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The PODPOD Crew Drafts a Starting Squad! #PODPOD
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Dos: @HKdos
Sam: @grillis03
Jordy: @jordandsena
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Transcript
Introduction and Technical Hiccups
00:00:18
Speaker
G'day and welcome to the Pod Pod. It's your host, Holmesy here. Three-time top 10 finisher and twice runner-up in AFL Fantasy Classic. We are back for another pre-Christmas pod. Just a quick catch-up.
Drafting Challenges Without the App
00:00:32
Speaker
We do this every year where we just get the the app open, which we unfortunately can't do this year, but we draft a squad and just start to get everything going as we move into the new year and the 2026 AFL season.
00:00:45
Speaker
fantasy season We don't have John Harmy today. a bit of technical difficulties yesterday, but we do have, as always, the perennial top 1K finisher,
New Rule: 50% Time on Ground Threshold
00:00:55
Speaker
Louie. Mate, how are you? And how's everything leading into Chrissie?
00:01:00
Speaker
Yeah, I'm well, thanks. so I've just gone on break now. So I've got a couple of weeks where don't have to go into work, which is which is lovely. So I spend a bit of time the family and, of course, have a little look at the ah the AFL fantasy. It's a bit unfortunate that we don't have the game open.
00:01:18
Speaker
Pre-Christmas, know the last couple of years we've probably been a little bit
Strategies for New Pre-Season Changes
00:01:22
Speaker
lucky with that. We can maybe ignore our friends and family a little bit, but yeah, we'll have to persist through that and then in the new year get cracking on the ah on the new app with lots of new features.
00:01:34
Speaker
Yeah, look, it is it is exciting. um Yeah, so that's for anyone that's unaware that the game usually does release around now, but ah with the platform rebuild, it's looking to be somewhere mid-Jan, which is which is exciting because there are some things that ah that are happening, which we will we will get to in a little bit. But we do have Geordie with us again today. Geordie, mate, how are you?
00:01:56
Speaker
Good boys. Thanks for yeah having me on a good another well another December pod, which is awesome. Two in the one month. But so yeah, same as Louis. Keen for a pre-season and pretty keen for all these changes and keen to chat through them all.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah, why don't we just crack in and get started? So, Louis, the first one we'll sort of talk about, the yeah the time on ground threshold rule. So, 50%. A little bit ironic now that the sub's gone, that the AFL Fantasy boys have decided to bring this in as they do like to mirror the real-life game. But um it's been needed for a while. The the casual fans, the the players have...
00:02:35
Speaker
you know Getting that score on ah on a Sunday where your player gets injured and and you get stuck with that single-figure score or whatever, I suppose it's just a way to keep everyone engaged and and really sort of mitigate damage. But there is going to be a bit of strategy to it. So you know what are your what are your initial thoughts without having sort of gone into it too much?
00:02:53
Speaker
oh Well, the initial thoughts are it's great that we can take a little bit of bad luck out of the game. I know
Healthy Bench Strategies
00:02:58
Speaker
that um certainly with some of my mates, when you do get stitched up by by an early injury or certainly some of the sub stuff last year um with players not playing much game time, it was just sort of took the wind out of your sails a bit and definitely did start to cut into your motivation to play.
00:03:16
Speaker
um I think this change to the ah the way the game works is going to be a net positive. There's still going to be some hard luck stories there. so Honestly, I'm probably kind of looking forward a little bit to that one person that's going to get stitched up with 51% TOG or something like that. We know it's going to happen.
00:03:35
Speaker
um But yeah, I think this is a good direction that we can head in and think if we can cater more to not the more casual player, but if we can minimize some of the, you know, I guess things that are a little bit shit about the game, and then that that's going to be a positive, isn't it?
Understanding Emergency Score Activation
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. So if you if you don't know what we're talking about, the Traders Boys has always released their their podcast about a week ago that goes over it. But there's now a 50% time on ground threshold rule. So if you have a player that plays less than 50% time on ground, so think an early injury or potentially even a rookie that plays for Ross Lyon that only gets on the ground for less than 50%,
00:04:17
Speaker
Your emergency will get activated and you'll get that score if your emergency scores higher than the one that's on field. So that's important. They have to they have to score higher. So there's not going to be a hard luck story where um your player plays less than 50% tog, but your emergency scores less and and you get that score. That that can't happen.
00:04:37
Speaker
So they have to score more. And i suppose, Geordie, one of the other cool things is that if your captain gets injured, your vice captain's going to get activated there as well. So there's going to be no Lockie Whitfield 23s for you boys this year, which which is good to see. But what are your initial thoughts, Jordi? I mean, personally, I like it because I think it's going to,
00:04:57
Speaker
take us back to pre-rolling lockout days where it was actually super important to maintain your bench for longer. Now, i know Lemon preaches and myself, the the cash fit cash gen side of things, and and we do like to keep our benches healthy, but I can foresee a a bit of a big leg up at some point if you're able to maintain your bench for longer and you know activate an emergency score when maybe ah a popular pre-mall or something goes down. What do you think?
Triple Position Players
00:05:25
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And as you said, I think, yeah, it just sort of takes up mitigating, just sort of cooking your season like that Whitfield. Captain, that would have changed us heaps, Louis. We would have got, I think, Bailey Smith's VC score, which was an 87 that week.
00:05:40
Speaker
And then we would have got a bench score as well. So, um you know, that could be 100 points that could potentially change your season, which is very handy. So I like the rule, but I do agree. I think your bench, you need to spend more time on there. But I guess we sort of have touched on it in the early December pod.
00:05:59
Speaker
You know, years ago, you probably just put that 230K rookie on the bench, basement, and focused on your team. Now we're really looking at the cash chain on the bench. So I think that's a big focus and um I think that's going to help. I think, obviously, the rolling lockout is going to stay. And I think it probably, again, we probably need to be flexible on what happens over the weekend. So...
00:06:20
Speaker
you know I think this year Nick Martin got injured. I think it was was it a Friday night game or a Thursday night game. It was pretty early on in the round when he got injured, I think. So you might need to just think about that and, ah okay, he's injured. We know he's out.
00:06:35
Speaker
How can I use the rod and lockout to maybe change a rookie here or maybe that's where the DPP and we'll talk about another rule, the TPP. Maybe you can flip a player around just to get their bench score to cover. So i think...
00:06:48
Speaker
Just being aware of all of that. And if you've got a few options, I think that's your life that's just going to help you for this season. Jordy, can you see it changing the game in the way we've sort of looped over the last few years? Do do you think it makes looping a little bit more risky?
00:07:07
Speaker
ah Definitely, because, yeah, well, basically if you... go into a VCC and then someone gets injured, then you're going to get a zero basically. So you need, but that's the risk versus reward, right? So ah this is another thing that I've been thinking about is your best bet is probably in the ruck to loop, you know, have an ah a dead R3.
00:07:33
Speaker
um because that might mitigate there's only two players there that could mitigate that but I think there's definitely some risk that you would take on now with that but just thinking about players that got injured like there's probably one or two every year um but it's not like it's going to happen every week so it's that risk versus reward.
00:07:56
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it's going to be fascinating. I mean, yeah, in the ruck, with a laid out or or an injured score anyway, you you probably don't have cover. But, I mean, we're going to go through it a bit later on. There are some firming, some options that could potentially be there for R3 this year. But, yeah, i I think it's fascinating, I suppose.
