NAB Challenge 3: In review

As some of you know I have been a little sceptical as to whether Robbie Gray (MID/FWD $546,000) could keep up the great play to maintain the high price he started with this year. Quite simply - lock him in. With 99 points, 29 possessions and two goals two behinds in NAB three - go for it.

Travis Boak (MID $540,000) was pretty much left alone and he had a game high 34 touches and 10 tackles. This resulted in 139 points. He won’t be left alone like this too often, but I still see him averaging over 100 and he could be a great unique player for your team as he is only in just under 3,000 teams at the moment.

Ollie Wines (MID $517,000) had 32 touches of which 22 were handballs to go with seven tackles for 116 points. If he can reverse that kick to handball ratio, then he will most certainly have another break out just as we are all looking for.

Whilst Aaron Young (MID/FWD $237,000) isn’t really all that fantasy relevant, what he did do was score 93 points from 20 possessions. I say he isn’t relevant because when Hartlett and Wingard come back in he will be relegated to less time in the midfield and back to the bench - possibly vest again. The key is, with a performance like that he is certainly going to be keeping Karl Amon (MID $120,000) out of the side going forward.

Lastly I just want to mention ‘Mr consistent’ Brad Ebert (MID $560,000), who had 24 touches and six tackles for 116 points. His possessions were kick heavy (17:7) which is exactly what we like. Just like I said in my previous article about him I think that he is a great, unique player who should score very consistently.

Final preparation for the Fantasy season

So, what sort of things should you be thinking of for your final selections over the next week or so? Here are a few thoughts I put together on some of the more pertinent issues.

Do you need to worry about the bye rounds?

Something to consider is that if you are playing in AFL Fantasy leagues this years, your commissioner may have set them up to not play during the bye rounds. Most default AFL Fantasy leagues aren’t playing the bye rounds. This is a massive thing to take into account. If none of your leagues are playing byes, just ignore them and move on. Your team planning should be a lot simpler!

If you are playing the byes in your league or you are looking for an overall ranking then you of course need to consider your bye structure. I try to follow a formula whereby I have more players playing in the first week of the byes, particularly rookies, so they can be traded out after that game to other guys who have had their bye in that first week. Hence you essentially skip a bye. So you might have eight players missing in week one, nine missing in week two and 13 missing in week three in your starting squad, with the intention of trading out rookies from weeks two and three to premiums from week one, hence having less players out.

Structural issues?

Hopefully by now you have had a thought about your structure. How will you be setting up your team? Do you know how many premiums you will start with, how many mid-pricers and how many rookies? These are all things you need to think about whilst putting your final teams together. You also need to think about where your cash generation will come from so you can do the upgrades you need to get your team to full premium.

Make sure you start with enough premiums so that you allow for emergency trades and fix ups. I try and map out my starting squad right through to full premium at the start just so I can see what I have to play with. Obviously the names and prices will change, but it is always good to start with a plan in mind.

There is a time and place for ‘Set and Forget’

And that time isn’t now! You need to be monitoring your team all through the next week and half, right up until lockout! Take note of every press conference and every injury report just to make sure that if something is happening to one of your guys, you know exactly what it is and can make the necessary adjustments. Always have a plan B.

Lastly, make sure all of your leagues are full so you don’t end up with random people in your league. Fill them up with your mates - it is always more fun.

Speaking of leagues I have set up one on the AFL Fantasy site for readers of my articles here on the PAFC website. If you would like to join in, the league code is VNNZC727 and is limited to the first 15 people to join up.

Cheers until next time everyone. In the meantime you can catch me on twitter: @pkd73