Some people love it when the most popular player goes down. I don’t. I have a complicated trading strategy in place that Riewoldt has now destroyed. It shouldn’t really change my policy that much, but it does. He was going to be the reliable rock that my team was built on for the year. I expected him to be captain occasionally while also relying on him to make my forward line look respectable. Ah well…
Below I have ranked forward line players in the order I think that they should be as replacements for Riewoldt. If you are yet to trade… enjoy.
1. Jonathan Brown
Has started the season in easily the best form of his career. I am buoyed by reports that he is in the best shape ever and he has certainly never started a season as hot as he has this one. The risk taken by Michael Voss in getting Fevola to the club has so far payed off in bags of goals. No-one is happier about the situation than Browny. Of course, there will be a few games where the opposition will focus more on Browny and Fev will be forced to be the match-winner, but I think I’d cop that. The big risk with Browny is injury. He appears to still be as heavy as he ever was and this makes him much more susceptible to niggles. The other element of this is that he will be targeted physically all year. I f he doesn’t sustain an impact injury which rules him out for a couple of weeks, he will most certainly still need to be rested at some point anyway – as per St Kilda and Geelong last year. He should still be the highest averaging forward by years end though. Straight swap.
2. Ryan O’Keefe
Ryan’s move in to the midfield last year has proved to be a master-stroke. Since then, he has become one of the elite midfielders in the game. There are few that can match him for pace and his height means that he gets many cheap marks. He also loves to tackle and has maintained his ability to kick goals while roaming all over the ground. Arguably, he could well be undervalued as well as his starting price was based on a last year and he only moved in to the midfield halfway through. The downside here is that Goodes is playing forward and O’Keefe could well swap roles with him if the Goodes experiment doesn’t work. Although, I do note many have still selected Goodes as dedicated forward – they have more courage than I.
3. Jared Brennan
Started the season on fire before being suspended just before a sizable price increase was about to take place. I suspect this is his year, but then I always suspect that about Brennan. He did amazingly well along with Mitch Clarke in the ruck last year and I think that would have done him good. Running around as an outside midfielder will surely be a piece of cake for him this year..? He is another that scores in many different areas as well. His 28 and 36 points from tackles alone in rounds one and two are what really stands out though. He’s just started the year angry and I’m very impressed.
4. Tom Rockliff
It’s up to you whether you want to leave Riewoldt on the bench for a week and see how Rockliff goes first, but I don’t think that’s necessary. This kid is goal-kicking midfielder that has been held back for a while. He was drafted late and has consequently received very little hype in his career, but he should be a star. I actually think he’ll average about 75 for the year and end up being a starting keeper. Big wraps I know, but even if I’m wrong, there’s still heaps of upside to this option. If you’ve loaded up on cheapy mids, this kid could free up the cash that allows you to upgrade them later.
5. Matthew Pavlich
Pavlich suffered from the similar problems to Hodge last year – his team needed him to perform a role due to injuries – and his scores suffered as a result. The team he is playing in this year should cause no such problems. The midfield has enough good players that he may not even get the tag occasionally, not that it would even worry him, he is a superstar. This year would appear to be free to roam the forward line and midfield as he pleases and he is also playing in a winning team. How long this lasts is anyones guess, but at this stage he looks cheap and tasty.
6. Cyril Rioli
I respect anyone that picks up Rioli. Especially after this report from this morning. However, he looked so good on the weekend that he still has to be considered by those with balls of steel. People who pick him will definitely be in the minority, but he’ll save you cash and he is capable of anything. This could be the last time he is available so cheap as well. Such a gutsy trade, I love it.
7. Steve Johnson
I am concerned about Stevie J’s body at the moment, he seems off, but he’s still scoring okay. I think he may still be a couple of weeks away from a better price. Although, he could just as easily destroy Port Adelaide this week. He has had some brilliant flashes of form from the first half of last year, but not consistently yet. On the upside, he is still a gun playing for Geelong and they aren’t going to stop losing any time soon.
8. Heath Grundy
Grundy could be totally unique money saver and his value means that he won’t have much pressure to score high, yet he has proven that he can.
9. Karl Peterson
Peterson is a gamble because his value has already started to rise, but I think he is clearly still way under. If you bought Scully or Trengove at this price, why wouldn’t you take Peterson now..?
10. Brent Harvey
Boomer is old and last week he had a point to prove. Unsure what his motivation will be this week. Not so sure he’ll be allowed to continue to play that role either. Still a superstar though and he is definitely a fair way quicker than Priddis.
*I have excluded Chapman from consideration because he is valued at much more than Riewoldt and also because of his old-rubber-band hamstrings. But yeah, if you’ve got the cash, knock yourself out. 🙂
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