2018 NRL Dream Team Virtual Sports/Sports Deck (VSDT) Part 1

Milchcow wrote:
open

764 saw me climb up to 234 in the rankings.

Bring in Doueihi this week (ARey fitness pending) and then see what other improvements are out there

Im up to 62nd. Halved my ranking 2 weeks in a row now almost to a tee.

Unless I can be convinced otherwise Im gonna go JDB to Murray and Nicholls to Rochow leaving me with a team that Im happy with at this point in the season and will just look to employ the upgrade / downgrade strategy over the next 9 rounds improving my overall team and setting up for the first bye round.

Plan to bring in guys like Friend, Taumololo, Brown and Crichton.

My biggest mistake so far was starting with JDB over JTrbo.

BTW, I notice the guy in first is employing a strategy of 8 bottom priced guys on his bench, with only Katoa having played a game of the lot of him. Good tactic for total points early but he will fade away long term as he won't be able to generate the required cash.

A couple posts on the NRLF thread suggesting Merrin is injured and will be out. Will have to keep tabs on that one. Thankfully Penrith are playing 1st this week. Not sure what that'll mean for Kikau, but he was a bulldozer on a losing side last week, surely his minutes only increase as the season goes on. Played 47 last week, up from ~37 the first two.

Anyone know if he has the motor to play more?

Milchcow wrote:
This early in the season, rank can be swayed easily just by having Widdop/Dufty/Mbye someone put up a huge score.

Unless they start doing it regularly things will even up.

I am mostly happy with my cash generation, just  have to determine if Mbye, Dufty, Widdop are worth jumping on.
I think I like Dufty the most there, but not sure how to fit him in.

100% agree with this!

Milch, I put this to the thread a couple rounds ago and I don't think anyone replied, but I feel like compared to last season, cash generation this season (so far and for the forseeable future) is WAY easier. Do you know if thats the case?

I recall from last year there were few (if any) CCs in the forwards and this year there seem like there are heaps (almost too many): Cook, Kikau, Rochow, Lodge, Griffin, RFM all of whom have been worthy of not only being CCs but scoring players too. On top of that you have the likes of Ponga, Hiku, Isaako, Doueihi, & Croker who will all generate some $ and a couple will be in the starting teams for many as well. Then finally there are a number of guys who weren't cheap but so far a good solid value plays: Whitehead, Murray, Harris, Arrow.

Put all that together and it really does feel like money won't be a problem this year (if you have the bulk of those guys and/or other equivalents.

If that is the case, then the tactic this year, from here is going to be timing the upgrade down grades to maximise scoring ASAP and Im thinking the key might actually me trading out CCs earlier than you may have last year in order to upgrade sooner (knowing that you;ve got a ton of $ left to be made in our remaining players).

Thoughts?

810 and up to 234th as well @Milchcow

Need to trade Croft, who's the best buy? Johnson's fixtures are waaaay more difficult now so should I go for someone like Widdop or even Mbye who is a lot cheaper?

Milchcow wrote:
Well cash generation is easier for 2 reasons

a) Prices have increased across the board, so $1000 in today's money is worth less than $100 in lasyt years money. This isn't an actual increase in cash in real teams, just looks nice.

b) This years rookies have been absolutely killing it. Might go back and check stats on past few years, but I'd be surprised if we have seen so many cheap players making so much money as we have this year.

Haha, yes, point A is certainly important but at this stage for me all Im comparing is the number and (relative) productivity of the current crop of cash cows compared to my memory of last years.

Re point B, yeah, that's basically what I am getting it, but more so than that, a number of them are killing it to the extent that they warrant spots in your starting 17 (Lodge, & Doueihi for example are locks for me each week currently) which means I can justify having even more CCs in your squad. It's kinda exponential compared to last year. Next round I'll be in a position where I'll have to chose two of Rochow, Arrow, Kikau, Griffen and RFM to leave out of my 17 who I all view as 40~45 point + players...

Last year from memory I had guys like Leota & Yates in my team at this point. In contrast this year my equivalent players are those guys listed above - leagues apart at this point anyway.....

I'd love to see what numbers you can dig up, and what they show, particularly if you can make a comparison between team projected team values in 4 rounds time this year compared to round 8 last year (in real terms of course). I'll take a stab in the dark and say that, going simply on intuition, by round 8 this year the top teams on average will be hitting 50 points above where they were last year with team values somewhere around $1m higher (in todays $s) than last year.

On the byes, I still think they could be a good way to separate yourself from the rest (or catch up 200 points or so). Perhaps the fact that many seem to think they won't be as important might make them even more important. The downside will be that you will have to burn a number of trades - a gamble I took last year and will do again!

