Dream Team Thread

[Kildonan]

From the main board thread:

Did some research and found out this:

Top 20 Draft picks: $45600
21-40: $41300
40-onwards: $39300

 

[SaintBot]

when deciding who to make your captain...look on pro-stats.com
and go to compare players...look at who your top players most likely oppents will be and decide your captain throughh that

 

[rgauci]

At the start of the year are the teams aggregate value all equal. E.G. Do all the Western Bulldog players aggregate equal 6.3 million, or are some teams more valuable than others?

 

[Kildonan]

No the aggregate team totals are not all equal.
They are quite disparate.

Funnily enough the aggregate totals when ranked, bear little resemblance to performance or ladder position. Just shows that the dream team ratings just display how well the players score at dream team, maybe it reflects the difference in coaching styles, not a true indication of how well a team might perform.

 

[LukeHodge15]

i reckons its at least 3 weeks minimum be4 dream team starts.

 

[Kildonan]

...but the positive is that we get to see a preview of some of our hopefuls running around in the NAB cup.

 

[Kildonan]

Some of the youngsters to have done alright so far:

Marcus Allan
Jared Brennan
Scott Harding
Marty Pask
Tim Boyle
Clinton Young
Rick Ladson
O'Hailpin
Matt Rosa
Chris Knights
Mitchell Clark
Rhan Hooper
Matthew Bate
Josh Gibson
Rischitelli
Wayde Mills
Merrett
Adcock
Brent Stanton
Marc Murphy
Dale Thomas
Hamish McIntosh
Luke Blackwell

 

[mad-saint-guy]

Okey dokey, Dream Team is finally up.

I've started a league for all saints supporters and if anyone wants to join just PM me and I'll give you the league code.

 

[Axcellence]

Can anyone give an idea on how my team looks like? This is just my 2nd year (last year when I picked my team, I didn't know how scoring worked!)

Backs
Chance Bateman
Andrew Carrazzo
David Mundy
Xavier Clarke
Tom Harley
Jarryd Roughead
Leigh Brown
James Gwilt
Leigh Fisher

Centres
Joel Bowden
Chris Judd
Mark Ricciuto
Brett Deledio
Richard Hadley
Marc Murphy

Rucks
David Hale
Hamish McIntosh
Brendon Lade
Dean Brogan
Josh Fraser
Michael Rix
Mitchell Clarke

Forwards
Garry Ablett Jnr
Fraser Gehrig
Adam Yze
Anthony Rocca
Mark Williams
Nathan Ablett
Travis Cloke
Daniel Motlop
Dale Thomas

Can anyone please comment?

 

[Kildonan]

Not a bad team Axcellence.

My strategy is to select players that I expect to improve - you have several of those in your team.

The way I see it, many of the big key position players start out slowly, so I am going light on these with the intention of selling players early after they have risen in price in order to buy up some of the KPP I want.

Koschitzke, Jonathon Brown, Pavlich and Tredrea are the type of players I am talking about.

If I were to be critical of your team, I feel that you are a little light on in defence (and do you have one too many ruckmen in there?)

 

[Axcellence]

Ok .. thanks 4 your comment!

How about you try this one!

Backs
Chance Bateman
Matthew Lappin
David Mundy
Xavier Clarke
Jarryd Roughead
Jared Brennan
Michael Pettigrew
Leigh Fisher
Shannon Hurn (or any1 else)?

Centers
Joel Bowden
Lenny Hayes
Corey Enright
Brett Deledio
Chris Knights
Marc Murphy

Rucks
Brendon Lade
Darren Jolly
Josh Fraser
Greg Stafford
Hamish McIntosh
Michael Rix (or should I go Patrick Ryder?)

Forwards
Nick Riewoldt
Paul Chapman
Fraser Gehrig
Mark Williams
Chris Tarrant
Lance Franklin (or should I go back to Nathan Ablett?)
Travis Cloke
Daniel Motlop
Dale Thomas

What do you reckon now?

 

[Kildonan]

That's an excellent looking team.

Stick with Rix, Ryder probably wont play much (and isn't much of a stats accumulator anyway).

