Final Say: Round 17, trade plans + tactics

When it rains, it pours…

After riding a serious amount of good luck for the majority of this season, the last two weeks have been a bloodbath. I’d stewed all week on using a trade to do either Cripps -> Steele or Short -> Hall and ultimately, come Friday night, the allure of Hall’s 150 in round 16 proved too attractive to bear.

With an enormous 150 from Jack Sinclair, a decent performance from Patrick Cripps, Clayton going nuts as captain, and a more-than-serviceable 78 from Ben Hobbs, come Saturday evening I was daring to dream. “If Hall goes large, I could crack the top 250!!” my stupid brain was telling me.

Then, within ten minutes, the Hall experiment came crashing down around me. Who would’ve thought that an injury-prone player, returning from injury, would get injured… Truly, truly shocking.

I forget what happened over the rest of the weekend – the trauma was too much to deal with. Coniglio and Brayshaw were exceptional. Witts sucked. 

Overall, Eddie’s Eagles scored 2,551 for the week, slipping 21 ranking spots down to 454 overall. I’m left with 5 trades and $71k left in the chamber to play around with.

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Trades

Aaron Hall -> Bailey Dale

Remaining Salary: $21,600

Trades Left: 4 (0 boosts)

Another week, another line-ball decision. The best intel we have says Hall is going to miss 1-2 weeks. If it’s 1, and you have decent cover, he’s a hold. If it’s 2, he’s likely a trade.

I’m leaning towards a trade. There’s absolutely no reason for North or Hall to hurry him back in to the side. It would be amazing to me if he returned after a week, especially given how distraught he appeared to be on the bench on Saturday night.

Dale is a nice little POD – in 5% of teams – and is as consistent as they come. His lowest score for the year is an 86 back in round 2; one of only two times he’s fallen below 90 all season. He has four 110+ scores in his last five and dropped his highest score of the year – a 134 – on the Lions last week.

The Dogs are going hell-for-leather in pursuit of a top eight spot and Dale is crucial to their chances. He should continue this great run of form and I’ll be stoked to finish the year with him as a D5/6.

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EDDIE’S CAPTAINS

We’re on fire over here! Clayton Oliver looked like one of the most guaranteed captaincy locks of all-time on paper, and he duly delivered with a ripsnorting 176 on the Crows. Let’s not talk about the rest of my top 6 from last week…

Another belter of a Thursday night game and very, very hard to go past Clarry for the VC again. He’s gone 159, 130 and 111 against Geelong in his last three, with the 159 coming at GMHBA Stadium last year.

Sydney and the Dogs play on Friday night, which means all of Mills, Bontempelli, English (if he plays), Dunkley, Macrae, Parker are in play. Of this bunch I actually really like English as a VC option – he’s gone 152, 126 and 145 in his last three against the Swans and clearly enjoys playing them.

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Collingwood take on North on Saturday – Nick Daicos anyone?… Jarrod Witts and Toby Nankervis play at Metricon and it’ll be a cracker on Saturday night with St Kilda hosting Freo and Port up against GWS. Andrew Brayshaw had a 189 against the Saints back in Round 2, while Touk Miller had 153 against the Tigers last time they played.

Sunday is where the real magic happens. Lachie Neale is averaging 171 in his last three games against the Bombers. That is not a typo. He’s also averaging 141 in his last three games at the Gabba. 

If that somehow doesn’t tickle your fancy, Rory Laird had 178 on the Hawks last time he played them and has gone 123 and 143 in the two games he’s played at Marvel this season.

Last, but not least, Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh take on the Eagles. Cripps’ record against the Eagles isn’t great but he does love Optus Stadium and had 139 there earlier this season. Sam Walsh has gone 124, 114, 113 against the Eagles in his last three games.

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Top-3 Vice Captains

1. Clayton Oliver
2. Tim English
3. Touk Miller

Top-3 Captains

1. Lachie Neale
2. Rory Laird
3. Andrew Brayshaw

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