The Laing Cup 2009

Photo Finish

Written on July 13, 2009 – 5:51 pm | by mleeds

Round 15 Review

What a finish to the season it will be. I have given a quick wrap of each game and then spent the majority of my time on a mock ladder with % over the last 3 rounds. Feel free to add your abusive comments.

 

Leeds 2117 def. Slow 1792

A solid score considering Adcock got 5 (thanks for the message Dre) and Ablett did not play. Slow made some good trades (in with Selwood and Ballantyne) and has some cash in the bank. He would have been disappointed with Hayes as his Captain but realistically he was never going to win. 

 

Strett Dogs 1893 def. Dre 1705

Disappointing for Dre to lose. This was one he needed to win. Stretto from what I can work out had Davey as Captain? This meant that Dre was in with a great chance (Stretto still would have won with Sidebottom as Captain!). Will be an exciting run home for both these teams into finals.

 

Bird 1734 def. Sandilands 1639

Sandi has come crashing down to earth in the last couple of weeks. Bird was lucky to win with this score but you simply will not win games with 1639 towards the end of the season. Time to make those big trades you have been talking up Jmann, spend some of that cash. Bird up in to 5^th! Amazing.

 

Fang 2098 def. Aleckna 1694

A huge score from Fang. Having Montagna as captain scoring 160 was a gem for him. Aleckna was always going to struggle and it seems as he has given up on the competition at this point. No comments on the blogs or the coaches box. Fang can’t make the top 8 but could do some damage in the bottom half of the draw. Great to see Fang keeping Dan out of his coveted 13^th position.

 

Laing 1869 def. Dreadey 1848

Laing needed this win. It was much closer than it should have been. Carey would have been laughing after Friday night with Neon Leon and Didak smashing it. He needed Didak as Captain which could have won him the game. Laing continues to win and do just what is required. He might need to start winning by a bit more as % will be key in the last 3 weeks.

 

Cutter 1895 def. Bill 1851

How did Bill lose this game? He had 3 players to go and Cutter had 2 players and Cutter was leading by a paltry 19 points. This will really hurt Bill’s chances of making the top 8. It also meant that Cutter will definitely finish in the top 4 and earn the double chance.

 

Dan 1789 def. Nugget 1697

Nugget would have claimed 4^th place with this win. Instead he is in 9^th. Dan gets his first upset on the run home and there maybe more to come. Well don Dan on the 3^rd win of the season. Get some form for bottom 8 finals. Nuggy you need to really ensure your team is in form for finals soon and not scoring in the 1600s.

 

Leights 1957 def. Ruthers 1360

Massive % booster by leights that sees him storm back into contention. For those playing Ruthers on the way home (Nuggy, Cutter and Laing) expect a big % boost.

 

Mock ladder

This is certainly a very exciting finish to the season, with only 3 weeks to go there are 8 teams (5^th – 12^th) separated only by %. Percentage will be a huge factor. I was sitting around thinking of DT as I often do and was wondering how the ladder would work out over the last few rounds. What I decided to do was take your average from the last 4 rounds (12-15) and use that as your score in games rounds 16-18. I have done this for the entire draw and then added your points for and against to create a %. I have included your average in (brackets) so you can figure out who you are expected to win and lose against over the last 3 rounds. The only game that seemed like it would not go with averages was Dan beating Laing in round 17, stranger things have happened though so I let the averages speak for themselves. 

 

1^st Leeds (2060)            52            110.00

2^nd Cutter  (1949)          52           108.89    

^3rd Leights (1872)          36           102.85

^4th Nugget (1819)          36            102.43

^5th Sandi (1693)             36            102.11

^6th Stretto (1840)           36            101.53

7th Laing (1788)             32           103.22* I actually think Laing will finish on 36 and be in 3rd place

8^th Dre (1844)                32            100.70

9^th Bird (1783)                28            101.75

10^th Fang (1940)            28            99.68

11^th Slow (1731)             28            98.17

12^th Bill (1698)               24            96.95

13^th Carey (1764)           24            100.40

14^th Dan (1790)              16            95.16

15^th Aleckna (1656)        12            92.23

16^th Ruthers (1512)          8            84.20

 

Keep in mind these are not my predictions but statistical evidence from form over the last 4 rounds. I do expect a few games to go differently. E.g. Fang has fluked 2 good scores the last 2 weeks. He will not ave. 1900s the last few weeks.  

Nugget statistically has the easiest run home playing Ruthers, Carey and Bill.

Fang has the hardest playing Bird, Dre and Leeds.

Sandilands can assure himself of top 4 by winning 2 of his last 3.

It is very clear that % is going to make a huge difference. 

Due to % Bill and Slow essentially have to win all of their remaining games to make the 8. 

Only Leeds, Cutter and Sandilands are guaranteed of making the 8.  

 

Posted in Reviews | 11 Comments »

Trades… and the weekend ahead

Written on July 10, 2009 – 9:14 am | by tgardiner

This week there are quite a few ins and out that will be crucial to the results of many games!

Major In – Cox, Drummond, Goodwin, Chad Cornes, Rioli, Rance, Kerr
Major Out – ABLETT, Sandilands, Geary, Milburn, Ling, Sylvia, Scarlett, Brennan, Johnstone, Silvester, Skipworth, Taylor, Varcoe
Major Unseen – Stevie J, Pav, Ottens, all of Richmond’s list over 25yo

It is an important part of DT, knowing when to trade because of injury and when to hold. As we all have experienced and Alekna has bleated, there have been a crap load of injuries this year to great players! There has to be some kind of method to your trading madness and I might just let you in on some of the thinking behind mine. Now I know some of you guys have been much worse off than me, or at least think you have been, but here is a run down of my injury list this year and what I did.

Chris Knights (eye socket 4 weeks) – Traded – decided that I didn’t want to wait for his eye socket to heal! Picked up Gibbs and have loved the decision ever since.
Liam Anthony (stress fracture 12 weeks) – Traded – picked up Beams before his price rise, still have him and I believe mini Swan was a good call
David Hille (ACL season) – Traded – i was so pissed off, deciding to go with a premium ruck structure and one of them goes down… went to kreuzer which has been ok at best.
Hayden Skipworth (hammy 5 weeks) – Traded – to Warren who earnt me a nice $170k and helped me get to Roo, good thanks.
Shaun Higgins (SUSPECTED groin issues 0 weeks) – Traded – hmm took a punt that he was going to go downhill… he didnt, but he hasn’t really gone up either, went to ROK at $100k less than he is now what a jet! so a good trade imo.
Chad Cornes (knee 4 weeks) – Held – There aren’t many quality backs around this year or any that really stand out apart from those already in my team so I decided that Broughton was good enough to cover for him… Great call… wait and see how good Chad’s return is before I get too excited.
Simon Goodwin (medial collateral ligament 3 weeks) – Held – I had ample cover so i decided to bench him, was only supposed to be 1 week but has dragged out to 3. In the context of the season im hoping it was a good hold.
Jack Ziebell (broken leg season) – Traded – traded him the week before this happened, picked his roof and made a crap load of cash, went to Muston.
Travis Boak (knee 4+) – Traded – decided i would hold either him or Cornes, went to Bartel… obviously a good call
Ben Warren (broken cheekbone then broken leg season) – Held then Traded – used the $132k he made to get to Roo, nice one.
Also I have HELD Ablett, Chapman, Cox and Davis after missing 1 or 2 weeks each, these guys are guns, if I have cover I don’t trade guns unless they are out for 4 or 5 weeks etc, case by case basis. And after this new news that Ablett will miss again this week…. its a big eff! but a solid Hold on!

anyway on with the preview…

Leeds (av 1953) v Slow (av 1754)
Cmon lowis! You are away yet still checking and commenting on the blog, how about you change your team too! You will need to this week with Johnstone, Stevie J and Scarlett going out. Kerr returning will hopefully save you a 0 but lets face it, it will be tough for you to muster enough points to overcome Leeds. Apart from Cox, Deledio and Buddy you guys have pretty different teams which helps the odds but I will be tipping Leeds by 100 points.
Key match ups: Goddard v Lockyer, Adcock v Gram, Ablett v Hayes, Hmac v Clarke.

