This is a post I’ve been meaning to do for a while. I watch the Fanplanner plan teams come and go in the FanFooty databases each week, and I have a page where I can see the popularity of players in the last X number of teams in either Dream Team or Super Coach. The following is a planned Dream Team made up of players who only appear once in the last 20 plan teams entered into FanFooty.
1/20 AFL Dream Team
Backs
Brad Symes, Brent Guerra, Andrew Welsh, Chris A. Johnson, Daniel Pratt, Shannon Hurn, Matt Maguire
James Strauss, Levi Greenwood
Centres
Dane Swan, Shane Tuck, Ryan Griffen, Chris Masten, Courtenay Dempsey, Stephen Hill
Dayne Beams, Tom Swift
Rucks
Troy Simmonds, Darren Jolly
Shaun Hampson, Sam Jacobs
Forwards
Matthew Richardson, Steve Johnson, Ryan O’Keefe, Corey Jones, Robbie Gray, Lachie Hansen, Beau Dowler
Neville Jetta, Simon Hogan
I made this team using the Fanplanner so I can verify that it is under the cap by $9,900. For those who are interested, this team’s best Guru score is 1636.
I see a fair few names there that surprise me, starting in the backs. What does Johnson have to do to get some love from you people? He seems very much in the mould of a Martin Mattner to me, moving to a club that suits his style more to get better opportunities, albeit at a near-premium price already. Guerra has certainly done nothing wrong, particularly with the news that Trent Croad not returning until round 6 at the earliest meaning that he’s going to spend a lot of time in the quarterback role, sitting on defensive 50, racking up the +6 scores as he redirects play. Hurn has been a fantasy favourite for many years, though it seems his star has waned. Strauss is one of those promising players whom, it seems, will get squeezed out of calculations due to structural pressures, with a lack of spots available for back rookies this year in a lot of plan teams.
In the centres, I’m surprised that more people haven’t picked up on Swan’s reliability, while Tuck’s scintillating second half of 2008 isn’t impressing enough coaches. Swift is one name I thought I’d see more of after some rapturous training reports emanating from the west. In the rucks, I had heard from several sources that coaches were leaning towards sticking with the Cox/Simmonds combo which served them so well last season, though perhaps the money has started drifting towards value at that #2 ruck slot.
In the forwards, I am surprised to see Stevie J’s name as he was the model of consistency last season. Do you Fanplanner users not value consistency? The rest of the names in that forward line are more justifiable, though I suspect Hogan’s name may not qualify as the preseason rolls on and odds firm on him getting early games.
I’ll do one of these for Super Coach tomorrow. For now, let me know which names surprise you in the comments.
Chad
January 19, 2009 at 9:08 am
Greenwood Looked AFL ready last year, but the laidley effect is swaying me away from him.
Had SJ from the start, good price for a premium.
Chris Johnson is all about price and position Monty. To me, i’m not convinced yet he is in their 22, what his role will be. They didn’t give up a 1st or 2nd round trade to get him which more secures a spot and TOG, he was a “freebie” in the PSD. I would rather pay 7k more and get Gram, who has a spot in 22 and i think can improve his average with more MID time.
Guerra is not durable, played 22 games in 1 of past 6 years.
Swan is a star, reason i am leaning to get him as an upgrade is due to his modified pre season.
Chad
January 19, 2009 at 9:26 am
Ah, and getting back to the Gallman/Kite battle for Bassett’s old spot, the sunday mail had Moran as possibly winning the battle
(http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24930511-23211,00.html)
Dan
January 19, 2009 at 10:08 am
I value consistency for captaincy, league and eliminator.
Not as useful for national ranking – only total points at the end of the year are useful for that.
SJ not really a great captain so maybe most of the teams are targeting national ranking at the moment.
Even though 99.5% of us will be going for league victory by the end of the year 🙂
Better question is whether SJ is ‘good value’… I don’t reckon he’ll score more this year so that’s the main reason I’m ignoring him.
Athomas
January 19, 2009 at 10:12 am
I have ROK 🙂
Masten would be a good pick up. Chris A Johnson is tempting, so is Simmonds. 🙂
Lakey91
January 19, 2009 at 11:08 am
Yeh, wheres the love for simmonds???
Johnson surprises me too…
ThaiT
January 19, 2009 at 11:30 am
C Johnson kicking lets him down. Hey, can you review starting line ups round 1 NAB cup. Number of Hawthorn players will not play round 1 TKS
elliot
January 19, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Symes has just brocken bones in both hands and is expected to miss 8 weeks of training
“ADELAIDE onballer Brad Symes will be out of action for up to eight weeks after breaking bones in both hands in a post-training mishap.”
http://afl.com.au/News/NEWSARTICLE/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=71338
drewriffic
January 19, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Swan is my captain- and an absolute lock for it. He should get more game time and as you said is such a reliable fantasy scorer.