MilfordTheMagician wrote:810 and up to 234th as well @Milchcow

Need to trade Croft, who's the best buy? Johnson's fixtures are waaaay more difficult now so should I go for someone like Widdop or even Mbye who is a lot cheaper?

I think Im looking at your team and I think you need to focus on looking at the guys you can't afford to miss the boat on: Doueihi and Murray.

Those two are each very likely to make more money that Croft will lose next week and longer term for sure, so as much as it hurts I'd suggest holding croft and ditch Crocker for Doueihi and go Nicholls to Murray. Thats after a very brief look anyway, so just a suggested option to look at.

Murray will rise ~$50k if he hits his average (and longer term will become ~$600k player +135 from now)
Doueihi will rise ~70k (longer term is tricky with him given position uncertainty, but with Souths form since he came in, and Reynolds current injury status + injury history, odds on its worth taking a punt on him)

vs Croft who would drop by $45k (if he hit his average) but that would be absolutely worst case scenario one would think....

I also think the advantage of those trades is that you are potentially bringing in 2 keepers and also 2 round 13 players....

Next week depending on your cash position and how croft fared I then look to bring in Matterson who from what I've seen so far is the only C option that's a certain keeper IF he holds his spot in the team.... The fact that Aubs is now on the bench is absolute gold for Matterson as it means any backline injury and Aubs slots straight into C and Matterson is safe. He's also still relatively cheap.

I think half options are tricky right now, but for me Mbye is worth looking at but not Widdop. But perhaps DCE trumps them all given his track record and goal kicking duties!

Milchcow wrote:
Doueihi is not necessarily a must have. If he plays 1 more game as starter and then back to bench, you'll have to trade him out quickly or lose the profits.

Of course he could do a Ponga of last year, and get an extra 4-5 games on top of what was expected, and make heaps of $$.

Yeah, you are right. He is definitely not a must have. Im a bit bullish on him and have loved being able to start him the last 2 weeks at C for bottom $, its freed up $ for elsewhere and limited cash investment into the shittiest position in fantasy. If he gets two more games though then I reckon is is hard to ignore, even if he drops to the bench thereafter....

Milchcow wrote:

One thing to remember is that the weekly price changes total $0 (give or take a little due to rounding, total price change this round was -$300)
So in that sense there isn't any more money being generated than in previous years. Its more to do with the popularity of the players where the profits are going to. I think the off season player movements and injuries last year, made a few guys obviously underpriced so a lot of people could pick the value successfully.

Yeah, technically true, but beyond it being an interesting fact Im not really sure of the relevance. As you say, my observation, and hypothesis, basically revolves around 10 or so key guys this year compared to last year. The fact that weekly price changes sum to $0 doesn't impact on that.

My non Widdop/Dufty/Mbye team scored 841. Ranked 199.
My best start so far. It just can't last.

FWIW - Rabbitohs Adam Reynolds has started running and will be monitored as to if he plays this week if not will return in Rd 5.

Milchcow wrote:
Having a quick look, I think the difference this year is in who is making the money.

Most expensive guy to get a good price rise this year is Tohu Harris. He and Coen Hess were the only guys over $500k to get a $40k rise or more.

By comparison 8 guys at the same relative price got a good 1st price rise last year. Basically the guns are failing to match their price for the start of the year, so people who have gone heavy into midrangers with a few rookies are going to cleanup.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Have you played a season of VSDT similar to how this one has started? Either way, do you think it changes the strategy a bit compared to last season? (that's my only point of reference).

In short it seems to me like its gonna be even more important to be aggressive in your trades from the beginning....

code delta wrote:My non Widdop/Dufty/Mbye team scored 841. Ranked 199.
My best start so far. It just can't last.

Nice mate, 841 without any of those 3 is impressive. Who are your halves?

Rippin and Tearin wrote:Would love some advice on my team please. As it stands I have ($37k ITB):

Cook, Griffin
Taupau, Fifita, Lodge, Nicholls
JDB, Merrin, Whitehead, Arrow, FRM, Kikau
SJ, DCE, Cartwright, Croker
Matterson, Doueihi, GI, Isaako
Teddy, Ponga, Duft, Hiku, Katoa

I personally think Murray is a must have and feel like it has to be this week. So my problem is now how to fit him.... thoughts?

Agree Murray is a must have. I'll be trading Merrin or Whitehead out to get him probably. Nicholls is the obvious one to go from your lineup. But given you need about $230k, cant see how you can do it without downgrading a gun (or semi-gun). Its a shame you don't have a couple more weeks to allow some of those 2RF/FRF cows to mature.

Rippin and Tearin wrote:

Nice mate, 841 without any of those 3 is impressive. Who are your halves?

Halves weak this round. Played SJ (20) and Cody Walker (41).
Teddy is a worry.