This is a new weekly feature I’m trying out for the FanFooty blog: a ranking of the top 50 fantasy players. Everyone loves to talk about which player is better than another player and footy is no different, as has been shown by Mike Sheahan’s top 50 in the Herald-Sun newspaper. A big shoutout also should be made to the Big Board feature of Yahoo’s fantasy coverage, maintained by Brandon Funston, which fulfills a similar role for NFL, MLB and other fantasy-flavoured sports in the US.

A word or two on eligibility: the criteria is “pointscoring potential”, but a player’s position does also play a part in his ranking, so that non-centre premiums get ranked higher due to their rarity; price is NOT a factor; injured players do not appear, of course.

1. Jimmy Bartel: Does this man ever have an opponent? Haven’t seen one lately
2. Kane Cornes: Cheapest player in the AFL but consistency is unarguable
3. Matthew Pavlich: Two massive weeks lifts him above BJ for best forward
4. Brad Johnson: Most consistent forward in the game, even with injuries
5. Dane Swan: Last year’s star keeps his mojo even when tagging Bruce
6. Tarkyn Lockyer: Has shaded Swan in scoring but too reliant on Heath Shaw
7. Cameron Bruce: Leaps taggers in a single bound… less goals than 06 though
8. Scott Thompson: Will profit from Goodwin’s demise even under tags
9. Matt Priddis: No question, he’s this year’s Swan… until Cuz returns
10. Andrew Carrazzo: No signs of letting up on fabulous breakout season
11. Nick Riewoldt: Back to his best… 4 100s from last 5
12. Dean Cox: Back to most important ruck in the game
13. Scott West: Will get more attention after Cross’s injury
14. Heath Scotland: Starting to get worryingly patchy within games
15. James Hird: Six 90+s in a row… age not wearying
16. James McDonald: Still benefiting from attention all being on Bruce
17. Leigh Montagna: Saints midfield quietly returning to fitness
18. Chad Cornes: Tagged for first time this week… didn’t cope
19. Joel Corey: Two 100s in a row is pleasingly consistent
20. Chris Judd: 83 and 71 in last two… thigh soreness is real?
21. Sam Mitchell: Too inconsistent to rate in the top 20
22. Dustin Fletcher: 247 in last two means Bombers backline is working
23. Paul Chapman: Recovering steadily from hammy
24. Brad Green: Backed up 162 with 80… a tad disappointing
25. Nick Malceski: Goodes’ return to form is keeping taggers away
26. Scott Burns: Eight 85+ in a row, he’s rock solid
27. Nigel Lappin: 114 and 117 in last two, it’s the old Nigel
28. Sam Fisher: In hot form with 117 and 118 in last two
29. Jason Winderlich: Two tons on the trot means he’s fit and firing
30. Joel Bowden: Four 100s in previous four before this week
31. Chris Knights: Might struggle in future without Goodwin
32. Gary Ablett jnr: Hasn’t cracked the ton in four games
33. Luke Hodge: 80s and 90s don’t cut it for Hodge
34. Adam Simpson: One ton in last six is not impressive
35. Brock McLean: Seems to be over his injuries
36. Troy Selwood: Averaging 96.5 from four… may drop off soon
37. Matt Rosa: Two 120+s in a row, he’s red hot
38. Tyson Edwards: Dependable even without Goodwin
39. Tyson Stenglein: A rising tide lifts all Eagles midfielders
40. Josh Fraser: Consistency is invaluable in thin ruck stocks
41. Peter Everitt: Has taken over from Jolly in Swan ruck
42. Tim Notting: Lions midfield is up and running
43. Josh Drummond: 246 in last two can’t be ignored
44. Luke Ball: Well and truly over early problems
45. Matthew Boyd: Will get more work without Cross
46. Peter Bell: 466 in last four is excellent form
47. Scott Lucas: Moved to FF this week which is a worry
48. Brett Kirk: Building up a string of good numbers
49. Michael Johnson: Looks comfortable in Freo backline
50. Cameron Ling: Run-with roles aren’t stopping production

Warming Up: Shane Tuck, Brad Sewell, Simon Black, Steve Johnson, Adam McPhee, Jordan Lewis, Lenny Hayes, Jess Sinclair, Nathan Foley, Jeff White, Daniel Giansiracusa, Jonathan Brown, Brendon Lade, Andrew Walker, Jake King.