The Polar Bears (av 1864) v Strett Dogs (av 1751)
“serious concerns down at polar bear st” was the call last week in the build up but Dre overcame Dan easily in the end to squash the youngsters finals press. This week is really important for both Dre and Stretto both sitting on 24 points with a % difference of only 0.02 the closest in the comp! Winning this match will go a long way to securing a top 8 spot with the loser in trouble of playing of for the shield with Dan come August. Word on the street is Stretto is building for a big finish to the year, thats what he told me when he came over for dinner last night… true storey. “whistle”
Dre will miss big Sandilands and Pavlich as much as Freo will… will this be the turning point? Nope coz Stretto has Sandilands too as well as Skipworth. I dunno whats going to split these two! Captains and ROK v Roo, Davis v JBrown, Bartell v Montanga, Gibbs v Corey, Higgins v Cousins just to name a few.

Birdman (av 1818) v Sandilands (av 1723)
Excuses, excuses last week Jmann… It was clear you didn’t touch your team in the lead up to our match… so you have left yourself in a bit of a hole for this week also as injuries have compounded. Non scoring players for JMann include Geary, Shoemakers, Coughlan, Muston, Swift, Sandilands, NicNat(?), Cordy, Pav, Warren, Sidebottom, Davis… leaving him with 3 or 4 0’s before trading… trouble! Looks like your % will take  another massive hit. I can hear it now “oh but i didn’t touch my team so you cant blame me” yes we can. Birdman only have an issue in the forwards with Warren, Stevie J and Sidebottom not playing, easy fixed with an upgrade of Warren. Bird will be too strong this week and could slot into 7th with a win.

Alekna (av 1741) v Fang (av 1547)
Bondy is averaging about 1875 over the last 4 weeks and looking stronger than ever. Alekna bounced back a little bit last week hitting his average. He will be happy to have Rioli back this week to cover for Skipworth… but you are still holding Ziebell?? I know what Id be doing with him and who id be bringing in… Id go Coughlan to Anthony and then Ziebell to a gun! Would strengthen your side a lot. Fang has a very strong backline and midfield but sucky rucks and forward line. Fang should run away with this and another high score this week. Match ups include Ablett v Swan, Gibbs v Montagna, Lockyer v Goddard. Fang by 175.

Cutter411 (av more) v Bill (av less)
Details don’t matter… im going to win and have the score announced at assembly next term. Thats a pretty confident statement but I think I have you in the bag this year.

Laing (av 1879) v Carey (av 1757)
Carey is in 4th and the reigning Premier is languishing interestingly in the same position as Hawthorn… 11th!! Although season averages tell a different storey confidence is everything in this game, kind of. Laing will lose Scarlett and Skipworth this week but regain Rance, Rioli and the all important Cox. I cant believe Carey has been playing without a single scoring ruck for the last couple of weeks… Cox is a welcome return but mate with Jesse White not guaranteed a game you are going to have to sort out that second ruck spot if you really want to have a shot at any kind of title, cup or shield. Stevie J not returning will hurt because he would have matched up on Deledio and you would think you could have gained some points there this leaves you to try your luck with Ballentyne v Dick, “at the bottom end”…  Laing to bounce back, he needs to because if he loses he will find himself in 12th behind leights who’s almost assured of a win this week.

Nugget (av 1886) v Dan (av 1693)
Dan writes his own preview each week. “I’m going to come home strong this year and determined to make maybe top 13 or 12 blues you have 3 o’s i advise you to make trades or you will get slaughtered against such a class team.” Although aiming to move from 15th to 12th aren’t very high aspirations… Dan you can probably win a couple more games in the coming weeks as the serious teams cruise into the finals saving trades… i know that if you try hard enough you may be a good shot against me in round 18 coz from here on in i aint trading 
Nugget your team looks great…. so strong everywhere. Forwards will struggle this week with Pav, StevieJ and Skippy out this week but you are too experienced to do anything silly this week in order to beat Dan. You are fighting for a top 4 spot so it is important though, I can see you trading skip this week depending on trades. Nugget by 30.

Leights (av 1824) v Ruthers (av 1517)
Not too much to be said here… Leights important to boost your % heading into the finals and this should occur. Your side is shaping up fairly well and you have the 6th best average so it is important you convert that into wins on the home stretch. You have potential to upset Dan, Bill and Carey in the next month and you may have a lot to do with the shape of the top 8. Do we have another contender for 4th??? Only if other results go your way.

 

 

Posted in Cutters Thoughts, Previews | 11 Comments »

Round 14 Review

Written on July 6, 2009 – 10:26 am | by mleeds

A number of close wins and losses again this week. A few results would have been very different had Stevie Johnson played but thats the way it goes. I liked Dre’s call on the coaches box about who do you think will finish 4th and get the double chance. Was that Dre making the comment or Dan, I can never tell. It will be a short one this week as i am about to leave for the hunter valley, enjoy the week boys, i know i will. Come on the Aussie’s in the Ashes.  

Leeds 2079 def Ruthers 1602

I was actually lucky Hogan played which meant i got a few more points. Ruthers was never in the hunt. Whoever made his other trades could have brought some much better players in the Aaron Davey and Brad Dick but i wasn’t complaining. No-one complains when a Dick pops up from no where do they? Just hoping for a Cox to come back next week (Gay jokes a tribute to Cutter’s preview) Ruthers continues to have won as many games as Dan. An interesting battle for the wooden spoon. 

 

Dre 1823 def. Dreamteam 1627

The problem in this game for Dan was Dre had all his gun players already in his side plus more. Example both had gibbs, o’keefe and higgins who were almost Dan’s best 3. Dre on the other hand had a number of guns to back that up like Bartel who had a great game. Dre is on the rise and realistically would be disappointed if he didn’t finish 4-5th from here. He has a good run home, needs a win against Strett dogs next week to cement his place in the top 8. Dan i would save my trades and look to win the bottom 8 finals. Your team could go quite well in this , if you finish 13th (tough but you could) you would play Ruthers first week of finals and could go a long way (in the bottom 8) 

 

Bird 1858 smashed Bill 1472

The biggest regular season game since Geelong and St Kilda (what a bloody good game by the way, hope you all watched it). Actually it was only Bill and Birdman who really cared about this and it was all for bragging rights. Bill too many injuries in your team and your midfield is a disgrace. Patty would have had an even bigger score if he didn’t cop the big doughnut from stevie J. A bit more consistency birdman and you are looking at finishing in the top 8. Bill sort out your midfield, having only one player that averages 100 (Tuck who averages 100.29) is not good enough from the highest scoring position on the ground.  

