Speaker
coach. And I don't know how you felt about it. Check his, but obviously we had to watch a fair bit of footy with our own eyes, um, especially this weekend. Cause we didn't have really any stats apart from those stats sleuths on Twitter without the, uh, the champion data backing it in. How'd you find that on the weekend?
00:02:21
Speaker
Yeah, no champion data, no heat maps, nothing, no time on ground minutes, you had to really, you couldn't even see when players are going off to, you know, the bench. So people are going, oh, man, it's only played six minutes of this quarter, but I can't tell that from the TV coverage and Sarah Perkins commentary. I don't, it's not even the whole info. It was hard to, you know, I guess sometimes with the internal trials, you can go down to the actual ground. You might be able to,
00:02:46
Speaker
Here in Adelaide we'll be down to Alberton and watch the footy or whatever, you can sort of see all the takeaways, but on the stream on TV or KO, heaps harder to track everything going on. Especially with some of the camera work that was going on, to be honest. I don't know who they hired out to do some of these games, but yeah, maybe extend that budget a little bit next year for the fantasy coaches keen watching on.
00:03:06
Speaker
But I'm keen to get a couple of takeaways from you guys just from the trials. It can just be general, general takeaways. We're going to be doing a deep dive into a bunch of players requested by the listeners throughout this. We're going to get through a stack of players, but just general takeaways. Stato, did you have any from the weekend?
00:03:22
Speaker
I look just at the end of the day, it's an eye test day. That's all it is. That's where we've got to leave it. It's not about the finer details. How are they moving? What type of role are they getting a bit of a slice of the pie at? They're the important things. You can't overreact here. And yes, I would have changed my team as much as everyone else, but it's just
00:03:47
Speaker
actually getting those people to pass the eye test. They look fit. They look like they're moving well. They look like they've got a bit of form. They've got good one touch about them. And I think that was the most impressive thing from the weekend of how high the standard was generally. Normally you watch the first week of footy and it's a bit raw, but it was pretty impressive. So I enjoyed it, but don't overthink this week. The week coming up,
00:04:16
Speaker
that's where you've got to pay attention because that's the dress rehearsal. What about you, Checkers?
Game Style Changes & Player Performances
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, fairly agree with that. I wasn't reading too much into the stats or the fantasy, the data we're getting on Twitter or, you know, that people are putting out there because a lot of players were just, you know, dusting off cobwebs or having a quick run after. There was like a couple of players that we hadn't seen in over a year. So, you know, they're not going to play four minutes and sometimes we're playing six quarters, sometimes we're testing out there.
00:04:43
Speaker
know, potential SSP pickups. The takeaway I had earlier in the week, I remember messaging a few mates, noticing that whole stand on the mark rule and just like there's a sort of game style that they were playing. It was just really noticeable. It could just be because it's a practice match. You know, people aren't sort of used to game style and they've been playing internals or just training all summer, but there was a lot of a lot of.
00:05:07
Speaker
Seemed a lot like a different brand of footy with the whole stand on the mark and had a player having a stand and a lot of running carry. Saw a lot of running carry off half back. So I'd be interested to watch if it changes this week with the actual dress rehearsal or just sort of see the game plan. I didn't read much into the stats. I didn't read much into who got touches. I was looking at who was fit, who looked like they were healthy, who looked like they had some speed to them and clean possessions. And that was about it.
00:05:33
Speaker
The other thing I did notice, obviously the border being locked off for WA for such a long period of time is kept obviously a lot of the transport coming in and out of WA and they seem to have an oversupply of witches hats right now. Come on mate, you just wanted to get that one in there, did you?
00:05:54
Speaker
Yeah. Apart from the major takeaways, my probably major takeaway, I don't know. I think, I think similar to Stado in that I just don't want to overreact to too much. And if we look at the injury, or sorry, the injured players and the guys that just weren't out there, I think that's just so important. And we'll probably touch on a fair bit of that as we're getting through these players.
Injuries and Fantasy Team Dynamics
00:06:15
Speaker
You know, you look at a team, for instance, like Fremantle, you know, they were missing Sean Darcy, David Mundy, Nat Fife, Darcy Tucker, like there's five or six or seven of their best 22, Luke Ryan, James Ash, like they missed a bunch of these guys.