A big part of these lists is reader feedback, so don’t hesitate to attack my ratings of individual players, and suggest changes you’d like to make to either the 50 or the “Warming Up” section, which is players who just missed out on the main list. I’ll be glad to hear your opinions!

Player of the week: Brian Harris (161). Love it, love it. You may have seen Harris and Dale Morris kick to each other for about two minutes straight on Saturday night, as the Lions flooded the Bulldogs attack forcing the Dogs to keep possession in the backline. It continued throughout the night, and Harris racked up 25 marks (farrrrk) to go with his 27 possessions… It’s the perfect Dream Team match.

Honourable mentions: Scott Thompson (143), Peter Bell (134)

Biggest disappointment: Anthony Rocca (0). When a registers a low score that’s due to injury, such Simon Goodwin’s 10, that’s forgivable. But Rocca was not injured, and spent almost all of the match trying to outwrestle Ben Holland in marking contests – and failing miserably. He gave away far too many free kicks, thus cutting away the scores he gained through a few measly possessions, and ended up with one of the most disappointing totals I’ve heard of in a while. I feel sorry for those who have him in their teams.

Honourable mentions: This week’s 30 was even lower than last week’s score of 36, and Barry Hall would have got this title any other week. On the topic, Luke McPharlin’s magic has well and truly disappeared. After scoring 150 three weeks ago, he’s since registered 28 and now 19. Not cool.

Other points of interest:

Several players look to be on the rise in price, and are good upgrade targets. Heading the list is Ben Johnson (a star in Dream Team last year), whose score of 117 points to big things to come. He’s still under $300k. Jamie Charman appears to be running into some form, playing his two best games by far in recent matches. He scored 92 on the weekend. Team-mate Nigel Lappin (another former DT star) is still relatively cheap at $317k, while Freo’s Michael Johnson is another who’s just under $300k. M.Johnson also topped 100 on the weekend, scoring 108. Adelaide’s Scott Thompson looks a good price at $331k, particularly with Goodwin getting injured.

Why does Glenn Archer love St Kilda? Archer’s score of 100 was his highest since round 9 last year – also against the Saints – when he scored 115.

Harris wasn’t the only Bulldog to have a night out against the Lions. 10 Bulldogs topped 100 – a massive total – including youngsters Tom Williams and Jarrod Harbrow. It was Williams’ second game, after he scored just 5 on debut against the Tigers in round four. His average is now 54, after he scored 103 on the weekend. Matthew Boyd, with 138, and Adam Cooney’s 122 were other brilliant Dog scores.

Dustin Fletcher continued his brilliant run so far this year, scoring 130 on Friday night against the Eagles. In the other Bomber results, James Hird scored 116, taking his average this season to 92 – the highest it’s been since his Brownlow year in 1996. Brent Stanton’s injury-affected 46 combined with an ankle recovery will cut away his price in the coming weeks, and I reckon Alwyn Davey has reached his highest price. Davey played well but only scored 50, and dropped $12k to $203k. His break-even next week is 87.

Wasn’t all bad news for the Swans – several big guns fired on the weekend. Nick Malceski racked up another 130+ score, while Brett Kirk racked up 110 points, his second ton in a row. At around $320, he’s worth considering if you’re chasing a centre.

Of Luke Hodge’s 93 that he scored against the Swans, 48 points came through 12 tackles.

One centre some will be looking to offload is Paul Hasleby. The Purple Haze scored just 37 against Richmond, continuing his inconsistent form this year after he scored just 29 in Brisbane. Another who may be off-loaded is Jordan Lewis, whose 56 points follows a 60 last week. Lewis is having a mid-season rough patch, and his low scores will drag his price down in coming weeks. Those who do have him may be considering selling him. For those who don’t, he may be a tempting upgrade once his price bottoms out.

There are several cheap player whose prices do look to have bottomed out. Travis Johnstone is down $26k to $280k, while Heath Shaw has dropped $20k to be $246k, despite scoring 98. Graeme Johncock is down to $237k, while Simon Black has fallen to $345k with further drops to come. David Wirrpanda is now a cheaper back than Shaw at $243k, and another WA player, Brett Peake, drops $19k to be $227k. Peake has struggled with injury but will find form later this season. He’s good value for that price.

One final word: Jimmy Bartel scored yet another ton (this time it’s 117), to rise $4k to $446k. Incredible.

