You may think that the biggest peril looming in the Ben Cousins saga, which has taken an upturn with the AFL approving his application to rejoin the league, is his predilection for nasty stuff that streams through his veins. Oh no. The real problem is fantasy coaches who are now in mortal danger of becoming addicted to Cousins’ fantasy point scoring potential in 2009. (more…)

You have to read these pre-season training reports like a hawk to make sure you don’t miss anything. Invaluable snippets of info can be buried deep towards the bottom of otherwise mundane stories. Such as today, where a normal story about the Crows’ training plans contained an update on Jason Porplyzia and how he will not resume competitive training for four months. (more…)

It hasn’t taken long for the first big injury news to hit 2009 fantasy teams… it’s barely even November 2008! Matthew Egan is now considering retirement after getting bad news from a specialist in Sydney about the foot he broke in round 22 of 2007. (more…)

If you’re just about to pull the trigger on a trade to get Paul Chapman into your side this week, hold your horses! He’s a late withdrawal tonight, Travis Varcoe to replace him.

I reckoned there would be one big injury to come out of the Hall of Fame tribute match yesterday, it was just the sort of meaningless exhibition match that is primed for a big disaster to happen for no reason. Early doors it looked like the slipper would sink into Daniel Kerr, as he copped a nasty-looking kick to the shin in the first quarter and was promptly shipped off to hospital. Thankfully the scans came back negative so it looks like he won’t miss any more weeks than his current suspension. Craig Bolton will have a nice bruise after getting one in the scone from Robert Murphy in Q1 as well, but he ran the game out without problem.

However, that left the sword of Damocles hanging over the MCG, waiting to fall, and late in the last quarter the victim was Josh Fraser. The Collingwood ruckman limped off with what has turned out to be a slight tear to his medial ligament that radio reports place as being at least four weeks, if not six.

If you are among the 9,764 DT coaches or the 14,950 SC coaches to have Fraser in your side, of course, this is a tragedy. More coaches are actually going to be happy with this injury, however, because it will give much more time on ground to the Pies’ #2 ruckman Cameron Wood, who is a significantly more popular fantasy player this year (13,732/17,825). Collingwood face the Saints and Cats in the next two weeks, two sides which have big ruck problems of their own, so you would think Wood is going to increase his point production markedly over the slightly disappointing numbers he had put up previously in 2008. After that his opponents will be Dean Cox and Jeff White.

Most coaches have not made any trades in their rucks at all so far, and may not have one to spare on a simple cash cow harvest if they’re serious about their trade strategy for the rest of this injury-strewn season. If you are able to benefit from this injury then good luck to you.

UPDATE: AAP reports that prior to the scans on Monday, the Collingwood hierarchy are hopeful that the injury was a strain, not a tear, and the man himself has piped up saying he is hopeful of not missing any games at all. Given that the next game is on a Friday I doubt that would be true, but best case scenario is that he misses one. Then again, worst case scenario is still entirely possible.

Is there any premium fantasy back who hasn’t got injured and/or suffered a form slump this year? The latest bad news is that Jake King has what the Tigers told SEN was a “crack in the wrist” with which he is “expected” to play in round 8, after rumours on both One-Eyed Richmond and Punt Road End suggested that the nuggety backman would be out for four to six weeks. Suggestions have been made that King sustained the injury when he pounded the turf in frustration after being beaten in a contest by Stephen Milne in the second quarter of last Saturday night’s game, with Milne going on to bag seven majors.

Despite the Richmond denials, this is poor news for King owners, if only for their sanity. The frustrating thing is that you’ll probably have to hang on training and selection news right up until 2.10pm on Saturday week, as this is the sort of 2007 Nigel Lappin-style injury that could lead to multiple late withdrawals, a la Des Headland in the last few weeks before he got shut down for the season. A lot of coaches bought King last week in exchange for Joel Bowden, and it would be doubly painful if King does miss games and Bowden then takes his spot.

Yep, I’m a glass-half-empty kind of bloke when it comes to fantasy defenders this year…

Yes, Joel Bowden is out, as he didn’t board the plane to Perth. Unless the Tigers booked him a ticket on the Indian Pacific in secret.

