Round 6 Preview

As you may have noticed I missed last week and I apologise. But I felt that it was my duty as an Australian, to stumble around the streets of Melbourne and rock up at the dawn service at 6 in the morning, slightly inebriated, to commemorate our fallen fore-fathers. As they would have wanted. So with my apologies aside, I'm going to put this weeks out a bit early to make up for it.

After the week that has past, I somehow managed to pull out an alright score of 2017. Not a bad effort without N G Brown, Simmonds, Skipworth, Boomer and 6 rookies on the field. But who's counting?

Anyway, onto the games.

North Melbourne v Collingwood
What a weekend for these two teams. The Kangas pitiful against Richmond, and the Pies letting slip a ANZAC Day blockbuster. But from a DT point of view, there will be a lot of pressure on some of these guys to perform. After his performance last weekend, all eyes will be on Josh Fraser. There's a lot of talk about the lack of contact he put on Paddy Ryder, and he ended up being destroyed. But which DT coach cares? I'd much prefer he'd hang around picking up the cheap possesions, as he has done against Brisbane and Geelong. But avoid him this week, H-Mac & Co will have the better of him. The fortunes of two rookies in this game seem to have followed completely different trends. Ziebell started slowly but is scoring well now, while Beams is slowing down. Despite this, both still have a bit of growth left, unless Beams is dropped for either Didak or Shaw, which I think is unlikely.

Pick-Up: Jaxson Barham; even though I'm not completely sold on his abilities as a footballer, he has proved he can score well. The big IF is the amount of games he gets but if named this week, he has a breakeven of -109.

Drop: Brent Harvey; kinda obvious, isn't it? With Boomer out for at least 8 weeks, more likely longer, theres no point holding onto him. If you don't mind holding on for a week; Buddy, Gia and J. Brown will all likely drop in price this week.

Hawthorn v Carlton
Of my friends, there is two in particular, one Carlton, one Hawthorn. If Iw as to listen to them, then this week I would be buying Brendan Fevola and Jarryd Roughead. But I don't listen to them, because I think there's better options in this game. I went to watch these teams play in the pre-season, where I noticed this little fella running around. Not knowing who he was, I checked the record and he became my new favourite player thinking that he would never go anywhere. If you haven't guessed, this kid was Garry Moss. And boy was I wrong. With back-to-back hundreds, he certainly has put me in my place. I'd still wait a couple of weeks for the Hawks backline to return, maybe coinciding with a boost in DT scores for the Hawks, mainly Hodge, Buddy and Tuck. For the Blues, continuing good form from Jarrad Waite has left him with a BE of 55. He is a very enticing option. And if you're not one of the 40606 people who already have Bryce Gibbs, it's not too late. He is having his break-out year.

Pick-Up: Garry Moss; Yes, he has already gone up by $134,900, but he still has a BE of -86. And with last weeks score of 125 still in his system, he will go up further still.

Watch: Marc Murphy; After starting the season in a blaze of glory, Marc has tapered away in the last few weeks, resulting in a plummeting price. Could bottom out at a good time for a Beams upgrade.

West Coast v Fremantle
Look, if it wasn't for Fantasy Football, nobody would care about this game. Two of the bottom four sides in the league and on the other side of the country for us Victorians. But there is a few interesting characters in this one. Cox v Sandilands will be interesting, especially after Sandilands' game last weekend, but it's still safe to expect a century from Cox. The only other real players of interest are the rookies, Mitch Brown, Nick Suban, Stephen Hill and Greg Broughton if named. The first three seem to have at least one week left before the culling, and the naming of Broughton could be vital to many coaches looking to trade out Petrenko. And finally, Pavlich pulled out a good score last week. He has an achieveable BE, so now might be the time.

Watch: Matthew Pavlich; as I mentioned before, he has an achieveable BE, although he might get a hard match-up on Glass. I can't see a massive score this week, so maybe wait a week to buy. It can go either way.

Watch: Michael Johnson; I've never really been convinced by this guy. Looking at his last three weeks, he looks like a good prospect. But on his bad days, he couldn't score in a brothel. He is tempting though.