 

Aleckna 1784 beat Carey 1755

Carey had the chance to stake his claim for top 4. He would have put himself one game clear and a bit of % from the chasing pack. What cost him? Was is Stevie J not playing you ask? NO he still had Ballantyne. I cannot believe someone who could finish 4th would allow his team not to score a single point in the ruck. That’s right, Carey had no playing Ruckman, not even 1. And he lost by 29 points. That is going to cost you Carey, a silly silly mistake. It didn’t help that Bryce Gibbs scored 41 points in the last quarter for aleckna to overtake you, it was your mistake for not even choosig a second ruck. I would have traded jessie white for Zac Clarke (you still could do that this week if White does not get a game). Would have given you more cash in the bank and the win, it is easy with hindsight though.

   

Laing 1909 lost to Fang 2006

THe crazy thing is Fang copped a 0 and would have won by more if Stevie Johnson played. Laing needs to count himself very unlucky as 1909 is a pretty solid score. At this end of the season though it does not assure you of a win. Laing and Hawthorn are consistently drawing comparisons but i think that is a little unfair. I would say Laing is more like Buddy? Coleman and awesome DT player to what happened? He has a huge game next week against Dreadey which has significance for Laing making the top 8 and Dreadey the top 4. I still think Laing will make the top 8 (Slow and Strett’s draws are far too difficult and i think both will drop out, dreadey is even a chance to as well with a bad run home). Fang good win, you can’t make top 8 but can certainly do damage in the bottom half. 

 

Cutter 2093 destroyed Sandilands 1548

The Sandilands curse has ended. Could this be the start of the slide? 1548 was the second lowest score of the round after Bill. You need to pick up at least one win from the last 4 to secure a top four and realistically you need to win 2/4 if you keep losing like this (your % took a big hit). One of the disadvantages for you will be if teams like cutter score heavily against you your % gets much worse as you haven’t had many points against. On the other hand a good win for Cutter. He is back over 2000 with a solid score. When cox comes back that will look pretty good. A nice move bringing Riewoldt in as it makes your forward line much much better.  Will be a very dangerous side when Cornes come back too. 

 

Nuggy 1909 defeated the Strett Dogs 1843

Good win by Nuggy. He realistically should have got 2000 as he copped the 0 of SJ as well. Strett dogs was looking good but dropping this game really hurt. Nuggy is right back in the hunt up to 5th place and he will certainly have a good chance at smashing his future student in Dan next week. Nug’s team continues to improve, interesting to see what happens with Pav and a few other injuries in his side, will he keep them for finals or make a few more trades to secure top 4? Strett has some very important game coming up in the next few weeks which will decide if he he top 4, top 8 or the rest.

 

Leights Team 1817 def. Slow 1638

With Slow being overseas and not really checking his team this was probably always a win for leights. Not the greatest score but he did what he needed to do to get the win. Leights is now only 1 win away from 4th which is a very good recovery from him. With a % boosting win against ruthers next week anything could happen, especially with a few other crucial games for top 4/8 calculations. I think Cutter will definitely be doing the maths for Leights second team next week to make sure no dodgy captains are selected. Well don Leights and I look forward to your inevitable break into the top 8. 

Posted in Reviews | 6 Comments »

DIY Preview w short Video

Written on July 4, 2009 – 9:10 am | by tgardiner

So Cutter and I didn’t have a chance to do a video (until sat morning) as it was the last day of term. There will definitely be some good videos in the holidays maybe with a few cameos as well. I don’t know what you all think but i have been putting my reviews out like clockwork and cutter has been slacking off big time with his previews. Anyway I thought this week it might be interesting if those who actually read the blog previewed their own game. You guys have the opportunity to see if trades etc. have been made and the like. Even if your game has been previewed by the other team write your own anyway with some different points/ideas. I will go first below. Good luck on the weekend.  

Round 14 Preview Video

Posted in Previews | 8 Comments »

Candy from a BABY……

Written on June 30, 2009 – 2:44 pm | by mleeds

Another week another heartbreak for Dan the Man. This is a photo that was taken not long after Dan’s loss on the weekend. Cheer up big boy, you will get another win soon. What a weekend of dreamteam! Probably the closest games we have had in a while with a number of games going down to the last match of the weekend.  With only 5 rounds to go it will be interesting to see how the ladder works out. My guess is you will need 36-40 points to finish in the top 4 and 32-36 for top 8. The 4th place double chance and the 8th place positions will be very hotly contested. Potentially Sandilands with his great % will only need to win 1 more of his next 5 games to finish top 4!

Leeds Dynasty 2,062 def 1,922 DREAMTEAM
If Dan ever had a chance to beat me and make a run for the finals this was it. I had two 0s in the end with Ben Warren playing but scoring nothing and no Cox. Dan did have a number of fluky scores the biggest probably Mattner with a 126 (this is much more fluky than Ablett or Chapman as both players had a number of higher scores for the season. This was Mattner’s highest by 30 points!) Still a very good score Dan. You should be happy with how a number of your players are going. With a couple of trades you team will be very formidable over the coming weeks. You should look at creating a number of upsets in the run home. Your season was really ruined with your poor form at the start of the season and your draw. You play a number of difficult teams on the run home. I look forward to a few good wins. Gibbs as Captain was dumb also, he had not scored a 100 in 5 weeks. Picking Mitchell would have at least made it close (you still would have lost though).

The Polar Bears 1,872 def 1,632 Ruthers
Easy win to Dre who has been showing some good form. Dre is now only % out of the out. You probably would have hoped for a better score than this over Ruthers or for him to have a lower score to boost you % more but a win is a win. Will be a difficult game against Dan next week. If Dready, Strett, Slow, Bill, Laing or Nugget drop a game this week and you win you could be in the 8 (at least 1 of these teams will lose with a couple of them playing each other.) Ruthers team is not going so well, not sure what else to day about it.

Birdman 1,687 def by 1,711 =dreadey=
A crucial win for Carey and an opportunity missed for Birdman. There were a number of reasons for the game being won or lost (actually it was probably Ben Warren getting injured that cost Pat the game)  but dreadey holds onto 4th spot. Dredey has an easy game next week against Aleckna while Patty has the Birdman/Bill Cup. It will be named after the winner of next weekend’s game.

conchord_flight 1,568 def by 1,741 Bills Bulldozers
Bill lucky to escape here. It came down to the last game of the round with a few big scores from Tuck and the like as well as a solid contribution from Kosi. Unfortunately Aleckna looks like he could be another possibly relegation at the end of the season with little input into the blog and poor scores continuing. Leights maybe an opportunity for you to grab a second team? Lol. Good win by Bill, see above for comments about the Bill/Birdman Cup.

thebluesfan 1,668 def by 1,708 Sandiland Tigers
Sandilands is truly blessed by the DT gods this year. I am amazed every week that he finds a way to win with such woeful scores. I cannot even could the ways Laing managed to stuff this game up and lose. He would have even been confident being down by 40 or so heading into the last game with Sam Fisher v. Jared Geary (with Geary coming off scores of 22 and 16!) but alas Geary scored 96 and Fisher 53. Ouch. Laing now in a precarious position sitting just inside the top 8 on the ladder . % is good however. Sandilands has a massive match up against Cutter, will the cure on Sandi descend on the Cutter this week? Only time will tell.

cutter411 1,868 def 1,821 Fang
Cutter was very luck in the game as I had encouraged Fang to make a couple of trades before this weekend to beat Cutter but he wanted to hold some for the finals. Had Fang not got three 0s he would have won. Cutter was very unlucky with some players getting injured and not playing but that just how it goes. Will be interesting to see if Goodwin and others come back soon. I wanted to recap a convocation Cutter and I had on Friday afternoon.
Leeds to Cutter “Who is going to be your captain?”
Cutter “Ryan O’Keefe will smash it this week”
Leeds “Really, you’re not going with Ablett?”
Cutter “After his score last week I am going with O’Keefe, 5 hundreds in a row and he normally dominates against Adelaide”
I seriously though about making O’Keefe Captain after that convocation, then I remembered every time I have listened to Cutter this year my team he been far worse off. I went with Ablett as Captain and enjoyed the 100 or so extra points as a result. Fang, this week you must get rid of Bowden and a few other doughnuts.