00:06:33
Speaker
A lot of those players are still going to be there in round one. So whoever had those roles, it's just really tough to know. And hopefully we do see a lot of teams run with their, their true, close to their true best 22 next week. But, you know, a few of the players we'll probably be talking about tonight, we might skip past
00:06:50
Speaker
fairly quickly due to the fact that we just don't think that their role is going to be there, um, come round one or even maybe come this week when the, when the real trials start. But I just want to talk about any players and, and like we said, we could be overreacting here, but is there any player, one player each that is now locked in your team after their performance? Now, obviously I'm being a bit facetious because we're not going to lock anyone in until
00:07:14
Speaker
you know until right before round one or until we see it next week as well but is there anyone that in a sense is locked in your team now checkers do you have a player that that comes to mind yeah lucky we've filled straight off the bat I think I've had him in from day one I think he's massively under priced and he just looks fit looks like he's moving well we know he's had a few injuries last couple years but
00:07:35
Speaker
I think he's, uh, the whole stand in the mark for all sort of over my eyes, a little bit about that running carry he has on the wing. And we just seen rack up touches all day down those wings normally. So excited to see him on the outside at GBS and picking up a heap of cheap disposals. I think he's locked in day one. What about you, Stado?
00:07:52
Speaker
Yeah, Maxi gone. So you know, I've been sort of really, yeah, I've been really hot on the Grundy-Rob mix. I didn't want to muck around with their ruck. Thought obviously I didn't think he would lose a lot, but I just didn't think he was value. I thought he was going to go from a 108, you know, probably to a flat 100 and thought you're paying a bit too much to get that coin.
00:08:18
Speaker
And it's just because he's going to be shaved a little bit of time to allow Jackson to keep developing and Jackson form is fantastic as well. But what we actually saw
Listener Inquiries & Player Analysis
00:08:30
Speaker
is playing that sort of loose sweeper role behind the ball.
00:08:35
Speaker
And I think that's really positive. If he was always stuck deep forward, I had a problem with that. But his form was fantastic. It counted to that. And let's also acknowledge that they'll play North Melbourne who are very undermanned as well. But
00:08:51
Speaker
You add on to that is Rob just wasn't involved in the play and I know it wasn't a good day weather wise but at the end of the day it just didn't really get involved. I know he's meant to be really fit right now but it just didn't look fantastic so I thought well I don't want the hassle in thinking that round five, round six.
00:09:15
Speaker
If it costs, you know, 50 grand too much, I'll just pay for gone and just not worry about that line. Now, I think Kyle Holmes, who joined us a couple of weeks ago, would be very happy with that decision. And in fact, probably very smug as well. I think he was messaging me about I gave it back to him to be fair in a smug sense.
00:09:36
Speaker
because he did put a tweet out there going, do not overreact any premiums that you have. Don't change it because some of them may not be performing
Midfield Dynamics & Player Speculations
00:09:48
Speaker
the best at this time of year, just getting a run into the legs. So I responded, so I should take Gorn back out and put Rob back in then. Exactly. He did give me a smart ass one back going, no, I said premiums, I don't think Rob was one.
00:10:07
Speaker
So my player that I again you know not quite locked but getting very much closer to that and and I don't know the step I don't know the stats but and this was one of the games I didn't get to say a heap of as well so maybe one of you guys can fill me in how the rest of the game well
00:10:22
Speaker
Seeing the start of the game just kind of confirmed the Sicily lock for me. I saw enough straight off the bat that I'm like, yeah, I think this guy's going to give me plenty. And given his ownership numbers, he's one that I don't really want to go against now. And, you know, I saw plenty in that first quarter. And like I said, I didn't see a whole heap after that. I saw a lot of the other games, but
00:10:43
Speaker
I just saw so much from Sicily early that suggested that he's going to get back to that freewheeling loose defender and get plenty of it down back. Okay, the next player I want to talk about is someone you're actually considering based on their performance that you weren't before. Checkers, do you have a player like that?
00:11:03
Speaker
Yeah, I put George Hewitt there. I didn't really think he was going to be anything special at Carlton, but he looked fantastic in the midfield. Completely different to what we've seen at Sydney, I'd say, and he's now in my defence. I put him in my team as one of those movements you make over the weekend, and I think very excited to watch him play this week. His game was outstanding. He played 100% midfield time, basically, and I don't think he's going to play much lockdown role and should be decent as a defensive option.
00:11:33
Speaker
Yeah, I gotta say, I gotta bite the bullet on that one. At the moment, I'm thinking very much the same. Stata would be a very happy man. George Heward on the weekend.
00:11:43
Speaker
Yeah, but you've given it to me enough times. I just don't see it. I don't see where you're coming from. He's never scored well. He's where I don't see it. So you better not pick him, Doss. Well, Sam Walsh is going to be coming back soon, Stado. So, you know, he's not...
Trial Match Performances
00:12:02
Speaker
Keep him out. What about you, Stado? Do you have a player that comes to mind as well?
00:12:07
Speaker
Yeah, I was a little bit interested in the Collingwood midfield because there's been talk of about 17 blokes running through the midfield. So I wanted to see what happened. Chris was always going to be a good defensive option. So he's plonked himself at D1 now because that midfield time is definitely there for him. Jay, I thought you were going to say another Collingwood player there. Get me a bit excited.