Port Adelaide v Adelaide
Speaking of bi-polar, here's the Power. After humbling the Hawks one week, they get decimated by the Saints the next and their scores where similarly affected. I'm still regretting not picking up Nathan Krakouer, as he continues to score well, and is one of the many mid-price boomers. For those in the market for a mid rookie, then Hamish Hartlett looks set for a good run. The only downside is his higher price, meaning only a $20,000 profit from a Mitch Robinson trade. It is the other team that is where the support will be. The Crows have been good to us coaches this year, playing many kids, but it appears that players like Petrenko, Dangerfield and Walker are ready for milking. I'd personally like Petrenko to be dropped this week, so to have another week to watch Levi Greenwood.

Pick-Up: Hamish Hartlett; looks guaranteed for decent run in the side and with two solid scores behind him, include 73 last week when Port got smashed, he will post a handy profit this week.

Drop: Josh Carr; he was once alright at DT, averaging 88 back in 207, but now in the twilight of his career. Will probably be dropped this week, and don't expect a recall.

Brisbane v Essendon
I think for many people watching this game, the most interesting component will be the ruck duel. With both teams without their main ruckmen, Mitch Clark and Paddy Ryder will have to lead the ruck. It is likely that both these players will have improved scores, and are very cheap right now. The teams have had very contrasting weeks and the Lions will be seeking much improvement this week. Their old hands, Simon Black, Luke Power and Danothan Brownshaw will need to lift their games in order to get over a Bombers side inspired by the previous match.

Pick-Up: Brent Stanton; I've never really watched him all that closely, but he has scored very well so far this season in all but one game. Has the ability to pull out big scores as well and scored 174(!!!) against Brisbane last season.

Drop: David Hille & Bradd Dalziell; both are out for extended periods and not worth holding onto. I'd pick up Kreuzer for Hille and Deledio for Dalziell.

Sydney v Richmond
The big question about this game is whether Richo will play. Personally, I'd love to watch Richo v Goodes, because I think whoever wins that duel will win the match. I feel obliged to write something here but the only important player is Richo and I've mentioned him. So... Does anyone know what the android's conundrum is? I was just listening to a song which said it and I don't know what it means. The song's Australia by The Shins if you're interested.

Pick-Up: Wincing the Night Away by The Shins; a bloody good album. Got nothing to do with DT but it's really catchy and has some great songs on it.

Watch: Arsenal v Manchester United; if your interested, kick-off's at 4.30am Thursday. Let's see if Man U can buy another trophy.

Melbourne v Geelong
Well. Lucky that it snowed this week, hey? At least now the Demons fans have an excuse not to watch their team get slaughtered. Being a Geelong supporter, as much as I'd love to beat that Richmond score in 2007, it's unethical to kick a man while he's down. But don't be afraid to pick Geelong players as captain. They will each score 300. But seriously, if Tom Harley returns then Andrew Mackie will be freed up. Without the captain, Mackie has had to take more serious defensive tasks but will soon return to his high-scoring role. There's not really much to talk about for the Demons. Meesen seems to have taken ruck spot over Spencer and unless Cheney gets named, it's a boring DT team. I might just set-up Ablett watch in this one.

Pick-Up: Andrew Mackie; with Harley back soon. Mackie's scoring will improve and he is probably at his lowest price for the season now.

Pick-Up: Shane Mumford; for the next few weeks, he will hold down the back-up ruck spot. After having a taste of the action last year, the amount of tackles this guy laids is great for DT.

Western Bulldogs v St Kilda
Looks to be a good game to finish the round. Once again Matthew Boyd is going to anchor me home here. How he is continually under-rated I will never know. He has averaged 90s last two years and has started this one in a blaze of glory. Up against the stingy Saints, things will be harder. With a higher BE, hopefully Gia can stink it up a bit longer, because he's my most likely Harvey trade next week. The biggest news for the Saints is the possible return of Matt Maguire, which is great news. Not that Maguire is any good at DT, his return will help to free up Sam Fisher from his defensive duties. Similar to Hodge and Mackie, injuries in the backline have forced a change of role, hampering their performances.

Pick-Up: Lenny Hayes; broke out with his first 100 last week and he now looks like he is getting back to his best following injury. Good trade for Dalziell.


