Teams 2026 Rate My Pre-Season Team

[Obese Arachnid]

Agreed. I can kinda see why you would start Treloar, but De Goey seems a waste of time. He'll have big games (hopefully R0 to suck lots in) but will have plenty of games parked forward or lower TOG to protect him.

Any rookies a chance for Collingwood this year? Harrsion and/or West a chance?

The ones I'm keeping an eye on are Parker & R Steele.
Probably not high scoring but I think could be starting 23.

Steele a little too high maybe, $196K.

Harrison & West likely to get games, how many, how early is the question.

Too much uncertainty over roles at the moment, generally.
Perryman & Josh more mid time?
Houston taking the QB role?

PS will tell us more.

 

[Bob Butter]

Absolute madness imo seeing everyone pick Steele. He is so slow and has been battling injuries for years, his whole game from a SC perspective is predicated on him getting 10 tackles a match. Even if his body does hold up, I just can’t see the Dees prioritising his role in the midfield now that they are rebuilding. Would maybe be worth a risk if he had a 3 or 4 in front of his price, but for $500k I feel like you’re far better off downgrading to him after two weeks if he is looking like vintage Steele and his role is good. Just too much uncertainty and low risk v reward for my liking.

 

[Bain]

My current arrangement, trying to avoid as many early bye super premos as possible..... reasonably happy with this for the pre season - do need to get a little bit of coin back into the pockets so i can get rid of one of the $99k dead rookies.

 

[Veer Right]

Absolute madness imo seeing everyone pick Steele. He is so slow and has been battling injuries for years, his whole game from a SC perspective is predicated on him getting 10 tackles a match. Even if his body does hold up, I just can’t see the Dees prioritising his role in the midfield now that they are rebuilding. Would maybe be worth a risk if he had a 3 or 4 in front of his price, but for $500k I feel like you’re far better off downgrading to him after two weeks if he is looking like vintage Steele and his role is good. Just too much uncertainty and low risk v reward for my liking.

I have no concerns with Steele with his ability to score well and thus be a starter. There were times last year towards the end of the season the difference between him being in the middle and not was striking. Saints were better with him there but i understand wanting to change the dynamic and make the mids quicker.

The issue for me is, are Melbourne going to use him as a full time mid?

 

[Veer Right]

View attachment 2506816


My current arrangement, trying to avoid as many early bye super premos as possible..... reasonably happy with this for the pre season - do need to get a little bit of coin back into the pockets so i can get rid of one of the $99k dead rookies.

Not just aimed at you but Trac has the bye and will he be getting many midfield minutes? Don't see it at his price.

 

[Maybe Tomorrow]

Not just aimed at you but Trac has the bye and will he be getting many midfield minutes? Don't see it at his price.

Hard to see Trac getting out of reach. Does have a good start to the year though.

 

[Bain]

Not just aimed at you but Trac has the bye and will he be getting many midfield minutes? Don't see it at his price.

Trac has WCE, Richmond, Melbourne, Sydney and Essendon in his first few games... to make up for his early bye i see extra PPG.

my current thinking is that when he was happy and uninjured at melbourne he was 110-120 ppg player reliably, he had an injured year, then he had a come back from injury year in a disgruntled and unsettled Melbourne team who had him sitting like a duck up forward for a lot of the year.

I guess its a wait and see on how GCS utilise him, but he is in the sun, the skin will be tanned and he will be happy... and well supported by Anderson, Rowell, Miller etc... i think he does run through the middle plenty still, more than last year at Melbourne is my thoughts -but lets wait and see... regardless his FWD positioning I see him definitely been a top 6 forward for the entire year, that line is slim pickings tbh.... can risk it on Kozzy Picket or Draper etc, but both make me more nervous than Trac at a new club in the gold coast sun. he will be in good spirits.

 

[Bob Butter]

I have no concerns with Steele with his ability to score well and thus be a starter. There were times last year towards the end of the season the difference between him being in the middle and not was striking. Saints were better with him there but i understand wanting to change the dynamic and make the mids quicker.

The issue for me is, are Melbourne going to use him as a full time mid?

Man, I disagree that we were better with him in there. I think we looked far better towards the end of the season when Hall and Nas played more mid and Steele more forward. He’s just so slow that he became a liability on defence at stoppages.

The uncertainty of his role at Melbourne is also a major factor. Look at how Clarry scored last season. That’s why for me the risk just isnt worth it. I’d much rather downgrade a premo to him if by some chance he’s averaging 110+ and looks to have a good role after 2 weeks.

 

[Foxman98]

I have no concerns with Steele with his ability to score well and thus be a starter. There were times last year towards the end of the season the difference between him being in the middle and not was striking. Saints were better with him there but i understand wanting to change the dynamic and make the mids quicker.