00:12:38
Speaker
Is he going to do more than just handball? Hopefully.
00:12:45
Speaker
You can play the I hadn't even considered one little bit and again this is one play that I'm certainly gonna be watching closely but I'm Daniel Rioli not in the side which is probably the big the big mark but Louie and I were talking we're messaging he was quite keen on this bloke over the weekend Hugo Ralph Smith as a potential
00:13:05
Speaker
option as a rookie priced forward at 258k with mid forward status, actually played on a half back flank in the same Daniel Rioli roll that happened last year. So if Rioli's back, it probably just cancels that out for me. But if he gets selected ahead of him, he looked really calm and poised on that back line. And Louis reckons he might be ahead of him in the pecking order now. So that's just a player that wasn't even in my calculations that potentially might be.
00:13:34
Speaker
I had him down in my notes over the weekend. Sorry to cut you off there. No, you're all right. But Ria Smith came up multiple times. I think the other half of Marmalade messaged me all weekend about how hot he was on Ria Smith. And I did like his game. He would look good, but just be aware that he would do a rich and play again. Trying to think of something ahead. But the way they played, it's hard to keep track of all the practice games I've watched over the last 24 hours. Yeah, totally. Kicked a bucket load of behinds.
00:14:01
Speaker
and we saw so much footy in like Jaden shorts and Ralph Smith's hands and I just don't think we'll see every week. So I've just got him on my list for like a circular in his name. I just want to see one more game from him and just see a bit more of a real test because they played six quarters and six changes and you know there was heaps of behinds of kicking off in front of girls and the footy was just in that back 50 so much.
00:14:25
Speaker
Okay and the last but not least before we get into a stack of players, is one player you removed from your watchlist after what happened on the weekend checkers? It sounds like a weird one because I don't think we'd be very highly selected by it because I'd be a dozer floating around my watchlist.
00:14:49
Speaker
I remember the
Preseason Injuries & Recommendations
00:14:51
Speaker
first time he ever played, like the very first internal game he ever played, Louis actually sent me a message, like capital letters, probably four or five times, like Nat 5, Xavier Dursmer, Nat 5, exactly. I used it that hot on how like this 190-odd centimetre wiry midfielder was just taking massive pack grabs and running along the wings and I just
00:15:11
Speaker
When they mentioned all pre-season about his midfield minutes and sort of shifting Boak back out of the midfield and putting Butters and Dursmarin, I thought, geez, keep a close eye on him just for that Nat 5 type, Bondapelli tall midfielder role. But I think that role is probably going to go to Butters and we'll probably see Willem Drew and Karl Eamon. And I just don't know if the minutes that they've promised all preseason are going to be there for him. So sort of caught a little on on that pod.
00:15:39
Speaker
Yeah, fair enough, man. And I don't blame you on that one. I'll just go quickly, because mine's a player that actually didn't play. And we just got some news come through before the pod that he's now dealing with a calf complaint and won't feature in this week. But I think I've got to take Jordan Dawson off my list after he's now apparently injured and not seeing him this week, not going to see him in this upcoming trial.
00:16:03
Speaker
Um, it just, it's now scaring me away from him with a calf complaint. So I'm just going with one. That's a bit of an easier one. Um, cause I didn't really get scared off of any of my picks on the weekend. So one that didn't feature is going to be the one for me. Uh, what about you?
00:16:18
Speaker
I will say this person passed an eye test. It's just they didn't play in the role I was hoping for. So I was trying to work out for that D6 position, whether it be Matt Rowell or Caldwell. And Caldwell just basically played a half forward flank. So if that's going to be his role, so he played a half inch a club,
00:16:44
Speaker
as a midfielder, but remember there's two midfields in the intra club, and then this week he just plays half forward. So he might be getting a little slice of the pie, but I don't think he's in there for a big role. It looks like Parrish is number one. Then you've got Merritt and Co following through there. So look, Corvo at the moment, I've just taken off my watch list.
00:17:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's an interesting one because the week before in a trial game, you know, internal trial, that wasn't obviously they remember Essen and posting the halftime stats and everyone was like, oh, where's the second half stats of of Joy Caldwell? Well, they were saying that he was playing as a pure mid in that internal trial and then rested
00:17:30
Speaker
Most if not all the second half based on the fact that he's still actually being he's being managed at the moment or coming back from Sort of that injury in the offseason. They were still managing him this preseason So I wonder whether this part of him playing forward this entire match was also just trying to get him through the game and managing him and I wonder whether we see a bit more mid-time from what you're alluding to and
00:17:50
Speaker
next week, but even still coming off if it is a managed pre-season, that's probably not something you want to touch anyway, Stado. So, fair enough to be scrubbing him off the watch list there. All right, let's get into all these questions. More so, sorry, players that we've got from Twitter.
