Matt Rowell. A ton in your second game any other year shows an immense talent. This year with the shorter quarters you’d almost consider it a fluke. Until he does it again the very next week! There isn’t too much more that can be said about the Red Bull that the AFL media haven’t already said, but in news from the Soldiers, he has already signed a 5 year extension with a no trade clause, so looking forward to many more tons in the Soldiers midfield.
Young stars will have down days. Connor Rozee had a terrific first 2 rounds for the Devils, with an average of 80 outstanding at any time for a small forward, let alone with shorter quarters. There didn’t seem to be any sign of second year blues here, until Port’s third straight win came without a real contribution from the young jet. A measly 23 with 8 touches is not ideal, but he’s still a young player 9 other coaches would love to trade for, should Max keen for whatever reason to part with him.
Who needs forward status when you’re leading the Coleman? An astute keeper selection by Paul shows us a rather entertaining quirk – Harry Perryman leads the Coleman medal count after 3 rounds – yet he is a defender/mid in fantasy! Having 2 positions already means even if he goes on to win the Coleman, he will not be eligible for forward status at all this year. Certainly something to keep an eye on, and I for one would love to see it happen.
22 on the field is crucial every week. Last week we talked about depth, but it seems some didn’t listen so allow me to repeat myself – SET YOUR TEAM AND SHUFFLE PLAYERS TO HAVE 22 ACTIVE!!! Jaye had 2 donuts this week, and still only lost to pre season premiership favourite Paul by 109. A full team still may not have won, but would have come very close indeed.
Greg should just ignore the first round of the draft. In 4 years of top up drafts, Greg’s greatest first round pick (in my opinion) was Hugh McCluggage – who he didn’t have enough patience with and traded out after 1 season. This year Sam Powell-Pepper was his first selection, and while an average of 51 isn’t terrible (though this week’s 26 was), we need to look at how much better his second round pick of Jy Simpkin is playing. His lowest disposal tally is 23, and his lowest fantasy score is 72 through the first 3 rounds, and with the Roos starting 2-1, there could be many more opportunities for the young mid/forward.
Multiple young picks pushing for 2021 keeper status. Jordan came off a premiership in 2019 with an old list, and kept some older players to go for one last premiership push with this list. With his draft however, he went young early with his 5 picks between 10-20, all players selected were 23 or under with the intent of a rebuild without bottoming out. So far there would be strong consideration for keeping all 5, with the 4 healthy ones in this group all having played at least 1 game this year already, and all showing glimpses of what they could be for the next 10 years. Some tough decisions to be made, but a good problem to have.
The game time threshold is still not perfect. While injuries do happen (there seem to be more this year than usual), having an emergency structure for late withdrawals and early game injuries has more or less kept us happy with the system. Unless your player gets past 20% game time early, then goes down, as happened to Whitfield this week. While it didn’t hurt Mark in the end, it would certainly sting to see a score of 10 next to a prime mover, and with 22% TOG, the score stands for better or worse.
Papley worth the pick. Last year, Nathan went trade happy through the off season, and one of his trades was 2 second round picks to Nelson for Papley and Atkins. Now while Atkins has yet to prove his value, the same can’t be said of Tom, who is turning into a very reliable forward for Carlton Sydney. With no Franklin, someone was going to need to stand up and be noticed, and Tom chose for it to be him, with 6 goals across the first 3 games along with an average of 13 touches and 3 tackles. In a year with shortened quarters, I’d take a forward averaging 70 any day of the week. An astute pick by the Vipers here.
McKenna should have scored 0. In a week that took a bad turn Saturday with the news that Connor McKenna had contracted Corona Virus, the Essendon/Melbourne game was postponed and all players from that game were given projected scores. No one was more interested in those scores than Adam and Nelson, as their game was literally decided by the algorithms that UF use to project scores, with Nelson’s players getting him over the line by 53. While this was the fairest way to do it, a score of 0 to McKenna would also have been fitting if rumours that he was doing the wrong thing mid week turn out to be true, which would also swing this game to Adam (if we also say no emergency scores due to idiocy). However, he scored, and Nelson holds top spot after 3 weeks.
Age is just a number. With all the focus on which young mid will be the top scorer each week, spare a thought for the veteran Pendlebury. While his teammate Steele Sidebottom did outscore him, at 32 Pendles is still yet to dip below 90 this year, in a sign that sometimes a mature head (and a basketball background) are just what you need to maintain success.