The Blues 1,732 def by 1,801 SLow
Nugget, Nugget, Nugget. I think you were terribly unlucky to play Lowis this week. He just left for overseas and probably will not touch his team for about 6 weeks. Had you played him later in the season it may have been a different story. With only 5 rounds to go you are outside the top 8. The good news is you can definitely still finish top 4. Slow-bog, this was a very very good win. If you can improve you % on the way home you could sneak into the 4 as well.

leights team 1,897 def 1,830 Strett Dogs
A very impressive win by Leights team. In all honesty I thought Stretto would win. Leights team fired at the right time and Stretto’s faltered. I noticed there was no abuse of Cutter after this win. I was expecting Leights to unload some strong reprimands after this great victory. Leights was in the end lucky that Montagna didn’t fire and Ablett produced as captain for him. Could have been a very different result. Good win Leights. Keeping those top 8 hopes alive.

A month is a long time in footy. Below is a table for the last 4 rounds (rounds 13, 12, 11 and 10). On it you will find the average score for you team over the last 4 rounds, highest score for the 4 rounds, lowest score and win/loss record. Comments about the table are below. (this is for you Danny Boy)
Table Stats  Ave     High/Low     Win/Loss
1st Leeds    2049     2224/1929     4/0
2nd Cutter  1936     2039/1868     3/1
3rd Dan       1907    1994/1823     2/2
4th Dre        1906    1998/1775     2/2
5th Leights  1893    2018/1820     2/2
6th Bird        1875    2147/1687     2/2
7th Nugget   1867    2093/1704     2/2
8th Stretto    1838    1927/1830     2/2
9th Laing      1827    2104/1668     2/2
10th Fang     1826    1912/1734     1/3
11th Bill        1815    1921/1728     3/1
12th Sandi    1797    1876/1708     3/1
13th Carey    1716    1826/1587     1/3
14th Slow      1703    1801/1593     2/2
15th Aleckna 1659    1861/1568     0/4
16th Ruthers  1561   1658/1454     1/3

What this table shows:
Only 5 teams have a lowest score over 1800 (Leeds, Cutter, Stretto, Dan and Leights)

Only 6 teams have a high score over 2000 (Leeds, Bird, Laing, Nugget, Cutter and Leights)

Only 3 teams have a HS above 2000 and a LS above 1800 (Leeds, Cutter and Leights)

Most Consistent Teams: (based on diff between HS and LS) 1) Stretto diff 97 and 2) Dan diff 161

Least Consistent Team: (based on diff between LS and HS) 1) Patty diff 460 and 2) Laing diff 436

Luckiest Teams: (based on win/loss, ave and HS/LS) Sandilands; how can he be ranked so low and have such a great win %. Next week I will do some analysis on how far below a team’s average sides score against him. Other lucky Team Bill; a win/loss of 3/1 with the 11th best ave!

Unluckiest Teams: Dan, Dre and Fang for obvious win/loss reasons. Dan and Dre have averaged very well and should be a bit dirty about being 2/2 over the month.

Interesting: SLOW is 2/2 after having the second lowest high score!

DAN: What it does show is that you have been very strong over the last few weeks. What I would again like to point out is that you did not make the most of your easier draw early in the season. I crap start has really hurt you. Had you draw been around the other way you season would have been very different.

Posted in Bills Tips, Reviews | 7 Comments »

Pendles Breaks Leights Heart

Written on June 22, 2009 – 6:19 pm | by mleeds

Round 12 Review

Leeds Dynasty 1980 def. Bill 1728

Bill really had too much to make up from the break. I was devo i missed 2000 with Broughton on my bench in the backs scoring 122 and Ablett a letdown as my cap. You told me all along Bill. Bill is now out of the 8 on % but could be as high as 5th with a number of teams locked on 20 points. What could count against him is a tough run home and only 6 trades in the bank. Bill will run out of trades early for sure. 

 

Dre 1977 def. Carey 1740

Important Win for Dre puts him within striking distance of the 8 and improved his % a bit after a few heavy losses early in the season. He needs to continue to beat those on the ladder above him. Carey a bit unlucky and seems to be conserving a few trades over the last couple of weeks. Its a shame you can’t use Ruthers trades after he gave you his password (talked to him at footy Carey, double standards from you and Leights?) Lucky I couldn’t really give a stuff. Cracking game between Carey and Birdman next week, Dre to continue to push for the 8 with a win over Ruthers. 

 

Birdman 1852 def Ruthers 1454

This win takes Bird to a % over 100 which will be important with the gridlock ahead of him on the ladder. Bird has a few injured players that will come back in the coming weeks and he should be a force later in the season. Ruthers has dipped again in form, look for Carey to sort out that problem for him in the coming weeks.  

 

Dan 1823 def Aleckna 1598

Dan has leapfrogged into 14th position with a very good win over Aleckna. Not a half bad score again Dan. It will be a tough match up against me next week but with a bit of luck on your side you could easily win. The best thing for you Dan was that you had a playing emergency in every position apart from Ruck this week. Good depth. Still got a couple of spuds but not going too badly. Aleckna I think you season is long over, while Dan could make a dent in the shield competition (bottom you are pretty finished. 

 

Laing 1706 def by. Stretto 1795

Certainly a bad game to lose for Laing and a good win for Stretto. Stretto holds down 4th spot outright and it will be an interesting game next week against Leights. Bowden and Rioli really hurt Laing and he will probably need to win a few tight games on the way home to finish in 4th spot. Not ideal for the 2008 Premier. Will be a crunch game against Sandilands again. Laing might need to make a few crucial trades. 

 

Cutter 1938 def. Slow 1693

Cutter had this under control from the previous thursday with a couple of strong trades. Bringing in Bartel was always going to make his team very strong and it showed. Slow has been battling and faces some difficult games on the run home. In the next couple of weeks he could realistically slide out of the top 8 al together. Will have to wait and see how it all plays out. Nugget would be confident next week playing him. 

 

Nugget 1938 def. Fang 1836

Good win by Nugget. With a couple of 0s for fang it was going to be difficult for him to win. Good captain choice by fang (Swan) made it more competitive but not much was going on here. Nugget now in 7th on the gridlock. 

 

Sandilands 1876 def. Leights 1820

Sandilands is without doubt a bogie team for all concerned. He just finds a way to win and has a very strong %. Probably the biggest come from behind win I have seen with an amazing amount of luck. I was watching the news on Sunday night fully expecting to see Jman having purchased a Lotto ticket and collecting the winnings it was so far against the odds. Pendles plays and gets a 0 (averaging 115) Malceski is dropped (has happened once before but a bit unlucky) and Ablett has his lowest score of the season as leights captain. All anomalies in themselves, but to happen in the space of 24 hours was amazing to say the least. Well done on the top of the table again Jman. Leights Finds himself % and 2 games outside the 8 with not that many to play in the regular season. He plays Stretto next week! Will he save trades and try and win the bottom 8 comp or go all out and compete for the Premiership? Time will tell……..   