00:18:06
Speaker
and we're going to get through a bunch, so I'll just be throwing them to you guys unless I have a big take on someone, but we've already talked about Caldwell, which was the first one. The second player we've got to talk about, we've also got, sorry, these questions firstly are also from our official Pod Pod AFL Fantasy Group on Facebook, so go ahead and join that one. That's where we'll be answering questions during our in-season pod as well, so we'll be focusing on answering those ones.
00:18:34
Speaker
We'll be putting out tweets as well during the pre-season pods, but there's only a couple of them left. So go ahead and join that Facebook group. But the second player we're going to talk about, Ben Cays. Do you have any thoughts on him checkers after the weekend? Yeah. It's going to be hard to read his role. Crows had too many players out and even the players they had in, a couple of them were coming off that COVID sort of shutdown they had.
00:19:00
Speaker
So I just don't think that Midfield was very easy to gauge. They got absolutely trounced in Brisbane on a wet deck and you couldn't really read too much data on what went on there. Keys had great junior numbers, Keys had good kneeful numbers and when he got his role in the Midfield last year he did well with it, scored really good but it's just going to be a gauge of how Matt Crouch coming back in, Rory Sloan coming back this week and
00:19:26
Speaker
where, you know, Schoenberg developing, how that cross midfield looks. And we've heard about Dawson playing potential midfield minutes, heard about Melira and all the other players. I couldn't read much on the cross midfield from that game on the weekend.
Draft Picks & Value Considerations
00:19:38
Speaker
Yeah, I'm with you. Jarrad Brander, we had an interesting request for a Jarrad Brander. Stato surely just a draft player, but he kicked the five snags. Good on your West Coast losing another quality player there.
00:19:50
Speaker
Yeah, 517k for someone that's in a not a really good scoring position, it's just simply avoid maybe lighten a draft.
00:20:01
Speaker
Next player is someone that Louis has been super hot on this pre-season and Czech has obviously used to be on the same podcast as Louis back in the day. The lane kicking pod, your start of your fantasy roots back then, but what do you think of Braden Proust this season? Are you on the same page as Louis and you reckon he's a safe R2? I think he's great value. A lot of people wrote him off on the weekend and Louis was messaging me as well at the same time. I was watching the game after I knocked off work and
00:20:30
Speaker
I think the bloke hasn't played footy for almost two years. He's been chopped around to two different clubs. You're not going to see a hundred percent game time, 35 hit outs, 20 disposal. Like everyone was expecting him to dish up. I mean, he did what he needed to do. He showed his fit. He showed he can play footy still after all that time out of the game. And I think Van Lassen leaving the Giants and Matt Flynn probably not being quite a big enough body. We saw that last year when they played.
00:20:54
Speaker
Grundy and Gorn they had to bring Mumford back so they will need a big body in that ruck so sort of Combat that though. They'll probably play two rucks at most times and I think Proust Even as a forward ruck or getting his minutes with his value for money at his price. He's in my side for sure Stata got a different opinion on that one
00:21:13
Speaker
Look, I just want to see more. At the moment, I just think they've got three decent options. So look, his body just hasn't been good for how long? He hasn't played consistent footy for such a long time. So look, I'm just not hot.
00:21:33
Speaker
I understand the value and yes he did cut a decent figure out there but you know whether he can put a full game together you actually want someone that's had a really good preseason not an interrupted preseason that's when you get good form.
00:21:49
Speaker
Jordan Clark's the next player requested and I got to see a lot of this game and god he did look bloody good in this one. Freo vs West Coast, it was an absolute bloodbath. West Coast got smashed by Hyundai points and like we said Freo was still missing a whole heap of their players including Luke Ryan who
00:22:08
Speaker
has a lot to do with the distribution out of the back line, but they had just so many males to feed. I was surprised. Like, you know, they had Hayden Young, Geordie Clark, and what's the other bloke? Number 27. He's Chapman. Yeah, Chapman. Those three guys, I just, they all look like stars in the making on the half back line. And it's like, who's going to get the pill? But Geordie Clark looks like he's going to be relevant this year. It's just a matter of,
00:22:37
Speaker
probably draft given his midfield status but I think there's plenty of upside in his points and I think he's going to get that free wheeling role that we saw him play at Geelong last pre-season and get us all excited before he moved back into a non-fantasy role in the season but...
00:22:53
Speaker
I think the price makes it very awkward, but I do love him as a draft option and I'll be keeping a close eye on him early in the season as well in case he's one that I want to jump onto, especially because he should get that defensive status round six. Finn McRae, have you got any thoughts on him, checkers? Don't know if you got to catch much of the Pies game, but very cheap. Yeah, I watched some bits and pieces of it. I'm a Saints fan, so I was trying to keep an eye on it, but I was busy the day it was on.