00:08:13
Speaker
Once again, you might find a bit of luck in the fixture where – you do decide to loop and then you play the loop game and then one of your players gets injured and then your rookie on the bench that you've already, has already played that doesn't have the emergency on them. So then you might find yourself in trouble because you can, you can loop two not loop. So you can emergency more than two ah two guys in the same line. It just means you're foregoing one elsewhere. So yeah, there's going to be lots of strategy to it. It's, it's going to be interesting, but yeah, I am excited Lou, but yeah, you go.
00:08:45
Speaker
I was just going to say it's going to make the late season pretty interesting. I know that we've not been strangers to sort of cutting some rookies full of fat, going straight down to basement, even if they're necessarily not playing. but um And that's been a strat that we've used sort of from post-buys onwards. But now not having that bench fully there could really stitch you up on that way home. So I'm i'm really looking forward to um you know sort of the hygiene of that bench and how people work around that.
Platform Rebuild and New Features
00:09:16
Speaker
23, 24, 25 premiums, Lou, all with TPP, which is a nice little segue in because AFL Fantasy have announced that ah in line with the game and making it more realistic, they now have the ability to have triple position players, which is very interesting. Jordy, I'm not sure, has Supercoach gone with that yet or is it just AFL Fantasy?
00:09:40
Speaker
i I think it's just AFL fantasy, actually. Yeah, that's not in Supercoach. They've got their flex, but that's, yeah, think it's just fantasy. and Beautiful, Jordy. So why don't you explain what a triple position player will look like?
00:09:56
Speaker
Yep, so basically, probably the best example is Caleb Daniel. So last year, or this year, we had him as a mid-forward because he played um at the Dogs, and then he obviously got a trade to North.
00:10:09
Speaker
And he played halfback all at North, but he couldn't gain that defender status because he had already locked in two positions. So what that means is that someone like him this year, who was in a lot of our starting squads, he will have defender, mid and forward
Drafting Strategy and Process
00:10:22
Speaker
status come say round six, a player like that.
00:10:25
Speaker
So looking this year, your best bet is probably a mid forward. Whether we get them or not, we'll see. But it probably just adds a little bit more flexibility. I think having, for example, Caleb Daniel or a Nick Martin type this year probably would just add that flexibility of flicking those guys around um in the team. But basically, it's when we get those DPPs around 6, 12, and 18, it'll be at the same time.
00:10:54
Speaker
And that's what when DPPs come in as also maybe at a triple position player. Yeah, I think it's going to be a bit of a novelty when it when it first happens. um I think I've seen different numbers floated around. I've seen nine players last year. I also saw 12. I'm not sure where it lands, but yeah, your popular ones, Caleb Daniel, Nick Martin, Ryan Marrick, I think would have got it as well. So they are all...
00:11:18
Speaker
those sort of mid-forward players. I'm not sure, it was Nick Martin, defend he was defender who gained forward status, but then he would have got midfield status as well. So there are the there are the freaks in the competition that do play multiple positions and it's good to see the game kind of acknowledge that. So that'll be an an extra layer of of strategy, Lou.
00:11:37
Speaker
ah You can't start as a triple position player, can you? Why can't you start as a triple position, Lou? Do the maths for me. Well, ah don't know if they've changed at home. I know it was, what, 32% or something like that? 35. Yeah, so how how are they calcing that in-season? They're just lowering the threshold a bit.
00:11:58
Speaker
No, well, it's it's what you start at and then from there, it's not like it adds to it. Oh, okay. So it just once you've, yeah, if you're a mid forward, but you play in defense after that, you don't need 35 in forward, 35 in mid, 35 in defense because that would be over 100%. So yeah, you can't start it, but you can you can pick it up.
00:12:18
Speaker
mid-season, which is cool. And then one of the big things as well is now that AFL Fantasy are doing their rebuild on a new platform, they have the ability now to really fix their edit trade function. It was the bane of a lot of coaches' existence over the last few years.
00:12:35
Speaker
It's late on a Sunday, you've got a laid out and you want to just edit your trade to be able to bring someone else in and you get that dreaded error on AFL Fantasy Lube where it says you can't do it because for some reason you're trying to trade out a forward but it tells you that your Ruckman's locked even though you haven't touched your Ruckman.
00:12:54
Speaker
um So that's that's good. You'll be able to edit your trades no matter who you're using, no matter how many DPP, TPP moves you've done, as long as your trade fits inside the salary cap, I believe you'll be able to edit that trade function. So are you excited about that one, Lou? I know you're you're a big edit trade guy on ah on a Sunday when you're sitting at home hungover after a big day on Saturday.
00:13:18
Speaker
Yeah, i I'm looking forward to it. It's, yeah, certainly when the brain's not working at 100% on that Sunday, trying to do this edit trade function was just the bane of my existence. It was ah wasn't very good um and it just didn't make a lot of sense. So think them introducing this alongside the the triple position players is definitely a necessity and hopefully it opens up a new gameplay loop where ah some coaches get a bit more creative and start to push the ledger a little bit further in terms of what's possible.
00:13:50
Speaker
Yep, beautiful. Now, there's a few more cool features. um If you want to have a look at them in a little bit more depth, there's some articles out on afl.com.au, but a few cool ones. They're now going to have live benchmarking throughout the round, so you'll be able to see how you're tracking in terms of the top 100 and top 1,000, which is cool um as when the round typically starts, you don't know how you're going compared to others. Some players have had more than you play, vice versa and whatnot. So you'd be able to have a more realistic idea of how you're tracking.
00:14:24
Speaker
And then for you boys, hopefully after this year, this will be more relevant for you. But if you are a previous hat winner, there will now be a hat next to your ranking on the rankings board, which is ah which is pretty cool. You'll be able to see who's who's gone well before and and sort of track yourself against them. And the last one I really like is the foes thing. So apparently you can find a team. So if I want to know gedy I can find him and I can put him in my little foe section and I can track how I'm going against him um rather than having to scroll back and back through the rankings leaderboard and all that kind of stuff. So, Jordy, Louis, really excited about the new changes. um You know, it sucks that it's not open before Christmas, but I think this is going to be a good thing for AFL Fantasy moving forward and
00:15:14
Speaker
I do project at some point in the next couple of years that we're probably going to be playing best 23s because they do like to mirror the real game. And now that they're playing 23, I'd assume that's where they're going to go as well. I i just probably they didn't do it this year because if Supercoach has the flex, they don't want to they don't want to copy too much. But yeah, Jordy, final thoughts before we move on to drafting our squad today.
00:15:37
Speaker
Yeah, no, i think it's awesome. I think the icons is um really awesome to just to see other teams where like in the rankings. And like for Supercoach, I use the top 100 and top 1,000 a lot. um So i think that's really handy. You can just see who people are trading in, who they're captaining, I think. um So, yeah, it's I think they've done a really good job and I can't wait for it to open.
00:16:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's actually a good point. I forgot to mention that one that are in the matchup. So when you're you're in your league head head matchup, if someone has traded out a player, you'll know who they've traded out, but it'll just be a placeholder that you'll see. So you can't see who they've traded in before the matchup starts, but you will know that they have traded out. So that just adds another layer um to the head head matchup stuff as well, which is pretty cool.
