I’m not sure who the Ugliest Man In The AFL mantle belonged to before last week, but Magpie new boy John Anthony surely became the new title-holder on Friday night. The unveiling of his hideously shaved head was the biggest rookie-related news of the round, overshadowing the 119-point debut by Brisbane’s Bradd Dalziell. So horrible was Anthony that he even eclipsed the announcement that Chook’s Rooks poster boy Rhys Palmer could be sidelined until 2009.
This week we’re asking Chook’s Rooks readers to vote on their ultimate first-year midfielders. Check out the nominees below and pick six rookie centres for the Chook’s Rooks All-Rookie Team. Oh, and you can still vote on your best seven backs, too. Rucks and forwards coming soon.
Oh here he is! Me! Calvin! he he. Last week was a ripper round for captains. According to the DT Talk poll of 749 people, 51% of people took the Calvin’s advice and cashed in on Cox’s round high of 157 and Pav’s 148! Don’t we love that! My other top picks were Bartel 20% (94pts) and Rievoldt 5% (126pts) and they were certainly no disgrace to their coaches. So listen up lads and I’ll tell ya who to go this week, but it is a little tricky.
Oh my god… have a look at the Bombers! Talk about depleted! Some of the interesting dudes on here are: Jason Porplyzia - indefinate (arrggghhh… let us know when!), Rhys Palmer - test (word is from Channel Ten news in Perth that he will play), Gary Ablett Jnr - 1 week, rookie Ben Ross - 2 weeks (ankle), Jake King - available and Matthew Richardson - test.
Read more for the official injury lists supplied by clubs. (more…)
The Pope has been in town this week and he used some of his time at World Youth Day to give a shout out to us! We discuss out scores this week… and yes, Vin is still struggling! Joel Bowden did some great Dream Team work on the weeken in the dying seconds of his game vs Essendon. Mike Sheehan likened it to Trevor Chappell’s underarm delivery… Roy thinks that he would have been able to hit and underarm delivery for six… so he proves it! There is another Dream Team show out there… on the AFL.com.au site every Wednesday. Called something like AFL Dreem Time TV. Anyway, Frank Leach and Dwayne Schwass host it and make some mistakes. In a new segment, we look at some of thier ‘highlights’ - this week some ruck advice! Oh boy… get on it! Roy lets Vin know his fate on whether he can be his assistant coach leading into destROY’s final series. Pope “Eggs” Benedict is back with some words of wisdom - about Dream Team none the less! Chopper doesn’t give the chop to Nick Stevens, he acutally gives him chops… funny stuff! And finally Warnie cracks the shits about being the 2nd ranked DT coach in our league and is likely to miss the 8!
Geelong have ruled Gary Ablett Jnrout of this week’s game against the Hawks… ouch! His ankle isn’t right but they are hopeful that he will be right next week.
The match review panel offered Justin Koschitzke a week… and he took it for his jumper punch. He’s the only bloke to miss a game from the tribunal this week.
The latest Lion to make is debut as an $82K DTer, Brad Dalzeill, is a shoe-in to play this week! He scored 119 DT points… possibly a record on debut! Get on him if you want to cash someone in (Palmer if he’s on your bench possibly)… he’ll be there the rest of the year!
The Bombers have 26 players available this week… probably going to be one of their worst sides to run out in a few years?! Any potential captains from the Magpies Calvin?
The Sportznut DT Talk Leagues are going off right at the moment!! Darius’ dazza’s XVIII still in top spot on track for the $500 Sportznut voucher. On the individual leagues, Calvin DT Talk still holds top spot and remain in the top 20 overall.
Joshua Head played his second game last week, which means his price will rise this week. Currently at $83,500 has a BE of -40. After a nice 67 in his first game, he had a 38 last week (89% TOG) with the main difference being zero tackles instead of 7 previously. With a fair bit of back problems, will he play for the rest of the year?
If you watch the Collingwood game, you would think that John Anthony could be a forward, but he is a defender. He has put up his second consecutive 70 and has a BE of -32.
As mentioned last week Matthew Scarlett again has a negative BE (-27). To Dan from last week “Whats the point of talking about Scarlo?” Well you may have noticed a nice DT Ton that he posted this week to backup his 89. I will notice any cheap All Australian that is starting to put up 80+ scores in the backline.
Midfield
St Kilda’s Robert Eddy put up another respectable score to put his average at 58 and a BE this week of -5. Trent Cotchin still has the 120 from a couple of weeks and with a BE of 17 this week should have 1 more price rise in him. Brent Stanton has been loving some freedom lately and even at the 435k price tag has a BE of 21 this week.
