It’s a precarious week of trades to navigate with teams itching to start upgrade season… Although while we have no real bubble boys to jump on, it’s forcing us to go either early or late on rookies…
Both of which are SuperCoach cardinal sins! Although don’t you worry! I am here to help discuss 15 of the most relevant traded IN and traded OUT players as we head into Round 5.
James Jordon – $350k (MID/FWD) – 49%
Man, if you’re anything like me I’m sure you couldn’t wait to pull the trigger on offloading this guy. What looked as a promising mid-pricer to start the season, has quickly turned into slippery slope of disappointment. We all held for one more game with the favourable Eagles match up, only to be presented with his worst score of the season. At his price and as the Swans enter their bye, he is a must trade to help enable some of your other moves with his cash on his head. TRADE.
Blake Howes – $223k (DEF) – 57%
Back to fielding a full 22 last week, many coaches needed Howes on field to produce and he failed to do so, scoring just 46 points. Bearing in mind, this included a clutch final ¼ to save his score as well… So, on the back on this I understand the urge to off load, but in my opinion, this is anything but a must. He comes up against the Lions who rank 18th for points given up to defenders this year, and all it takes is one good score which he has shown he’s more than capable of, to spike his cash generation once again. Although, I do understand some people need that 120k on his head to downgrade to Clohesy to facilitate other moves which I see as fine as well. EXPENDABLE.
Brodie Grundy – $507k (RUC) – 69%
This one is a killer. Many coaches wanted to fade him heading into the season but his 139 score on Gawn in Round 0 fooled the entire community. He has failed to get close to these heights in any of his next 4 games, so I understand the frustration. Now heading into the bye, many will be forced to play one man down in Best 18 if they do stick with Grundy. I feel we can split ourselves into two camps. Whether you own Luke Jackson in your forward line or not. If you do, it’s a much easier hold because you can use your forward bench to cover him, if you don’t, trading seems more viable. The issue with trading, is there’s no real gimme option. English is probably the one, but you need to almost put 200k on his head which at this time of the season is crippling… The other option is Rowan Marshall, who has a very favourable ruck run coming up and for his price is someone I much preferred and someone I even considered planning for this week. What’s concerning, is Ross Lyon has said Marshall is exhausted and they’d consider playing Campbell at some point to give him a rest. The last option is to downgrade to Meek, although this is booking in another trade at some point in the season. So, with Grundy, consider which camp you’re in and how many players you’ll have on field this week and go from there. EXPENDABLE.
Alex Sexton – $182k (FWD) – 41%
This one is simple. Hardwick went for a massive restructure with his side this week, which saw people shuffle into the backline and it reaped rewards. The Suns played well, and their backline looked much better against the premiership favourites. Therefore, I can’t see him reverting which unfortunately means Sexton will be stuck in the twos for a while at least, pending any injuries. If you can manipulate your trades this week to use Sexton I would do so. Although, I understand that it’s tricky because he only has 180k on his head. TRADE.
Massimo D’Ambrosio – $316k (DEF) – 62%
I feel like this guy has almost featured in this article every week… It’s a disappointing pick for sure. He’s done his job and made 100k, but owners thought we were buying someone with scoring power a little higher than the 60’s he’s given us. The cash on his head is juicy for sure and I can see why people are tempted to offload, but with Best 18 coming up, having a rookie like Massimo who has shown he can spike a high score is quite important. He has a high flaw as well, so a stinker shouldn’t be on the cards. He was benched for 20 minutes in the last ¼ against the Pies when the game was on the line, this is something that’s concerning, but it also shows there was upside on his score on the weekend. PREFERABLY HOLD.
Sam Clohesy – $102k (DEF) – 4%
This guy is the talk of the town. His 108 points at basement price on a line that everyone is struggling with does look sexy in your team. I’ll start off by saying, I’m sure everyone will get him in by next week at the latest, but I’m going to try to be devil’s advocate here regarding getting him this week. One thing to note, is because this monster score was in his first game, the score is only involved in one price rise instead of the usual 3 which is disappointing. The role is also not nice. Despite the defender status in SuperCoach, he played wing the entire game. While both Sharp and Clohesy showed this week you can spike a score from a wing, it’s common knowledge you can go missing for large parts of games as well. The positive of this is he will gain MID/DEF status shortly which can be used to swing with if we end up targeting his teammate Graham as well. I never like going early on a rookie because on the off chance they get injured or dropped the week you bring them in, you don’t get the initial price rise to mitigate the danger. So, this makes it seem like an unnecessary risk. The only reason why people are considering it this week, is we are so limited with options elsewhere. GETABLE.
Jason Horne-Francis – $433k (MID) – 4%
This is a guy I was highly considering planning on getting Jordon up to due to his score of 112 in Round 1 while doing this with enough forward time to warrant Dual-Position status. Unfortunately, his 132 on the weekend was contributed by full time midfield minutes which has squashed this. It was without Wines, so maybe Wines back in the side may bring back the forward time but to me, the fact he needs to be a midfield keeper now rather than a forward keeper, combined with the fact he is coming off a hamstring injury, means I think this pick is too risky for me with less upside. PASS.