00:16:26
Speaker
All right, let's get into our main part of the episode today, and that is our annual draft. So what we're going to do is we're going to draft a squad together. I'll go through the rules and stuff in a little bit, but Louis, just ah as someone that does ah draft a squad sort of this time of year and earlier with your spreadsheet and whatnot,
00:16:47
Speaker
Just talk through the listeners a little bit about sort of how you go about doing it at this time of year, knowing that it is December and and lots change. But what's your sort of go-to in terms of just building out that initial squad and and feeling out sort of how your structure is going to look and all that kind of stuff?
00:17:03
Speaker
ah Look, ah I've definitely gone over this probably every podcast now so far, but it's just, it really is building around some of the rookies you think um are going to be playing round one. There's um quite a handful that we're probably looking at being able to select. It's all guesswork at this time of year, but it's a good place to start just in terms of what your salary might actually look like. um It's a mix of blokes that you've identified at sort of the back half of last year that you think may present value, whether that be a role change or some injuries were affecting them.
00:17:39
Speaker
ah Maybe somebody has left that side and there and there's an opening for them to pick up some points, um as well as just paying sort of loose attention to some of the preseason articles that come out.
00:17:50
Speaker
ah There's so many these days, especially the the journalists definitely look after the fantasy coaches and and you know give out little tidbits. So you get to find out about maybe some of the guys that aren't necessarily in that 22 that are lighting up the track a bit, rookies especially, and just the fitness of some players that you might be keen
Rookie Picks and Finalizing the Draft
00:18:11
Speaker
on. so Sort of about collating all of them and just building yourself a rough team or or a rough sort of squad of what you can pick from, um you know, for a couple of months from now when we're actually finalising our side. So I just find it it's nice for a bit of research you across your players a little bit more.
00:18:30
Speaker
um and you're not sort of letting some fall by the wayside, which is really quite easy to do, especially as we come later into the preseason and everybody starts to get tunnel vision for a certain um group of players. I think having that diversity, that spread that you're you're across can be ah really advantageous. And um it definitely highlights to me, i think it happens every year, that there's still a couple of diamonds in the rough that um The community probably identifies but maybe just gets lost with some of the other shiny objects that are um going about.
00:19:06
Speaker
Yep, very well summed up, Lou. Okay, so what we are doing is we have gone to the AFL Fantasy Team Pickup that is available on dreamteamtalk.com.
00:19:17
Speaker
We have filled in a few of the spots already. So what I've done is I've just found some, not mature age, but some rookies that are filling our benches that have been in the system for a while. And I think we do have a couple or a few this year that,
00:19:33
Speaker
will actually be good value for us that have had a couple of years in the system. So we've already pre-filled out six spots. So in defence at D7, we've got Jai Sarong at Sydney. And at D8, we've got Bo Allen at the Eagles.
00:19:48
Speaker
At M9, we've got Jagger Smith. R3, we've got Cooper Duff-Tyler, which is going to be interesting later on, Jordy, as you spoke about the dead R3. But I've put him there just for now as I think there might be a little bit of strategy this year in terms of a lot of players with ruck forward status and being able to float players back and through there. So I've got him there just for now, even though I'm not sure whether he's going to play.
00:20:11
Speaker
And then at F7, I've got Sid Draper from Adelaide. And F8, we've got Dev Robertson, who's now at the Eagles. So six spots we've already filled.
00:20:22
Speaker
And then we're just going to start to build out this squad together. We've got our salary cap going down. We're going to go snake order. So Louis, you've got pick one. Jordy, you've got pick two. And I've got pick three on the turn.
00:20:34
Speaker
And we're just going to build it out. So remembering we've got one veto each, we do have to have one sort of loose pick each, guys, which we will have a crack at later on. But Louis, you're up first and we'll talk about some of these players as we go through. So who's our who's our number one pick?
00:20:51
Speaker
Dep, so I think yeah picking this bloke now is probably the right call with the all the salary that I've got to use. ah We've been speaking the last couple of episodes about the forward line and how things are looking maybe a little bit grim.
00:21:05
Speaker
I think for me, Harry Sheasel, despite him being priced at 109, that ah positional scarcity as a forward is going to be so valuable.
00:21:17
Speaker
I'm looking at everybody else in that line. I'm just not sure that they've got... The ability to push much past 100, whereas I've actually got a lot of confidence in Harry Sheasel being that 110 guy.
00:21:31
Speaker
He has been pretty much since he um hit the ground running when he was a rookie, to be honest. And just his consistency, his flaw, his ability to be able to find points when maybe the role's not there. We've seen that in game when he was a high half forward. He would inject himself into the midfield and and sort of save coaches at times, certainly last year. um As well as his ability to stay on the park, he's pretty much played, I think, a minimum of 21 games since he started.
00:22:00
Speaker
I think this is a guy who, you know, in the past we've been afraid to pay up 109 price points. I think it changes a little bit. um when it's a forward and, you know, at other times defenders in previous years, that's probably, we've probably moved on a bit from that. But for me, if you're going to be 10 points better than the next best option and realistically, if I'm not seeing a way outside of injury that you're actually going to go too much lower than that 109 price point, then for me, I think it's just easy enough to start and that combined without the ah the early season buy,
00:22:36
Speaker
This just feels like a bit of a lock it away and throw away the key sort of pick. Yep. Career average of 115 when Sheasel has more than 60% CBA attendances.
00:22:50
Speaker
You'd think the role kind of settles in now and he's that permanent midfielder. Now, for some reason, it hasn't over the last sort of two seasons. So there's always that ability for him to to go forward a little bit more. But yeah, look, Louie, I like that one.
00:23:03
Speaker
It does have some shades of Sam Doherty a few years ago where he was the clear consensus um number one sort of defender that we were picking priced at 110 and he came out slow and and we all kind of got tricked. But yeah, I think Sheez is a very good option and he's going to be quite popular. So yeah, let's lock him in there. Louis, Jordy, you're up.
00:23:26
Speaker
All right, next pick, I'm going to go to the other scale of the grounds. I'm going to defense, D1. I'm gonna lock in my favorite player, and that's Connor Rosie from Port Adelaide.
00:23:39
Speaker
So I think that's, well, Port Adelaide have the 17th easiest draw. He had a couple of those injury games. um So I think that puts him out about 107 if you take those out, and he's priced at 104.
00:23:55
Speaker
And I just think I've heard that Port's game style, we're going to maybe chip it around a little bit more before we attack. I think Carr said that he didn't quite like how we were so hard on the attack and then we got hurt quite hard the transition. So I think there might be an extra plus six or two.
00:24:22
Speaker
Louis, as the Port man, you like the Rosie pick? Yeah, i do. And listening to a couple of those Josh Carr interviews, there' only a couple so far in the preseason, but he has said he wants to focus on defense first and and maybe just pull back slightly on the attacking. So I'm expecting yeah a little bit more retention of the footy, which hopefully is a good thing for Rosie across halfback. I know.
00:24:46
Speaker
In the season previous, they were very gun-ho about singing straight up the middle of the ground. So if there's a bit of chip-chip in that defensive half, I quite like Connor Rosey. And I think that, well, his career high average of 105 can probably be yeah beaten by a handful of points, to be honest.