Captains
1. Gary Ablett - For the remainder of the year, he will be at number 1. If you have him, then you don't have to worry about a captain for the year. It's the others that are interesting.

2. Paul Chapman - As I've mentioned before, you can have pretty much any Cat as Captain this week. I like Chappy though. Averages 101 against Melbourne and 110 this year.

3. Bryce Gibbs - Is capable of scoring well, as he's proven and averages 95 against the Hawks. Even in his pre-premium stage.

4. Jimmy Bartel - Outside DT circles, this guy really doesn't get mentioned enough. As good as Ablett is, Bartel is a gun as well. Don't you ever forget that!

5. Dean Cox - He will lose hit-outs this week against Sandi, but will make up for it in his movement.

Round 4 Preview

Finally, after a long off-season, the league matches begin this weekend and I'm sure many of you are out to improve on last seasons effort, unless you are the reigning premiers from your league.

Anyway, onto business. After the first price changes last week, many other players are expected to have big changes this week, both rookies and premiums. You can all log onto the Dream Team site and look at the biggest rises and fallers, namely Daniel Rich, Mitch Robinson, Brendan Whitecross in the risers and David Hale, Adam Cooney, and Brent Harvey in the fallers. Both of these lists should be of vital importance to any DTer, perhaps more importantly the fallers list. As all of the rookies begin to peak in price, the fallen premiums should be your target.

Brisbane v Collingwood
After the exploits of Daniel Rich last week, ending in a price rise of almost $60,000, he comes up against this weeks new bubble-boy, Dayne Beams. Depite looking more like a character off Underbelly than an AFL footballer, Beams has gone about his business in awesome fashion, racking up scores of 94 and 84. Be prepared for possibly an $80,000 rise. Get on. With his early form, Josh Fraser has a big chance to continue his giant scoring this week, against only Jamie Charman. In the past Fraser has struggled for game-time, resulting in lower scores, but with no Cameron Wood he is reaping the benefits. Again, will be a solid Captain choice.

Pick-Up: Josh Drummond; perhaps a bit risky given his injury history, but with a new high possession Brisbane game-plan, and his role as the quarterback, he appears to be a steal at only $321,900. As well as his low break-even of 29, he could be one-of the better finds of '09.

Watch: Simon Black; missed round one and hes not hit his strides yet, meaning a giant price drop over the next two weeks. Could be a very tempting upgrade at the midway point of the season.


Sydney v Carlton
Sydney really struggles to gather points. Sticking with my advice last week, there really should be no Sydney players in your teams. Even with Darren Jolly's form, it is going to drop when he comes up against decent opponents. As for Carlton, a disappointing performance last week by Bryce Gibbs ruined my Captains tips but I expect him to bounce back. With all the talk of the new Fab Four, it is good to see them all doing well, especially Chris Judd who appears to be back to career best DT form.

Pick-Up: Simon Wiggins; has finally come good. Although many may have missed his best price-rise, he is capable to continue this form all year and have a respectable 85 average. Handy for a 6th/7th forward.

Drop: Barry Hall; If for some reason you still have him after last weeks advice, then sell now. A probable late withdrawal and if he plays, will lose money.


Hawthorn v Port Adelaide
Finally, the Hawks got their first win for the season last weekend but it was at a cost, with Birchall, Ellis and Gilham all missing this week. It continues to be tough draw for the Hawks, with Carlton in a few week, so I'd still advise against picking any Hawthorn players. The form of Luke Hodge has seen him drop almost $40,000 in price and with more to follow, Hodge could very well be my first premium pick-up. As for the Power, the Cornes boys are hot. Either will be a good captain choice, with Chad averaging 112 and Kane on 130. This year Hawthorn having been giving up many easy 100's so they are two of the safest bets.

Pick-Up: Nathan Krakouer; with Peter Burgoyne out for the next two weeks, Krakouer will take up his role. At the low price he is, and his potential, he could become a very handy cash-cow, if not an eventual keeper.

Drop: Warren Tredrea; I may have jumped the gun by a week, but unless he starts pulling these games every week, there's better players around.



