Competitions Pieman Rd 6 v Carlton 6:45pm Sunday 12 July (Metricon)

[dogwatch]

This is only the second time we've played Carlton outside Victoria.

Trivia question: when and where was the first?

Spoiler: First time Dogs played Blues outside Vic

Marrara (Darwin) 18 June 2005. Dogs won 17-14 116 to 10-10 70. A nice omen for this week.

Anyway if you want a banker this week please nominate him here before match start time. You may change or cancel your nomination up to match start time but only with a new post. Do not edit your original post.

Here are your teams:


And here is the leaderboard showing how many bankers you have left for the H&A rounds:


And a reminder that I'm planning on running the Pieman midyear trade period immediately after Rd 7 (17 July) but that's subject to any further announcements from the AFL regarding new or amended match times.

 

[Boyd oh Boyd]

English please

 

[Floridog]

As injuries take their toll on my list and I slip further and further down the ladder I must look to my highest handicap player to have a big week.
JJ for banker please.

 

[lachy]

Wallis Please

 

[X_box_X]

Eagleton for banker please. Hopefully he kicks another three goals like he did when we previously played Carlton outside of Victoria.

On a more serious note, I'll take Wallis as my banker.

 

[grassman75]

I'm having a Piemare this year - can't find a goalkicker to save myself. At least this year's Pie will have an * next to it! (or pehaps no Sauce)

 

[grassman75]

Give me Big Tim this week (and watch Bont kick 7)

 

[dogwatch]

English please

As injuries take their toll on my list and I slip further and further down the ladder I must look to my highest handicap player to have a big week.
JJ for banker please.

Wallis Please

Eagleton for banker please. Hopefully he kicks another three goals like he did when we previously played Carlton outside of Victoria.

On a more serious note, I'll take Wallis as my banker.

Give me Big Tim this week (and watch Bont kick 7)

Done.

 

[theAthenian]

bdale

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Bailey Dale please

 

[Sharkey66]

Dale please

 

[dogwatch]

bdale

Bailey Dale please

Dale please

Done.
Never mind the triple Baileys, it's (D)Ales all round. Salut!

 

[LordC]

English please


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Curly5]

Let's try again, Bazlenka

 

[jaxie1]

Bazlenka or is it Bazellenka ? no matter you know who please

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Vanders again please DW

 

[dogwatch]

English please

Let's try again, Bazlenka

Bazlenka or is it Bazellenka ? no matter you know who please

Vanders again please DW

Done.

 

[Fossie 32]

Joshua pls the Bruceter

 

[ossie_21]

Van de meerkat please

 

[dogwatch]

Joshua pls the Bruceter

Van de meerkat please

Simples.

 

[grassman75]

With the rain, I'm making a late change. Can I have Bont PJs DW

On SM-A520F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[dogwatch]

With the rain, I'm making a late change. Can I have Bont PJs DW

On SM-A520F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Done.
What's with the Bont PJs? A new merchandising line from the WB shop?

 

[grassman75]

Done.
What's with the Bont PJs? A new merchandising line from the WB shop?

Auto correct - but it could be a winner, a Bontsie with a hood and those magnificent locks....

 

[dogwatch]

PIEMAN RESULTS RD 6 v CARLTON

Part 1 - An Editorial

"Pie Central, we have a problem... "

Anyone who's been following the Pieman results this year would have guessed by now that the three entries with Vandermeer have cleared out to an almost unbeatable lead, following Laitham's two goals on Sunday. While it's still up for grabs out of those three, the rest of the comp is so far behind it's going to be hard to get near them unless Vandermeer has a season ending injury (for the Dogs' sake, let's hope not!)

This troubles me because a good competition is one where you still feel you have a chance for most of the journey even if you're not going all that well. To see it pretty much out of reach so early in the season - even a shortened season like this - is pretty deflating.

So I apologise to everyone (bar three of you!) if the fun has been sucked out of the Pieman this year. To steal a phrase from Dan Andrews, the buck definitely stops with me.

It happens when a player gets under the radar. These things can be hard to predict when you're trying to work out the handicaps several weeks before the season starts. Unfortunately this has happened twice before, maybe three times, but this is probably the most disappointing occurrence.

Skip the next few paragraphs if you aren't interested in the history but I think it helps explain how this situation can happen.