Frankly, I’m getting sick of reading breathless forum posts by fans who claim to know someone who heard in a bar about someone who knows a bloke in the inner sanctum… The most recent victim of speculation is Scott Lucas, who according to some drongo who rejoices in the name of YKIKAMOOKOW on the BomberBlitz boards is out for 2-3 weeks with a groin injury. Or, in Kevin Sheedy dialect, the flu.

Earlier today someone put a scare through BigFooty saying Chris Judd had broken his collarbone. This situation is only going to get worse until the AFL adopts something similar to the NFL system of publicly announced gradations of health for each player, which must be released ASAP as if they’re corporate announcements to the stock market, and must be accurate on pain of large fines. With the money the AFL continues to take from gambling outlets, it’s only a matter of time before one of these fake rumours blows up in some punter’s face and they take the league to court.

Not only did Heath Shaw get injured early in the first quarter in round 9 and post an awful score of 9, he has been ruled out of Monday’s game against Melbourne, according to the Herald-Sun.

All-Australian defender James Clement and Heath Shaw are both out of contention, with their respective calf and corked-thigh injuries.

Oh, but wait, here’s Adrian Fletcher on the official Collingwood web site.

Jimmy Clement is probably about 50-50 to play, but Heath Shaw should be right. We’re mindful about the week off coming up, and you don’t want to rush anyone back because you’ll just break them down.

The worst case scenario is that this turns into a Nigel Lappin deal where the Pies hierarchy tease us with hopeful news and even pick him in the team multiple weeks in a row, but withdraw him at the last minute so that he ends up missing three or four weeks while sitting on fantasy benches. The uncertainty is even worse this week because it’s a Monday game, so there will be no indication in the team update on Friday night just before lockout as to whether Heater will suit up.

This is a complete disaster for his fantasy owners. After scores of 56, 46 and 9 in his last three weeks Shaw’s price has plummeted $84,500 below its round 1 level, with $45,800 of that drop coming this week. My first instinct is that this makes him untradable, because you just don’t throw away that kind of money if you want to succeed. However, my advice is that if you can bear to part with a trade and you have a big cash wad just sitting there, I’d trade him anyway. It’s just not worth the aggro. Or the ulcer.

As mentioned earlier today, this weekend will also be a trial, of sorts, for State of Origin Dream Team.

Here’s the format: there’s four state squads - Victoria, Allies, South Australia and West Australia. Each team has four members - one from each position in Dream Team. The highest possible scorer for each team is placed in the positions, making it a ’shoot-out’ of the best scorers in the game, competing for their respective states.

To make it more intriguing, each team’s highest scorer will be their captain, and have their score counted double.

It’s not a perfect format, but the depth of some of the states isn’t great. Now, here’s an idea of who could line up for each of the teams:

VIC:
BACK: Carrazzo, Fletcher, Sinclair, McPhee, Gilbee
CENTRE: Swan, Bartel, Judd, Bruce, West, Lewis
RUCK: White, Fraser
FORWARD: Lucas, B.Johnson, G.Ablett, Chapman, O’Keefe, J.Brown

SOUTH AUST:
BACK: C.Cornes, Waters
CENTRE: K.Cornes, Burgoyne brothers, Burns, Thompson, Edwards
RUCK: Lade, Ottens
FORWARD: C.Cornes, Pavlich

ALLIES:
BACK: Bowden, Birchall, McLeod, Koschitzke
CENTRE: Hird, Cross
RUCK: Mooney, McIntosh
FORWARD: Hird, Davey, Richardson, Riewoldt

WESTERN AUST:
BACK: Lockyer
CENTRE: Black, Corey, Kerr, Priddis
RUCK: Cox, Sandilands
FORWARD: Franklin, Lynch

Anyone else we should include in that mix?

Note: this text replaces an introduction to the idea I posted earlier today.

There’s every chance that Nathan G Brown will be back in action for Richmond pretty soon. Now, I had him in my squad pre-season, and I swapped him out the day before round 1 like many others. For his talent, he’s a bargain at $236k, but I don’t reckon he’s worth drafting in.

Even if he does play regularly, and scores very well (I reckon 75 average is the best you can hope for), I still don’t think it’s worth it. Here’s why.