At the other end of the scale Gablett will need 213 when/if he resumes to hold his price. Nick Stevens who suffers from the same condition as Heath Shaw (don’t put an opponent on me) needs 186 to hold his price.
Forwards
Shane Valenti has been a gun downgrade target at the end of the year and put up 77 this week (70% TOG). He currently averages 70 and taken his price from 72k to 200k. Even at 200k he still has a negative BE (-5 this week). Kangaroos Lachlan Hansen also has a BE of -10. Scott Lucas at 257k needs 29 this week to hold his price, and Ryan O’Keefe needs 31 after his great score last week.
The ticking injury time bomb that is our main man, Chad Cornes, has officially called the end to his 2008 Dream Team season. He is booked in to have an arthriscope on his injured knee and shoulder and will also have the pin removed from his broken finger.
SuperChad is hoping to be back for a full pre-season and a massive 2009 Dream Team season. The positive thing is that his price should be pretty low next year… which means every man and his dog will get him (ala Nick Stevens this year), but it will all come down to what people do with the rest of their cash!
Good luck Chad… we’ll miss you! Get yourself set for plenty of DT tons next year!
Forget Dean Cox’s massive 157, or O’Keefe’s 155 and even Matthew Pavlich’s 148 - because Joel Bowden’s 73 takes the prize for me this week. “Surely he breached the spirit of the game” Mike Sheahan said. Surely not Mike! Bloody fantastic Joel. This is even being compared to Chappell’s underarm delivery all those years ago - C’mon? Seriously! Teams chip it around at the end of the game (we love that great DTing) and Joel did the exactly the same thing, wasted time and won the game. But Joel gets my vote this week… for handballing it over the line (2pts), yeah yeah he should have kicked it, but thumbs up Joel.
Short and sharp - plenty of ankles… Angus Monfries (ankle) - will miss a couple of weeks, Jay Neagle (ankle) - likely to miss this week, Brad Johnson (ankle) - came back on, so is a chance to play this week, Daniel Pratt (ankle) - should be fine, Ben Ross (ankle) - likely to miss a couple of weeks, Ryan O’Keefe (ankle) - played out game and dominated, should be ok, Michael O’Loughlin (ankle) - didn’t come back on, will be 50/50 to play this week, Andrew Welsh (concussion) - unlikely to play this week, Darren Glass (quad) - monitored this week, Leo Barry (hamstring) - 2-3 weeks, Brock O’Brien (hamstring) - will miss a couple of weeks, Andrew Walker (shoulder) - was his ‘good’ one, scans today, Brendon Fevola (thigh) - corkie but should be right, Tom Hawkins (foot) - missed VFL and is likely to miss a few weeks for stress fractures.
Oh my god… have a look at the Bombers! Talk about depleted! Some of the interesting dudes on here are: Jason Porplyzia - indefinate (arrggghhh… let us know when!), Rhys Palmer - test (word is from Channel Ten news in Perth that he will play), Gary Ablett Jnr - 1 week, rookie Ben Ross - 2 weeks (ankle), Jake King - available and Matthew Richardson - test.
Geelong have ruled Gary Ablett Jnr 
The ticking injury time bomb that is our main man, Chad Cornes, has 
Forget Dean Cox’s massive 157, or O’Keefe’s 155 and even Matthew Pavlich’s 148 - because Joel Bowden’s 73 takes the prize for me this week. “Surely he breached the spirit of the game” Mike Sheahan said. Surely not Mike! Bloody fantastic Joel. This is even being compared to Chappell’s underarm delivery all those years ago - C’mon? Seriously! Teams chip it around at the end of the game (we love that great DTing) and Joel did the exactly the same thing, wasted time and won the game. But Joel gets my vote this week… for handballing it over the line (2pts), yeah yeah he should have kicked it, but thumbs up Joel.
ks, Jay Neagle (ankle) - likely to miss this week, Brad Johnson (ankle) - came back on, so is a chance to play this week, Daniel Pratt (ankle) - should be fine, Ben Ross (ankle) - likely to miss a couple of weeks, Ryan O’Keefe (ankle) - played out game and dominated, should be ok, Michael O’Loughlin (ankle) - didn’t come back on, will be 50/50 to play this week, Andrew Welsh (concussion) - unlikely to play this week, Darren Glass (quad) - monitored this week, Leo Barry (hamstring) - 2-3 weeks, Brock O’Brien (hamstring) - will miss a couple of weeks, Andrew Walker (shoulder) - was his ‘good’ one, scans today, Brendon Fevola (thigh) - corkie but should be right, Tom Hawkins (foot) - missed VFL and is likely to miss a few weeks for stress fractures.
