Dealing with the Byes.

[lamaros]

I am having a look at the bye at the moment and it is doing my head in!

At the moment I have a number of players down each round.

Round 13: 3 zeros, with a full a ruck bench. (9 out)
Round 12: 2 zeros, no bench. (10 out)
Round 11: 3 zeros, no bench. (11 out)

What is everyone else going to do for these round? Trade to try and fill the gaps? Ride one or two of them out? Not plan for them at all? Go for broke two of the rounds and take a heavy loss in the other?

 

[GotTheGoodes]

I'm going for a distribution weighted toward those players with a bye in rounds 12 & 13. I'm focusing on using the rookies who played in round 11 to upgrade to premiums that had the bye in round 11.

Even given this strategy though, I'd still rather have the benefits of selecting the best players. If I need a Goldstein or Priddus for team structure and I believe that player is better than any other player given my requirements I will pick them none-the-less.

I'd rather have mega premiums like Swan, Goodes, Chappy or Sandi (who have a round 12 bye) for the 11 weeks prior to their bye more-so than picking someone else who will not be able to match said player (for role in the team like MPP or scoring potential etc). That extra flexibility or scoring potential over 11 weeks should better alleviate the fact I may not have been able to cover them with a newly traded premium from an earlier bye round as I had planned anyway.

You will get zeros unless you trade like crazy those weeks. It's just about unavoidable.

So basically my plan is to leave the round 11 bye boys alone, focusing on getting the majority of players (mainly rookies) from round 13 bye teams. I'm hoping I can trade up to round 13 thus covering the premiums out in round 13 with newly traded premiums who have had their bye in round 11 or 12...

 

[lamaros]

You will get zeros unless you trade like crazy those weeks. It's just about unavoidable.

Even if you trade like crazy it's still unavoidable. You have 30 players, and only 8 can sit on the bench each round. That's only 24 players who can sit out their bye, and that means you have to bite 6 zeros.

When you consider the situation with the rucks it becomes worse, as there aren't really any MPPs of worth to make use of the ruck bench each round of the bye, so you will probably have to bite another two zeros there.

That means almost everyone will take at least 8 on field zeros over the three bye rounds. With trading you can cut that down, but everyone will have at least two unless they build their team to deliberatly avoid it.

 

[Super Gusto]

Even if you trade like crazy it's still unavoidable. You have 30 players, and only 8 can sit on the bench each round. That's only 24 players who can sit out their bye, and that means you have to bite 6 zeros.

When you consider the situation with the rucks it becomes worse, as there aren't really any MPPs of worth to make use of the ruck bench each round of the bye, so you will probably have to bite another two zeros there.

That means almost everyone will take at least 8 on field zeros over the three bye rounds. With trading you can cut that in half, but everyone will have at least four.

That's exactly right. IMO you are going to sacrifice some good scores early trying to prepare for a bye starting in rd 11. I'm going to pick the best team I can and deal with the byes once they arrive.

 

[dlanod]

Even if you trade like crazy it's still unavoidable. You have 30 players, and only 8 can sit on the bench each round. That's only 24 players who can sit out their bye, and that means you have to bite 6 zeros.

When you consider the situation with the rucks it becomes worse, as there aren't really any MPPs of worth to make use of the ruck bench each round of the bye, so you will probably have to bite another two zeros there.

That means almost everyone will take at least 8 on field zeros over the three bye rounds. With trading you can cut that in half, but everyone will have at least four.

There was an article on FanFooty (I think) that picked a team with no zeros through the bye. However looking at it it would've been well off the pace by that point because it had a very heavy reliance on MPP, picked substandard players because of their MPP and bye weeks, and still relied on every single player in their team being available in those weeks.

 

[CaramlThickshake]

There was an article on FanFooty (I think) that picked a team with no zeros through the bye. However looking at it it would've been well off the pace by that point because it had a very heavy reliance on MPP, picked substandard players because of their MPP and bye weeks, and still relied on every single player in their team being available in those weeks.

Yeah i saw that, technically you can get through with no zeroes, but you're definitely better off copping probably between 2 and 5 and not compromising on quality.

 

[lamaros]

There was an article on FanFooty (I think) that picked a team with no zeros through the bye. However looking at it it would've been well off the pace by that point because it had a very heavy reliance on MPP, picked substandard players because of their MPP and bye weeks, and still relied on every single player in their team being available in those weeks.

Unless I'm missing something it's impossible to do that. The best you could do, if you had ruck MPPs, would be two zeros. Do you have a link?

Ah! I see it.

An additional trade (up to 3 per round) from your total of 24 for the season will be available in Rounds 11, 12 and 13 (bye rounds). The maximum of 2 per round (from the 24 total) will remain for all other rounds, right to Round 23.

So if you do things perfectly you can avoid a zero. But that is very unlikely and requires MPP rucks and everywhere else.

 

[Ed D]

Unless I'm missing something it's impossible to do that. The best you could do, if you had ruck MPPs, would be two zeros. Do you have a link?

Ah! I see it.



So if you do things perfectly you can avoid a zero. But that is very unlikely and requires MPP rucks and everywhere else.

Yep. Pretty much if you design your team to have no donuts you're going to be worse off just because of the players you need to select.

I think it's something like if a player can score an extra 4.5ppg they roughly make up the difference of a donut.

 

[Philzsay]

That's exactly right. IMO you are going to sacrifice some good scores early trying to prepare for a bye starting in rd 11. I'm going to pick the best team I can and deal with the byes once they arrive.