St Kilda v Fremantle
Wow. Beware Fremantle supporters. After the Saints were merciless in their destruction last week, expect similar this week. Brendon Goddard, Nick Riewoldt, Nick Dal Santo and Leigh Montagna will look to improve on their domination last week, and against a pretty poor Fremantle, they probably will. As for the Dockers, sigh. When your leading points scorer is a second year player, something is wrong. After three years of carrying 21 other players, Matthew Pavlich still hasn't hit his straps. All the better for those that don't have him.

Pick-Up: Clinton Jones; With Robert Harvey now gone from the Saints midfield, Jonesy is stepping up into Bangers role, scoring a mighty 140 last week. Will be a big riser in the next two weeks.

Drop: Chris Tarrant; All the talk of role-change in the pre-season, to a more DT-orientated half-back role have come to naught. Still as useless as he was up forward.


Adelaide v Geelong
Oh oh, here's trouble. Perma-captain Gary Ablett does not like the Crows. In fact he struggles against them. If you feel he can battle through as he usually does, the hit him with the C but I'm looking elsewhere. In fact, I'm going about 20 metres up the ground from Jesus, to his fellow bald-nut. After being hampered by injuries the last few years, Paul Chapman proved last week he was back, racking up a round-high 154. Big numbers! As for the Crows, Tex Walker proved he was more than a one quarter wonder scoring a solid 85. About this times last year, calls were going for a fellow Crow (Hittet or something, can't really remember) who has since fallen off the radar and Walker is the way of the future.

Pick-Up: Patrick Dangerfield; with a name like that he has to be awesome, and the round 3 rising star nominee has huge potential. Having had a year in the system already he could be a smart pick-up for some.

Watch: Andrew Mackie; he's starting the season slowly, as he is called upon to defend more with the absence of Harley, Hunt, Egan etc. However as the defenders come back he will be freed up. Upgrade then.


North Melbourne v Essendon
As Daniel Wells leaves the team for "injury", we get the introduction to football for Benjamin Warren. Not to be confused with Warren Benjamin, his team-mate. Confused? Good. But what will be of most introduce in this game will be the performances of Dizzee and Boomer, or David Zaharakis and Brent Harvey. One rookie playing like a Gun, the other a gun playing like a rookie. Boomer really needs to get going as he's hurting me and many will be hoping Dizzee will keep going.

Pick-Up: David Zaharakis; Dizzee is looking at being the second highest earner this week, behind Beams. With his spot looking safe for a few weeks, get on board the Dizzee-train.

Drop: Daniel Wells; It's hard not to put David Hille or Brent Harvey here, but they will come good. As for Wells, the great hope for this year has flopped and appears to be the same as in the past.


Richmond v Melbourne
Who'd have thought that 15th v 16th would be the most anticipated game this weekend? For Richmond, the form of Richo and N. G. Brown is impressive and are both awesome to have in your forwardlines, as both are capable captains. On the other side of the coin, Melbourne are terrible. Aaron Davey apart, most of the team are young and won't serve much purpose for DT. With the dropping of Kyle Cheney this weekend, many teams will lose a valuable cash-cow. It will only be a matter of time until players like Blease and Strauss start getting regular games. Until then, avoid.

Pick-Up: Aaron Davey; from before, Davey is one of the fewer shining lights in the Demons side. With a relatively cheap price and the promise of a further rise in cash, he is finally realising his potential.

Drop: Colin Sylvia; I expected big things from him this year, but playing for a team that is getting beaten every week means very little ball into the forward. Look into him next year.


West Coast v Western Bulldogs
If this game was in Melbourne I'd be preparing for a blow-out and locking in Daniel Cross as captain. But seeing as it's in Perth, the Eagles might be able to keep it within 60 points, even with the Dogs 6 day break. Apart from Cox and a few Rookies, West Coast have not offered much yet this season and have scored fewer tonnes than any other team, with 5, 2 of which were by Cox. The Bulldogs, on the otherhand, are undefeated and with guns like Gia, Cross, Boyd, Gilbee, Lake and Higgins, this could be a big scoring game.

Watch: Ryan Griffen; after a solid first few games, many expected his to finally turn into a DT gun. But after a weaker round 3, many eyes will watch how he goes about it this week.

Drop: Sam Butler; looks unlikely to get a game for a couple of weeks, which is disappointing considering his pre-season form.



