The Process 2022

[Bully]

Very nice looking side, cannot fault although I'd start Brodie ahead of Xerri, correction trade much easier by starting the more expensive player.

[arbel]

McGovern would be my only player of concern. Runs too hot and cold for me.

[Mat0369]

Very nice looking side, cannot fault although I'd start Brodie ahead of Xerri, correction trade much easier by starting the more expensive player.

Agreed, but swap McGovern with Xerri. The idea is I can downgrade Gov if he flops.

Also thinking Xerri to Preuss is an option if he stinks it up to get the cash gen going.

Personally my two holes are Gov and Cripps. I am not sold on either. I had a mate text me that Sicily may be one of the Hawks players out so that may make the decision not to start him a little easier.

Also need to figure out my loophole for taking Macrae's score.

McGovern would be my only player of concern. Runs too hot and cold for me.

With you on Gov. He is a walking injury. The idea is to try and get a couple big scores out of him floating behind the ball to get the cash gen and then flip him.

I have no faith in him but then again Brodie has issues with his running, Xerri is uncertain as R1, Bruhm isn't guaranteed in the 22, Rachele is a small forward at over 180k, Curnow is a walking injury.... they all have risks.

The two 'safest' options in that price range may be Rioli and Riccardi. Both will be best 22. Riccardi has produced as a key forward before and Rioli averaged 70 in 2019 which would be amazing at his price.

The other options are Rayner/Gresh going up in price. If Gresh was playing in the midfield he would be a lock. Rayner I wanted to see him play in the pre-season and I can't pick him blindly thinking he will improve being his 5th year.

[tommy10]

Gresh is named in the Centre. Doesn't mean anything I know, but with Higgins and Butler there don't see him playing fwd much. With Billings out I think he takes his role for now. I dont have Gresh but its a wait and see with him and also with Gov who I have to see if he improves. Feel Gov could have got in the 80s if he didn't land awkwardly, plus the ball wasn't in the back half for the Blues.

[Mat0369]

Gresh is named in the Centre. Doesn't mean anything I know, but with Higgins and Butler there don't see him playing fwd much. With Billings out I think he takes his role for now. I dont have Gresh but its a wait and see with him and also with Gov who I have to see if he improves. Feel Gov could have got in the 80s if he didn't land awkwardly, plus the ball wasn't in the back half for the Blues.

I noticed that. It doesn't mean much, but the Saints are also without Billings, Jones and Clark from the midfield rotation. They may need him to play more midfield minutes.

[Mat0369]

1. Lloyd out so tossing up between Rich vs Hall vs Sicily
2. Rookies in the forward line. With Martin named. I think Martin has the best scoring potential. I am tossing up between Hayes vs Martin vs Dixon for R3/F8. With Williams and Dixon being named I think Dixon should play. Ryder may be back next week which pushes Hayes out. Same goes for Stringer and Martin.
3. Get Macrae's captain score or try and risk it with Touk
4. Still contemplating Polec at his price. It would be Horne-Francis to Polec. Risky but could pay off in the long run of Horne-Francis spends a lot of time forward.

Any advice?

[Bully]

I like the Rich pick, had him last year and he was rock solid.

Don't go chasing Macrae's score, Touk could get more, not like it's 160.

[Mat0369]

I just had a look at Rich's scoring. He went under 90 three times last year and one was an 89. Probably the closest thing you will get to Lloyd so he is in.

I'm risking Touk.

Thinking Martin over Hayes. Can always correct the trade later.

Also going with the POD pick of Polec over Horne-Francis. Polec could average 80ish. Horne-Francis could kill me the first couple of weeks not having him but he is another I can easily fix with a correction trade if he does burn me early.

[Ringo]

Nice moves.

With 35 trades this year additional correctional trade Rd 3 with boost may help.

I am keeping Both Dixon and Martin. Dixon should be ok until Allen and co return and happy to sit Hayes at R3 for the floating donut when not named but suspect he will get more games with injuries at Saints.

Best of luck with Polec and hope Noble true to his word for you.

I have both Rich and Hall.

