Ando's Team

Absolute carnage, SJ out would top it off and mean I’m playing with 16…

Pretty happy with the 2 trades stated above

Bird > Fifita
Lemuelu > Grant

However is gonna be a miss now as I want CTR/WFB in my EMG for the run in.

I’m therefore going to do Bula > Skelton for a maximum cash out. He looked solid in his short stint last week so happy enough to play him this week and then will stash him at #21 and use as a CTR loop enabler.

That then leaves last weeks fantastic trade in VTW. If he suits up I have 17 green dots. If not I am going to trade him to Averillo. Think he will have some boom / bust type scoring playing full back for the dogs so will be nice having the option to loop him, Simmo and Manu each week via Skelton. 

Will have to see a 5:45am alarm to see if we have any word on whether VTW plays or not, I’m guessing it’ll be dependent on if the Hammer backs up or not.

The above 4 trades leaves me 152k to trade Cleary next week and then that will be me hanging on for dear life until the end of the season.

Let’s see how it plays out  

You wouldn’t consider trading Teddy out mate?

I have Horse, Haas, JDB, Kris, Teddy and SJ. 

Might go Teddy to Edwards and hold Bula. Not ideal but Teddy not gonna avg 60 on run home more like 47-50 so he can be sacrificed

Rabbits21 wrote:You wouldn’t consider trading Teddy out mate?

I have Horse, Haas, JDB, Kris, Teddy and SJ. 

Might go Teddy to Edwards and hold Bula. Not ideal but Teddy not gonna avg 60 on run home more like 47-50 so he can be sacrificed

I prefer to keep Teddy if possible and the plan above means I hold Teddy, Haas, Hors and JDB

Ando wrote:

I prefer to keep Teddy if possible and the plan above means I hold Teddy, Haas, Hors and JDB

Good luck mate I’m sure you’ve made the right decision

Round 20

Round Score: 939
Overall Rank: 4th

Another stinker of a week dropping another place near the summit. This was to be expected with $3m benched in Haas, JDB, Horsburgh and Teddy but my thinking was to potentially take a bit of a hit in hope that I will have my final team set for RD21.

Had too many dud trades the last few weeks, the recurring theme seems to be when I am picking between 2 players I am picking the wrong one but that is fantasy!

With just 4 trades remaining I will use 2 to get my final team and then have 2 to cover injuries. Pre trades I have the following team with 152k in the bank:

Grant
Haas JDB Horsburgh
Fifita Preston
Hynes SJ
Simmo Manu
Drinky Teddy Ponga
JFH Hopgood iPap Boyd
Matto Tohu Averillo Skelton

My first trade is all put locked in JFH > Cleary which means I need to find 307k from my second trade, options are:

Tohu > 379k - He just looks crocked and every carry he gets up wincing. His scores when playing 80 are great but I don’t think this Warriors side need to flog him for 80 every game. They have plenty of options to cover him and with them more than likely getting finals this year you’d think they will want him fresh for that.

Matto > 339k - He managed to hit 43 points in 43 minutes and with RCG getting the big suspension he shouldn’t be playing such few minutes again. He also has DPP which will help to cover others byes.

Hopgood > 506k - Same points as I have for Matto.

Boyd > 313k - He just finds a way to score points, he's my only HOK cover and the trade in options at 313k are pretty scarce. I don't like the look of his fixtures however so likely to be my 18th man...

With all of that considered I think I prefer the Tohu out, it would be Boyd but can't afford to lose the HOK cover and the options sub 313k don't fill me with confidence. With Sub 379k options I'm looking at are:

SSmith - Job security not the best but probably the best scorer out of the 3
Kris - Most secure but average scorer without tries
Piakura - Middle of the road

Thanks for reading. All suggestions appreciated!

the only other one you could cnsider is harrison graham, although you are trading in someone who is on the bye, but hes got 40+ last two games in 50 odd minutes,

GarethEllisismyDad wrote:the only other one you could cnsider is harrison graham, although you are trading in someone who is on the bye, but hes got 40+ last two games in 50 odd minutes,

Looked at him Gaz and if I knew he'd hold his spot he would 100% be my trade in. However unless we get confirmation JMK is out for the season I am going to avoid. I already have Skelton as a dead spot in my team, can't afford another.