Posted in Reviews | 20 Comments »

Leeds Fun Facts

Written on June 18, 2009 – 7:10 pm | by mleeds

Its the Half-Round and I am bored. Thought you guys might enjoy some fun related fantasy DT stats (all stats are pre round 12):

• Only 1 Back overages over 100 this year so far! (Goddard: 101). This does not compare well with 15 mids averaging over 100 and 4 Forwards also averaging over 100.
• Only 5 backs average over 90 and of these 5 only 3 played in the split round (bowden gooooone and Chad injured. FYI others were Duffield 94, Lockyer 98 and Goddard 101)
• Only 8 forwards average over 90 where as 46 mids average over 90!
• Dean Cox has the highest minimum (i was going to say highest lowest but Dan wouldn’t understand an oxymoron) in 91. Actually there have only been 3 games cox has not got 100 and his scores were 91, 99 and 98)
• Out of Left Field Sydney’s Jude Bolton’s lowest 2 scores are 78 and 89 (he has posted 104, 95, 133, 110, 121, 108, 108, 99) who would have guessed that!
• Out of 11 games Jimmy Bartel has 10 DT Tons.
• Bryce Gibbs scored 100+ in 4 out of his first 5 games this year. He has only scored 100+ in 2 out of his last 7!
• Joel Selwood’s lowest score this year is 85. He has also scored 450 point more than bothers Troy and Scott combined. 
• Lenny Hayes has scored a DT ton in his last 7 games. 
• 11 players have scored over 150 in a game this season. Chapman, Swan and Ablett have done it twice!
• David Wirrapanda’s highest score is 153 in a game, his second highest 98, his third 78!
• Brendan Whitecross has made the most money this season $201,500 and only 8800 people have him.
• After this round Buddy Franklin would have lost the most money around $140,000 and he is the most owned player with 123505 teams having him!
• The most inconsistent player this season without injury was Travis Johnston (scores of 140, 64, 56, 38, 51, 96, 63, 124, 53, 41) Incase you were wondering i used Standard Deviation for all you egg heads.
• Richo’s breakeven will be 218 when he finally plays again. Grand Final Bargin anyone? (he is meant to come back first week of DT finals, Round 19) 
• 164 players played in every game from round 1 to 11. (511 had played at least 1 game) 
• While there were a number of playing 0s this year (e.g. Drummond, Hille and Harvey) 2 players scored only a single DT point in a game (Rhan Hooper Round 11 and Thomas Murphy Round 3)

Thats all the time wasting I have for you boys. Any of you interested in writing a couple of reviews or doing some analysis of our league (in uni of school holidays) let Cutter or I know and we will be happy to post a blog entry for you. 

Posted in Leeds Musings | 3 Comments »

report card…

Written on June 17, 2009 – 3:55 pm | by tgardiner

so every week leeds and myself (and now laing) have a go at your side and all the things you are doing wrong… here is your chance to tell us what you really think about your season so far…

 

 

1) Team Name -
2) Weekly average -
3) Current Ranking (you can choose which is more valid, total points or table) -
4) Where you think you will finish -
5) Strength -
6) Weakness -
7) Best Trade -
Worst Trade -

Feel free to write off everyones self confidence…
This is inspired by split round boredom… I will go first.

1) Cutter411
2) 1946
3) 1st… according to total pointa
4) I will finish top 2 before finals… it will be up in the air from there
5) Number of premiums (18 by leeds calcs)… inc ablett bartel gibbs leon chad goddard etc
6) seems i have injury prone players, been getting someone injured almost every week…
7) picking ziebells roof… selling him last week before his injury and 26k price drop… upgrading to bartel, aweosme
higgins to o’keefe…. thought higgins would start to lose the plot with his groin injuries… o’keefe has outscored him since but only just, not worth a trade.

Posted in Cutters Thoughts, Reviews | 11 Comments »

Half-Round Update

Written on June 15, 2009 – 5:52 pm | by mleeds

Quick Review. Nothing groundbreaking but a few things interesting. A small comment on each game. With numbers of players left Captain counts as a player if you can’t figure that out. (e.g. bill has 4 players left plus captain thus he has 5 to play). I have also added a calculation based on what you need your ‘extra players’ to average in order to catch up. E.g. I have 4 ‘extra’ players to play than Bill (for all you slow ones thats 9-5) and Bill is ahead by 66 points. My 4 extra players therefore need to ave 16.5 dream team points in order for me to make up the points I am behind Bill. The ave therefore erases the deficit. Anyway its the most maths work I have done since I copied off Ski in year 8 so you better enjoy it.  

Leeds vs. Bill

Points difference: Bill by a measly 66 points 

Players Left: Bill: 5, Leeds: 9

Predicted outcome: Leeds easy win. Bill interesting choice of captain in Goodes.

Ave to make up diff: Leeds extra 4 need 16.5 ave

 

Dre v Carey

Points Difference: Dre is 201 points ahead of Carey. 

Players Left: Dre 9, Carey 11

Predicted Outcome: Not sure. Depends on if either has a 0. If not Dre should have enough of a lead. 

Ave to make up diff: Carey’s extra 2 need: 100.5 ave

 

Bird v Ruthers

Points Difference: Bird winning by 385 points

Players Left: Bird 11, Ruthers 14

Predicted Outcome: Needless to say Bird. 

Ave to make up diff: Ruthers extra 3 need: 128.3 to catch up

 

Dan v. Aleckna 

Points Difference: Dan up by 257 points

Players Left: Aleckna: 9, Dan: 7

Predicted Outcome: All comes down to Ablett and Dan’s Sydney players. The Swans match will be the make or break for Dan. Dan should win but I am hoping for a big one from Ablett to get Aleckna over the line. 

Ave to make up diff:Aleckna needs his 2 to ave: 128.5 more than Dans. 

 

Laing v Strett Dogs

Points Difference: Laing up by 257 points (as well!)

Players Left: Laing 8, Stretto 11

Predicted Outcome: You would think Stretto would win but with the strength of players Laing has left I will tip him in a tight one. Too many duds Stretto.

Ave to make up diff: Laing needs his 3 extra players to ave 85.6

 

Cutter v Slow

Points Difference: Slow 444 points in front  

Players Left: Cutter: 13, Slow 7

Predicted Outcome: Not enough of a lead for slow. Cutter should come home and win. 0 really killed slow with Travis Johnson out.

Ave to make up diff: Cutter needs his 6 to ave 74

 

Nugget v Fang

Points Difference: Nugget 8 points in front 

Players Left: Fang: 9, Nugget: 10

Predicted Outcome: Closer than i thought but a couple of 0s will kill Fang. Nugget to win. 

Ave to make up diff: Nugget needs -8 (3 FA would be -9, i can see Malesci doing that!) from 1. 

 

Leights v JMan

Points Difference: Leights 34 points in front 

Players Left: Leights: 10, Jman: 8

Predicted Outcome: Jman will no longer be on top of the table. Leights to win easily and stay in the hunt for the 8. Coming home strong detective Corr.  