00:25:03
Speaker
Yeah, Lou, look, I ah really like the Rosey pick. and they've got ah They've got a fantastic draw to start the year. lo i I keep hearing about it, but what are what are those four games that they they start the year? It might even be five where they just get off to a really good start.
00:25:19
Speaker
Yeah, probably can stretch it to five. It's North Melbourne, Essendon, West Coast, Richmond, and then St Kilda. So um from memory, you're probably looking at you know um six or seven of the poorer sides last year that were giving up fantasy points. So yeah,
00:25:36
Speaker
Definitely keen there on a player like Rosie who showed when they do want to let him loose, he he's quite happy to find a ceiling and and sort of punch out those 140-plus games. So potentially this is a guy who starts the season on fire and at the 104 price point, if you get him for those first five games, ah maybe regardless of what he sort of does mid-season or post-buys, you might be coming you might be ah selecting that in the green, so to speak.
00:26:07
Speaker
Yep, really, really like that pick. oh I'll go into the midfield now. So with my M1, I always like to try and pick a player who I believe has scope to be the number one scoring player in the comp.
00:26:22
Speaker
At M1, they don't have to have huge value, but last year it was Jordan Dawson priced at 103. ah Just had a crack to thinking that he if everything went right for him, he could be the number one player and and he was the the number one averaging midfielder.
00:26:37
Speaker
So this year, staying with your Portboys, Lou, I'm actually going to lock in Zach Butters priced at 99 100, just shy of. um Started the year off slow last year. We had that injury in the preseason, which meant he didn't play until round five, round six, somewhere around there. And we do know it takes players a fair while to get up to that sort of match fitness. He went okay to start, but then had a had a bit of a quiet patch throughout the the middle part of the year there before he came home quite strong.
00:27:05
Speaker
Does have some in inbuilt value with those two tag games against Geelong. So if he can sort that floor out a little bit and and learn how to play Mullen, I think he could be that sort of 106 plus midfielder, which will push that sort of top four. So Zach Butters ah will lock in there. Jordy?
00:27:24
Speaker
oh I love it. I think obviously he did 106 last year. i think he can go better than 106. I think if we're going to change the game style, i know he gets tagged, but I think he's a great pick and I wouldn't be a contract year.
00:27:37
Speaker
i think he can push 110. But obviously, they all can't do that. But I think one of them is going to be the beneficiary of it, I think. So I think it's a good pick.
00:27:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's just the tag, right? So like what Nick Dacos 104 this year and and found himself tagged, did get injured a little bit. um We do see those those players that get tagged, typically their floor's a little bit lower, which can prevent the real big 110 year. But you know we've seen Zach Merritt do it for years now where he he gets tagged, but still goes that sort of 108 to 112. So, yeah, there's definitely scope for it. Contract year. Is he trying to get paid?
00:28:17
Speaker
I think he's just ah is a very good player. So, yeah, Zach Butters, we will lock in On the turn, ah let's go in defence and let's go Colby McEacher, Jordy.
00:28:30
Speaker
started as a forward winger last year up until the bye, wasn't scoring very well at all off the back of what he did in 87 in his debut year and I think that had a, or somewhere around there, and and that had a zero score in there as well.
00:28:46
Speaker
Moved into defence after the bye and averaged 95 for the run home. um You'd think they settle him in back there as well. They don't use Caleb Daniel as much and and he's that real outlet player going into his third year. Sky's the limit and I think he could be that sort of nice value option that could sort of push that top six to top eight defender mark with no early buy. So happy to lock in Colby McKercher for now, but it is a bit of ah a role Roll watch in pre-season as we do know, Clarko likes to throw the magnets around and he he doesn't score as well on the wing. And their midfield, despite being ah not a good side, it is quite stacked now with Shizu and LDU and Wardlaw hopefully coming through and and that. So, yeah, Colby McKercher, let's do it.
00:29:33
Speaker
Jordy, back to you.
00:29:37
Speaker
Back to me. Okay, so we've got two defenders, a mid ah made in a forward.
00:29:47
Speaker
All right, I might go a midfielder.
00:29:51
Speaker
I am going to go for a guy who got traded from St Kilda to Melbourne. Plus at 95. I'm going to go Jack Steele.
00:30:02
Speaker
I just think with Oliver and Petrarca out, Like they got nobody else. Like, yes, they'll probably run Viney and pick it in there. And I think still at 95, I know he's 30 years old, but I think he can go 100 to 105 maybe.
00:30:19
Speaker
They got no buy. So I'm going to lock him in at M2 there. yeah Yeah, you will get the age argument, but you got to remember back end of last year, coaches were trading him in because he'd just gone on such a big run. He found himself priced up at up around that 105 to 110 mark because he'd gone on a stretch of ton after ton after ton.
00:30:41
Speaker
Yes, the the thing about Steele, Geordie, is that there's always these lingering injuries with him. Like even two years ago, he had that sort of knee injury that meant he put up some subpar scores and coaches ended up trading him out. And then he goes back to being Jack Steele. But I think you're right. Like,
00:30:59
Speaker
From a market share perspective, you'd think is that he's that inside bull in there um that does a lot of that hard work and protects the Cozzy Picketts and the Langfords and the young boys that they throw in there.
00:31:09
Speaker
Yes, it's a bit of an unknown about what sort of game style they're going to play with at Melbourne. i I think the old Melbourne game style, he would fit in perfectly because he tackles hard and then there was a bit of chip chip around the back line before they go forward.
00:31:24
Speaker
what does What does King do? Does he go that more Geelong model where they run and gun? Geelong still scored very well and and they did chip around at times in the back line before really going. So, yeah, i I really like the Jack Steel pick. And um being at Melbourne, no early buy as well. Yeah, super hat super handy. So, beautiful. Louis?
00:31:45
Speaker
Yep. Okay. So I'm going to return to the forward line. um I think this bloke is actually someone that I would pick before Harry Sheasel, such as the confidence I've got in him, ah improving based on what he's priced at, and that would be Sam Flanders.
00:32:02
Speaker
We've seen what he's capable at the Suns when he's been in a full-time midfield role or a halfback role. ah Fell behind a couple of the stars at the Suns and requested a trade because of that. So has ended up at St Kilda. They're obviously lacking a little bit of depth in the midfield and um with that ability to play halfback too, of which they've got a couple of blokes that can. But I ah just think he's one who's going to find himself in a fantasy-friendly role, certainly in his first year, I think. And there's a little bit of a you know screw you sort of factor to that where he wants to prove the Suns wrong, wants to prove the Saints right and really sort of start the trajectory on his career because he's been highly rated for a number of years now but just hasn't
00:32:48
Speaker
quite gotten the opportunity and I think Ross Lyon will supply him with that. So priced at 68 as a forward. This might be one of the easiest picks that we have all year. I can't see this not sort of um baking in 25 points upside from the get-go.
00:33:06
Speaker
Yep, I think It's well documented, but going back through the numbers, I think at the Suns, not last year, the year before when he broke out and he averaged that 105 plus whatever it was, um scored much better in the halfback role, which we know he won't have, but had that um that limited sample size of being a midfielder. And I think it was a 98 average.
00:33:27
Speaker
um Yeah, in the forward line, especially priced at 68, you only really need him to go that sort of 85, 90 to be an okay pick. And well, even a 90 is not an okay pick. That's ah that's a top 10, top eight forward.