Your decision on Touk/Macrae and last year suffered twice with injury so I am taking anything over 130 this year,  Say Touk goes 150 only losing 17 points but if he gets injured who knows.

[Mat0369]

I feel Dixon has the best JS with Williams and Dixon both playing. The other two are 50/50.

Seeing Powell as an emergency and Greenwood coming into the side the Roos midfield mix seems tough to predict. I know  Polec was awful last year but he is a proven scorer.

Agree on the captain call but other than Preuss/Kreuger I don't want to risk picking a dud rookie when I already have a couple with questionable JS. I just have to risk Touk for the time being

[Mat0369]

And Polec is out. Could use him to take Macrae this week but not running the risk at his price and grabbing JHF again

[Mat0369]

My team as it stands at the end of Round 1



Score: 2260
Rank: 31,955

Good: McCartin, Macrae, Miller, Neale, Cripps, Rowell, Daicos, JHF, Grundy, Witts, Dunkley, Buttters, Cogs, Xerri, Durdin, McGovern, Martin

Pass: Gibcus, Berry

Bad: Rich, Crisp, Ryan, Ridley, Hinge, Dixon, Hough

Ugly: Ward, Baldwin, De Koning (injured)

Of the rookies that I missed, the two that stand out are Hayes and Rachele. I was tossing up two of Dixon, Hayes and Martin and settled on Martin/Dixon because I felt Hayes JS was iffy. With the way he played I think he holds his spot even with Ryder. He is a must and Baldwin might be the one to ditch.

Rachele kicked a ton of goals in that game. I am still not a fan of forward pockets at his price, but Ward is looking like the trap I thought he would be. I felt I was paying up for his JS on the bench but Rachele may be the better option. Ward apparently injured his ankle late as well so may be worth dumping now.

I have traded rookies early before and been burnt. However I feel there is low risk in making the Baldwin>Hayes and Ward>Rachele trades this week. It gives me possibly 3 correction trades next week to sort out my back line or grab a must have player I'm missing. I will also have 90k to play with heading into the round.

Overall thoughts.

My backline is a dogs breakfast. Ridley/Ryan barely had any intercept possessions and were awful. Rich and Crisp had some of their worst scores in a long time and Rich getting injured was icing. If they scored near their projections I'm looking at 2400+. De Koning I will hold for my loophole purpose this week, I think they said it was concussion so he will miss this round

Midfield I feel I nailed other than Berry. Caldwell was the better pick this round but Berry had a huge first half. McDonald, Lipinski and Shiel are all great options in the 300k bracket. McDonald should get DPP so may be one I keep an eye on next round if I can afford him with the intention on moving him down back.

My rucks I am happy with. Grundy normally sucks against the Saints and scored well. Witts had a huge score against Nic Nat so that fills me with confidence.

Forward line is pretty solid. Butters and Dunkley were great, Xerri and Gov were solid along with Cogs and Durdin scored well. Heeney is probably the only guy that could burn me with his role. He did get a couple of cheapie goals in the last quarter but he worked for the position to kick them

[Mat0369]

I'm waiting for Monday so I can have the satisfaction of trading Gov out of my team

[Mat0369]

So I ended up deciding on Baldwin>Hayes and Hough to Rachele.

After the first two games of the round I'm thinking that Hewett and Heeney may be must haves. I'm trying to decide if it's worth reversing my Hough to Rachele trade as I would have 95k in the bank and could do possibly the following next week if certain players flop

Ridley/Ryan/Crisp>Hewett, McGovern>Heeney and Ward>Rachelle

It would require one of my defensive premiums putting up another stinker while also offloading Ward if he struggles again.

I can also assess Rachele again this week and see if he is worth grabbing. Stengle proved tonight how volatile small forward scoring is and he could put up a 30 to kill that cash gen. I also have Berry who is a wait and see prospect based off last week.

So should I make just the Hayes trade this week and hold off on the Rachele one?

[Mat0369]

I just did the math, I can't actually afford Berry to Rachelle and Gov to Heeney. I'm still short which sucks.