Ave to make up diff: Leights needs to have 2 players score: -17. Its over. 

Posted in Reviews | 2 Comments »

Mid Season Review (by Laing)

Written on June 12, 2009 – 3:22 pm | by tgardiner

MID SEASON REVIEW (by thebluesfan)
 
SANDILANDS (6 WINS:2 LOSSES, 1st)
Team Value = $8.086M
Without doubt the surprise packet of the season so far…so how is JMan on top of the table?? I seriously have no idea, it must be a mixture of a favourable draw and a bucket load of arse…Having said that his team did somewhat take me by surprise, its not actually that bad…His midfield contains the likes of Judd, JCorey, KCornes and Chance with some nice cash cows like Muston, Rich and Coughlan…Not breathtaking but more than adequate…His ruck combination of Sandilands and Kreuzer is quite good, you could argue that No Cox = No Ruck…but…Sandi is averaging over 90, so he is probably only giving  Big Cox a 20 point start and saving a bit of cash…He also has Naitanui – who has been carving up for Swan Districts, and Woosha has finally given him the nod…this could be another cash cow in the making…As for his forward line…WOW…is there any better? Pavlich, Delids, Fevolenko, Rhino, JBrown and Franklin…this is without doubt his strength, a massive forward line…

SO FAR…He may not have scored many points, but who cares…he sits on top with Leeds and Cutter…he has had an easy run so far, but with his memorable “Apprentice beats Master” win over Went and an earlier win over Slow, he has shown glimpses…

THE FUTURE…Tough run home, takes on myself, Leeds, Cutter, Dre…I think he can possibly win 3, which may squeeze him into finals (especially with his massive percentage)…however drastic action needs to be taken with his backline…With the likes of Hoops Houlihan, Hill, Malceski, Rance it doesn’t look to flash…really needs a couple of guns in there…may I suggest the likes of Goddard or Lockyer..sadly the greatest ever DT player, J-Bow, looks like he may have scored his last 100 plus score of his career…

STARS: Corey, Judd, Sandilands
TURDS: Malceski, Scoenmakers, Phil Davis (who is this bloke???)

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…8-9th

LEEDS DYNASTY (6 WINS:2 LOSSES, 2nd)
Team Value = $8.974M
Leeds is not exactly short on confidence when it comes to managing his DT squad…and you can’t blame him for that, he has a super squad packed full of stars – he claims to have 19 premium players, the most in the competition…The only possible way of strengthening his squad would have been to draft in the one and only UBER premium star of the decade, J-Bow, sadly he is no longer with us…Is there any point in me going thru his side anyway??? I think we all realise by now (Ruthers being a possible exception) that Leeds Dynasty goes all right…With the likes of Ablett (not Luke), jSelwood, Goddard, BigCox and Chapman to name a few he will continue to carve up for the rest of the year.

SO FAR…Hasn’t been the total domination he may have expected, incurring a couple of losses along the way, mind you losses to thebluesfan and Cutter 411 are far from disgraceful…The narrow win against Went in round 9 may prove to be the turning point of his season…The season highlight came 1 round later when he humiliated Leights by almost 400 points!! Leeds would have celebrated hard after this win…I had visions of him waving his jacket above his head in a Sheedy-like manor, with a few benny cousins finger salutes in there as well…

THE FUTURE…His boys will be up and running come finals time, anything below a top 2 finish would be a disappointment for this proud veteran. The big questions hanging over Leeds: can he make his trades go the distance? Can he handle finals pressure? I answer both questions with a resounding YES…

WHAT DOES LEIGHTS (and his whistle) THINK…Leeds may struggle in the back half of the season considering he is now having to spend time managing Fangs team also…This will most probably lead to sloppy trades and potential deduction of points before the season is out (still waiting on a detailed response from Virtual Sports after I blew the whistle on him last week)…

STARS…See above, there are plenty
TURDS…Leeds doesn’t waste his time with turds
CRYSTAL SHERRIN SAYS…Top 2 finish…Premiership Material

CUTTER411 (6 WINS:2 LOSSES, 3rd)
Team Value = $8.864M
Another veteran of DT…he has put in the time and has reaped the benefits so far… Cutter put in one of the biggest preseason’s ever seen by man…rumours circulated (not by Leights in this instance) that it wasn’t uncommon for the leader of cutter411 to be attending interstate practice matches to go in search of some serious cash cows to help him bolster his bottom line…I think this increased focus on the new players may have been required after his experimentation with Bachar Houli last season…clearly a low moment in the history of Cutter…Cutter has plenty of stars ready to attack the back end of the season with the likes Gablett, Gibblet, Chapman and Davis to name just a few…

SO FAR…Had a tough draw and has managed only 2 losses (to the Polar Bears and Birdman)…Cutter would have to be happy with this start, beating the major players Leeds, thebluesfan (giving myself a rap here) and Went…but in a couple of months no one will care that cutter was 6 and 2 at round 11…it’s all about success in the finals…

THE FUTURE…pretty comfortable run home it must be said…should be able to use trades sparingly and keep them for the finals…any more than 1 loss in h&a would be a disappointment…

WHAT DOES LEIGHTS (and his whistle) THINK…See Leeds Dynasty section above, then remove Fang and replace with Strett Dogs…

CRYSTAL SHERRIN SAYS…Top 2 finish…Premiership Material

=DREADY= (5 WINS:3 LOSSES, 4th)
 Team Value = $8.023M
Wasnt too sure what to expect from Carey…but he has been somewhat of a surprise packet, along with Sandilands…dready has actually managed to get a lot of stars into his lineup, I particularly like his choice of Gablett AND Bartell in the middle, how decadent of you Carey…Goddard and J-Bow in the backline and Stevie J, Riewoldt and Davis in the forward line…There is no doubting his upper echelon players, but this possibly leaves him a little short at the lower end…

SO FAR…got off to a massive start scoring successive 2,000 + scores….brilliant start…losses to Stretto and Fang would have been a disappointment, be he would have been delighted with his victory of arch nemesis, Sandilands…

THE FUTURE…buggered if I know…probably needs to win 2 games from his matches v Polar Bears, Bird and Conchord…anything less that this will see him battle for finals…get a look at his last 4 games…thebluesfan, cutter411, The Blues and Leights….very very tough, best of luck with that Carey…

STARS…See above
TURDS…Petterd, Suban, Suckling, Jesse White, Gumbleton…some of these are bench players thou…

CRYSTAL SHERRIN SAYS…I will back you in Carey to be 7-8th

THEBLUESFAN (5 WINS:3 LOSSES, 5th)
Team Value = $8.6M
How good is this team, an absolute bunch of champions managed by the best in the business…there was talk that maybe thebluesfan would suffer from the dreaded premiership hangover, but this recent inductee to the DT Hall of Fame has put in a some solid performances and sits in a relatively nice spot on the table considering his easy run home…

SO FAR…What a tough draw, started with a loss to cutter but learnt a massive leason…never choose Delids as captain…should have listened to Leeds and gone with J-Bow….Managed to get wins in 2 blockbuster games v Leeds (GF rematch) and Went…However, consecutive lossed to Dre and the flying Bird in rounds 8 and 9 put thebluesfan right back in the pack…