Stick with Franklin - is sure to improve on last year and will be a go to man in their line up.

Much improved.

 

[mad-saint-guy]

This is my first go at Dream Team..and it's a bit saints-heavy, but I still think this is an alright squad:

Backs:
Luke Hodge
Shaun Burgoyne
Brendon Goddard
Jason Cloke
Xavier Clarke
Sam Fisher
Beau Waters

James Gwilt
Shanon Hurn

Centres:
Luke Ball
Nick Dal Santo
Jason Gram
David Rodan

Marc Murphy
Nathan Jones

Rucks:
Dean Cox
Aaron Sandilands
Josh Fraser
Guy Richards

Paul Johnson
Michael Rix

Forwards:
Nick Riewoldt
Robert Murphy
Jarrad Waite
Alan Didak
Travis Cloke
Jared Brennan
Daniel Motlop

Jobe Watson
Mitchell Clark

I originally had Hadley in the centre, but seeing as he's done his knee again, I got Rodan, who I'm not entirely happy with, but he's the best option that I could afford (though I've still got 40k to spend).

Anyway, I'm not happy with the team any more so any suggestions/critisims are welcome.

 

[Kildonan]

The WCE supporters seem to think Beau Waters is a while away from cracking it into the team, they reckon Hurn will play before him. I think Ben Fixter might actually play for Brisbane, would be a cheap pick up for a defender.

Luke Ball is at his top price, I love him, but I haven't put him in my team because he may start a little quietly this season by the club keeping him in the forwards for much of the matches in the first half of the season. Dal will be good value (and worth a punt on the Brownlow too) this is the first season that they have decided to start him in the centre (right under the umpires noses). Rodan will definitely improve in value, but he may not be a prolific scorer (he wasn't in 2004) Chris Knights might be better or Rosa from WCE.
Your rucks look fine
Maybe you could upgrade Didak or Waite to Tarrant (I think Tarrant is good value ATM)

 

[macca69]

Will Rix play round 1?

 

[cfc05]

Have both Sammy Fisher and X factor in my starting 22... personally i believe one might have to go as they are both big risks.

With Penny gone Fisher will take more responsibilty down back, and Clarke is just an obvious risk.

Where do you guys (who have watched closer during the pre season im sure) think these two are at?

 

[mad-saint-guy]

Will Rix play round 1?

At the moment it looks like Rix will mainly be back-up if one of our ruckmen/key defenders go down. So with Kosi injured, he's probably about a 60/40 chance. Either Rix or Brooks will play round one.

 

[mad-saint-guy]

Have both Sammy Fisher and X factor in my starting 22... personally i believe one might have to go as they are both big risks.

With Penny gone Fisher will take more responsibilty down back, and Clarke is just an obvious risk.

Where do you guys (who have watched closer during the pre season im sure) think these two are at?

At the monent I think they're both excellent choices for DT.

X is in the best condition he's been in since he's came to the club, and is actually confident that his hammies will hold, while Fisher's average was dragged down by a couple of low-scoring games early in the season. If you look at his scores from after round 15, he'd probably average around 70. I don't think his role will change much this year either. Penny was injured for most of 2005, so his departure, while sad, won't hurt us too much.

 

[Kildonan]

PLAYERS NOT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR DREAM TEAM

Long Term Injured

Ben Hudson (ADE) Knee ACL
Pat Garner (BRI) Knee
Richard Hadley (BRI) Knee ACL
Nigel Lappin (BRI) Ankle Inj
Justin Leppitsch (BRI) Lumbar Disc Prolapse
Sean Rusling (COL) Shoulder Inj
Adam Ramanauskas (ESS) Medical Illness
Beau Dowler (HAW) Groin Inj
Beau Muston (HAW) Knee ACL
Jesse W Smith (KAN) Ankle Inj
Elijah Ware (PA) Knee ACL
Brad Smith (WCE) Knee ACL
Luke Darcy (WB) Knee ACL
Tim Walsh (WB) Knee ACL
Tom Williams (WB) Foot Inj