Charlie Comben – $227k (FWD) – 0%
To the average fantasy coach, most people are like who is this guy? It’s important to note he has probably been the most talked up player at North over the past few years. This included a contract extension right after he had a season ending leg break injury… It’s something you don’t hear of often. He started life as a forward, but this off season he moved into defence and was looking at a Round 1 gig until, yet another injury occurred. So yes, off the bat, he’s an extremely injury prone player. This is less than ideal but the scoring upside in this role is huge. He showed this with 129 Supercoach as he was peeling off as the third man intercepting everything that came his way. The same thing applies here as to Clohesy and how ideally you don’t want to go early on him. Although, if you are taking one early, I’d rather Conben as I expect him to be able to score much higher than Clohesy in his role and spike scores in Best 18 are vital. MUST CONSIDER.
Will Graham – $117k (DEF/MID) – 2%
This pick has come out of nowhere. The Gold Coast centre bounce rotations were a tight 4-man rotating group and then Graham has just waltzed in and destroyed it. So much so, that Flanders had ZERO CBA’s. The role is unbelievable, and his draft profile is built for Supercoach. He has great fantasy friendly numbers in the twos as well where he is averaging over 100 fantasy per game. The main concern with me here is his time on ground was in the 60’s and Humphrey got subbed. This could’ve easily been him… So, it looks as though his tank/engine will be a concern and therefore he’s not someone I’m confident enough on to go early on. We need one more week of data from him and seeing how the Gold Coast line up again. PASS & REASSESS.
Lloyd Meek – $357k (RUC) – 0%
Who is ready to blow up their team for a RISKY RUCK move? There seems to be a new one every year and they have the potential for maximum reward or to end your year. It’s a flip of a coin… Lloyd Meek averaged mid 80’s in SuperCoach at Fremantle with 60% ruck time before coming to Hawthorn and sharing ruck duties with Reeves again last year. This year, Hawks have opted for one ruckman only with Chol/Ramsden as the forward backup ruck. The first two games were Reeves solo, the last two games have been Meek solo with around 80% ruck time. Reeves is your 210cm tap ruckman who offers nothing around the ground, whereas Meek is your extra midfielder type ruckman who gets beat in the hitouts. Why is this important? The Hawks got smashed in the opening two weeks around the contest with no Will Day. So, I think they switched to Meek to gain that extra body at the contest who could act as additional midfielder and help swing the midfield clearance and contested numbers back in the Hawks favour. It’s important to note Sam Mitchell and Hawthorn have backed in Ned Reeves through multiple years of subpar performances, so they must have really believed he is/was their man. Will having Day back in the side mean the Hawks revert to the hitout dominant ruckman? It’s hard to say. But Meek was awarded the best Hawthorn player on the ground against Cox and Cameron who as a duo, are extremely tough to score against for ruckman. That game is sure to buy him a few weeks, but for this pick to work, you really need 4-6 weeks of a 100+ average from Lloyd Meek. Can he do it…? I’m oh so tempted. HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD.
Jeremy Sharp, Tom Brown and Sam Darcy
There is a lot of chatter and questions surrounding is it too late for this trio? If we are going off season’s past, absolutely it is too late. Unless you think these guys are a genuine chance at averaging 85+, they won’t generate you enough cash and won’t gain you consistent high scoring on field to warrant paying up. The issue is we don’t really have any lower priced guys on the bubble and therefore people are considering going late on these guys. Ideally, I’d rather not take them, the percentage chance of paying up 210k-250k on a rookie already inflated and it is working is just so low. PASS.
Kai Lohmann – $161k (FWD) – 1%
This one is probably flying under the radar purely because when you sort by breakeven, it is only -14 due to the 3 consecutive sub games. If he strings together a few full games, this BE will quickly plummet. His 88 on the weekend means he has a positive start to his cash generation if he gets these full games coming up. Another huge positive, is he plays the first game of the round, so we will get a look at him being the sub or not prior to locking in our trades. If he ISNT sub, I think he is a much better option than going early on Clohesy or Graham as you get Lohmans cash now, plus you can use the others for downgrade options over the coming weeks instead. WATCH CLOSELY.
Jack Steele – $589k (MID) – 18%
The sexy man of Steele is BACK in a big way this year. He has gotten better every week with scores of 119, 120, 126 and 146 on the weekend. The important trend with Steele has always been his tackle and mark numbers. Over the past few years, he has lacked fitness and struggled with injury and at times both these metrics suffered. This year he is averaging over 6 marks and 8 tackles per game which shows he is back to his best. It’s important to note, the Saints have had quite an easy run when it comes to midfield opposition. Geelong, Collingwood, Essendon and now Richmond at Norwood Oval are all quite flattering for opposition contested midfielders. So yes, I believe Steele is definitely back. Although, I can’t see him keeping up the 126 average and therefore the 590k isn’t as much value as he was a few weeks ago. He has a huge test up against the Giants this week. I think we will get a much better idea of what Jack Steele is this year after this one. But, if you need a midfielder this week, it’s hard to go past Steele. TARGET.