00:33:40
Speaker
and then And then you're away. so And he's got scope to go even bigger than that. So he will be very, very popular. He'll be almost that Bailey Smith of last year. Not saying he's going to go 116, but ownership numbers where we won't even have to think about it.
00:33:54
Speaker
He'll probably just play a little bit more than Bailey Smith will. So yeah, like that, Lou. And let's get you to you another pick. Yes, okay. I was um completely prepared for that one.
00:34:05
Speaker
um Look, I'm probably going to go back to that port well, I think, and yeah know fully knowing that it's a bit of a port-centric podcast here with Geordie and I, but...
00:34:18
Speaker
I think you'd have a tough time saying that Myles Bergman's not going to be relevant for us this season. He was on the lips of everybody last year, last season as someone who's going to go into that port mix.
00:34:31
Speaker
ah Seriously impressed in his first couple of games before picking up a couple of injuries and then Unfortunately, just his versatility probably meant that he was going back into defense to to plug holes. Port's list in terms of fitness wasn't too um up to scratch and he kind of got lost a little bit. So I'm thinking this season, 2026, that he will get that full preseason training as a midfielder and we'll get first crackers. I think that third banana in in that Port midfield. So we know that...
00:35:05
Speaker
Not everyone can average 100. I think he's priced at 78. I can certainly see him pushing 90 plus ah in that role, especially with all the tackling that he's able to or has shown that he's been able to do. So I think as a defender status player, that's one that I've definitely got a little bit of interest there.
00:35:25
Speaker
Can we just ah confirm or deny for the listeners that the reason you're looking at Bergman is because you and Geordie have already already been going down to pre-season training, having a look at the magnets to see where where he's training in the pre-season, Louis?
00:35:40
Speaker
Jordy's definitely put a couple of visits on the ah on the board over me at this point. But, yeah, it definitely helps when you can see him training live. That's always nice. And, yeah, Myles Bergman always looks pretty presentable every preseason, doesn't he? So it's a yeah you know tough player not to pick sometimes.
00:36:00
Speaker
He's there in the midfield from what I can see. so Yeah, and when he had that role last year, he was he was a scorer. He's in that mould where he tackles but actually gets around the ground for a few marks and stuff as well, so doesn't need super high disposal numbers to to put a big score on the board. Think Jordan Dawson in that mould.
00:36:20
Speaker
I'm not saying he's Jordan Dawson, but that's the type of player that he is. Disposal lets him down at times, but if he is that sort of in and under player, his disposal doesn't need to be perfect. I always do worry, boys, about having too many of the same player from the same team in your in your squad. So if we are picking Rosie, we are picking Butters, adding Bergman, you know the the data suggests that they all can't they all can't average well.
00:36:46
Speaker
But I suppose the thing with Bergman is being in defence, Price at 78, if he goes 95, that's a really good pick. um But yeah, I like it to start him with that early draw. You can see why you're going there, Lou.
00:37:00
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that um if Port are going to retain the footy in the defensive half a bit more and have that focus, that the midfield are going to be the connectors to all that. And Bergman, with that prior experience down there, might just be the one who's you know happy to...
00:37:15
Speaker
go for those short 45s and help them out. So um I am pretty keen on that one. um But yeah, fully fully cognizant that sometimes picking three players that you're sort of banking on going 90, 95 plus from the same team can cause a little bit of drama. But geez, when you think about that fixture as well, um they could almost be at 70% and you might back them in to to have 10 points upside some of them.
00:37:44
Speaker
I'm just looking at our team and the buyers. And North and Port have the same buyer around 12. So we've got five players at the moment on the R12 buy.
00:37:55
Speaker
But, yeah, maybe someone like Bergman, you know, you get he gets to the buyer and we can upgrade him potentially with the fixture. You know how I know you're on? You're you're talking about the buyers and it's December 23rd.
00:38:09
Speaker
All right, Jordy, roll us through for your next pick. all Alrighty, I'm going to go, we haven't got a Ruckman, so I'm going to the Ruck line. Another North, another North line.
00:38:21
Speaker
No, I'm not going to go Cherry, I'm going to go for a player called Brodie Grundy um from Sydney. So this one, obviously Sydney do have the bye, but I just think the new rules, he's just going to be a beneficiary of that. We will get opening round, but He went 120 at the back end of the year. I know he's aging, but if opening round he he shows that he can score as he did at the back end of this year, then I think I'm going to have to pick him. So I'm just going to put him in there for now.
00:38:56
Speaker
I won. Fair enough, Jordy. Don't hate that. Don't hate that at all. It's not a name that's sort of... i mean, there's not that many names being floated around at the moment. But with the early buy, yeah, I don't hate it, especially if we've got a few R3, even some ruck forward options floating around. If he does have that buy and you can swing some magnets around to to not lose out too much. I don't they hate that. you can't You can't knock his numbers, what he did. It wasn't even just in the back half, was it? It was from about round eight onwards. So...
00:39:26
Speaker
know More than half the season's worth of data where he was just going 120s for fun and really only slowed down towards the end when he got that concussion. So, yeah, don't hate that one at all, Jordy. All right, let's go.
00:39:42
Speaker
Let's go back into the midfield. And this player does have an early buy, but I think with the value there, um with what the potential that he has done in the past and what he can get back to this year, hopefully, I'm going to go Sam Walsh priced at 93. So this is typically my hitting zone, trying to find a midfielder or two that are priced in the mid to low ninety s that can push sort of top eight, top 10 numbers and be serious value for us. And if we look at what the midfielders did last year, that M8 was sort of going at that sort of 102 mark, which I think that is well and truly in the mix for Walsh if he can get his body right.
00:40:28
Speaker
He has gone, what, 108 in the past and even a 106. So he's got two years of data there where he's done it. He is that typical inside-out midfielder where he tackles but does get marks around the ground as well.
00:40:40
Speaker
um we're just waiting for that pre-season article that says that he's injured that we get sort of every year but at the moment he's fit and healthy looks like he's bulked up a little bit to kind of manage those inside minutes as well um so Sam Walsh I'm happy to lock in there Jordy any qualms with that he does have an early bye no like I think I think he has a full pre-season he's probably he's probably one I'm going to pick because I think he can go 100 as well. I think we're just waiting for that.
00:41:09
Speaker
Yeah, he's been injured the last three or four years, back, hamstrings. That 2021 season, he was All-Australian. I think he polled 30 Brown, no votes. so he's only 25, I think. We just want to see that Walsh. And if we can get a full preseason, I think.
00:41:27
Speaker
And he comes up against Richmond round one, so... He's got a – yeah, I think if he's fit, he's in my team as well. So I like it. Beautiful. All right, let's roll into another pick here.
00:41:44
Speaker
Let's stick with his teammate. We do like players coming into the preseason with a bit of a discount. This player didn't play for the entire year last year, got injured in the preseason. They did say that he could have pushed to play late in the season if they were pushing for finals, but Carlton didn't have a good year.
00:42:02
Speaker
So Nick Newman priced at 72 off the back of 102 the year prior and 98 the year before that. ah But the important thing about Newman is that he actually in both those seasons in the back half of the year actually went at like 105 plus with some insane run of scoring. So...
