The Friday Scramble: Round 18

You could equate this part of the DT season to being a bit like being at an auction whilst the auctioneer is standing up just cr$ping on about how lovely the place is and how you would be mad to miss out blah blah blah… we get it mate, we are here aren’t we!  So too is the DT seasion, we have had weeks now to just take a look around, position ourselves, imagine what parts we would swap and change about the property only to get it perfect in our mind.  Now we sit back and wait for the preamble rubbish to finish before we get to the real stuff the bidding… or in our case, DT Finals.

So based on that rather obscure and fairly loose analogy, I don’t see a lot of scrambling going on at this time of year as we are just sort of treading water until the Finals start as we don’t have enough trades or we are just content with our position and are saving the trades for the finals.

Should I Go Down to Come Up?

One question I was asked when I put the call out this week came from @hawker68 (whose team is doing so well I should be asking him for help!).  The question that he asked and I think many others have been asking is… should I do a single upgrade of an OK player to a great player or should I do a downgrade and then upgrade a lesser player to a great player. 

Now if this were Round 8 and we all still had plenty of trades this is a no brainer.  But at this stage of the season with trades really at a low ebb this can be a season defining decision.

The example that Hawker gave us was:

• Whitecross to Pendles (obviously using some DPP links)
• Old Mac to Pendles and A Hall to Couch with Dusty and Whitecross as cover up forward.

Personally in this case if I was to do either it would be to go Whitecross to Pendles.  I think that you would be conserving a trade whilst improving your team. 

With 2 rounds still to go before Finals I think that saving 4 + trades is the best option you can have.  So if you had 6 or more, you could do the double trade, but even then, going into the finals with 5 trades would put you in a fantastic position!

This also answers a query by @mynameisJoel , not sure what his name is though??  Could be Joel??   He asks, with 4 trades left should he do a bit of sideways trading to improve his team or save them for the finals.  For me, if you only have 4 left.  Save them for finals (unless you are struggling to make the 8) as you will certainly need them then to deal with the regular visits from The General.

Travis Cloke

This guy should have signed his contract weeks ago when he was worth something.  However, he has not only killed his real value but also his DT value.  But @dpillar asks… Will he kill it this week or should I jump ship now. 

Personally I think that unless you have a stack of cash and 4+ trades left you are pretty much stuck with him.  Whether or not he will kill it in scoring…. who knows.  I just wouldn’t be trading him in until he strings a couple of awesome games together…  but even then I wouldn’t be confident with him.

Paddy Ryder

@camfell asked me abuot Paddy Ryder.  Should he keep or trade him if you don’t have much cash or trades.  I think you answered your own question mate, if you don’t have much cash or limited trades I think you are pretty stuck to be honest.

I traded the big guy in two weeks before he went down and as soon as I heard 4 weeks I unloaded him again and brought in the Rough!

I’m Bored, Can We Go Home Now?

@RowanPotter asked how do you still be enthused about DT when you have run out of trades?  Well to be honest Rowan, I am not sure.  But I know that the boys at Virtal Sports are thinking up new ways to keep everyone involved each year.

In that position I would just be trying to see what I can get out of my team each and every week and manage it to within an inch of its’ life to try and take down some of the guys that have been saving trades when they know that you are out of them!  Beating a guy that has trades when I have none is always a satisfying feeling.

Things to Remember

•  Don’t fool yourself into thinking you won’t catch the kids’ sicknesses- They will always get you in the end! 
• Beware of fools gold – Travis Cloke is very very cheap for a reason… he is no good at the moment!  If he was going to score 110’s he wouldn’t be priced below $300k
• If your ladder position won’t move… Don’t Trade – Even though you might score an extra 30 – 40 points, if you don’t need them to win your league game then save the trade for later.
• If you do trade, make sure you look at the run your new player has in DT Finals – You don’t want to pick up a guy that has a great run in the next two weeks then has the 4 toughest teams across the finals.  Similarly beware of loading up on Crows just because they have the Suns in R23.  Remember the Hawks of 2011.

Apologies all for the shorter scramble this week.  As you might have guessed from one of my things to remember, I have been crook for half the week and didn’t have my regular time to prepare.  Thanks also to my Tweeters who came through with things they wanted to discuss.  Sorry I didn’t get to all of you, once again lack of time whilst I have been busy coughing meant I could only look at a few of them.

Good luck this week.  Not long to go now.  Catch me over the weekend @pkd73 and I will give you any bit of info that I have…