Is Chris A. Johnson guaranteed a start? I would have thought he’d have trouble squeezing past Scotland, Carrazzo and Thornton early in the season
josh 17
January 19, 2009 at 1:19 pm
chris johnson had a superb last month for melbourne, averaging 30 odd touches, which is great for d.t. ThaiT, d.t has nothing to do with efficiency, unless you are playing supercoach, so that facet of his game doesn’t worry me, as long as he get’s it. kane cornes has been my captain for the last 3 years without change, has done a superb job. only game he has a regular downer is against sydney, but i know to change him for that fixture this year. maybe to a pav or riewoldt who are regularly kicking goals and taking plenty of marks
dylan
January 19, 2009 at 2:50 pm
i think their will be less people picking symes now
XztatiK
January 19, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Symes told me 8-9wks. Absolute clown!
re Brad Moran, good pickup Chad. He has been playing almost exclusively in defence during scratchies too. I wouldn’t expect much more than a 60 average for him so the only thing this does is make Kite look less appealing.
Josh17 I’ve had Kane for 3 years now too but you had to be disappointed last year didn’t you? He went down 10ppg on 07 numbers!
Chris Johnson is risky but it could pay off. Comes down to whether you believe that hot streak in 08 was a fluke or not. I can’t see him having much trouble cracking a spot, however.
Andrew Welsh is an interesting one. He was fantastic as a midfield tagger late in 08. I love those players who can get -20 touches and still somehow reach the 90’s on tackles. Should be listed as a defender once again.
Chad
January 19, 2009 at 8:52 pm
You Buy kane because he is the most durable man in the AFL, he will average you 100, and hasnt misssed a game in 5 years. Just makes one of the 22 you wont need to worry about. His “poor year” last year means he is even cheaper this year, and i dont know if you have seen the pics, but he looks RIPPED and still beating his running times.
josh 17
January 19, 2009 at 11:04 pm
yeh he was down slightly on past years last year, but can’t complain, still was in the top group of points scored and was very consistent. and yes how can he still be running p.b’s over 3 km? this guy is a machine. i believe a strong chance for the captaincy, which will only improve his numbers as he will hunt harder for the footy. chris johnson should have no problem getting a game, hopefully he can undertake a carrazzo sort of role, the go to man out of the backline.
GoodesStuf
January 20, 2009 at 11:02 am
Hayden Ballantyne in doubt for round 1 fellas.
http://afl.com.au/News/NEWSARTICLE/t…x?newsId=71352
Heater
January 20, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Monty, you said you will be doing the same as the above for SC. Have you done that yet? I’d be interested to see the results.
DaVe86
January 20, 2009 at 3:44 pm
mOnty, i know its only early days…but god this irritates me.
Fair enough the planteam is a good way to pass the time in the off-season….but the fact that you are posting up names etc of who people are picking/not picking is going too far.
In the list are a bunch of smokie players i didnt think anyone knew about and was hoping to keep that way.
Please, from now on do not post teams or anything…lets try and keep some secrecy in what people are doing. Is it your goal to ensure everyone’s team is exactly alike?
m0nty
January 20, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I don’t have much sympathy for people complaining about publicising smokies, Dave. The fantasy industry is only going to get bigger, and the publications and media are only going to improve in quality, so there will eventually be nowhere to hide for smokies as every player gets scrutinised to the nth degree. If you’re hoping that the blogs and podcasts and video shows and magazines and prospectuses and email newsletters will all go away… you’re going to be disappointed.
In the US, I watch what the fantasy providers do all the time. Sportsline, which is one provider I’ve modelled a lot of FanFooty on, publishes full popularity lists of every player, updated every 30 minutes. I haven’t even touched the surface of what they do over there.
As for secrecy, I have said that I’m not going to post any individual’s team for ethical reasons, nor am I going to post much info at all from Fanplanner data as we get much closer to first lockout. At this early stage it’s relatively harmless, I feel.
Oh, and BTW, congrats on letting everyone know on BigFooty that your smokies are all in this team. Way to blare it out. 😉
Chad
January 20, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I am just still in shock that Troy Simmonds was only in 1 of the last 20 teams.
Lakey91
January 20, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Same chad! Must be alot of love for HMAC…
XztatiK
January 21, 2009 at 2:27 am
Chad, I will probably still have Kane again – so I’m not bagging him but I was pissed off with him last year, he lost a bit of that reliability in my eyes anyway. Losing 10ppg is still a big drop even if he is still averaging close to a ton.
DaVe86
January 21, 2009 at 10:39 am
In the blog there are 2 names that i wouldnt call smokies but i thought were unique picks. I was angered to see their names mentioned.
My comment is by way of feedback.
And i don’t care what they do in the US. I also don’t care about all the publications that come out…they merely highlight a number of players are give you information. They are not taking information out of people’s teams. Player popularities only come into it once the season has started and you cant hide your team from that point on.
Anyway…obviously this is your site, and you run it your way. I am providing feedback and i appreciate you taking the time to respond.
mcwarne
January 25, 2009 at 3:14 am
I was the one who chose Symes. Then he broke both hands. I felt responsible as my partner reckons I give players the KOD! I picked both Heath Shaw and Chad Cornes the week before the “incident” at Collingwood and Cornes’sss knee packed up. I also picked Milburn before the flu, Reilly before his ankle, Burton not long before the knee and sweated bricks with Porps’s shoulder for weeks on end. May have to see a shrink.