00:23:20
Speaker
I think it's just going to depend on that new coach and the new set up and then we'll see calling would have got a brand new midfield almost in that rebuild stage and Taylor Adam should play in there but Pendle has moved out and who's going to fill the role so I've definitely got a close eye on like McCray you got day costs coming in and even the other day costs it could all get increased minutes or a better role so
00:23:40
Speaker
I don't know if he's justifiable. He's a little bit more expensive than Daikos and Horne Francis and you'd probably want to start him on field. So is he going to score enough? Like will he average 70 plus or will he probably average 50 or 60? It's hard to pick. I don't think he's probably got the scoring potential in him.
00:23:57
Speaker
Yeah. Far out. Talk about one that's locked into my side after the weekend. I didn't even mention Daikos. Oh, he looked amazing. So he's an absolutely safe rookie pick. Stado, this is the next player we're going to talk about. It's Thompson Dow. Now, you've been championing a bit of this pick in the preseason. I got to watch a bit of the game, was very impressed by how he went about it. But can you pick him in classic?
00:24:23
Speaker
At 322Ks, honestly, he's a bit too expensive and they were missing a few. We need to understand that. I don't think an inside midfield role is his yet, but he was good at the clearances. My key issue
00:24:45
Speaker
And it's a little bit the same with his brother was he didn't get a lot of the footy So he's actually fantasy score from the game Which was a good half Running around that guts was 27. Oh, so that's yeah, it's it's a bit of an issue a lot better than that
00:25:07
Speaker
And the Super Coach score would be a lot better because it was contested footy, there was clearances. But yeah, unfortunately it wasn't the plus sixes, it was just the kick out of the pack. And true down fashion. Plus three. A lot of good handball, so they were a plus two.
00:25:28
Speaker
Yeah, so it's a little bit of a worry that the score didn't build. Yeah, I think numbers and VFL stats weren't overly appealing either. I remember from looking them up. So usually with the rookies that you've only seen a few games from, you might get sucked in by them scoring a good score last year or getting a
Team Midfield Depth & Fantasy Potential
00:25:45
Speaker
new role. But you got to go back to, you know, seven, when they were 17, 18 and see if they've actually got the potential in them. And I don't think he's probably got it a bit like his brother.
00:25:55
Speaker
Yeah, possibly. My boy, don't do my boy dirty like that. One to maybe watch in your keeper legs once all these veteran Richmond players retire. Mitch Crowden or Crowden was one to watch in Fremantle. I'm just going to skip right past him. Sorry to whoever requested that on our group. Look, we've just mentioned before at the start of the show, I mentioned how many Fremantle midfielders were out.
00:26:17
Speaker
He's just going to be the one that's pushed out of there. Unfortunately, when those guys come back, I think they're much more likely to play. A guy who we might talk about a bit later in the Will Brody, who also had a fantastic game. You've got a guy like Darcy Tucker that's going to push in ahead of him. Obviously, Fife and Mundy.
00:26:35
Speaker
Unfortunately, I think he's a depth. He's going to be a depth player for them this year, even though he has shown an ability to do really well when he gets that role. I just don't think he's going to get it. Willie Rioli at 293k. What do you reckon about him, Checkers?
00:26:50
Speaker
A few mates, very hot on him. I just don't see it. I think he'll be a bit up and down. You might kick a few goals some weeks and you get a half decent score, but there'll be weeks where he'll really struggle and it's just probably not justifiable without price. There's a lot better options up forward. There's so much value, like under priced midfielders and stuff that you can really stack your forward line up. And I just can't, can't see him even fitting in.
00:27:13
Speaker
I might have been keen on him if West Coast was the one winning by 100 points and not the other way around so he's definitely going to be struggling up forward if it's going to be more games like that unless we see a positional change from him but yeah I guess the only thing you're going to get with him is job security because we know that he's going to be playing most weeks
00:27:33
Speaker
especially with all the injuries that happen in that game. So, I mean, if you didn't catch it as well, West Coast just had an absolute stack of injuries. So, while I'm at it, why don't I just, I'll quickly touch on a guy who was requested by a lot of people. I'll just skip ahead to this player. So, Connor West.
00:27:49
Speaker
Stado is one that a lot of people are talking about a lot of people are keen on he's got the mid forward status I totally understand why as well because if you're watching that game, yo is now gonna be out for a while She's out for ages. You've already got shoey that's out So who's bloody planning their midfield Stado and then the new recruit who would have been the Savior?
00:28:08
Speaker
of our 190k rookie stocks is also injured with an AC joint injury. Connor West was the guy that immediately when she went down early he got the injection of CBAs and has done scored well in the past in the waffle doing that role. They got the mid-season draft. Do you think that he can have an impact for us this year especially at that price early in the season?