THE FUTURE…Can he go back to back?? Of course he can…just needs a little bit of luck, as all managers do come finals time…the run home thou should be easy enough, thou a rejuvenated Fang and Strett Dogs may not be the easy beats they once were…Ruthers will remain easy…highly placed Sandilands and =dready= could be capable of pull off something special…Some player concerns – J-Bow, Harding, Rioli, Krakouer…close to $250k in the bank should help draft in some quality…Players like Pav, StevieJ, Gablett, Goddard, Swan are all being looked at…I would imagine a couple of these guys will make their way into the side before finals…

UBER-STARS…J-Bow (sadly must be traded out)
STARS…Bartell, Judd, Gibblet, JSelwood…Best Midfield in the Comp…
TURDS….haha, no thanks

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…3-4th…Premiership Favourites…

SLOW (5 WINS:3 LOSSES, 6th)
Team Value = $7.952M
Slow has managed a very good first half of the season, has managed to be fairly consistent around the 1750 mark…performances will need to lift substantially thou with some very hard opponents coming up…The most worrying sign for Slow is the amount of zeros he had in round 11…1 in the backline, 1 in the midfield and 1 in the forwards (Rioli – 16pts, basically a zero)…many players like Cyril, the Chad, Wirrpanda, Kerr (suspension), Petterd have been causing headaches of late…just at the moment Slow doesn’t have the players on the paddock (or playing reserves). If this can be sorted shortly, finals should be on the agenda.

SO FAR…Solid…started off with a bang with 2052 in round 4. Has stung the victories together nicely but hasn’t had too much opposition…

THE FUTURE…Very very tough…cutter, Went, Leights, Leeds, Dre, Bird, Conchord…Ouch, that is real bad…I reckon, you need 3 wins, which I will back you to do…love your ruck combination of Cox and Clark…

STARS: Lockyer, Hayes, Judd, KCornes, Cox, Stevie J, plus a replacement for Chad
TURDS: Pyke, Taylor Swift, Cockie

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…Top 8, just…

STRETT DOGS (5 WINS:3 LOSSES, 7th)
Team Value = $8.1M
A very controversial team of late…who is in charge of this team?? Who really cares, other than Leights…Who ever is looking after this mob has really done quite a good job…Really good backline boasting Lockyer, Enright, Sammy Fisher and Chris Newman…A few classy midfielders like Jselwood, Corey and Kirk…I love Cousins in there as well, if he can remain injury free (not to mention drug free), you may really get some good scores out of him…he appears to have survived the initial axing, and will be playing for his career…How about the ruck department down at Strettos – BigCox and Sandi, i think by the end of the year this will be the best ruck combination possible…Sandi is a gun…Forward line also boasts JBrown, Big Nick R, Buddy and Aaron Davey…

SO FAR…not sure what Leights has been goin on about with Stretto…it would appear that the dogs have been pretty consistent throughout the season, a couple of low scores here and there but that has happened to all the best sides this season…had a reasonably easy draw so far

THE FUTURE…another team facing a very tough run home….this starts with thebluesfan this weekend, but I think Stretto would really back his chances here…possible upset in the making here, and if that happens – finals will be a mere formality.

STARS: plenty listed above…Cox, Corey and Jselwood the best of them
TURDS: Taylor Swift, Suban (if you had him from the start – lock in your $100k profit…cant see any more upside)

CRYSTAL SHERRIN: will remain 7th

BILLS BULLDOZERS (5WINS:3 LOSSES, 8th)
TEAM VALUE = $8.019M

Great to see Bill sitting in the top 8 at the half way mark of the season…maybe the dedication and knowledge of Leeds and Cutter has rubbed off on this DT Lover…I would imagine that not to many people were expecting much from Bill this year so it has been good to see him get up…Bills Bulldozers are the Balmain Dockers of the Sydney Footy League…he won’t win a heap of games against quality opponents but will put in a show and jag an occasional game…I hope this continues…

SO FAR…had a massive win against Dre last round (deserved a rising star nomination), which probably gets my vote for upset of the season…that was on the back of a nice win against Sandilands…currently on a 3 match winning streak…

THE FUTURE…bad news is that winning streak will come to an end this coming round when he takes on Leeds…if i am to be realistic, it will be hard for Bill to win anymore that 2 games for the rest of the season – he has a real tough run, but I hope I am proved wrong…

STARS: Goddard, Judd, Goodes, Cox, Pav (injury concerns – The Chad, Goodwin)…I like the presence of Fevolenko in the forward line – a proven match winner…
TURDS:  Pyke, Yarran, Myke Cook (another player i didn’t even know existed)

CRYSTAL SHERRIN: will just miss out on finals…9-10th…watch out in 2010…

THE BLUES (4 WINS:4 LOSSES, 9th)
TEAM VALUE = $8.679M

Has had a very tough draw but has come out in reasonable shape to be sitting just outside the 8…Has a few concerns with his team, got way too many donoughts against his apprentice…With the likes of The Chad, Drummond, Malceski, Petrenko, Broughton and Raines in the backline, work is definitely needed…but a few trades should be able to fix these problems…The fairly average backline is more than compensated with the remainder of the side – midfield, ruck and forward lines are all superb packed full with stars…

SO FAR…Went probably wouldn’t be overly happy with where he sits on the ladder, but he hasn’t had a problem getting big scores…has even lost with a score over 2000, which is pretty damn unlucky…His biggest scalp was Dre in round 10. The wins against Leights and Bird would have also given him some bragging rights I reckon…

THE FUTURE…If he can fix up his depleated backline, which I expect to happen in the next month or so, should be no problems making the 8, top 4 could be tough but isn’t out of the question…Pretty easy run home, could possibly get on a massive win streak if all goes well…worst case scenario would be losing 2 games i reckon…

STARS…Plenty – gablett, Gibblet, jSelwood, Judd, Goddard, Cox, Stevei J
TURDS…Malceski, Petrenko (massive turd), Raines

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…5-6th…Premiership threat

BIRDMAN (3 WINS:5 LOSSES, 10th)
TEAM VALUE = $8.792M

Has been very erratic to say the least…one minute he is a superstar, next he is turning in is some pretty lean weeks…Much like Went, the defence is probably Birds weakness with The Chad injured, there are a lot of mediocre type players who are in one week out the next e.g. Petrenko, Houlihan, Cheney, Broughton…this can leave him struggling to fill that last 1 or 2 defending spots…Midfield has some geelong star power with gazza and selwood…again I think 1 more quality midfielder would make a massive difference, or maybe Muston who he has drafted can be this player…Has the number 1 ruck combo which is a massive strength as is his forward line…In fact the forward line is real good – Stevie J, Riewoldt, Davis, Delids and Buddy…cant get too much better than that Patty…

SO FAR…Got off to a bad start losing his opening 4 games, then managed to kick start his season with a win over Leights, then beat thebluesfan and cutter411 which were 2 of the biggest upsets seen all year. Was a truly wonderful turn of form from the Bird…Just when it appeared the Bird was in full flight, Dan managed to go massive and do to Patty what he had done the previous 2 weeks…
 
THE FUTURE… When I think Bird, I think unpredictability and excitement…In all honesty I have no idea how Patty will go for the rest of the season, but it will be fun for all…Most of the gun teams have been played, but how will he perform against the lower teams?? Again, I don’t know…He should win alot of games on the run home, anything outside the top 8 would be a disappointment.