00:42:21
Speaker
I think Carlton last year, they really struggled with that distributor out of the back line. Docherty was playing on the wing and he was in and out of the side. Hollands didn't work when they put him back there.
00:42:33
Speaker
um you know They went through Nick Haynes at times, which was just no good. that They're really just crying out for someone like Newman who defends well, but actually accumulates the ball and actually sets them up well in defense. So Price at 72.
00:42:47
Speaker
you're really looking for him to go 95 plus. um And I think, yeah, if he's fit and healthy, he's capable of that. Yes, he's aging, but, you know, Dane Zorko, these players that are getting older, that that role in defense isn't as strenuous on the body as and as an inside midfield role. and And, yeah, I think he's capable. Jordy, Richmond round one, so that's, you know, ah a good matchup to start.
00:43:10
Speaker
You obviously see him in opening round as well to see how fit and healthy it is. But, it It kind of screams of Sicily a few years back where he didn't do his ACL, Newman, but he's had that full pre-season to come back from the injury. And if he's fit and healthy, I think he's good to go. So lock lock Newman in, Jordy, and then you can go for your next pick.
00:43:29
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think it's good pick. I like it, especially at
00:43:34
Speaker
All right, so back to me. So what have we got here?
00:43:44
Speaker
All right, I might go – might continue on with the midfield.
00:43:50
Speaker
M4. So I'm going to go for a guy from Essendon called Darcy Parrish.
00:44:01
Speaker
I like it. Talk us through it. ah he's prime I think his' pride he's about the same price as Newman's. I think that's around the 70 mark. Yeah, 76 from memory. Yeah, I just think that he's gone to, he's been a bit frustrated with his injuries and he's gone to Doha, I think, which has usually been proven pretty pretty good. I think Chero went there with dissimilar similar thing and he he came out and did, what was it, 95 this year for us. And he he's based he feels to me like he's the Chero picker this year.
00:44:31
Speaker
um He's about the same price. I think he can maybe go on the 90s. Obviously, Essendon's midfield is pretty busy now. He's still got Caldwell and Merritt, but i think it's I think it's those three, Parrish, Caldwell, Merritt, and the other guys will roll through. i think he's going to bounce back, and I think at 70 with no buy, he's a good starting pick, and then maybe we can trade out of him come the buys, I think. So I'm hoping for him to bounce back. So I'm going to look in Parrish.
00:45:01
Speaker
Yeah, and its it it definitely does have the Chera feel about it and we've got to be careful not to just pick a player in that price range and then hope that they do what Chera did last year. He's priced at 72, so super, super low.
00:45:14
Speaker
You get him going at 90 and that's still a pretty good pick. I think Chera went... The thing about Chera was that he was going at sort of 98 leading up to his buy and and that's ah that's a knockout pick considering the top eight mids were going 102, so...
00:45:29
Speaker
I like it. You are right, Jordy. He's gone, what, two years of 106 in the past. So the scoring's there. Yes, the game has changed now where it's a lot more run and gun and he's that sort of more accumulator that gets those sort of worthless possessions. So they do they do want to go past that footy a little bit.
00:45:47
Speaker
But at the same time, when the season starts and Essendon are getting pumped, they just want to hold on to the footy and that's where Parrish comes into his own. So, yeah, like that one, Jordy, and and definitely someone that I will be considering pretty heavily for my starting squad.
00:46:00
Speaker
Lou? Yeah, i think um maybe parlaying into those bombers, maybe having a bit of a hard time. ah Jacob Farrow was one that was drafted in the draft, highly rated, ah sort of think of Jordan Ridley type. They're screaming out for that type of player who's smooth, com composed, who can use the footy well. And by all accounts, he is one of them.
00:46:24
Speaker
lighting up the pre-season is what they say. um And I think just looking at Essendon, certainly last year, it was an extremely fruitful back six. And even in years previous, i know we've spoken about how that median sort of average for defender eligible players from Essendon was was really quite high in comparison to other sides. So,
00:46:46
Speaker
ah I'm expecting Farrow to get involved with that. I'm expecting him to play round one and he's a little bit of a higher price rookie. But for me and the way I'm looking at structuring up in um fantasy in 2026, I want to select him on the field in defense.
00:47:07
Speaker
He's not the one that's injured already, is he, Lou? I know that the two... Nah, that's... kind Yeah, that's Sullivan and Robey. Yeah, nah. Beautiful. All good. Yeah, don't hate it.
00:47:19
Speaker
Don't hate it at all. There's also Dyson Sharp as well, who is highly touted as the best sort of midfield fantasy player from the draft, whether he gets that role playing for Essendon.
00:47:31
Speaker
yet to be seen, but yeah, we've got to play some rookies, Lou, and and it does seem like we have some good good draft draft crop sorry coming through. So what's your next pick? Okay, so because I want things to pan out the way that I want, I'm going to go with another defender in ah a rookie, and I'm going to go with Josh Lindsay, who's from the Eagles, um also another one that they're sort of touting to play Round one, he's pretty much a pure halfback type and with the speculation that they're going to send McCarthy up into the midfield and maybe just look at changing that distributor role, Josh Lindsay is apparently yeah um sort of born to play it.
00:48:18
Speaker
I think he's going to be one that will be fielding and will be giving us some nice scores just with how much that ball is going to be hanging around the back half of the Eagles defensive 50. So I'm going to go ahead and select him there.
00:48:33
Speaker
Beautiful. Jordy.
00:48:36
Speaker
I like it, Lou. I think... I might stick on this rookie path and I think Zeke Uland I'll pick and he's a defender mid so we'll we'll put him in in the in the midfield at the moment.
00:48:49
Speaker
um Farrow has that defender mid so you've got a bit of flexibility so we can figure out what we're going to do but I'll lock him in there i think for now. Zeke Uland, and he's yeah from Gold Coast, a rookie. I think he's going to play on the wing. I think their wings are sort of up for grabs is how I see it. He's through the academy. He's played, I think, two years in the VFL in their side.
00:49:12
Speaker
And we saw sort of those types, those even the half-forward types at Gold Coast, like your Ainsworth, They got traded out so um and they saw sort of wanted to trade back home. And I think they saw some of these academy kids coming in and um I think he's going to be there round one. So I think we need to pick him. So I'll put him in there in the midfield for now.
00:49:36
Speaker
yes Yeah, i I agree. I think, as you said, Gold Coast got rid of a lot of depth because they knew they had these quality kids coming through. and he probably won't be an accumulator to start his career. It sounds like he's pretty lethal with his with his kicking, but he's a bit more impact, but he has had some VFL experience and did have a pretty big game in the VFL from memory too. so scoring pedigree is there.
00:50:00
Speaker
Probably there round one. So i like that. i'll I'll stick with the rookie train as well and and go Dan Annable from Brisbane. um Now it's a very, very tough 23 to crack into. um at Brisbane, he's he's probably, or he won't, I assume, have the midfield role at AFL level with Brisbane stack midfield. But when when you've got reports coming out saying that they would have considered to play him in their final series last year if he had been on the list, that just shows the quality that this kid is.
00:50:31
Speaker
um And if he has a good preseason and he's there come round zero for that free opening look, I think um a lot of coaches will go there. So happy to put Dan Annable in there now.
00:50:42
Speaker
Pick number two on the turn. I'm going to do this one and then I'll see if Louis will veto it later on for his ruck smokey. But i'm going to go in and chuck Kieran Briggs in.