Yep I'm similar in that at the moment I am not going to worry too much about it now and focus more on it when I am trading from about round 8 on.

The reality is that by the time round 11 comes around I would have used at least half my trades, thus my side's bye balance would significantly change.

Given that there is not a lot of premiums from the Rd 11 byes teams that I absolutely love I'm hoping that a number of their 100k players start making their debuts mid season!

 

[manboob]

I think I am more or less resigned to throwing the match in round 12 when Geelong and freo and co have the week off. God knows why they didn't just start the matches from round 1 and have the byes midseason. Go hard from the start and worry about the byes later, there will be injuries and other things that coincide with rounds 11,12 and 13.

 

[Koutafidamedis]

Is there league games during the bye rounds?

 

[chewysnake]

Im still trying to get around when the best way to trade around the bye rounds.
eg initially i thought before R11 would be best to trade out the Gws rookies but you'd have to bring in someone who's going to have a bye in the next 2 weeks anyway so i cant see any ideal way to get around that sort of problem.
Anyone have a plan/strategy in place?

 

[thedaz47]

Im still trying to get around when the best way to trade around the bye rounds.
eg initially i thought before R11 would be best to trade out the Gws rookies but you'd have to bring in someone who's going to have a bye in the next 2 weeks anyway so i cant see any ideal way to get around that sort of problem.
Anyone have a plan/strategy in place?

Yeah. I remember last year when people planned to load up on Suns as cash cows (myself included). This year, having seen that not really work, Sheeds sending all kinds of messages about JS, and the worst position for a rookie to have a bye means that being a top draft pick and certified gun like Coniglio is a poisoned chalice in SC.

My plan is to have playing rookies who can cover in Rd 11 and a heap of cash in the bank. Now, I'm starting with a few GWS players but I think there will be a lot of merit in culling the cow a little early this season and getting the cash to assault the byes. I'll be more interested in JS than BE when looking for new rookies in ~Rd 6-8.

 

[Deliverance]

My plan is at round 11 to have 8 players with a bye in round 11 (no doughnuts - in theory), make three trades for round 12 (no doughnuts - in theory) and three trades in round 13 (2 doughnuts). But if I can't do this without compromising overall team strength and upgrades I will have to accept more zeros.

 

[RIOLINWITPUNCHS]

Im not worrying about the byes to be honest. As others have said not worth sacrificing the first 11 rounds (8 league games) for the sake of planning for byes.

Also consider that EVERY team will be in the same boat getting zero's in each round so it's not worth worrying about providing your not going for overall.

I can see a number of teams revolving there whole season around the byes and these teams IMO will really struggle, especially before the byes.

Another thing to consider that can't really be planned for is the fact that a lot of AFL coaches may take the opportunity to give their players a few weeks off to coincide with there clubs bye. So it is quite possible that you may not have some players for at least 2 games. This is another reason why it would be silly to plan your whole team around the 3 bye rounds IMO.

 

[_Gazza_]

my plan is to not have a plan, just gonna pick the best starting team imo and worry about byes when they come knocking on the door

 

[Daniels]

my plan is to not have a plan, just gonna pick the best starting team imo and worry about byes when they come knocking on the door

Pretty much my plan of attack too

 

[BORK]

Enter round 11 with a team distribution similar to this

Defenders
2(11) 3(12) 4(13)

Midfielders

2(11) 3(12) 3(13)

Rucks

1(11) 2(12) 1(13) or 2(11) 1(12) 1(13) or 1(11) 1(12) 2(13)

Forwards

2(11) 4(12) 3(13) or 2(11) 3(12) 4(13)

With everyone being selected and the use of 6 trades(which can be used effectively to complete your team) you can keep it down to 2 donuts.

With there being so many round 13 premium defenders it makes sense to select 3 round 13 keepers before round 1 and accept one of your donuts being in your backline in round 13. I do not believe this will weaken your team in any way.

 

[BLUES9898]

Is there league games during the bye rounds?

No there isn't

 

[dUkezz]

No there isn't

Yes there is......

 

[BigKev2]

my plan is to not have a plan, just gonna pick the best starting team imo and worry about byes when they come knocking on the door

My thoughts exactly.

 

[MightyMark]

my plan is to not have a plan, just gonna pick the best starting team imo and worry about byes when they come knocking on the door

I tried to take into account the byes when selecting my team, but it is becoming too much effort to keep track of each players byes, given the amount of players going in and out of my team at the moment.

I figure i'll let it go for now, sum it up just before the season starts and maybe swap a couple of players to lessen the likely hood of byes. Just straight swaps (rookie - rookie), simple stuff

 

[TheProwler]

I sort of completed my team yesterday then looked at the bye rounds

I guess I wont win the comp anyway but if I were to pick a side that had no players having a bye in r11, 12 or 13 then traded a few I might have a chance at the weekly prize while everyone else cops 4 or more zeroes

I know its against the rules to have two teams but the young bloke wants me to help him with his

 

[warney7]

For all the planning we do now, chances are most of us will have made 10 trades by the time the byes come along, so I guess it's just worth keeping in mind and worrying about it when the time is closer.

You can pick players now and plan to have them all year, but the game just isn't that simple is it?

I'll just be backing in my best 22 for the first 8-9 rounds and then make appropriate trades, hopefully having kept plenty up my sleeve.