Such is Fyfe (2012) vs Redshins (1785)
The AFL round was full of upsets. The Ultimate Keeper League Round was not. This game went as expected, with Such is Fyfe rebounding from a stinging loss by brutalising their opponent. Nathan’s team has actually improved on last year. Check out this table.
|
Player |
2017 Average |
2016 Average |
|
Mitch Duncan |
110 |
95 |
|
Nathan Jones |
119 |
98 |
|
David Mundy |
107 |
81 |
|
Touk Miller |
99 |
89 |
I thought the above were good players. This season, they have been great and look like premiums alongside Pendlebury, Selwood and Riewoldt. Such is Fyfe is performing strongly and reports of their demise have been greatly exaggerated. Second favourite for the flag if you ask me. And I know it’s a small sample size, but with Riewoldt, this team has cracked 2000 twice. Without Riewoldt, they failed to reach 1800. Just saying.
The Redshins were not expected to do much this season and three rounds in, the doubters still doubt. Chris’s selection strategy is still a work in progress. He went in with 20 players and got 21 with an emergency. However, if you want to beat the best, fielding 22 is the generally accepted tactic. My hypothesis however, is that Chris is so delirious at Richmond being undefeated that he has to self-inflict the pain that his beloved tigers would normally cause in any other year. But…Dusty!
Champs16 (1886) vs Rico’s Roughnecks (2080)
Write off a champion at your peril. Write off a team of champions at your peril. Rico’s Roughnecks had a rough week in the media, much like Fremantle. Criticisms were levelled at the coach like “he used to be good” or “he did well 3 years ago in normal dream team, but the draft game has left him behind”. Two rounds in, I thought the Roughnecks were destined to miss August action.
However, the finger pointing seems to have worked. Has-Been Hanners? BAM 125. Old Gary doesn’t care? BAM 138. Goddard just points fingers. True, but BAM 126 as well. The guns fired and Adam’s midfield looks scary when that happens. The Roughnecks scored seven hundreds, all in the midfield and ruck. Very impressive. Not only that, but Adam seems to have some sort of immunity against losing trades to Alex. Stef Martin is back in a big way this year and Jobe Watson and Bob Murphy have looked impressive too.
Champs16 were still good. With a score of 1886, you will win more than you lose. 1886 was good enough to beat over half the comp this week. A better team just bested him on the day. However, Champs16 are not immune to losing trades against Alex. Josh Caddy has averaged 68 since the trade. Sam Powell-Pepper has averaged 76.
Defenestrators (1934) vs General Soreness (1830)
There is never really a good time to play Paul. He seems to consistently score highly. He is averaging 1902 points per game but his lowest score is 1850. Another eight hundreds to the Defenestrators and another imposing game. Dion Prestia soiled an otherwise other-worldly midfield – ignore DP and Barlow was the lowest scorer with 97. The annoying thing about Paul is that, as good as his midfield is, he still is strong back and front, Crozier’s impressive debut only frustrating opponents even more.
General Soreness had a decent score – worth acknowledging when half the league couldn’t crack 1800. Murphy has been an absolute revelation. He is absolutely shredding the competition. Three rounds in and Rockliff is not the best player in the league – he isn’t even the best at his own club. But, unfortunately for General Soreness, there were also a smorgasbord of lower tier mids who decided to go to an even lower tier. Combine that with Goldstein’s sluggish start and Dom Tyson going for the record for biggest drop-off in score from week to week (he scored 60 this week after a 146 last week) and General Soreness might be a little concerned. The team have had a tough opening three games, facing 1, 3 and 5 on the ladder so far. Next week against In Gore WE trust should prove to be the remedy they need to bounce back.
In Gore WE Trust (1775) vs The Bailout Plan (1785)
What a game! Low scoring, as expected, but what a game. One week after saying don’t underestimate Luke, Alex comes out and refuses to underestimate Luke. I said you can underestimate Alex as much as you want. I guess he technically still lost, but given both these teams scored more than me this week, I may want to retract that statement.
In Gore WE trust showed a glimpse of the future. Some of their kids look good. Some of them look like they should explore other career options. Nevertheless, the rebuild is on and there is light at the end of the tunnel. There’s a lot of early days GWS about this team now.
Alex’s trades this year have yielded surprisingly good results. Check out the players below. They have all been traded in this year. (I wouldn’t list all traded players because that would be nine tenths of the team).
· Jayden Hunt 129
· Nick Vlastuin 38
· Mark Blicavs 106
· Sam Petrevski-Seton 93
· Sam Powell-Pepper 68
· Jarrod Witts 79
· Charlie Cameron 69
· Blake Acres 85
· Billy Stretch 101
I look at that and say 1) that’s a lot of new players and 2) they actually did quite well. Alex’s rebuild just might work.
But enough about Alex, he did lose after all. The Bailout Plan posted their maiden win for 2017 on the back of some strong Sunday performances from Leigh Montagna (135) and Ed Curnow (100), which was on the back of strong Saturday showings from Jeremy Cameron (103), Nat Fyfe (110), Brad Ebert (104) and Richard Not-a-Typo Douglas (112). It all came down to the final game. Alex had three decent players, but Steven May held the fort for the Bailout boys with a surprisingly solid 91. All this with a concussion to Picken and Trengove as the starting ruck. Well coached Luke.
MaherShalalHashBaz (1754) vs Stranger Danger (1727)
Two unbeaten opponents. One fight to the death. I thought this match would be high scoring, with Mark just edging me out. I was wrong on both counts.
It was a low-scoring scrap. However, I must say that I am pleased as coach with the defensive efforts of my boys. After Nelson won the cup last year, largely based on his opposition scoring poorly, I decided to forego offense this season and just focus on restricting the opponent’s score. The fruits of my labour have been successive victorious scores of 1784 and 1754. This is what it feels like to be Ross Lyon at his peak!
This game wound up being very close, but it did not always look that way…I have tried to reveal the day-by-day drama in this table.
|
|
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
Total |
||||
|
|
Me |
Mark |
Me |
Mark |
Me |
Mark |
Me |
Mark |
|
Players |
1 |
3 |
12 |
11 |
9 |
8 |
22 |
22 |
|
Average |
103.0 |
116.0 |
66.3 |
76.5 |
95.1 |
67.1 |
79.7 |
78.5 |
|
Hundreds |
1 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
7 |
|
Sub50s |
0 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
8 |
|
Score |
103 |
348 |
795 |
842 |
856 |
537 |
1754 |
1727 |
Many things stand out from this table. Mark had an impressive seven hundreds and an unimpressive eight scores of less than 50. I was slightly less schizophrenic with five tons and five failing to reach 50. Elation and despair aplenty in this match-up.
Looking at it day by day is interesting. Friday night was good for me with Philips getting a hundred. However, it was stunning for Mark, with two big 130s from Adams and Grundy. I had two players in hand, facing a deficit of 245. Huge scores were forecast for both sides.
Then came Saturday. A “train wreck” for me, with 12 players posting no hundreds and four of the scores less than 50. Mark’s 11 players outscored my 12 players. At the end of Saturday, I had 1 player in hand facing a deficit of 292. That’s right. Mark was beating me by 292 and I only had one extra player to come.
So Sunday was a super Sunday for me. My men posted four hundreds as Mark’s men posted four more sub 50 scores. My nine scored 856 as his eight scored 537. I outscored him by 319 to post a stunning, come from behind win.
Credit to my new assistant coach, Stephen Bradbury.