At this point in the year, I don’t like to ‘downgrade’ to players who will start in my 22. I flog off the bench players for rookies, to free up cash, but there’s no way I’ll recruit someone like Brown to start in the team. I will upgrade players in Brown’s price range for a gun, but I won’t swap them for someone of Brown’s price.

For example, I’m ditching Nathan Bock this week. I’ve had it. He’s gawwwn. But I’m upgrading Bock to a gun; I wouldn’t swap him for someone cheap, because cheap is almost always unreliable. And unreliable uses up trades that could be necessary for injuries, or used constructively for upgrades.

Does that make sense? My objection to Brown is more ideological than practical - I don’t like recruiting players like him at this end of the year. Obviously, you take every case on its merits and at this point the injury concerns are over-riding all else. (Remember how he was all set to go in round 1?)

I hope he proves me wrong. I hope he comes out and starts tearing some shit up, and then everyone will recruit him into their teams and no-one will benefit because everyone has him.

Player of the week: How can you go past Matt Priddis – who scored 166 against the Kangaroos on Saturday. Priddis racked up 40 disposals (nice…) but went the extra mile to register a massive 10 tackles as well, guaranteeing a fantastic fantasy score. I think it’s the highest score we’ve seen this year – knocking off Scott West’s efforts a few weeks ago – but I’m happy to be corrected on that.

Honourable mentions: In any other week, these guys may have taken out the award… Jimmy Bartel (no surprises there, with 150), Dean Cox (150, his highest score ever), Brad Green (162), Dane Swan (150), Andrew Carrazzo (139)

Biggest disappointment: Crash… Back to earth for Leigh Fisher and Luke McPharlin, after each scored 145+ recently. Fisher scored just eight after twinging his hamstring, while McPharlin scored 28. He still went up in price due to a 150 last week, but that kind of inconsistency can kill a Dream Team’s potency. Due to Fisher’s injured status, McPharlin ‘wins’ it this week.

Honourable mentions: Barry Hall (36), Nick Dal Santo (43), Daniel Harris (26), Heath Shaw (nine, but he was injured too)

Other points of interest:

Heath Shaw’s bad, bad score of nine was injury-affected, but it means he’s looking like a brilliant upgrade target in a few weeks’ time. For one thing, it’s worth waiting until he’s over that corkie, but for another reason his break-even price is 198. In other words, that price of $267k will sink to about $230k over the next couple of weeks – unless, of course, he plays a blinder or two…

It wasn’t just Cox who registered a personal best this weekend. Ted Richards also managed one, scoring 89 against his old club on Saturday night. It wasn’t a great night for the guns, though – as well as Hall’s shocker, Scott Lucas managed just 57, and Adam Goodes had a miserable 47.

Nigel Lappin had another good game on the weekend against
Richmond, scoring 114. Easy to remember now why he was such a Dream Team gun a few years ago – I can remember him consistently outscoring Voss, Black, and Akermanis all in their prime. Lappin is now $288k with a bullet, after rising nearly $30k this weekend, and is set to rise up around $20k after the next match.

Lappin’s former team-mate, Jason Akermanis, scored a miserable 65 against
Carlton. This week is the rematch against the Lions, and Aker needs a big one to kick-start his season. He’s cheap at the moment, but these bad games are not making him an attractive proposition.

The Cornes brothers scored 250 between them – 128 to
Chad, and 122 to Kane, who is fast approaching a West-like price. Kane is now on $411k, having risen $14k, and has a break-even of just 54 next week.
Chad’s breakeven is 51, making him also a good immediate get.

 Warren Tredrea, meanwhile, continued his disappointing run, scoring 43. He’s dropped another $15k to be worth under 200 now, and further falls are likely with a break-even of 81. He has reached that once this year (against St Kilda) but apart from that there’s only one other score above 60 this year. When will it stop, Wozza?

In his first game for the year, Carlton’s Jordan Bannister had a ripper, scoring 104. Won’t keep up though.

Chris Judd had a slightly down week, scoring 83. This means his price will slide slightly over the next week or two (he’s worth $385k at the moment), with a break-even of 136 next week. Another elite player in Scott West is also in for a drop; those sky-high scores of earlier this year are not to be seen lately. West is now worth $365k, and has a break-even of 144 next week.

In the Crows’ perspective, there’s a few likely types falling away in price. Andrew McLeod, Scott Thompson and Graeme Johncock are all well down this week and the price slashing won’t stop there. Keep them all in mind.