00:50:52
Speaker
ah Priced at 70. We've had back-to-back years of 90. So there's 20 points upside on that to begin with if you can get back to the form that he's shown in the past. um He's still ah is still relatively young in terms of ruck terms. So in theory, that the upside should still not be be reached yet. We have seen long stretches in the back half of the year where he's put up sort of 100 decent amount.
00:51:18
Speaker
Unsure of how the new ruck rules are going to affect him being that sort of big brute of a ruckman and combined with the best 23 now, maybe he he maintains that sort of low time on ground, but hopefully he comes back fit. Last year, he did have that sickening concussion in opening round, which meant that he was sort of struggling from then on and and couldn't really get his body right. so Kieran Briggs hoping to get that sort of 20 points upside, go at that 90 odd until they these ruckmen come down like they did last year and we can sort of get get towards the right option. So, Jordy, you're up.
00:51:53
Speaker
Very nice, Holmesy. All right, the forward line's looking pretty, pretty that we still need F3 to F6. So, I'm going to head there. think this is a pretty safe pick. I think if he can get himself fit, I'm going to chuck in Philippo in the F3 position.
00:52:12
Speaker
um I think that this guy, yeah, I just think it's the injuries for him. I think last year, obviously the preseason, he was getting that midfield time and then he just got that injury, which was basically put him out for half of the year. And then we saw him just come back and just, yeah, had a wasn't looking the same. Yeah.
00:52:31
Speaker
you know He played a game and got injured on two, I think it was. So his average is very low. But the year before that, when he did have that time, he was I think he got he went at a about a 95 or 100 average there, but it was only a four-game stretch. So again, he's a bit of a preseason watch.
00:52:47
Speaker
But at his price, um I am going to Matthias Filippo there at f three for now.
00:52:57
Speaker
Yep, I agree with that. Having the bye at the same time as as Flanders might be a bit tough. We do obviously need to see the role, but yeah, going off that four-game stretch of of close to 100 scoring when he had the midfield opportunity, he was he was going to break out last year apparently, but obviously got injured. So yeah, I like that pick for now in the preseason and we just need to monitor for role.
00:53:20
Speaker
Lou? Yeah, so just taking a look at the rucks here, um every preseason we hate picking rucks. At the moment we've got Grundy R1, Briggs r two and Cooper Duff-Titler on R3.
00:53:37
Speaker
I'm going to go with Liam Reedy who's forward eligible. in the forward line at F4. And what that's going to do is cover both of Grundy and Briggs across their bye, as well as have a little bit of flexibility with the Cooper Duff-Titler, who is also a ruck forward. I think that there's...
00:53:57
Speaker
going to be some some room to move in the Rucks early season, you know, come March sort of areas in what we can do. And I think potentially Reedy is going to play a big factor in that, provided that he's playing and looks the goods, I think.
00:54:14
Speaker
Maybe it opens the door to start one of these big dog rucks and then use some DPP to trade out and into somebody who's going to keep ticking those points along consistently.
00:54:25
Speaker
um Maybe it's just as simple as being able to cover that particular player for one round if the ah if the points are sort of flowing in other areas. But I think having that ability to sort of flick your rucks across those first couple of weeks of the season might be a good go a long way in terms of you know finishing top 100 next season.
00:54:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. I really like that, Lou. It does sound like he's trying to increase his forward craft. You think Curnow left Carlton and and they were pretty um depleted in the forward line as it was last year when Curnow wasn't playing.
00:55:03
Speaker
ah Pitnett's already had a bit of an issue in the preseason with another larynx issue at Carlton, which is quite strange. I do like the ruck forward flexibility as well.
00:55:15
Speaker
Was a scorer at waffle level. Didn't show anything at AFL level last season before he was dropped. um But yeah, he's he's in that he's in that Lord Meek mold of moving away from Frio to chase some senior opportunities. and And you just hope that he can sort of wrestle that away from Pitnet and priced at, what, $38.
00:55:33
Speaker
We know Ruckman goes 70 when they're in that role. So if he if he's a Ruckman, he's almost a lock. But even as a forward, you'd hope you'd get some significant Ruck time to to be value there. So like that, Lou, and keep rolling through for us.
00:55:46
Speaker
Yep. Noticing that we have plenty of money to spend in this team, I'm going to look towards the midfield and ah I'm going actually select maybe what might be a bit of a smoky.
00:55:59
Speaker
And that's Jai Coldwell, who I think last year probably showed his fantasy chops um for one of the first couple of times that we've seen where he's been consistently over that 110 mark, In fact, I think he might have even gone 115 for the best part of sort of two months there.
00:56:18
Speaker
um Does it all, tackles, spreads for marks, um is an inside beast as well. And I think he might be the next guy that the Bombers are ah sort of going to hang their hat on.
00:56:30
Speaker
Obviously, with Zach Merritt hanging around, that maybe does hurt him a little bit. I was hoping that that move would be made, but at the same time, I think ah the Bombers are headed in a direction where they're very much looking towards the future, and I think Jai Coldwell has sort of shown that um he can certainly be that guy. so for me, ah I'm chasing a bloke who's got that ceiling but also has the upside when you're coming in priced at 103.
00:56:58
Speaker
Personally, i wouldn't be surprised if he could push 110 plus. I know that's a bit of an ask, especially with Zach Merritt sort of being the fantasy beast that he has been. But um one guy that I'm just going to be spending probably a lot of time on in the preseason and watching quite closely. I think there's some definite fantasy chops here.
00:57:19
Speaker
16-game sample size across the last two years, Lou, where Caldwell has had more than 60% CBAs for a 116 average. So there's no doubt the scoring ability is there.
00:57:32
Speaker
He tackles, he marks. It's just his body, right? So if he can get his body right, who knows? He does have the the tools to be the number one averaging player in the comp, so don't mind it.
00:57:43
Speaker
um But, yeah, that's just always the knock on Caldwell. Jordy. We've got a lot of Essendon players in the team. Are going to get one more? We're still going get Sharp in there. All right, I'm going to stick with the forward line.
00:57:59
Speaker
I've been looking at the forward line a lot, and that F2 position looks like we've gone with with Flanders, which I like, instead of paying up for someone else. So there's a cheaper guy that I'm going to put in here, priced at $48, and that's Connor Buderich.
00:58:18
Speaker
Interesting. Challenge. husing Price at 48, I think he's going to get that halfback roll of the dogs. And I think he can go 75 to 80, and that's 30 points upside. And he's cheap as chips. So he's coming at F5.
00:58:36
Speaker
um You can veto it, boys. But um anyway, i've I've put him in there. Yeah. Nah, we'll leave it for now, Jordy. That's all right. I will say um the 85 average that gets sort of spoken about with him from a few years ago was off very limited data.
00:58:54
Speaker
And... The one thing that's concerning about Buderick is that he's not he's not an underpriced premium. So you're not picking him to to average 85 to hold on towards the buy before you upgrade him. He's a genuine mid-pricer. So you need that you need that quick hit of cash where he goes...
00:59:13
Speaker
80, 90, whatever it is over that first five five rounds and gets off to a flyer so he can make your cash and trade him. And there are times where he has to lock down as that sort of small defender. And we did see it, was was it two years ago when everyone started him? And admittedly, well, not everyone, admittedly, it was that um cyclone game up in up in the Gold Coast where it pissed down with rain, but he he put up a 40.