Others who may not play first round

Jason Torney (ADE)
Scott Welsh (ADE)
Chris Scott (BRI)
James Kelly (GEE)
Josh Thurgood (HAW)
Callum Urch (KAN)
Jared Rivers (MEL)
Matthew Warnock (MEL)
Adam Kingsley (PA)
Warren Tredrea (PA)
Justin Koschitzke (StK)
Tadhg Kennelly (SYD)
Will Minson (WB)

 

[Kildonan]

ELEVATED ROOKIES

Adelaide - ???
Brisbane - Scott Harding
Collingwood - Harry O'Brien
Essendon - ???
Geelong - Nick Batchelor
Hawthorn - ???
Kangaroos - ???
Melbourne - Matthew Warnock
Port Adelaide - ???
West Coast - ???
Western Bulldogs - Tom Davidson (???)

Can anyone fill in the blanks?

 

[SaintBot]

One of My Team:

Chad Cornes
Chris Newman
Campbell Brown
James Gwilt
Robbie Copeland
Jarred Brennan
Sean Dempster
Beau Waters
Shannon Hurn

Luke Ball
Nick Dal Santo
Jimmy Bartel
Brett Deledio
David Rodan
Chris Knights

Dean Cox
Aaron Sandilands
Josh Fraser
Guy Richards
Hamish Mcintosh
Mitchell Clarke

Jonathan Brown
Gary Ablett
Stephen Milne
Trent Hentschel
Harry Miller
Luke Jericho
Daniel Motlop
Fergus Watt
Dale Thomas


what do you guys think??

 

[Kildonan]

My reply to Axcellence, could well apply to you, Saintbot.

My strategy is to select players that I expect to improve - you have several of those in your team.

The way I see it, many of the big key position players start out slowly, so I am going light on these with the intention of selling players early after they have risen in price in order to buy up some of the KPP I want.

Koschitzke, Jonathon Brown, Pavlich and Tredrea are the type of players I am talking about.

The primary target in playing dream team is to score well.
But there are other targets we need to achieve in order to do as well as we can in this competition:

Consistency - i.e. proven performers who offer consistently high scores but cost a lot - these can be the lynch pins to build your scores around. As the season progresses you may be able to increase the number of these players you have in your squad. How? By increasing the value of our players / squad - with more money we can buy better players. The two main aims therefore are to score well and to increase the value of the squad. How do we increase the value of the squad? We choose players who will improve their price - the easy way is to select players who haven't played before, new recruits etc. (as long as they play - it's free money). The problem is these players, in the most part, wont get you the scores you want. The next source of raising a players price is for them to improve their scores from last year (from which the current prices are based upon). You use your knowledge of the game to select players who underperformed last year (for whatever reasons), or who are likely to improve their scores because they are moving position (mainly into the midfield).

Defence:
I don't expect Chad Cornes to improve much if at all in 2006. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as he will probably score extremely well for you. He is a certified lynch pin. He is unlikely to increase in value greatly though. The detriment of buying him is his cost, as it reduces how much you can spend on other players, and the risk that if he doesn't perform up to the levels he normally does, his value will decrease.
Chris Newman and especially Campbell Brown have some scope for improvement and are likely to give decent scores, and they will play every week.
Jimmy Gwilt is some risk as he may not play every week - definite scope for improvement, but is costly considering that he only has played one game that counts towards dream team in his career.
Robbie Copeland has some scope for improvement but not likely to score particularly well (averages <50). Should play every week.
Jarred Brennan has a huge scope for improvement and represents great value at the price. He must hold down a forward spot for him to score well in DT as his defensive games score poorly, so some risk there but should hold his spot in the team. Injury prone.
Sean Dempster has scope for improvement too, but his scores have been quite low - may be a smoky, but unlikely in my book to reach an average of 50.
(Played 22 games last year @ ave= 32 points with only one score in excess of 50 all season).

Beau Waters and Shannon Hurn are good choices for the reserves although Waters is unlikely to get a game in the first three weeks due to fitness query.

Luke Ball
Nick Dal Santo
Jimmy Bartel
Brett Deledio
David Rodan
Chris Knights

An expensive but high scoring centre, all of which are capable of improvement, Luke Ball might be near his top price though.
Rodan and Knights = good choices for the reserves.

