Yes, it’s come to this. m0nty is revealing his Dream Team before lock out. For footylover18 to poop on! (more…)

The author of this blog has decided to take the risky route of a six rookie mid structure in SC this year. (more…)

Time for the author of this blog to lay it on the line by posting his AFL Dream Team for this season. (more…)

A select few squads received the magical 10/10 rating in the recent Rate My SuperCoach comment threads. (more…)

A select few squads received the magical 10/10 rating in the recent Rate My Dream Team comment threads. (more…)

Now that the SuperCoach competition has opened, let’s take a look at some typical fan-made squads. (more…)

Now that the AFL Dream Team competition has opened, let’s take a look at some typical fan-made squads. (more…)

Warning: if you allow this team to beat you, you have no self respect left. I know I won’t if she does! (more…)

Since I’ve already gone through AFL Dream Team 2007 winner Steve Morfesse’s team for 2008, after a suggestion from coggers I guess it makes sense to look at the 2008 Super Coach side of 2007 SC winner Casha. Here’s his starting Casha’s Killers EDT squad:

Backs: Heath Shaw, Andrew McLeod, Lindsay Gilbee, Jake King, Martin Mattner, Brad Symes, Mark Nicoski, Nathan J. Brown, Scott D. Thompson.
Centres: Nick Dal Santo, Lenny Hayes, Nathan Jones, Andrew Swallow, Chance Bateman, Nick Stevens, Bachar Houli, Craig Bird.
Rucks: Justin Koschitzke, Troy Simmonds, Matthew Kreuzer, Shaun Hampson.
Forwards: Matthew Pavlich, Nathan G. Brown, Brett Deledio, Alan Didak, Stuart Dew, Nathan Thompson, Leroy Jetta, Cyril Rioli, Kurt Tippett.

This is almost the complete opposite of the Peckin Away team strategy which won DT last year. Where Steve starts five rookies, Casha starts none. Casha spends big on only six premium-priced players, where many others would have 10-12. The fact that Houli starts on his bench only underlines how little Casha values rookies in his structure.

This method requires a huge amount of faith in mid-priced players. Some of them look like genius picks based on round 1 performances, such as Dew, Nathan Thompson, King and Bateman. Others are not so hot, like Swallow, Brown and Didak. His round 1 score was just inside the top 30,000 so he has a lot of ground to make up. It will be interesting to see how many premiums he can manage to trade up to by season’s end… his trade targets will have to deliver in spades!

Those of you who bought the NAB Cup ‘08 AFL Record would have been interested to see an article about Steve Morfesse, winner of the 2007 AFL Dream Team with his Peckin Away squad. Amongst tales of his derring-do were snippets about how he only made one trade before round 8 due to his travelling in Europe, how much he valued his bench and how much research he did before the season. This year, Steve’s Peckin Away team starts as follows:

Backs: Chad Cornes, Joel Bowden, Heath Shaw, Brett Jones, Martin Mattner, Adam Hartlett, Jake Edwards, Scott D. Thompson, Albert Proud.
Centres: Jimmy Bartel, Kane Cornes, Daniel Cross, Nick Stevens, Ricky Dyson, Kieran Jack, Craig Bird, Cale Morton.
Rucks: Dean Cox, Troy Simmonds, Cameron Wood, Matthew Kreuzer.
Forwards: Matthew Pavlich, Nick Riewoldt, Jonathan Brown, Brett Deledio, Jason Porplyzia, Cyril Rioli, Kurt Tippett, Ryan Gamble, Jarryd Morton.

I like this team a lot, especially from a structural point of view. He’s starting five rookies, which is consistent with the high-risk strategy that wins championships. You could point at Dyson, Deledio and Hartlett as poor picks given their round 1 performances, but that’s not the point - the structure is the thing that gets you there. I particularly like how he has spent big on Kornes and Jimmy, in line with his comments in the AFL Record article about how he likes to buy “the absolute best players in the game”. This is where I differ in thinking from those who are on the bandwagons of both Lenny Hayes and Cross due to their prices being slightly deflated compared to their best previous form, as opposed to spending top dollar to get Kane or Jimmy. I have tried to follow Steve’s lead and not pinched pennies with my premiums.

The one big flaw in Steve’s team based on round 1 scores is that too much faith is being placed in mid-priced younger players and not enough in mid-priced older players whose prices are discounted due to recent long-term injuries. Stuart Dew, Brett Burton, Nathan Thompson, Daniel Bradshaw, Tadhg Kennelly, Mark Nicoski… these names are under-represented in elite teams but they all delivered on the Easter weekend. Then again, it’s a long season and those old bones may start creaking again while the young pups are still jumping around. We shall see!