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Backline advice

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blue_boys

Club Legend
May 28, 2007
1,332
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Melbourne
AFL Club
Carlton
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Arsenal,Dallas Mavericks,Green Bay
Now everyone here knows that the backs have been the worst performers this year, with the best player "The Chad" out injured it basically only leaves one premium player in Shaw.

My backline at the moment is:

H.Shaw, Birchall, Waters, Ellis, Ibbotson, Wonaeamirri, Thompson (Bench = Cornes and Pfeiffer)

My backs are my most problematic area (i'm currently ranked 223 overall). This round I am trading Ellis out and I can afford anyone but Bowden, who isn't even getting a game, and thats where my problem is, who to get?

The options are:
- Milburn (solid and consistent DTer without the big scores this year)
- Goddard (coming back from a knee reco and not scoring big so far)
- Gilbee (not such a great Dter as he doesn't take enough marks and hasn't been great this year)
- King (don't rate him as a Dter worthy off his price as he is too inconsistent)
- P.Burgoyne (see Gilbee explanation)
- McLeod (champion player but more suited to Supercoach as it is quality not quantity with him)

What do people think? Whats the best option? Have I left anyone out?
 

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Now everyone here knows that the backs have been the worst performers this year, with the best player "The Chad" out injured it basically only leaves one premium player in Shaw.

My backline at the moment is:

H.Shaw, Birchall, Waters, Ellis, Ibbotson, Wonaeamirri, Thompson (Bench = Cornes and Pfeiffer)

My backs are my most problematic area (i'm currently ranked 223 overall). This round I am trading Ellis out and I can afford anyone but Bowden, who isn't even getting a game, and thats where my problem is, who to get?

The options are:
- Milburn (solid and consistent DTer without the big scores this year)
- Goddard (coming back from a knee reco and not scoring big so far)
- Gilbee (not such a great Dter as he doesn't take enough marks and hasn't been great this year)
- King (don't rate him as a Dter worthy off his price as he is too inconsistent)
- P.Burgoyne (see Gilbee explanation)
- McLeod (champion player but more suited to Supercoach as it is quality not quantity with him)

What do people think? Whats the best option? Have I left anyone out?
From your opinion above it doesn't sound like you should get any of them and I need to trade out half my backline :p
 
I know that everyone has had trouble with their backline, but personally there is light at the ned of the tunnell, don't get too worked up over it all because everyone is experiencing the same problems. I have cornes and symes on my bench with pfeiffer, thompson and nicoski playing (0 last weekend). However, there are options coming up, keep and eye on David Myers from the dons, looked good in his first game last week and could be ahandy downgrade who could play alot of weeks for your (such as a rioli, gamble, jack, palmer) type, not saying he will be as good as them but for a back he will do that job I believe. Pre draft time there was alot of hype surrounding his ball winning and usage ability. So take a 0 this week and then look to downgrade either an injured or non-efficient player (for me it will be pfeiffer/nicoski) to myers and enjoy having cornes and or symes back --- people there is light ahead.......and then be ready to jump on the cotchin bandwaggon when he gets a game!!!
 
Andrew Mackie anyone?

he had one decent game last weekend and hasn't done anything else this year

kenelly? @ 307k iirc...

I try to have as few Sydney players as possible, they don't score big scores (except for Goodes - who I have) and so if they don't consistantly get 80-90 then they are not worth it

From your opinion above it doesn't sound like you should get any of them and I need to trade out half my backline :p

....Thats my point, there is no obvious choice as none have performed as they have in the past (except for Cornes and Shaw) and no one has stepped up
 
Andrew Mackie anyone?

he had one decent game last weekend and hasn't done anything else this year

A lot of Geelong supporters rate Mackie. He's averaging 86.5 this year (Avg. 82 last year, 69 the year before). He's a workhorse who's shown steady improvement every year, so no reason to suggest he can't maintain his current average, which would put him in the top 7 backs. Can you have too many Geelong players?

What about Joel Macdonald? Barely mentioned by anyone but only $326,500 and is averaging 84.7 in 2008 (R1 58, 94, 70, 112, 65, 77, 117), which is currently the 7th best back by Avg (6th by total).

Interrupted 2008 pre-season (groin) and should be hitting his peak from here on in. 23 years old. Had a knee reco (ACL) R7 2006 and has come back a much improved player. Returned Round 11 '07 and averaged 63 over 9 games in 07 (missed last few games with a virus). On the cards for a crack in the Brisbane midfield, I reckon.

Anyone?
 
A lot of Geelong supporters rate Mackie. He's averaging 86.5 this year (Avg. 82 last year, 69 the year before). He's a workhorse who's shown steady improvement every year, so no reason to suggest he can't maintain his current average, which would put him in the top 7 backs. Can you have too many Geelong players?

