The bye rounds are upon us after a Round 11 that left us with question marks on a bunch of premos, while the likes of Matt Rowell, Tom Stewart, Oisin Mullin and new DPP Jackson Macrae shot themselves into relevance.
Sydney v Carlton
Freak: Walsh (112)
Flop: Parker (75)
Rookie Roulette: Hollands (40), McAndrew (18), Warner (2)
This game was almost as woeful for fantasy as it was for Carlton. Old favourites Lloyd (123) and Lizard (114) put up numbers but don’t find themselves fantasy relevant this year. It’d be tempting to show Parker the door, but unless you’re ridiculously heavy in Round 12 you can’t be moving premiums at this stage. Walshy was good, but was firmly planted in the midfield, thereby ruining his DPP chances. The rookies were a mess with Lachlan McAndrew all of a sudden looking like an omission candidate, Corey Warner coming on so late it’s lucky you can’t go below $200k, and Hollands copping an injury. Doch (108) was the victim of random, unjustifiable magnet switching from Vossy, who is fast becoming Bevo 2.0. Other victims included makeshift half-back Kennedy (66) and injured sub Hewett (25). Carnage all round for Carlton who also have injuries to Newman (27) and Cripps (68) and a suspension for Cerra (90). Call me sicko but all of that might open the door for Cincotta or even Cowan to return.
St Kilda v Hawthorn
Freak: Sicily (165)
Flop: Steele (78)
Rookie Roulette: Mitchell (70), Phillipou (59), Weddle (55), Caminiti (39), Mackenzie (31), Blanck (13)
Somebody needed to strap a leash on SicDog, which is what the MRO has attempted to do by offering him one game. The Saints returned to form in one sense, that is giving up millions of points to backmen. In a truer, more accurate sense, their form is awful. This was headlined by supposed top 8 midfielder Jack Steele, who has scored a sole ton from his last four. See above re: my advice on Parker. Steele wasn’t alone, though, with fellow Jack, Sinclair (82) crashing back to reality. Crouch (114) finally got back on track and I’ll give RoMar (96) a pass mark. Seamus came off with a leg complaint and will need monitoring.
Narrm v Walyalup
Freak: Petracca (116)
Flop: Darcy (34)
Rookie Roulette: Johnson (68), Treacy (52), JVR (49), Chandler (38), McVee (28), Sturt (15)
Depending on the length of Clarry’s injury, Petracca may be a target. He got lots of CBAs and scored accordingly. Serong (104), Gawn (91), Young (98) and the Brayshaws (Andy 103, Gus 92) all ticked the points over without displaying overt piggery.
Now, lets turn to the real issue, and the first proper disaster of this round. Seany Darce (34). What a nightmare. He’s done a hammy and you just have to consider the time to return and your bye structure. In all likelihood, he’s got to go, and he’s got to go to English. If you want to be bold, you could go down to Gawn, who is cheap as chips, but missed DPP by 0.1%. Depending on the length of Darcy’s injury, we may now need to seriously consider Jackson (108) after Walyalup’s bye. Or if you want to be downright ridiculous, you could bring in Briggsy.
Geelong v GWS
Freak: Stewart (121)
Flop: Coniglio (91)
Rookie Roulette: Mullin (56), Angwin (51), Knevitt (33), Cadman (21), Fahey (6)
Finallyyyyyyy! Our boy Fahey is here! We are saved! Nvm, he came on extremely late and had 13% TOG. Still, if he plays next week he will be a red dot replacement.
Cogs is probably a bit stiff having scored a 91 against Geelong at GMHBA, but he takes the Flop because he should’ve had the keys to the midfield without Jelly. Stewart just loves GMHBA as, apparently, does game winner T. Greene (120) and almost namesake T. Green (108). Whitters (102) and Ash (95) delivered, albeit a week late. Briggs (111) put in the performance of his life and seriously you really couldn’t bring him in for Darcy…
Oisin Mullin is shaping up as a possibility. He was serviceable and has the ‘good bye’, but that’s only really relevant if he plays. Full disclosure, I’ll probably take the punt.
Gold Coast v Bulldogs
Freak: Rowell (124)
Flop: Smith (67)
Rookie Roulette: Humphrey (72), Jones (46), O’Donnell (45), Berry (41), McNeil (32)
Crikey these upsets are exciting! As a West Coast supporter I can’t wait for our game!