In 2014 we had a first year player in Bontempelli who couldn't get a game until about Round 6 and didn't kick a goal until Round 13 but from then on he kicked 15 goals in 9 rounds. We had a different handicap system back then but converted to today's terms his handicap would be about 60 or so. Only four people picked him pre-season and those four pretty much dominated the comp for the last part of the season, but at least it was an open race until about round 18.​

Then in 2016 our villain was a second year player in Zaine Cordy who was expected to take a year or two to develop. He had played 2 games as a defender late in 2015 and amassed a total of 2 kicks and 6 handballs (definitely no goals). By the time the second trade period came around in 2016 (just before Rd 19) nobody had him in their team and he seemed highly unlikely to figure in the Dogs run home as he still hadn't played a game all year ... and what the heck he was a defender anyway wasn't he? So I extended his handicap from 160 to 180. After I published the handicaps and trading started, the Rd 19 teams were announced and he was picked! Not only that but he played forward for the rest of the season and kicked 8 goals. Those two astute Pieman players who sniffed out a bargain and traded him in after teams were announced rocketed to the top of the Pieman comp and finished 1st and 2nd. But again it was really only after Rd 22 (incl finals) that the comp got blown apart, so not too bad. Frustratingly, in the four years since then Cordy has only kicked 2 goals in 65 games. Grrrrr!​

​

In 2017 our VFL side Footscray picked up a HBF/midfielder who had been delisted by Carlton without playing a game. He played in various positions and managed a few goals but nobody took much notice of him, even when he was rookied late in the 2017 draft. As a rookie he wasn't expected to get many senior games in 2018 (if any) unless there were lots of injuries. So a pre-season handicap of 80 seemed pretty safe in 2018. Once again, the surprise came when he was selected in Rd 1 while Pieman entries were still open. About 12 people jumped on him and the rest is history - with 26 goals he became the first rookie to win any AFL club's goalkicking award. The Pieman rapidly became a two tier competition with the top 12 all having Gowers, followed by the rest. Like Cordy he appears to have been a one-season goalkicking phenomenon with only 13 goals in the next season and a half. Grrrrr!​

​

And so we come to season 2020. We have Laitham Vendermeer, an unheralded mature age 2018 draftee who is listed as a pacy wingman. He was injured for 8 weeks in 2019 but managed 14 VFL games playing mostly HB, HF and wing where according to the AFL season record he "struggled for consistency". He kicked only 2 VFL goals for the whole season. No senior debut at all. So not much risk there eh? Let's give him a handicap of 75. But, lo and behold, he gets picked almost straight away in 2020 and is breezing along at a goal a game.​

So you can see how hard it is to get the handicaps right to make it a good tight competition. And how frustrating when Bevo pulls a swifty with some player most people have never heard of.

We've tried a few measures to stop these blowouts happening - pulling back the more extravagant handicaps, limiting the points you can get from your banker to a max of 60. Clearly those measures still don't go far enough, and yet we want to make it attractive enough to chance your arm on at least one "roughie". Otherwise everybody just picks Naughton, Bruce, Lloyd etc and there's very little differentiation in teams.

On a positive note we've had a good even competition in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.

So what do we do?

This season can't be changed. It would be unfair to those who were brave enough to pick Vandermeer to change the rules mid-season. I suppose we could make it a two tier competition with a consolation award to whoever finishes fourth but that's a bit hollow.

What I'm thinking of doing in future years is limiting the handicaps of all new or unproven players to about 40. Only known quantities will have much bigger handicaps (e.g. Dale Morris who kicked only 3 goals in his whole career). If I'd done that this year the three tearaway leaders would still be justifiably in front but they'd be 275 points closer to the chasing pack and we'd still have an open competition.

Anyway, this week's Pieman results will follow shortly. Just thought I'd explain my current thinking. Feedback and ideas welcome ... and I hope you'll stick around for another season in 2021.

Meanwhile, good luck to Charlie Bucket Wocka and ossie_21 who look to have the 2020 Pieman at their mercy!

 

[dogwatch]

PIEMAN RESULTS RD 6 v CARLTON

Part 2 - Results

Pieman Player of the Week

Laitham Vandermeer...



Pieman Player of the Year

Laitham Vandermeer ...



The KELVIN

It's Charlie Bucket with a season high of 303.



The PIEMAN LEADERBOARD

It's Charlie again! A big lead for the top 3.

Congrats to Bont2Bruce Sharkey66 and X_box_X who all have over 400 points - without Vandermeer!