Captains for Round 4
1. C. Cornes
2. K. Cornes
3. P. Chapman
4. J. Fraser
5. Richo

My captain average = 104

Round 3 Preview

So, this is one really annoying week for DT. With the Easter Weekend, the AFL refuses to play games on Good Friday and with the first game on a Thursday, we will enter lock-out without knowing the full team sheets of 8 teams, some of which are important. As the season goes on, there will become less and less rookies, so I will summarise game-by-game for now on.

Geelong v Collingwood

The beginning of a big weekend of football, with a highly anticipated match in front of a packed MCG. But for fantasy purposes, we get to see the four most expensive mids, as well as two up-and-comers in the first match. I’m tipping that 70% of the competition will have ABC or Swan as captain this weekend, as all look to smash the tonne. It is some of the younger players that will be of more interest to us though, with Joel Selwood and Scott Pendlebury looking to become elite, and Dayne Beams becoming one of the must-have rookies after his stunning debut. The loss of Brad Ottens will hurt, for both Geelong and fantasy purposes, as an inform Josh Fraser comes up against Mark Blake and a young Trent West. Fraser would be very unique captain choice, but it could pay off.

Pick-Up: Dayne Beams: after his very impressive debut, he looks set to get games and could pay a handsome price increase. If you’re not sold, wait a week, because unlike most other rookies available he did not play round 1 and will have an extra week before a price rise.

Drop: Brad Ottens: Despite his excellent first game, the big guy is out for at least two weeks, likely longer. Also with a meager 7 points in his last game, he is likely to suffer an even greater price fall in the next few games. Get off for now.

St.Kilda v West Coast

A very average looking game for Fantasy purposes. A probable St.Kilda win but nothing of two much interest here. For many viewers it will be important, for Brendan Goddard to get back in form, after failing miserably last week, as well as the Volt who is not performing to value at the moment. I, personally, would love to see Riewodlt stink it up for a couple of weeks, and hopefully get on a straight Skipworth to Volt swap. Cox is the only Eagles player of interest, and up against both King and Gardiner, it could be tough for our big Cox, but his added durability should allow him to dominate around the ground.

Pick-Up: Farren Ray: Seems to have found his niche as a half-backer at the saints, following a torrid time at the dogs. Hit exactly 100 two weeks in a row.

Drop: Daniel Kerr: This may seem odd after his blinding third quarter last week, but the WC midfield is not as it was and Kerr is S.T.Ruggling. Trade for Bernie Vince, Adam Selwood or Ray.

Carlton v Essendon

Gee, the Blues have really started the season on fir, especially in DT perspective. Bryce Gibbs, Chris Judd and Marc Murphy, as well as Jarrad Waite, Matthew Kreuzer and a relative unknown, Richard Hadley, have all the started the season in a blaze of glory and appear to be too strong for Essendon. David Hille seems to be disappointing many supporters so far this year as many predicted him to be the second highest scoring ruckman this year. Doesn’t look likely at this point but still not worth a trade. The rookies available in this game are coming out of our ears, Mitch Robinson, Sam Jacobs, Aaron Jospeh and Jeff Garlett, and David Zaharakis and Michael Quinn for Essendon. Perhaps wait a week for the Bombers pair, as both have only played one week.

Pick-Up: Robinson, Hadley, Ryan Houlihan, Kreuzer (take your pick): all of these boys have started the season very well and for people looking to trade Anthony, Kerr, Raines, or Ottens, these are your boys.

Drop: Brendan Fevola, perhaps a bit harsh but Carlton have been scoring at will and Fev hasn’t. Perhaps times to move on.

Brisbane v Sydney

Only one things about this game. Be prepared to get Rich! That’s if you have him.

Pick-Up: Daniel Rich: The kid’s been on fire, averaging 86.5 through his first few games. Everyone get on.

Drop: The entire Sydney Team: They’re terrible for DT, sure they beat an undermanned Hawthorn but that doesn’t show anything. Fine! You can keep Jarad McVeigh.