Yes, Andrew Embley is out. Mark Nicoski travelled with the team as the first emergency, but the Eagles have also rushed Brad Ebert across to cover. No one knows yet whether Nico or Ebert will replace Embers. Your guess is as good as mine. Dean Cox is likely to play through the broken bone in his foot, though again that is by no means confirmed.

Latest news on the Swans through the iffy source of Brad Seymour on radio SEN is that Heath Grundy and Tadhg Kennelly are doubtful for Saturday night, with Luke Brennan a likely in. No confirmation on this as yet.

Update 1: Angus Monfries is also strongly rumoured to be out this evening for Tayte Pears.

This post will be updated as news comes in.

It’s started already. AFL coaches take an almost orgasmic pleasure in messing with fantasy coaches’ heads, and Geelong coach Mark Thompson is no different. Speaking to local rag the Geelong Advertiser while waiting for the plane to Adelaide, Bomber dropped the bombshell that pre-season fantasy favourites Brent Prismall and Harry Taylor were not going to be named in the Cats team for round 1. Neither player is mentioned in the article at all, but the piece displays a complete lack of acknowledgement that David Wojcinski will miss out with a ruptured finger tendon, which injuryupdate.com.au has as being at least a month-long injury. It was generally thought that Prismall was Wojo’s ready-made replacement. Max Rooke’s injury is discussed but Taylor is not nominated to replace him on the backline, his spot apparently going to Tom Hawkins. Ryan Gamble is allegedly the third of three ins.

I’m quite prepared to believe that the journalist who wrote this was incompetent enough to misquote Thompson and get his or her facts wrong. The end result is that we are going to have to wait to see whether Taylor, Wojo and/or Prismall are named today, and then the countdown begins to those 70 minutes of madness the final teamsheets 45 minutes before the match where we find out how much Bomber is speaking out of his rear end.

Oh, and BTW, I wouldn’t pick up Trent West. If I had Brendon Lade in my team, however, I’d seriously consider making him captain for round 1.

EDIT: Further confirmation from Superfooty: Brad Ottens will miss Geelong’s season-opener

Richmond recruit Troy Simmonds, who has been mooted for some time now as a lock for 2008 fantasy sides of all types, has come down with a clot in his lung which was part of complications surrounding an “energy-sapping virus” that affected his heart. He will not only miss the rest of the season, the nature of this ailment could put into question his status as next year’s bargain-priced equivalent of Ben Hudson.

Poor luck for Simmo and Tiger fans, to be sure, but there is no room for sentiment in the hearts of fantasy coaches. Will you take a punt on a player who shows the ability to find new and fascinating ways to miss games? Or will you shy away from even the hint of susceptibility to injury, and stick to players who have proven themselves to stay fit as an ox for 22 weeks straight?

As if there weren’t enough for fantasy coaches to think about going into round 19, comes unconfirmed news from the North board at BigFooty that Corey Jones limped off at training with a possible left knee injury.

Speaking of Brad Johnson, the denizens of the Bulldogs board on the same site seem to think it’s almost a lock for Andrew McDougall to come in for him, referencing coach Eade’s comments in the very pessimistic Herald-Sun story on the subject.

The happy team at Cat’s Claw seem to have no special insight into whether Paul Chapman or Brad Ottens will play, but consensus is leaning towards no on both counts, with a bit more pessimism about Chappy than Otto.

The long-suffering fans at BomberBlitz are grumbling about Scott Camporeale as usual, but there is also talk of Scott Lucas not fronting up and Adam Ramanauskas being rested.

The TalkingCarlton crew think that a late change of Shaun Hampson in for the still-proppy Setanta O’hAilpin might be on the cards.

Over at Nick’s, the Magpie fans applauded the dropping of Alan Didak but are suspicious of the presence of Brad Dick and newly-promoted rookie Sharrod Wellingham on the emergency list, with both mooted as late changes.

Brad Symes and Steven Salopek are the fan favourites who missed out on selection this week over at The Power From Port. Salopek is returning from injury through the SANFL, and Symes seems to have been squeezed out by the Burgoyne brethren.

Some forceful words about the quality of Clinton Jones‘ game last week stand out in the Saintsational thread about this week’s game against the Swans, Jones having been moved from the bench to the wing in the St Kilda team this week. The other source of angst is the replacement of Matthew Clarke with Michael Rix in the ruck.