STARS…Goddard, jSelwood, gablett, Judd, Cox, Stevie J, Riewoldt, Neon Leon

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…Should sneak into 8…

LEIGHTS TEAM (3 WINS:5 LOSSES, 11th)
TEAM VALUE = $8.426M

Where to start for Leights?? If I had been writing this review on his side last year I would have drawn comparisions with St Kilda…a team that is always talked about as premiership contenders but never really gets anywhere close…in 2009, St Kilda have moved forward…Leights hasn’t…not to say there isn’t hope for Leights this season, because there is…If I can, I would like to pass on some valuable advice to Leights – just worry about getting the full potential out of your side, and forget about what all the other teams are doing, whether or not fang and stretto are getting advice from the Leeds and Cutter etc etc…all this whistle blowing is putting too much pressure on your own performance  – get back to the basics and finals are viable…Backline again is a little shallow, very similar to Went and Bird…I am liking Pendlebury and Mitchell in the middle…Rhino in the forward line should be good for the remainder of the season, as his form is well and truly on the climb after a flat start to the season…

SO FAR…Started with 3 losses, but all against quality opponents in The Blues, thebluesfan and cutter411…wins against conchord, Polar Bears and =dready= are all good solid wins…

THE FUTURE…I don’t know…Leights has a nice run home, but he appears a more interested in breaking Hutchie like stories…If he can put his journalistic desires to the side and focus on DT wins, he should go ok – but with so many quality team shooting for finals, I think 2010 maybe a better year for leights team…

STARS…Pendlebury, Mitchell, Goddard, Tarkyn, Judd, Cox, Chappy and Riewoldt
TURDS…Raines, That Canadian Ruckman, Malceski

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…9-10

THE POLAR BEARS (3 WINS:5 LOSSES, 12th)
TEAM VALUE = $8.969M

Only Leeds has a higher overall team value than the bears….but how could it be that Dre is currently in 12th when on points he is 5th? It would appear that teams seem to get up for the games against Dre…It has been well publicised Dre’s comments during the mid season break about backing his own ability and making his opponents “rise even further” to beat him…Is this a sign of confidence or desperation?? He must clearly be frustrated with the lack of wins on the board, but, he does have a quality side and you would imagine this should pay off shortly, especially with those 2 gun carlton midfielders he has…

SO FAR…Has beaten quality sides in thebluesfan, Birdman and cutter411…he wouldn’t have been happy when he scored 1998 against Went and still lost…Lost to Leights which wouldn’t have gone down too well…

THE FUTURE…unless his bad luck continues, he should make top 8 and will be a massive threat to the premiership if all goes well…

STARS…Goddard, Tarkyn, Gibblet, Murph (good pick this), Mitchell, Cox
TURDS…Yarran, Pyke, White, Tuck (these are bench players thou)

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…6th …PREMIERSHIP OUTSIDER

FANG (3 WINS:5 LOSSES, 13th)
TEAM VALUE = $7.703M

Fang has been gathering momentum of late, much to the displeasure of Leights…There is quite a lot to like about this side, thou the backline will need a reshuffle now that J-Bow has been purshed to the side (disgraceful Rawlings)…Fang would have to be happy with Swans scores in the last couple of games, and would be hoping this form continues for a while…Fang is one of the few team to go Cox-less in the ruck, in favour of Kosi and Dean Bogan…A poor percentage will make it hard…

SO FAR…Started horribly with 1096 in round 4. This was the lowest score for our competition, until Ruthers managed to underscore it with a truly awful 1074, when he was coincidently playing against Fang…I will put Fangs 1096 down as an outlier, and ever since this his scores have been on the improve almost every week, managing a wonderful 1912 in round 10…

THE FUTURE…Fang will certainly be competitive which is great, he is no longer the easy beat that he may have been earlier in the year. If he can scrape together a couple of wins, I think he has done well…

STARS…Swan, Montagna, Mitchell, Stevie J
TURDS…has a couple, but will give him a break

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…12 – 13th

CONCHORD_FLIGHT (2 WINS:6 LOSSES, 14th)
TEAM VALUE = $7.703M

Conchord has some reasonable players, but unfortunately just haven’t been able to get a win since round 5…with the likes of The Chad, Cyril, Rooke, Taylor out injured along with Coughlan and Krakouer being dropped there are plenty of holes starting to show, I hope there are trades to spare or it could get real tough…

SO FAR…Started brilliantly with 2 consecutive scores over 1900, beating Bird and Dre…hasnt been too flash since, the low light was without doubt losing to Ruthers…that is REAL low…

THE FUTURE…As has been mentioned above, there are many concerns with the lineup, all will depend on the amount of trades remaining…Future doesn’t look too bright at the moment, but could be capable of an upset or 2…

STARS…gablett, Gibblet, Sewell, Cox
TURDS…probably goes without saying that if you’re in 13th spot you probably have a couple of turds…

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…13-14th

RUTHERS (2 WINS:6 LOSSES, 15th)
TEAM VALUE = $7.788M

I don’t what to say for Ruthers…he was really keen to get into DT at the start of the season, his licence was stamped and then he has betrayed all in “The Laing Cup” by churning out putrid displays week after week, without fail…As Leeds has said before the bloke would probably struggle to find the DT homepage, let alone the cutter blogs so  feel free to rip the blokes side…On a recent discussion on DT, Ruthers was dismayed that myself and Went found a spare 20 minutes on a Friday afternoon to look at our sides and make a trade here and there…he said that he just didn’t have the spare time for it….thou I have heard that he has no problem playing the ps3 to all hours of the night…I guess you make time according to how much you like it…very disappointing…I should take control of this team, then again not even I would find this an easy job…I suppose it would be like managing Richmond without J-Bow and Richo…Plus I don’t want to get Leights anymore fired up than he is already…A message to ruthers, your DT career is on the line here if you don’t lift chances are you will never be allowed back by those in power

SO FAR…has the season started?

THE FUTURE…You aint go not future, Jack! (Quote from Batman, if you wondering)

STARS…what are they again??
TURDS…Life is too short to list all the turds in Ruthers lineup…

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…16th

DREAMTEAM (1 WINS:7 LOSSES, 16th)
TEAM VALUE = $7.979M

Unlike Ruthers, Dan does have some prospects for the rest of the year, especially if the last 2 weeks are anything to go by…I think Dan may turn out to be a real danger team to the top 8  teams, especially if they are trying to conserve trades. A few players to like in the backline are Fisher, Enright, Gilbee and Gram…The real weakness is the midfield thou with only Gibblet, Mitchell and possibly Higgins showing any class…Really needs to fix this up if you want to take down some big scalps…Sandilands and Jolly is a good ruck combination and I love Fevolenko up front…

SO FAR…not too good, but can take alot from the win against Patty last round…that was massive…

THE FUTURE…Could be a danger man…realistically you couldn’t see anymore than 1-2 wins

STARS…not heaps but giblet and Mitchell go alright
TURDS…has a number of them, wouldn’t be overly constructive to list them

CRYSTAL SHERRIN…15th

FUTURISTIC LADDER
After writing my above comments, I have decided on the below ladder…it does differ from the Crystal Sherrin…In all honesty, I still have no ideal how it will all end up, how many trades individual teams have will be the major determining factor…Good luck to all teams for the rest of the season…

1.       Leeds Dynasty
2.       Cutter411
3.       Thebluesfan
4.       The Blues
5.       The Polar Bears
6.       Slow
7.       Strett Dogs
8.       Birdman
9.       =dready=
10.   Sandilands Tigers
11.   Leights Team
12.   Bills Bulldozers
13.   Fang
14.   Conchord Flight
15.   Dreamteam
16.   Ruthers

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