00:28:30
Speaker
I'll say no for two reasons. Firstly, he got heaps of CBA but didn't get much of the football at all. So he just didn't really touch it. And the second part is he went in for scans, has a slight injury. There hopefully might be right for this weekend's practice game but they'll be managing him. So expect him to potentially be a late out this week. So his preparation
00:29:00
Speaker
interrupt it as well. Who is going to play in there then? O'Neill, Xavier O'Neill 365. Maybe we're looking at the wrong 300 shape bar. Just open the WA borders up. I'm going to hate to see if a COVID case hits West Coast as well. Wipe the whole site out.
00:29:18
Speaker
Absolutely rough. Honestly though, I'd be keeping an eye on the role this week of who is going to be in there because I mean, the weird thing was I saw like Jermaine Jones was the guy that went in there. I don't know what his price is and I don't think he's a scorer at all. Looks like an impact player. But he was the guy that actually got a center bounce bump as well was Jermaine Jones. So he's 400K. You're not going to pick him as a forward unless he shows something absolutely amazing next week. All right.
Player Performance Analysis
00:29:46
Speaker
Tyson Stengel playing for the Cats.
00:29:49
Speaker
Stado as well, do you want to talk about this one? Because I saw that game, he kicked an absolute bunch of snags. But as a small forward option, I'm not terribly keen, especially, you know, his price is inflated because he's played before as well.
00:30:03
Speaker
Yeah, about 298K, I think his price is. But look, at the end of the day, small forwards are a risky role. In saying that, I think we're going to be struggling at this stage. Our views may change after this weekend of how many rookies we've got available. And we need to have as many green dots as we possibly can.
00:30:26
Speaker
So and a lot of our midfield rookie options are drying up very, very quickly. So I feel comfortable that three are going to play. So you're talking Daikos, Hyphen and McDonald. And they're the only three that I'm convinced are going to play at this stage. So that's a real worry.
00:30:50
Speaker
There's not a lot in defence, they seem to be thinning out too. So having a Rioli, a Stengel, a Rauf Smith, those types might be the players we have to have on field in the forward line. Yeah, it's going to be a watch. Matt Rau, checkers, did he do enough to be picked in your side, at least at this early stage?
00:31:13
Speaker
Yeah, he was already in, he hasn't left it. You're just looking at his fitness base and how he's moving and stuff. I think even if he starts here with a stinker, he's in pretty much everyone's side. You're not going to lose out a whole heap. And he's at that price where you can easily downgrade to a rookie.
00:31:30
Speaker
pretty easily do it. He looks smooth. He looked like the row we've sort of known in the past and he's still young. He's gonna have games where he doesn't score great. He's gonna have games where he blows us away. So you can't put too much heat on that bloke at his prices. He doesn't have to do much to impress me.
00:31:46
Speaker
Laid a bunch of tackles, I think it was seven based on one of the stat sleuths on Twitter. So that's a great sign. The only thing, I think it was zero marks as well. So just not kind of doing what we were wanting in that sense of spread from the contest and the uncontested work. But like you said, at his price, he might just be doing enough for us anyway. And again, like you said, young player as well and just working his way into the season. So great signs there. We've talked about George Hewitt, I think. Did you want to say anything else about that, Stado?
00:32:17
Speaker
No. Lockie Weller. What about him getting a half back roll available as a forward? I'm not really interested. Never been a super high fantasy scorer, but what about you? What do you think?
00:32:30
Speaker
Yeah, I like the role and it's the right type of player for that role. So I think he's going to perform well. I don't think he's going to have a massive ceiling, but I think he's very draft relevant. At 600K, he'll probably make you a 100K for the year, but whether that's enough to take the pump with
00:32:53
Speaker
probably not so I don't think he's fantasy relevant I think he's very draft relevant. Yeah and for those that haven't caught it so he's basically switched from his role last year of you know wing forward now to a pure halfback flanker who's been training there all pre-season and he had the role on the weekend so that's where they're looking at playing him this year but
00:33:12
Speaker
Yeah, I don't see enough, I don't see enough upside there. I do see some upside, just not enough to pick him at his price. Noah Answorth for Brisbane. Checkers, did you get a gauge on him and have you got any interest there? Yeah, I watched this game again last night. He looked pretty smooth. He looked good on the wing and picked up a lot of the ball. But I just, one of those ones is a real awkward price point that, you know, players that have already played and they're just above a rookie price, I'd rather take a rookie or I'd rather punt.
00:33:40
Speaker
someone with a bit more fantasy potential. He hasn't shown fantastic numbers when he's played AFL. He hasn't shown incredible numbers when he's played Niffel. So for him to really justify his price, I'd be wanting like, you know, a 75 plus average. And I think he might have games where he hits, but he's probably not going to average that.
