WITH another action-packed round of Fantasy finished, coaches need to ensure some forward planning is in place in order to navigate the bye rounds. Next week will be our last ‘normal’ round before embarking on three weeks of byes beginning in round twelve. Use your trades wisely and avoid trading in players that may cause you to be overloaded on a particular week.

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Fantasy Pig

Brodie Grundy is already on the verge of being officially snouted and he did his chances no harm against the Swans with another awesome performance, finishing on 149, a figure he has matched or bettered three times already this year. His last three weeks have been pure Piggery, scoring 149, 152 and 149 to be the form player of the competition. Next round he comes up against the Dockers at the MCG… so expect him to overindulge on them as well.

Honourable mention: Todd Goldstein took full advantage of the Dogs’ lack of ruckmen with one of his career-best games to send off his coach in style. ‘Goldy’ amassed a whopping 57 hit outs, pretty impressive compared to the Dogs’ combined total of 16. He also managed to impress around the ground collecting 28 possessions and seven marks for a round high score of 153.

NINE THINGS WE LEARNED 'Walla' must get better against the best

Rage Trades

Jack Ziebell chose a different route to farewell his coach. Coming off a dominant performance himself last week where he pumped out his own 150 as a dominant midfielder, this week Ziebell found himself sitting forward, giving his coaches a horrible wake up call. Owners can only hope that whoever takes over at the mantle of the Roos considers Ziebell a midfielder, because his return of 48 points from 16 touches won’t cut it. A big decision looms whether to hold or trade.

Honourable mention: Jack Macrae was one of the most expensive players of the competition… ‘was’ being the operative word. He is a shadow of his former self of late, spending more time across the half-forward line, and he is far from the accumulator that made him a Fantasy favourite. On the weekend he had 22 touches and a disappointing two marks for 77.

Piglet

Liam Baker’s days of being a cash cow are long gone, however, he deserves recognition on a week where many coaches needed the youngsters to step up in the absence of Patrick Dangerfield in the forward line. He was one of the few players that looked at home in the wet conditions in the first half against the Bombers, and his scoring reflected that with 112 from 29 touches, four marks, nine tackle s and a goal. Oskar Baker had a great second game in a tough matchup with the Giants, kicking two goals and collecting 16 possessions for 72 which makes him the pick of the downgrade targets.

AROUND THE STATE LEAGUES Harley roars into form, young Hawk fires

Trade Targets
  • Lachie Whitfield
  • Elliot Yeo
  • Oskar Baker
  • Dustin Martin
  • Andrew Gaff

BARRETT The 40-year drought Dogs don't want to break

Fantasy Mailbag

It sounds obvious but play it safe and grab Gaff. The Eagles’ run up until the end of the year is easily the best for midfielders.

Arguably the biggest unknown in footy at the moment.

Will be a popular trade this week and you might as well throw him a C on debut.

Both are certainly viable options. Houli’s lack of durability the last few years worries me, but Dusty has looked outstanding the last two weeks.

As I said above with Gaff, it’s a dream draw, lock and load the tackling machine.

I think we reluctantly ride it out and maybe offload on their bye rounds if nothing improves.

Although it’s only a minor hammy, unfortunately we need to trade the Pig with the byes coming up. An upgrade to an uber premium like Whitfield or Gaff would be the targets.

For more, follow myself @RoyDT

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