While everybody was busy debating about the merits of Anderson (90) in Miller’s absence, our attention really should have been on Rowell. He’s clearly been eating his greens. Macrae (123) has suddenly found a vein of form through absolutely no fault of Bevo’s, and now he’s only gone and got DPP. Do I take back what I said last week? No, but only because I’m stubborn. Bont’s (116) knee complaint from last week didn’t hamper his output. Humphrey was good again and although it’s clearly far too late, the byes do crazy things to people and I cannot rule out bringing him in. A poor man’s version could be Berry. A few brought in Dale (81) who wasn’t terrible but don’t worry, there were plenty who were.
Right, Bailey Smith. What the heck. He came down with a depressing case of CBA loss. He was in there plenty, but not like last week. However, that has absolutely nothing on the two headed Rat/GOAT monster. Atkins (30) was subbed and Fiorini (33) may as well have been. It’s fine though! They’ve got the good bye! Again, this is only relevant if they play through the byes which hey, maybe they won’t.
West Coast v Essendon
Freak: Hunt (120)
Flop: Witho (60)
Rookie Roulette: Ginbae (67), Menzie (51), Bazzo (50), Long (34)
Nvm the Eagles were never going to get the upset memo. Srsly though, although the wheels fell off dramatically, there was at least a bit of something here. Good lord, I hope you did not trade out Jayden Hunt this week. This was a game for the backmen with Duggan (140), Redman (125), Hurn (109), Ridley (95) and resurgent man McGrath (94) all also going overs. Sheed (64) unfortunately gave you what you paid for.
Those who did the mini Hobbs (97) upgrade were rewarded and the Eagles took my advice and didn’t really bother to tag Merrett (111), although it wasn’t without some pre-game shenanigans, with O’Neill (66) a late in to keep us on our toes. As usual, Hurn’s return stunted Witho’s +6s.
Right I’ve kept a lid on it for two paragraphs but how good did Yeoy look? You couldn’t do it, you really, really couldn’t. Anyway I might do it.
Richmond v Yartapuulti
Freak: Taranto (145)
Flop: Baker (57)
Rookie Roulette: Lord (60), Williams (56), Young (28), Ryan (26), Clarke (24), Evans (13)
Taranto’s ton run is more staggering as each week goes by. Someone must’ve told him Yartapuulti are extremely restrictive and so he just added 4 goals and 7 tackles to make us look like fools for fading him as captain. It was a slog for the mids but Butters (101) and Rozee (102) pulled Yartapuulti over the line in Q4. Butters in particular was better than his points suggest. Nank (107) is properly back now, which has affected Samson Ryan.
Collingwood v North
Freak: Daicos (116)
Flop: Simpkin (69)
Rookie Roulette: Phillips (90), Wardlaw (51), Bergman (49), Spicer (5)
A 35-point North loss nearly fits within upset territory doesn’t it? Nick Daicos was back to his stat-padding best and there was a breakout fantasy game by Will Phill. Sheez (82) gave us a bit of an injury scare but returned, whilst Ziebell (88) was only ok. Trade-in targets Simpkin (69) and Wardlaw didn’t exactly give us the instant sugar hit, but we have to remember they played the best team in the comp who were led by JDG (127). DCam (80) gave us food for thought without screaming to be picked.
Adelaide v Brisbane
Freak: Dawson (135)
Flop: Ashcroft (48)
Rookie Roulette: Michalanney (59), Pedlar (56), Wilmot (42), Madden (8)
This was a ripping game not least due to Laird (131), Dunks (112) and Dawson having a day out. Neale (100) is going to be a trade-in target for me after his bye. It seems he’s no longer a top 8 mid but in modern fantasy he doesn’t have to be.
Ashcroft has been marvelous for us but continued his bad run away from the Gabba. Throughout the byes, he’s got one game at home so if you’re feeling bold you could move him on. I would stress that you should only do this if your bye structure allows it.
Round 12 trade are all about fixing your bye structures and your red dots. With that in mind:
Bring them in: Mullin, Fahey, Humphrey
Cop it on the chin: Cogs, Steele, Parker
Put them in the bin: Sharp, Fiorini/Atkins (if dropped), red dots