The issue for me is, are Melbourne going to use him as a full time mid?

Have to relace Trac and Clarry both 65%+ CBAs

Lindsay/Langford/Rivers split the Trac ones Steele takes most of the Oliver given he can't play anywhere else

 

[Sherman41]

Here is my FOMO team. Lots of keepers, but lots of early byes. This is the team I would start with if I was purely focused on cash leagues, as my main cash leagues start round 4.

 

[Bandicoot]

Great post.

My two cents would be if top 1000 is the goal your best approach is very few POD's and max cash gen early.

It may be boring but sticking with the pack early and trading well is the key. You've got to pick off the premo's that drop in price, when they drop in price and to do that you need cash. They won't really be POD's as everyone will be after them but if you get them a week or two earlier than most that's when you gain ground.

Too many $400k punts and you will be fixing your team when others start upgrading and then you are cooked. Get an upgrade or two behind (sometimes it's due to injury) and we never catch up. My best years I've nailed my starting teams. Ideally the only corrections you want to be be doing is rookies. Folk talk about downgrading failed MP's to rookies if required, but it's still another trade used and points lost as your value pick wasn't actually good value.

I would say if you really must have a POD or two, it's almost more about who you don't start. For example if a high ownership guy like Rozee starts slow and you have faded that can be a win, because all the podcasters will start thinking out loud about sideways trading him, the masses follow and you avoid it and can trade him in when his price drops and his ownership is lower.

I think you are right about saving trades, although that tends to follow on from starting the right players. Patience is crucial. BOMBERBLITZ played it beautifully last year to finish about 15th overall (is that right BB?).

Be interesting to follow how you get on.

View attachment 2504825
More than happy with the structure of this squad. Very few premium players in round 0 and only 1 player in each line needing to be covered for any of the early bye rounds.
$146K still in the bank. I certainly want to trade Clark to Sinclair after his round 4 bye. I may even start with Clark instead hence save the trade and take the score from the rook instead, particularly as we're playing best 18.

I like to use a 5 tier structure of :
Uber - Above $600K
Premium - $500K - $600K
Mid Price - $350K - $500K
Cheapies - $200K - $350K
Rookies - $200K and under
I tend to agree with the comment above of #Maybe Tomorrow where it's said that too many mid pricers can be season killer if they fail to perform as you hope. Quite often the only way to parachute from a fallen mid pricer is trading back to a rookie. This has cost you points, $$ and a trade.
I currently have only 4 mid priced players in my current squad however 3 of them (McKercher, Young and Flanders) will be in the majority of squads. Bergman is the only speculative pick and this is based on the prediction of him moving into the midfield. The fact that he is training with the midfield squad atm would suggest that this will be the case. If not, he is an easy swap to Newman even though he has the dreaded round 2 bye.
Interested to see how many changes will be made between now and round 1.

 

[Foxman98]

I like to use a 5 tier structure of :
Uber - Above $600K
Premium - $500K - $600K
Mid Price - $350K - $500K
Cheapies - $200K - $350K
Rookies - $200K and under
I tend to agree with the comment above of #Maybe Tomorrow where it's said that too many mid pricers can be season killer if they fail to perform as you hope. Quite often the only way to parachute from a fallen mid pricer is trading back to a rookie. This has cost you points, $$ and a trade.
I currently have only 4 mid priced players in my current squad however 3 of them (McKercher, Young and Flanders) will be in the majority of squads. Bergman is the only speculative pick and this is based on the prediction of him moving into the midfield. The fact that he is training with the midfield squad atm would suggest that this will be the case. If not, he is an easy swap to Newman even though he has the dreaded round 2 bye.
Interested to see how many changes will be made between now and round 1.

Agreed it's the the make or break part really to start your team,

I have 5 3 of them the easy picks you've mention and will take the punt of Bergman getting that mid role as well as an uptick for Freijah on ball

Ideally though think you are wanting 3-4 Ubers 3-4 Premiums 4 Mid pricers then this year look at 3-4 cheapies as we have some excellent value in there

 

[Saints4ever]

Here is my FOMO team. Lots of keepers, but lots of early byes. This is the team I would start with if I was purely focused on cash leagues, as my main cash leagues start round 4.

View attachment 2506846

Guns and rookies

My kind of team

 

[Lord De Goey]

Absolute madness imo seeing everyone pick Steele. He is so slow and has been battling injuries for years, his whole game from a SC perspective is predicated on him getting 10 tackles a match. Even if his body does hold up, I just can’t see the Dees prioritising his role in the midfield now that they are rebuilding. Would maybe be worth a risk if he had a 3 or 4 in front of his price, but for $500k I feel like you’re far better off downgrading to him after two weeks if he is looking like vintage Steele and his role is good. Just too much uncertainty and low risk v reward for my liking.