Port Adelaide v Melbourne

It appears that the Cornes’ brothers are back, with both of them scoring a triple in their last outing and against Melbourne this weekend you can expect their form to continue. It might be this week that we finally get to see Wade Thompson lighting up the wing as well, as the calls are becoming too loud to ignore. From a Melbourne POV. Kyle Cheney has the hopes of many resting on his shoulders as people look jump off Hill, Raines and Hurley. Can the young kid handle it? Who cares, we only need him for 4 weeks. It could be a blood-bath, with all of the older Power boys capable of scoring 100’s, except for maybe Tredrea who is a log.

Pick-Up: Kyle Cheney: one of the few back rookies capable of scoring points, and with the backs going down like flies (again), could be an important pick-up.

Drop: Warren Tredrea: put simply, he’s too old. Also he’s crap for DT.

North Melbourne v Hawthorn

Their Premiership defence is under threat, and it doesn’t get any easier this week. The Kangaroos seem to have the wood over Hawthorn, and it could be harder for the Hawks with their current injury woes. With the 0-2 start, the Hawks season has to improve and over the next few weeks as players return, we could see them become better. After Buddy pulled out a shocker last week, he could turn it around this week against an indifferent Kangaroos backline. The Kangaroos on the other hand, desperately need a big game from Brent Harvey. Boomer has been shocking first two weeks, burning many, myself included. Otherwise, players like H-Mac and Daniel Wells have been good and will look to step-up further

Pick-Up: Jack Ziebell: JZ, has now played the opening two games, and as he goes he’ll get better. As a more expensive rookie, it may be hard to trade from someone like Gumbleton, but he is an easy replacement for anyone with Trent Hentschell.

Drop: Luke Hodge: a very poor start to the season from the Quarterback. Downgrade him to a Sam Fisher or Chad Cornes, at least until the Hawks start winning.

Fremantle v Adelaide

So, the Crows are playing the kids which is great news for DT. Taylor Walker, Jared Petrenko, Myke Cook, Andy Otten and Pat Dangerfield have all been given a run in the first two weeks, with many looking at a nice price-rise this Monday. In the same way, Freo have been playing Kids but not to the same success, Stephen Hill has been a disappointment and may become the first rookie to decrease in price, while Nick Suban has been solid but nothing special. As for the old hands, many are hoping for an improvement from Pavlich, who is in the same boat as Riewoldt. Keep stinking Pav!

Pick-Up: Taylor Walker: with Trent Hentschell going down, Taylor becomes the main forward. As was seen in the third quarter last week, he has the potential to score well but he won’t be cheap for long.

Hold: Stephen Hill: unless you’re really struggling with the Backopalypse, hold onto Hill while he plays. Even if you have to withstand an early price fall, he could come good. But wait and see.

Western Bulldogs v Richmond

A much improved by the Tiges last week and the early form of the Bullies makes this an interesting match. Richo again proved his like a good red wine, and dominated the Cats, one of the few forwards who could possibly increase in price. Likewise, N Brown also got his season started with a dominating 135. For the Dogs, back-to-back good games from Brian Lake makes him enticing, especially for those who remember his Brisbane game a few years ago, but the most important Dogs player is Shaun Higgins. Slightly quieter last week than Round One, but a nice rise is still predicted.

Pick-Up: Shaun Higgins; predicted to be one of the better mid-price cash cows this year and he seem to be doing his best to confirm this. Will make you cash.

Drop: Adam Cooney: While it hurts to say this about a fellow Ranga, Cooney has been appalling this year. Was never really a DT player anyway and goes to show that the Brownlow Medal has nothing to do with DT.

Captain Choices

1. Gary Ablett

2. Josh Fraser

3. Chad Cornes

4. Bryce Gibbs

5. Dean Cox

Round 2 Preview

Ok, so with the teams having been announced, there is a number of new debutants to be picked up, a few returning stars, and as always a couple of questionable inclusions.

