I’m seeing a lot of plan teams get posted in places like BigFooty’s fantasy forum and there are some strange names that are cropping up for reasons that don’t quite gel with me. Here is my list of the most popular players who won’t live up to the faith being put in them by fantasy coaches.
Brad Symes
Yes, he looked solid in Dubai with 73 including 35 in the third quarter, and he is most likely going to deliver an improvement over his 61 average in 07. He’s the single “mid price” back in a lot of fantasy teams at the moment. However, I put his ceiling at a maximum of 75, and I wouldn’t be confident that he’d get much past 70 most weeks. Even if he does manage 80-85, that’s not quite going to cut it to get into my starting 22 I’m afraid, especially not with a heap of other tasty options much further down the price scale in the backs. There are just too many sub-$120k backs worth a punt in your 22, let alone on your bench: Callan Ward, Tom Lonergan, David Myers, Levi Greenwood, Dennis Armfield and Eric MacKenzie are all going to be better value.
Tadhg Kennelly
No less an esteemed scholar that Mr Fantasy in the AFL Record has Kennelly down as one of his “Hot Shots”, citing his 98.5 average in his first 4 games of 2007 before going down with a knee injury. The only problem is that Tadhg has played 127 home & away games for only four Dream Team tons, two of which came in those four games. Those four games were the exception, not the rule. I am tipping that Kennelly will not be given the same free role in 08, because unlike the early part of 2007, Adam Goodes has had a solid pre-season and is ready to take up the halfback garbage collection role in which he excelled in the latter part of 2007. Don’t be so quick to place your bets on the Irishman.
Marc Murphy
Murphy is a fine player, no one is questioning that, but fantasy is all about improvement over your rolling average. As I said on this week’s Coaches Box podcast, if you’re in the market for a #1 draft pick Carlton mid then Bryce Gibbs is far more likely to improve from his 07 average of 55 to 75 or more than Murphy is to lift from 75 to 95.
Chris Judd
Plenty of pixels have been spilt in this offseason on whether it’s a good idea to have Murphy, Nick Stevens and Judd in the same fantasy midfield. Stevens is a lock, I’m not on the Murphy bandwagon, and I just don’t trust Judd’s fitness. Perhaps more importantly, I don’t want to have to worry about Judd’s groin for the whole year. Things were bad enough last year with Nigel Lappin’s knee, Jimmy Bartel’s head and… well, Judd’s groin. The only one obsessing over that particular area should be Rebecca Twigley.
OK firtly it’s DAVID Armitage or Dennis ARMFIELD… and Armitage isnt a defender.
And Symes actually averaged about 85 in 2006 from half back, with Goodwin, Edwards and McLeod set to play different roles this year Symes can move in to the middle and average in the 80’s once again. He is a steal at 265.
Armfield, yes thanks XztatiK. I get the feeling that won’t be the last time I’ll make that mistake.
I’d be wary of taking his first-year figures as his third-year ceiling. It’s a different club, a different set of circumstances.
i wouldnt get symes….adelaide have a lot of veterans capable of going through the midfield not to mention the likes of proplyzia vince knights are all probably ahead of symes in terms of a midfield spot
the only way i can see symes getting a spot in the middle ahead of mcleod goodwin thompson edwards vince knights porplyzia is only through rotations (he’ll only get a short go in the middle) or if they are killing it and let him run out a lot of the last quarter on the ball
i looked at symes as well and cant justify getting him at that price
Are you saying that Symes averaging 80-85 is not good enough for your team? At a price of 265k? What is good enough for you then? Do you want all your backs to average over 90?
Good luck with that…
Yes G, I would like all my backs to average over 90! I would be happier with picking up a $120k player who averages 70, because then I can use that salary cap money elsewhere.
aaronf, dont think anyone is saying Symes is a better midfielder than McLeod Goodwin and Edwards but those players will not be in the midfield much this year, Porsche and Vince will spend most of their time up forward. That leaves Thompson, Reilly Knights and yes, Symes in the middle, we will see Symes on the ball a lot and if not he is a very effective player off half-back anyway.
a question i have is Brent Prismall??? 218k value or there abouts and has been given the tick of approval by mr fantasy football…..
he did well on the weekend but geelong were letting the younger blokes have a go. he scored very well in shortened quarters and came away with 100 plus dream team points.. is he worth getting for dream team? centres are the crown jewels of dream team so is he worth the pick? what happens when ablett, enright and go are in the midfield… where does this leave prismall?
thoughts?