Clint Bizzell didn’t back up his good form from last week, scoring just 26. From what I can tell, Bizzell is playing as a stopper rather than an attacking half-back, which isn’t good for guaranteed points – even if he is as cheap as chips.

Matthew Pavlich’s timely return to form coincided just as yours truly took him off captain duties… But I have no problems with him scoring 144. His break-even is nine means further price rises are a certainty.

With Jonathan Griffin seriously doubtful after last week’s ankle injury - said at the time to be a one to two week injury - radio SEN is now reporting that Ben Hudson is also in doubt for the Crows’ round 10 clash with Melbourne. This follows news during the week that Kurt Tippett is out for the season with a shoulder reconstruction. Interestingly, neither Ivan Maric or John Meesen were named as emergencies this week despite both being fit enough to play in the SANFL.

Could the Crows have zero ruckmen against the Demons? Get on Jeff White as captain if so.

One of the more under-reported stories this week has been that Chad Cornes came off early in the last quarter against Geelong last week, and Andrew Jarman said a couple of times on SEN radio’s call of the game that he thought The Chad had injured a hamstring, most notably just after the siren. Over at The Power From Port, there is no mention of any such injury and most of the discussion rages about how everyone hates Nathan Lonie. The Power named three of its selections in the 2006 draft for this game, but surprisingly the “mail” is that it will be Robert Gray and Justin Westhoff who are most likely to survive the cut, rather than #5 draft pick Travis Boak - which is bad news for those long-suffering fantasy coaches who had stowed Boak away on their bench for just such an occasion. Elsewhere on the fan boards:

- The much-hated Mark Bolton was picked by the Bombers just to tag Adam Goodes, according to Bombertalk. Goodes is just starting to warm up after a very slow start to the season, so if you picked him up this week thinking his round 9 score of 110 and his breakeven this week of 46 means he’s bottomed out, then you might have a bit of fun watching him carve up Bolts.
- An excellent thread at Cat’s Claw discusses who will make the cut for Geelong this week, with a lot of soul-searching about captain Tom Harley. A story in the Geelong Advertiser this morning suggests he will play, so focus now shifts to fantasy favourites Joel Selwood and Tom Hawkins. Harley in for Hunt and Chapman in for either Hawkins or Selwood sounds believable to me, although Hawkins may still play if Cameron Mooney doesn’t come up.
- The strange case of the fall of David Hale occupies the minds of the posters at The Searching Kangaroo. If the team goes in as named there will not be a recognised backup for Hamish McIntosh in the ruck, which could mean good things fantasy-wise for both McIntosh and the Eagles rucks.
- The poor bastards at Demonology make all sorts of snide remarks about Brad Miller’s wrist injury, and also bemoan the dropping of Lynden Dunn. The Demons’ half-forward line will be a work in progress this week, with Matthew Bate likely to be targeted more often. Also mentioned is the whisper that Jared Rivers is out for the year with the dreaded osteitis pubis.
- Speaking of poor bastards, the long-suffering chaps at Saintsational have had some good news this week with six senior players named to return for St Kilda, but injury clouds still hang over both Clarkes and Andrew Thompson. Depending on who you believe, Xavier Clarke is either a shoo-in or no chance. Even if fit, one or two of those might play in the VFL anyway, just so the Saints don’t have half their side carrying niggles.

Another day, another couple of injured Saints who’re rumoured to be returning this week. This article from the Herald Sun details how Max Hudghton and Jason Gram could be inclusions this week, while Aaron Hamill has just hopped back onto the training track.

But the real story for every DT coach lies in this paragraph:

“Five other players — the Clarke brothers Xavier and Raphael, Jason Gram, Leigh Montagna and Andrew Thompson — are chances to be available for the Saints.”

Raphael Clarke is the one I’m talking about. He’s a former top-10 draft pick, four years ago, and has had possibly the worst run with injuries of anyone at St Kilda in his time at the club. There’s no doubt that on talent, he’d be in their best 22 – he’s pretty quick, got good skills (although a hopeless kick for goal), and good decision-making abilities. He’s definitely a chance to take on a running, rebounding role out of St Kilda’s backline, and if that’s the case, his price of $166k is a bargain.

However, extreme caution is needed in this case. Wait for solid games under the belt, and absolutely no hint of injury niggles.