Dean Cox
Aaron Sandilands
Josh Fraser
Guy Richards
Hamish Mcintosh
Mitchell Clarke

No problems with your selections here.

Jonathan Brown
Gary Ablett
Stephen Milne
Trent Hentschel
Harry Miller
Luke Jericho
Daniel Motlop
Fergus Watt
Dale Thomas

No real problems here, it falls away quickly though. Motlop, Watts and Thomas should all increase in value nicely. Plenty of scope for improvement in Hentschel and Miller (who may be a little expensive). Ablett is cool, Jono should go OK (bit inconsistent). Milne might improve if he has a role in the midfield, but he can have some bad scoring days (DT) if things dont fall his way. I would be tempted to swap him for Chris Tarrant.


I think you can do better with your defence.
If I were you I'd get two of Cam Mooney / Jordan McMahon / Andrew Carrazzo / Sam Fisher for Gwilt and Copeland. You might have to pay for it by sacrificing Luke Ball for a Simon Black / Michael Voss in your centre.

 

[SaintBot]

thanks for those comments...i pretty much agree wit heverything you said there...iv changed my team so many times now iv decided to leave it untill i know who is playing round 1...by then i should know if the motlops, gwilts, mcintoshes, millers, etc are going to play...

 

[mad-saint-guy]

Ok, I've made a crapload of changes to my team. It now looks like this:

Backs:
Luke Hodge
Shaun Burgoyne
Brendon Goddard
Jason Cloke
David Mundy
Xavier Clarke
Sam Fisher

Ben Fixter
Shannon Hurn

Centres:
Luke Ball
Nick Dal Santo
Simon Black
Jason Gram

Steven Salopek
Marc Murphy

Rucks:
Dean Cox
Aaron Sandilands
Josh Fraser
Guy Richards

Paul Johnson
Michael Rix

Forwards:
Nick Riewoldt
Robert Murphy
Jarrad Waite
Travis Cloke
Jobe Watson
Daniel Motlop
Matthew Bate

Setanto O'halpin
Mitch Clark

I really focused on improving my centres. Having a guy that's played 10 games in his career and two draftees in your centre line doesn't give you alot of confidence, so I traded David Rodan and Nathan Jones...then did alot more trading, and somehow ended up with Simon Black.

Since last time I posted my team:

OUT:
Beau Waters- Chances are that he probably won't play round one, and Fixter seems like a more reliable (and cheaper) prospect.
James Gwilt- While I have no doubt he'll improve on last year, I don't think his averages will improve that much. He got 10 possessions, 3 marks and a couple of tackles in his only game last year, and that seems to be about what he'd average (except over 12-18 games) this year. Plus, to get Black I needed to make some sacrifices.
Alan Didak- Needed to free up some $$$, and he was the main forward I was willing to give up (mainly because of his inconsistency).
Nathan Jones- Meh. Didn't look like great depth, so basically, I replaced him with Salopek.

IN:
Simon Black- Wasn't great last year, and will have loads of responsibility early this year with Lappin and Hadley injured. Should improve a bit, and is pretty reliable.
David Mundy- Wanted to get a solid, consistent performer in exchange for Gwilt, and he was in the right price-range, and has a huge scope for improvement.
Steven Salopek- Is incredibly cheap, and should step up this year.
Matthew Bate/Ben Fixter- Cheap and should get a game.
Setenta O'halpin- Bit of a gamble, but is also cheap, so won't hesitate to trade him if he doesn't perform early.

My midfield has improved greatly at the expense of the forward line, but I'm sure I'll doom some other area soon to save the forward line.

 

[Kildonan]

Excellent work.

Most of your changes seem to be right on the money.

I'm not a Salopek fan yet, I know he's cheap and the upside is great, but I'd put in Chris Knights or Scott Harding as I believe both will score better.

I think you've got the right mix now, (maybe a little weakness in the forwards) so if I were you, I'd wait until the teams are published (Wednesday - I hope) and make your final changes then.

Good Luck (but not too much good luck - I'm in your league !!!)