00:33:56
Speaker
Brisbane can be a bit of an all over the shop sort of operator and they absolutely destroyed the crows on the weekends. You could say just about any Brisbane player had a good game. I've seen tweets from probably 15, 16 Brisbane players that people are considering, but all it would take is them to turn around and get pumped or lose a game and we probably will have only two or three that will stand out as actual options I think.
00:34:19
Speaker
Just a bit of that pre-season hype. I guess that bircher role is probably where people are coming from. You know, somebody's got to take those kicks, and if it is Answorth, then maybe there's the upside. But I tend to be on the same page. I don't want to agree on everything. But yeah, for that one at that price, I'm probably same boat. Staying with you, Czechies, because we've got the opinion of this guy a few times on this podcast. So what do you think of Patrick Lipinski, who obviously just got a song written about him today?
00:34:47
Speaker
Yeah, I saw it over your clip. Good shout out, it's well done. Good work from you guys. Might have to give it a remix or something. Oh mate, absolutely. Yep, it's yours. Remix coming soon from DJ. At the Bulldogs, I was that hot on him any time. I think I had him in my fantasy side probably
00:35:07
Speaker
Two or three years ago, I pulled him in when he was very, very low ownership. Me and Louie would always bring him up on the podcast. There was a couple of players on that podcast. We were always looking up their VFL stats always because we knew as soon as they got a chance in the AFL, they were going to explode. I remember it was like Riley West was one who was tearing up the VFL. It was Pat Nash. But the one we were always hot on when he was just out of the side, we'd always be tuning into the VFL. I reckon a couple of times we sat down together and even watched
00:35:32
Speaker
Bulldogs VFL games just to see a lapinski play because he's that guy when he gets a chance man he's just as good as McCray or just as good as you know I'm not gonna say the bond because the bonds a completely different player but he's just as good as one of those midfielders when he got the chance he just never
00:35:49
Speaker
Never got it at the Bulldogs and I just hope they give him the minutes in the midfield at the pyres because they they play a very similar brand of footy the pyres. Their midfielders love to play that sort of you know fast-moving footy and high possession footy so hopefully next to Taylor Adams he looks just like McCray.
00:36:05
Speaker
I love to hear that. I love to hear that check is and look out for the remix. Everyone come and see. Cam Rayner was the last player from our Facebook group anyway that we wanted to talk about statesman. What did you think of Rayner's performance? And he's been a guy that I kind of think is, you know, this year's Patty Dow personally. I think that
00:36:24
Speaker
it's not a high possession player that you're going to be getting playing in the midfield even though obviously I was big on him last year but I'm just saying in retrospect this is probably that pick this year that's such a high percentage ownership and yet I don't know how he's going to deliver but what do you think of his performance on the weekend?
00:36:41
Speaker
So any player in the future that looks like they might be a fantasy disappointment is this year's Paddytown. No, I just mean high, high quality ball use, but just not quite the possession for fantasy. That's all I know. Yeah, he's an impact player. It's the best way to explain it. He's never been a high possession player.
00:37:04
Speaker
It's funny, the biggest criticism we used to have about him was his tank. They seem to be convinced that solved even though he's coming back from an ACL. So I find that sort of quite interesting. But obviously he's done a lot of work during his rehab. So good on him. I'm just not biting that apple, to be honest.
00:37:27
Speaker
for a couple of reasons. One, because of the injury history. Two, because of the scoring history. And three, he's more of an impact and he will do some ripper things. I think he'll be a highlight reel guy. I just don't know if he's going to build a good enough score. And at 400k, which I know we talk about he's in the 300s, but he's basically 400k. It's a bit too awkward for me.
00:37:53
Speaker
Right, we are going to smash through a bunch more names and
Quick Player Evaluations & Recommendations
00:37:55
Speaker
we're just going to do a couple of words on each one, you know, love it, hate it, pick him, don't pick him, that sort of thing, lock. Alright, so we'll go through these and see what we can get through for the rest of these players. I'll just go back and forth between you guys, be really quick about it. Alex, with it in checkers? I don't really want to touch any West Coast players, I'm really in my side, so I'll pass on that one. Andrew Brayshaw and Noah Anderson, Stado, you got to double.
00:38:20
Speaker
Got to double. Love Brayshore, mindful that he will get some attention, and we haven't seen him kick that yet, but I think he'll develop well to do so. Noah Anderson, I really, really like. Wanna see how he goes this weekend, because last weekend he looked great, but he didn't really build a good score. But you, as a previous owner, can agree he's got a ceiling. He does have a ceiling. That was not two words, though, so let's keep it a bit tighter, mate.
00:38:50
Speaker
I'm huge on bracial though. Just to be honest. All right. Locky brand. That's more than two checkers. Uh, yeah. Another team that's probably going to struggle. So I've got mutual locked and maybe Walpole you look at, but there's a, there's sort of other names you want to see a bit more from and you can wait for later in the season. Clayton Oliver Stado.