What about Joel Macdonald? Barely mentioned by anyone but only $326,500 and is averaging 84.7 in 2008 (R1 58, 94, 70, 112, 65, 77, 117), which is currently the 7th best back by Avg (6th by total).

Interrupted 2008 pre-season (groin) and should be hitting his peak from here on in. 23 years old. Had a knee reco (ACL) R7 2006 and has come back a much improved player. Returned Round 11 '07 and averaged 63 over 9 games in 07 (missed last few games with a virus). On the cards for a crack in the Brisbane midfield, I reckon.

Anyone?

His scores so far in 08 have been pretty good. One of those low games was against Sydney, so I guess we can cut him some slack. But will he keep it up?

Here's a name I haven't heard mentioned all season.

Graham Johncock

Averaging a tick over 80, with very consistent scores of 75-85. Not a premium but probably just as good as Milburn/Gilbee/Goddard/MceLeod so far this season.
I'd throw him into the mix.

However, I'd take Peter Burgoyne out of the lot. So far has gone 77, 45, 142, 70, 56, 95, 90. The 45 was against Sydney, so really his only other bad game was against the Eagles in Round 5. Apart from those two games he's scored quite well, normally gathering 25+ touches for scores of 70-100.
 

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I'd rate kennelly more of a SC player, his scores in relation to others is better there.. For his price though he's an ok DT pick

At the moment i think milburn is a cheap buy and will get better than he has been, mcleod is still good for DT but it depends how much you wanna spend.. Same with guerra.. Johncocks pretty well injury free this year after a few previous problems so i think you can rely on him scoring quite well..

I'd go milburn
 
My theroy is that there isn't much to be done about the backlines and its best to focus on getting the midfield and forward line into shape where there are plenty of good players. You can afford one or two average playes in the backline if your gun players elsewhere are doing well.

My backline is

Shaw, Burgoyne, Bock, Birchall, Ibbottson, Nicoksi, Taylor, Proud and Pfeiffer

Traded Cornes last week for Burgoyne and now have 144 in the bank to trade Stanton for Corey and Rioli for B Johnson at this stage.
 
I made this post in the main thread, but its relevant here too so I thought I'd copy it over. Feel free to disagree.

I'd rank them this way.

Burgoyne - consistently gets 20-30 possessions which gets him scores of 70-95 in DT. Also has the ability to dominate games and rack up 30+ touches. These games will be the ones where he scores 100+ Unfotunately hasn't been doing this too often this season.
Goddard - plays quite different to Burgs, takes more marks but gathers less possessions. If he fetches only 20 disposals you can pencil him in for an 80. If he manages to get 25 possessions then he's almost guaranteed to crack the ton. Probably won't happen as often this season though due to his role in the side
Waters - plays a similar DT game to Goddard. Doesn't get as many touches as Burgs but gets lots of marks and a fair amount of tackles. Is currently stuggling for form, along with most of the WC side. If he gets more of the ball then he'll be good for 80s but maybe not much higher unless he's getting 25+ disposals.
Mackie - statistically quite similar to Waters, although doesn't get as many tackles
Birchall - overlooked by many DT coaches. Gets more of the pill than Waters, Mackie and McPhee so he regularly brings in 20-25 disposals. Pencil him in for 5-8 marks and a few tackles per game and there's no reason why he won't average 80-85 this season.
Johncock - statistically is quite similar to Birchall, again, if he maintains 20 touches a game then he'll be very consistent for the season
Milburn - despite what people say, he's been alright so far this season. Scores of 99, 77, 89, 72, 42, 70, 91 with the 42 coming against Sydney. Apart from that one game he has been quite consistent. Again, is a similar DT player to Birchall, Johncock and Goddard in that he doesn't tend to gather more than 25 possessions often, but still manages to score in the 80-90 region since he takes alot of marks and get a few tackles.

My picks:

Potential premium - Burgyone. Is really the only player of the lot who can get 30 or more touches on a semi-consistent basis. Last season he got 29 or more disposals on 8 occasions. Also has a relatively high tackle count. Last season he had 11 tackles on 2 occasions, and 6 tackles two other times. Rarely gets under 20 possessions for a game. In fact only 4 sub-20 possession games last season.

Consistency - Birchall, Johncock, Goddard, Milburn . For the reasons above.

I will be trading in Burgoyne this week, and may even bring in one of those four for Symes if he will be out for more than 3 weeks.
 
The Backline.What a nightmare.Waters did nothin for me.Gilbee and S.Fisher dropping value by the week.Nicoski's gone.Birchall is steady and H.Shaw rocks.Hopefully Myers and S.D Thompson stay in their sides
 

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