00:59:37
Speaker
And as that mid-price cash generator, all it takes is one of those games where he has a 30 or 40 and you you need to get off him quick smart because he's not going to make the cash. But I don't hate the pick, Jordy.
00:59:49
Speaker
Just do need to do need to see it in the preseason. um We don't have heaps of cash and we are still going to veto and whatnot. So I think I'll just go the smart play here and I'll go your Essendon boy Sharp as a rookie in the midfield, Jordy.
01:00:07
Speaker
And then as the utility, ah don't think he's going to be a massive scorer, but we may as well just put Willem Dersmer in there as someone that's going to play round one for the Eagles. um Job security is going to be there. He might be in that Finno Sullivan mold from last year where he plays round one, but just takes a while to get going and doesn't make a heap amount of cash.
01:00:26
Speaker
Um, but for now, I think we just chuck him in there as, as a way to fit under the salary cap and we can have a look later. So I think that's going to get through to the end for you two boys. And then we might just do a quick veto at the end and have a look, but back to you, Jordy.
01:00:41
Speaker
Yep. So we've got two spots, 1.16 mil remaining. So we talked about the Port boys. I'm going to chuck in Will Brodie, um, just there in in the midfield. So he can run one of those rookies on the bench.
01:00:56
Speaker
um Yeah, I didn't actually realize Olly Wines is missing the first two weeks of the season, so with suspension. So I think there's a chance Brodie could potentially play there. And we've got a good fixture. Maybe he can hold on. Maybe he can make some quick coin for us. um So I'm going to lock in Will Brodie there.
01:01:15
Speaker
um Just going to get his price. 457K, so little bit more expensive. But it just sort of, to me, it feels like that Nathan O'Driscoll, Mitch Nevitt type of pick this year where they're a little bit inflated, but they came out, obviously they you know they've played AFL before and they've come out with um some pretty solid scores to make us some cash. um Unfortunately, those boys got injured and went to trade out of them. But I i don't see, even if they even if you can string three or four games together,
01:01:45
Speaker
um I think we could then trade. could make us some cash and we could trade out of him or we can trade down to a ah new rookie that comes in. So I'll pick Will Brodie ah in the midfield.
01:01:58
Speaker
Beautiful. Last pick, Lou, F6. F6. A pick in the forward line. Jordy, how much cash do we have? What's our salary remaining? You got six ninety nine k $699,000. Someone in the 60s, Lou. Why don't you but well yougo a veto go a veto in there and try and spice things up to make a bit of coin?
01:02:18
Speaker
Yeah, look, i might I might go the veto. um I'm going to veto Connor Buderich. And it's not because I don't think that there's certainly a narrative for him to to have some upside, but I just think he's more of that lockdown player um and maybe might have his lunch cut a bit by that Lachlan Carmichael who's been highly rated so far as well and and potentially a ah a rookie that we've missed so far, I think.
01:02:47
Speaker
um But given all the salary that we've got there, I'm going to... Vito Buderich for what I think I should be able to i should be able to get Adam Treloar from there, right?
01:03:02
Speaker
With 699K on top of Connor Buderich and have just enough for a ah for a basement rookie perhaps. So, yeah, Buderich to Treloar. Which, Jordy and ah Holmes, you're smiling at me now because I was sort of saying, he's too old a couple of weeks ago. and um ah don't see I'm not going to jump off that island just yet, but I think if Adam Treloar is in the right role, priced at 90, then he's one that's proven over a number of number of years that he can outperform that.
01:03:35
Speaker
He only needs a good four weeks to to be able to do it. And in a line like the forward line, that may pay massive dividends. I think probably um ah Christian Petrarca is the other one who's priced at the exact same price that's worth consideration there.
01:03:51
Speaker
um They might be suffering maybe from the same sort of symptom in that there's a lot of guys in that team that can pick up the slack and and take points off of them and they don't necessarily need to be that it guy anymore. But um I think a lot of teams will be lining up with one of Adam Treloar or Christian Petrarca at F2 next season.
01:04:14
Speaker
Yeah, I don't hate it. Sorry, I like it in terms of if you just look at the numbers, was the highest averaging player the year before. Yes, he's a year older. Yes, he's injury prone.
01:04:25
Speaker
We just saw Libba at 33 years old, averaged close to 100 in that midfield. um I'm interested and it wouldn't surprise me if it's round five or round six and Treloar's going over 100 and everyone goes, why didn't we pick him? He was such an obvious pick. He's he's a 100 averaging midfielder. so So don't hate it, Jordy. We got what, 259K in the bank.
01:04:49
Speaker
Is that enough to get us any sort of decent basement, just above basement rookie in the forward line to finish us off? What's Finn McRae at? I don't think he's going to play, but what's a decent enough placeholder? Does that get us in?
01:05:00
Speaker
He'd be Yeah, just looking at that. Rocky Dovison would be close. We're 34K short of Finn Ney McRae, so he's at 293. And I think Dovison's at – we're just short of him as well. Yeah. At 290. So we needed someone little bit cheaper. We might able shuffle a few the – Why don't you out?
01:05:18
Speaker
So Farrow is elevated rookie price, right? And we've got a million Bombers players. Why don't you veto Farrow, take him down to a Josh Gibkus just to free up a little bit of cash and then use that to get another rookie in the in the forward line.
01:05:34
Speaker
I love it. We might even be able to go down to yeah the Carmichael. Carmichael's a good one. Yeah, yeah let's do that. Let's veto Farrow and we'll we'll put in Carmichael. That'll give us...
01:05:47
Speaker
A bit of coin there. um If you, Holmes, if you do want to go with McRae, you've got 10K spare. So um just a placeholder for now. I don't think he plays, but um but yeah.
01:06:02
Speaker
Perfect. So I think, yeah, that's 10K spare. Beautiful. Well done lads. So what we're going to do is Geordie, the graphics guy has got a nice graphic for us. So we'll get that posted out on the socials so you can see the pod pod team that we've we've created. As you said, we've just sort of gone through our strategy of of building a squad. It's going to change over the the next sort of three months as we get more information leading into round one. but I just like to play around with structure at this time of year to see what what sort of fits in the salary cap.
01:06:32
Speaker
So then when we're in the lead up to round one, you've got rookies coming in and out, players coming in and out. You've you've played with different structures and and you're not scrambling leading into round one and and ruining your team, which we so often do, especially in this opening round age of fantasy where all of a sudden you're you feel like you have to put these opening round guys in and you start getting a bit frazzled. So,
01:06:54
Speaker
really really like that boys we'll wrap up there as as we've gone well over an hour i really hope you guys have a good chrissy and all that uh in terms of the pod pod we'll be back sometime at the start of january to start with our positional previews uh the homes files as as i've been teasing for a while um it has changed this year um when i have some more information for you over the next week or so um i'll get that out to you um i am starting with a a gun fantasy coach who who did just get his third hat this season. So there's really no one better in the game to to to speak to about fantasy. We'll review our years last year and and I'm really excited about that. But for for all of our listeners, have a good Chrissy, enjoy the time off and fantasy is really about to start to ramp up, which is super exciting.
01:07:45
Speaker
Take care.