Big Ins: Heath Shaw, Scott Thompson, Lenny Hayes, Simon Black
Big Outs: Matthew Stokes, Travis Tuck, Ben Cousins

New Rookies
Def: Alex Rance (Rich), Michael Quinn (Ess)
Mids: Robin Nahas (Rich), David Zaharakis (Ess), Liam Picken (WB), Brett Meredith (Syd)
Fwds: Simon Hogan (Geel), Wade Thompson (PA)
A number of interesting selections here. With Raines' injury last weekend and Hurley's injury this morning, the inclusion of Rance will offer some relief to anyone looking to downgrade. He'll should be able to hold down his position at least until Raines comes back. I don't think that Quinn will be of much use, he is only 19 and having come over from Ireland may take a while to adjust to the game.
In the mids, both Nahas and Zaharakis are likeable types, although it might be difficult for Nahas to hold down a spot in the improving Richmond midfield. Zaharakis could be a good one though, especially those looking to drop Anthony. With the apparent lack of talented inside mids at Essendon, a couple of good games could pay handsome dividends. Picken probably won't get enough games to of any value. It's a bit hard to get a reading on Meredith. He has only played two pre-season games for Sydney, but as they fall down the ladder, they will prbably look to rebuild.
Now, I think the two forward rookies are very risky but could pay off. Hogan especially could score highly, playing for Geelong, but is questionable to get games. Thompson is more likely to play, but being an elevated Rookie, could be demoted when Trengove comes back.

Now onto Captain Choices.
There appears to be a plethora of options this week, but I'll pick 10 players, some must-have captains, others to avoid.
1. Gary Ablett
If you have him in your team, make him captain this week. The Cats play in Geelong, they play Richmond and he is Gary Ablett. I can't see why you'd need any other information. But if you really want, he has a career average of 96 against them, and averages 121 in his last four games against the Tigers. He'll be my C
2. Dean Cox
After many expected Cox to rip the Lions a new one last week, he failed only scoring a 99 (terrible, I know!) However this weeks he comes up against Port Adelaide, without Dean Brogan. There is not too much statistical evidence to support Cox, having only averaged 73 against them in his career and only 88.6 in his last 5, but coming up against an old Brendan Lade, expect Cox to score well.
3. Jimmy Bartel
Pretty much the same as Ablett, except if it there's a chance of rain in Geelong on saturday, get on Bartel. The best wet weather player in the game, he oftens rocks up to Kardinia Park in flippers if there's a flood, just to get an advantage of the opponents. Career average of 96 against the Tiges and averages 123 in his last 3. Fuck!!
4. Lance Franklin
In previous years, people have avoided picking a captain against Sydney, as they used to lower opponents scores. However, as they appear to be getting older and crapper, Buddy could be a good pick. If he has his kicking boots on. As we saw last week, against a younger opponent Buddy is cpable of turning a match around and without Leo Barry and Tadhg Kennelly the Sydney defence will have trouble keeping Buddy down. All data is irrelevant for this game, and with an expected big crowd at ANZ Stadium Buddy could be on for a giant score. A bit more risky than the above three.
5. Matthew Pavlich
Pav loves playing Essendon. In his last 11 games against them he's broken triple figures 9 times. including a monster 168 back in 07. He averages 104 against them and is usually one of the more consistent players in the league. But with the lack of a decent pre-season and the lack of anyone else decent on his team, it could be slightly more challenging for Pav this time around. I'd still expect him to score well, but he might not pull out the 140 you want from your captain. A strong choice but.
Alternatives: Brendon Goddard, Jonothan Brown, Joel Corey, Joel Selwood, Brent Harvey.

The First Bounce

So, here we are. My first Dream Team blog post. I've been a long time fan of variuos DT blogs, mainly DT Talk (dreamteamtalk.com) and Fanfooty (www.fanfooty.com.au), and while there is no possible way I could give anywhere near as much detail, I'll try to give a weekly review and preview, and maybe a captain tip or smoky.
As I'm sure you'll now the season has already started, so I'll post my starting team here. (FYI, I scored an average 1972)

Brewers Droop
Backs: S. Fisher, Goddard, C. Cornes, Adcock, Drummond, Raines, S.Hill, (Petrenko, Suban)
Mids: Ablett(c), Boyd, J. Selwood, Gibbs, Rich, Robinson, (Anthony, Beams)
Rucks: Cox, Simmonds (Jacobs, Spencer)
Fwds: B. Harvey, N. G. Brown, Chapman, M. Stokes, Higgins, Skipworth, Ziebell, (Walker, M. Brown)

So. I'm about to write a Round 2 Preview. So hold on.