Monty, I think youll struggle to find 7 backs that will average over 90… plus youll have to use a trade for the youngen you bring in later on. If Symes averages 85, he will be an awesome pick up.
Got a couple of kids on my mind who performed well in their NAB games. Just wondering if Craig Bird and Lachy Henderson look like playing the majority of games this year?
G - silly question, but how do you know their prices already?
btw - porpy looks hot to me, symes will cost more and deliver the same or less
steve-u can find the prices by creating a fan footy account and going to fanfeature (something like that) at the top wen u log in, its accounted for the new prices and salary cap and u can even pick a team if u want
also i havent got it but ive been told the nab afl record (not sure for this week) but last week had like a 25page section on dreamteam with lots of prices etc etc
as for the symes debate i cant really see him averaging 80 or more
ur ebtter off getting someone at 180k (a cash cow) keep the 100k, wait until they go up to like 250k and u can then spend 100k upgrading them straight away for someone who should get 88 per game
G i dont really see y u would wanna get symes
even if u choose to upgrade him its a waste of a trade because u wont be getting as much as u could with upgrading a young rookie (depending on ur team)
that price range is a bit of a nomad zone and i no i will try and keep away from getting many players between 240-300 as they just wont do too well yet no worth a trade to upgrade them
but hey thats just me!
CC-
from wat i have read and heard roo’s is quite keen to blood a few youngsters this year (considering he hasnt really over the last 3 years) and birds performance would def. warrant a big tick
he is also a NSW local so it would seem like a fairy tale story if it does come to fruition which like u i hope it does
i didnt think henderson would play more then 5games before last weekend but his effort against mal michael has def. changed my opinion on that
considering bradshaw will come back late and possibly play down back wen he does return (simply because its easier to get into the game playing in the backline) henderson could def. hold down full forward
im going to keep an eye on him for the time being
hey kyle, i think prismal may be left a little short on tog when those names come back. bartel, corey, gablett, enright, ling are gonna steal most of his thunder i would think. maybe a geelong faithful could help out more though re. his role
anyone care to elaborate…?
yeh by the the bloke in the footy record saying hes a hot shot i think that prismall should of been included in this article. yes he got good scores at the start of last year but geelong rounds 1 to 6 last year were completely different to geelong round 7 or so to the GF… any1 disagree or agree?
I read somewhere in the age a quote to thommo that implied he may actually get a crack this year - that is the only issue, opportunity.
I agree with Ken on Symes but this year won’t see big gains from the draft leaving you to look elsewhere.
The perfect player for meis one that moves from ~200K to ~$330K. You can keep him (i.e. not trade and get gains). But picking them is much harder than looking up the top 10 draft picks.
balance and better options are key (my 2c)
yeh especially in the geelong side, picking a guy like him (if he does get that opportunity) will be awesome especially when they play the pump teams (eg. last w/e, melbourne!) and he can just ride the geelong wave all the way into 35 uncontested pos!!!
i agree, you have to be more sagacious than simply looking at draft picks. depends on team structure and their roles
Prismall is overrated by many of the fantasy football world - sure the kid has talent, but he’s behind Ablett, Bartel, J Corey, Enright, Chapman for a midfield mix. Then on top of that u have Joel Selwood pinch hitting, and James Kelly coming off the bench. How does Prismall fit into the team? I’m a Geelong supporter and won’t be picking Prissa.
Also forgot to mention Ling and Rooke - both taggers who can clock up the pill (Yes Rooke will be ahead of Prismall too bcoz he has an outstanding defensive side to his game which Prismall lacks). So unless we get hit by injuries, dunno why u’d bother with Prismall - he’ll b coming off the bench at best..
id imagine rooke will get a few chances to cement his spot in the team
i mean why else would they have spent 20k to send him to germany
Rooke already is in the best 22 imo (and probably Thompson’s opinion also), hence why he went straight into the senior team come finals time after missing a large chunk of 07 season whilst in Germany getting inj attended to.
“How does Prismall fit into the team?”
There are actually positions outside the midfield stoney, half-forward for example. Prismall will not be as good as some people think (eg. mr.fantasy lol) but at 218 i think he is a good buy.
hahaha.
if there were any draftees to picked for round one, they would include;
scott Selwood,
Chris mastern,
Cyrlil Rioli,
and lachlan Hansen
on the Prismall note,
prismal has just came back from a servere injury, who knows he may be averaging 100
even if not in midfield.
cheers, and any feedback love to hear it?