More teams that start him the less teams we have to worry about for the 50k

 

[A Bit Dusty]

More teams that start him the less teams we have to worry about for the 50k

 

[Bandicoot]

v5.15.55

View attachment 2505603

its.. not bad?

But its.. not good either.

 

[Deliverance]

Hard to see Trac getting out of reach. Does have a good start to the year though.

Trac is a downhill skier. Scores bulk SC when his team is winning.

 

[Bob Butter]

Trac is a downhill skier. Scores bulk SC when his team is winning.

Impossible to comment on Trac until we see his role in the team. 80% fwd role pinch hitting in the midfield like Dusty’s later years? No chance. 70% midfield time with Touk spending more time fwd or on a wing? Interesting. With Rowell and Anderson being obvious locks, the question is Touks role, how much more time Humphrey spends in the guts, and you’d assume a couple of the 30 first round picks they’ve had the last couple of years get a run through there too.

 

[A Bit Dusty]

Man, I disagree that we were better with him in there. I think we looked far better towards the end of the season when Hall and Nas played more mid and Steele more forward. He’s just so slow that he became a liability on defence at stoppages.

The uncertainty of his role at Melbourne is also a major factor. Look at how Clarry scored last season. That’s why for me the risk just isnt worth it. I’d much rather downgrade a premo to him if by some chance he’s averaging 110+ and looks to have a good role after 2 weeks.

Not sure it's a great gameplan trading out a premo for another premo after the first 2 weeks.

 

[Maybe Tomorrow]

Not sure it's a great gameplan trading out a premo for another premo after the first 2 weeks.

View attachment 2507056

 

[Bandicoot]

Ok, now I am thinking about trying to get Steele into my side.

This board is bad, real bad for my teams FOMO !!

So instead I am trying to ignore the noise and here is my latest team called;

“Now for something, Completely Different” Part 1.

EDIT:
Actually scrap that as above is SELFCONFESDAFLNERD with almost the same side, very similar. With better rucks and almost all the same rookies and more cash ITB.
I would usually say great minds think alike buy for a Norf supporter to not have Sheezel and have NAS instead feels like something is wrong with the world we live in these days.

View attachment 2506217


I have just over 330K sitting in the bank, which I think is excellent hold money to use 2 boosts after the byes and go bang bang, and quickly turn 6 guys into 3 Premiums hopefully all mids. Also hope there are replacement rookies. Also hope some premo’s drop 50k or more. Also hope my Rucks aren’t poo poo .

I think there may be a few changes in rookies of course.

Also could just dump the extra cash straight away on another mid or ruck or forward.

I think betting on ruck changes ruck points, is as risky as picking a $16 starter in the Melbourne Cup, but that has always been my winning sweet spot. Maybe I should have a look at Sweet, it seems fortuitous.

Hope everyone is keeping cool during this heatwave.

But how many points are you conceding to others in those first few weeks??

 

[Bob Butter]

Not sure it's a great gameplan trading out a premo for another premo after the first 2 weeks.

View attachment 2507056

It’s not a good plan, and I’m not planning on doing it. I’m just saying if by some miracle he looks like prime Steele and is averaging 115 then I will be happy to eat my words and downgrade an underperforming premo to him.

I don’t doubt he’ll play in the midfield, but what position was he playing most of last season? What position was Clarry playing last season at the Dees and what did he average? Midfield minutes ≠ guaranteed points.

 

[rye]

rookies are placeholders etc.

tempted by ldu but him and stewart in the same team feels too risky.

not happy starting gawn but will wait and see if anyone else looks attractive in the ruck line. do geelong have a new first ruck worth picking this year or persist with a combination of stanley and blicavs? the guy who is underpriced there is darcy but what does his ruck split and tog look like....?

 

[Lord De Goey]

It’s not a good plan, and I’m not planning on doing it. I’m just saying if by some miracle he looks like prime Steele and is averaging 115 then I will be happy to eat my words and downgrade an underperforming premo to him.

I don’t doubt he’ll play in the midfield, but what position was he playing most of last season? What position was Clarry playing last season at the Dees and what did he average? Midfield minutes ≠ guaranteed points.

I actually think that’s the worst thing you can do. I’m not keen on him but if you were you’d be better off starting him rather than trading him in due to the fact he will obviously have a down patch when the niggles start adding up.

I understand Steele is bye free but there is just so many more appealing options slightly more expensive.

 

[Bob Butter]

I understand Steele is bye free but there is just so many more appealing options slightly more expensive.

That’s my main point, Gulden for an extra $60k? Sign me up