00:39:14
Speaker
Absolute gun, if he wasn't around 14, he'll definitely be in my team. Patrick Dangerfield, checkers. Yeah, underpriced. I think he's definitely underpriced, so there's value to be had there, just depends if he fits in your structure. Dusty or Cogs, Stade? Or both? Dusty or where? I love both from the weekend. I've been trying to find a way to get Cogs into my team, so him. Hunter Clark, checkers.
00:39:42
Speaker
Yep, I had him in my side over the pre-season, so he's on my watch list still, he isn't in there at the moment, but keep a close eye on him. Jack McRae, Stado. Priced at what he'll do, he's in my team. Jion Nukem, checkers. Another Hawks player, like I said, probably, you'll want to see a bit more from them and I don't think they're going to be very competitive this year.
00:40:05
Speaker
All right. We're going to go back and forth. I'm not going to say your names for the rest. Let's smash these out. Josh Kelly Stata. Oh, I just said your name. Josh Kelly. Yeah. I want to see more this weekend, but he is under Valley by 10.2 is a watch Jeremy Sharp.
00:40:21
Speaker
Yeah, massively draft relevant, I think. Lockie Weller, we've talked about him. Lloyd? Draft. Jake Lloyd? Lloyd, concerned on role with impact for Campbell when I see him this weekend. I'll read these. Gorn, absolutely. Sorong, absolutely. Nick Newman? I think with Zach Williams and Saad Fit, it'd be hard to see him sort of hit the heights.
00:40:46
Speaker
We'll go with you again, check his, cause you're, you know, a few of the poor boys. What about Sam Hayes? Was it Sam Hayes? Yeah, I saw tonight in the news that Scott Lyset is actually a fair chance to play this week. So I don't think everyone was really hot because there could be a role for him, but he's, he's not number one at the moment if Lyset's playing. We'll go you again, check his, cause I know the next man stayed all want. Shay Bolton. What do you think about him?
00:41:12
Speaker
Which would be hard to read. I think Dusty's looked good, but probably don't know if his ceiling is quite there as a forward. Adam Chira statesman. Yeah, has been in my team since it opened. He remains. And you're disappointed that he's now no longer as much of a pod as he was before. Nah, it doesn't matter, does it? Oh, you're getting around him. All the people can join on. All right, Tim Taranto, check his.
00:41:38
Speaker
Overpriced, I think you'll probably lose some coin there and there's better options up forward. Really, if you're in draft though, I'd say you're probably in your first five picks. Adam Trelaud. Risk, reward. God, he looked good on the weekend though, but I'm sticking with Dunkley. Will Brody check his. I'm big on him, but I know there's so many midfielders out. Huge ton though on the weekend, Kane.
00:42:02
Speaker
Yeah, he impressed on the weekend. His numbers were greater than E4 as well. So you look back at his past history and you just get excited. He's better than Feoreni. Yeah. Come on, mate. Well, he used to get the inside midfield role while Feoreni was out of the wing in the NFL. He scored pretty well in the VFL over the years. I'll give you that one. No, I'm massive on him, bro. Better than Feoreni. I'm massive on him. I just want to say one more of those and he's locked in.
00:42:27
Speaker
Alright, well that was all the players that we have time for. Well that was all the players we got through every single one.
Closing Remarks & Promotions
00:42:33
Speaker
So thanks so much Checkers for joining us on this pod as well. I'll just quickly say everyone become a Silver or Gold member of the Kepa League to gain weekly access to our in-season pod pods. So there's only a couple of weeks left. We're going to be on the airwaves here and then we're going to be on the Kepa League
00:42:50
Speaker
pod website so make sure you become silver or gold member to gain access to that and you also get access to CBA analysis, state league fantasy scores, draftee analysis, there's a bunch up there to get involved with. I've also given up on doing my dossies pods on this podcast because there's just too much content to get through in the preseason but I'll get an article up soon and we'll get through all those
00:43:12
Speaker
Point of difference players for you as well. Now checkers. I know you love a point of difference as well So what's your Twitter handle for you and wherever else we can find you for your tick-tock and everything else? Yeah, we're just running at Marmalade underscore Oz at the moment. I mean, that's pretty easy way to find it I changed all my socials over on Twitter just to run with that because we've got probably a better footy community through our tick-tock and yeah
00:43:37
Speaker
Love it, mate. We'll be hopefully doing a torpy with you soon enough over, I don't know what we'll be doing that for, but I'm keen to get involved if you have a song. Yeah, let's do a few. Maybe not Statesman though. He might have to get a flight over, but I fear if the old man's string might ping at his age, so maybe avoid the state. But thanks again, Checkers, for coming on, and everyone else, we'll see you next week.