It’s easy to predict a big slide for the Swans, everybody’s doing it. I’m not so bearish on them though, because even if their flooding gamestyle is anathema to the new cluster paradigm, what is the ultimate goal of the cluster? To force turnovers, or at least stoppages. The Swans still have a distinct advantage over most teams when it comes to stoppages - their big loss to the Hawks was about losing the clearances, for instance, not the cluster per se - so I think they’ll do fine, especially at home and against bottom eight teams. (more…)

It’s no secret why the Saints couldn’t compete at the pointy end of the season: the bottom third of their best 22 is poor compared to most other top 8 teams. Their top-up players mostly haven’t worked out, or more to the point they won’t last until the Saints have another serious shot at the flag. (more…)

I’m bullish on the Tigers next year, at least from a fantasy perspective. A lot of teams are going to play zone defence - with differing levels of competency - and Richmond’s game style is suited beautifully to playing against it, as evidenced by their performances against Hawthorn this year. They are in their element when their halfback flankers can ignore their men and drift up the ground. (more…)

Chad Cornes (86/13) has to be a lock. Has to be. Come on. It’s Chad. (more…)

Now this is another situation I really do not like. (more…)

I think we fantasy coaches should be banding together at this point, locked as one, into boycotting Kangaroo players next year. Dean Laidley is the fantasy football Antichrist. Those of you who play NFL fantasy games know what I’m talking about when I say that he’s the Australian version of Mike Shanahan. (more…)

Pelchen’s blueprint is almost complete. Despite his statement in the media that he’s six short of his perfect team, operationally one more KP back is all that is missing, and Mitch Thorp (0/0) and/or Beau Dowler (0/0) is apparently it. Whoever it is they go with early next year is probably going to be more of an SC pickup than DT, but they’ll be serviceable in the Taylor mold. Given that both of them will be bargain basement based on low 2007 averages from a handful of games, if either of them gets classified as a back, get on it. Even as forwards they would merit strong inspection. (more…)

Geelong should come out of the gates next year with brimstone in their nostrils and an appetite for destruction. Their current gamestyle has been working pretty well in the regular season, yet now in retrospect every mug with access to a keyboard (yours truly included) has been taking potshots with 20/20 hindsight and wondering if 21-1 really was all that good of a record. The answer is yes, yes it was. (more…)

Hard to argue against the notion that Paul Hasleby (0/0) is 09’s Nick Stevens; a standard 42% discount on 07 scores will get him to an average of 48, which is close to Stevens this year. Des Headland (59/6) is also prime target for a discount and did us the favour of a couple of crappy games late on to deflate his average. I think there might be a few more shifts than just re-injecting Hase and Dessie back into that midfield, though - Andrew Foster has been somewhat forgotten since being overhyped prior to 2007, but 1 game for 36 will mean his price is attractive should he have a solid pre-season. (more…)

I like the Dons as 09’s version of Carlton in terms of fantasy popularity. It’s going to be interesting to see whether Knights sticks with the lockdown gameplan that he toyed with in the second half of 08 or go back to the expansive shootout one he let the kids run with in the first half. At one point he was sending out three taggers per game, but my feeling is he won’t do that very often next year. His younger KP players really need to play well early for Knights to make that work, though (more…)