Garrick now available at CTR. How do I get him and Cleary with 4 trades remaining...

Simmo > Garrick = upgrade
JFH > Cleary = massive upgrade

Leaves a deficit of $426k so 3rd trade will either be:

Tohu > $260k
Hopgood > $387k

The preferred option would be to keep Hopgood for reasons stated above but think I will have to take an anti-POD gamble and trade out to Kris or Suaali'i. Think I might take the punt on Suaali'i with him now being back on the wing and kicking goals. I know it only leaves 1 trade but go hard or go home!

Final team locked in:

Grant
Haas JDB Hors
Fifita Preston
Cleary Hynes
Garrick Manu
Drinky Teddy Ponga
SJ Tohu iPap Matto
Boyd Averillo Skelton Suaali'i

Round 21

Round Score: 1,001
Overall Rank: 4th

Just the 1 trade left Plan is to hold this until RD26/27, the only way I'll use it before is if I have less than 17 green dots any given week.

My trades since RD15 have been absolutely dire, feels like every move I've made have been complete duds:

RD15:
Nathan Cleary > Mitchell Moses - The start of it all going wrong, whilst he scored well that week he was then selected for Origin and needed to be traded out again.
Kaeo Weekes > James Fisher-Harris - Need for bye cover and didn't score too badly, however also lost a little bit of cash.

RD16:
Mitchell Moses > Jake Turpin - Wasn't the best, wasn't the worst. A HIA ruined his cash gen.
Reece Robson > Bailey Simonsson - Was a good trade, held Simmo through his purple patch.
Harrison Edwards > Ryan Matterson - I feel this trade is haunting me a little bit, my hand was forced in order to play 13 in the bye round (Edwards HIA at training) and I have been stuck with Matto ever since.

RD17:
Karl Oloapu > Jack Bird - Needed to trade Oloapu to field 17, decided to jump on Bird early to give me 13 players for RD19. Bird returned a 29 and came out a week later saying he needed some time off.

RD19:
Jake Turpin > Valynce Te Whare - Again needed a trade to field 12 in the bye round (would have been 13 if Bird trade hadn't failed miserably). Was set on bringing Kiraz in but made a late switch to Te Whare for his DPP.

RD20:
Jack Bird > David Fifita - Happy enough with this trade even if it was a bit too early, most people brought him in.
Connelly Lemuelu > Harry Grant - Same as Fifita, would actually have brought him in earlier if I hadn't got Matto.
Valynce Te Whare > Jake Averillo - VTW straight out and in hindsight could have just done Turpin > Averillo the week before.
Jahream Bula > Jeral Skelton - Has performed ok in his 2 starting games however I think he loses his spot this week and then becomes a dud.

RD21:
James Fisher-Harris > Nathan Cleary - Scared of the Bulldogs fixture and rushed him in when he had cash to drop, meant I traded out Tohu instead of Matto/Boyd.
Bailey Simonsson > Reuben Garrick - Good trade, no complaints.
Tohu Harris > Jesse Colquhoun - The only cash out I could afford and scored very well but is now suspended lol.

Some really bad trading here and I have cost myself an opportunity at making a late push to win the whole comp.

As regards to RD21's scores, Grant was my lowest score of the week and then had Fifita, Matto, Manu, Averillo all in the 45-49 range coupled with captain Cleary's 51. A steady week but nothing spectacular. It seems no matter what happens each week the gap between myself and the 3 above me remains around the same.

It's been a fun year riding the Top 5 for the majority of it but feels like I have plateau'd and it'll just be a case of how much I drop.

Team for RD22 prior to any TLT chaos:

Grant
Haas JDB Hors
Fifita iPap
Cleary (c) Hynes
Garrick Manu
Drinky Teddy Ponga
Hopgood Matto Preston SJ (loop)
Averillo Boyd Colquhoun Skelton

Pretty boring stuff... Thanks for reading!

Round 22

Round Score: 1,017
Overall Rank: 3rd

Ando wrote:Round 22

Round Score: 1,017
Overall Rank: 3rd

phenomenal work Ando!

Round 23

Round Score: 1,192
Overall Rank: 2nd