G&GR Fantasy Super Rugby 2011

[Moses]

How many people use the watchlist function built into fantasy rugby? Pretty handy - when you look at a players info sheet the button is in the bottom right. Then when you go to Transfers, one of the player filters is Watchlist so you can see all the blokes you're interested in by any of the 50 or so metrics.

 

[Hawko]

Better take a good hard look at yourself and smarten up this week then Moses....

As for myself, I've stormed up 30 places to 162nd in the GAGR league with a score of 430. That will teach me to have Peter Grant in the team.

Its not just Peter Grant. I stand by my comment that SBW or Thompson needs to be captain. Otherwise this week just past you could not get near a top score.

 

[Moses]

Its not just Peter Grant. I stand by my comment that SBW or Thompson needs to be captain. Otherwise this week just past you could not get near a top score.

I'd argue the options for captain were a fair bit broader than that in Round 8.. a LOT of players scored 35+

Kendrick Lynn		HIG	$297K	73
Colin Slade		HIG	$172K	65
Adam Thomson		HIG	$472K	65
Mark Chisholm		BRU	$291K	52
Sonny Bill Williams	CRU	$416K	48
Drew Mitchell		WAR	$450K	47
Luke Burgess		WAR	$280K	45
Willem Alberts		SHA	$320K	44
Nasi Manu		HIG	$75K	43
Kade Poki		HIG	$123K	41
JP Pietersen		SHA	$170K	39
Kurtley Beale		WAR	$422K	39
Aaron Cruden		HUR	$413K	39
Doppies La Grange	LIO	$439K	38
Ben Smith		HIG	$271K	37
Israel Dagg		CRU	$420K	35
Matt Giteau		BRU	$362K	35
Jono Jenkins		WFR	$70K	35

6 players from the highlanders, why is this? Do the Cheetahs miss the first up tackle but scramble well, giving up lots of linebreaks? There's a lot more points than tries in that match..

 

[Hawko]

I'd argue the options for captain were a fair bit broader than that in Round 8.. a LOT of players scored 35+

Kendrick Lynn		HIG	$297K	73
Colin Slade		HIG	$172K	65
Adam Thomson		HIG	$472K	65
Mark Chisholm		BRU	$291K	52
Sonny Bill Williams	CRU	$416K	48
Drew Mitchell		WAR	$450K	47
Luke Burgess		WAR	$280K	45
Willem Alberts		SHA	$320K	44
Nasi Manu		HIG	$75K	43
Kade Poki		HIG	$123K	41
JP Pietersen		SHA	$170K	39
Kurtley Beale		WAR	$422K	39
Aaron Cruden		HUR	$413K	39
Doppies La Grange	LIO	$439K	38
Ben Smith		HIG	$271K	37
Israel Dagg		CRU	$420K	35
Matt Giteau		BRU	$362K	35
Jono Jenkins		WFR	$70K	35

6 players from the highlanders, why is this? Do the Cheetahs miss the first up tackle but scramble well, giving up lots of linebreaks? There's a lot more points than tries in that match..

I should have written a more in depth explanation of what I meant: You need to choose a captain who is both a high scorer and consistent. With hindsight I would argue that about 10 players could have been captain to get a score of 80+. But of that 10 only Thompson, SBW, Mitchell and Alberts are anywhere near consistent in scoring - the others are up and down. If you catch them when they're up, great but if they are captain on a bad week you get killed. Even Mitchell is a bit flakey. Hindsight is no help when you sit down to do your picks. So I'd make a choice from those four but only SBW and Thompson are averaging almost 40 per game, Drew's at 33.5 and Alberts even further back. The only other captain I have used is Bismark who is also very consistent but not scoring as well as Thompson and SBW. That's my thought process.

 

[Ash]

Need to bench one of my outside backs: Schmoo, Poki, SBW or Payne. At this stage I am thinking Payne as I think the Tahs will have him wrapped up pretty tightly, but then again it may be Cross marking Payne and Mitchell may struggle to find space.

I have my suspicions about the Tahs struggling to get the ball wide at times against good opposition, but would love to be proven wrong.

 

[OzSash]

I should have written a more in depth explanation of what I meant: You need to choose a captain who is both a high scorer and consistent. With hindsight I would argue that about 10 players could have been captain to get a score of 80+. But of that 10 only Thompson, SBW, Mitchell and Alberts are anywhere near consistent in scoring - the others are up and down. If you catch them when they're up, great but if they are captain on a bad week you get killed. Even Mitchell is a bit flakey. So I'd make a choice from those four but only SBW and Thompson are averaging almost 40 per game, Drew's at 33.5 and Alberts even further back. The only other captain I have used is Bismark who is also very consistent but not scoring as well as Thompson and SBW. That's my thought process.

This is entirely what I was alluding to in one of my previous posts, however didn't put it quite as eloquently. I don't have the stats to review for last year, but I do recall Thompson was a great scorer but not as consistent as he has been this year. For last year's 'flakiness', he drops off my captaincy radar. Week in, week out, SBW will score consistently 'high' which I personally define to be 35+ and for that reason I will pretty much stick with him as captain (assuming availability).

That having been said, I went with Mitchell in round 1 on the back of (1) Tahs were playing Rebels, (2) SBW was injured and (3) mainly because I remembered he racked up a 100+ points in I can't remember which game last year. He still returned well, but I think that selection was more luck than consistency-based as he certainly has had a couple of exceedingly low scoring games this year (ref: Cheetahs).

As the season draws to a close, gamblers will need to gamble on their captaincy selection to move up the table. What I mean by that is SBW may be consistently above average (meaning that those guys at the top will most likely retain his services so as not to lose ground) but lower ranked guys would gamble on, say, Poki or Mitchell having a 100+ round which can backfire, but ultimately doesn't mean much if you haven't got anything to lose.

Anyway ... just my 2c :

 

[hench]

There's still 13 rounds left.

Let's not get too carried away just yet. :lmao:

 

[hench]

Barnes to miss Blues game. Beale staying in my squad another week.

 

[Moses]

I've changed my captain every week, generally put a lot of thought into matchups etc.
For example, I grabbed Shmoo week 1 baded on the Rebels poor defense from their outside backs in the trials.

Will dig up the stats and see if I'd have been better off sticking with Shmoo...

Edit:

Week 1:	Shmoo	136
Week 2:	Sivi	38
Week 3:	Sivi	70
Week 4:	Carter	60
Week 5:	Beale	30
Week 6:	Vito	78
Week 7:	Toeava	122
Week 8: Poki	82
[I]Note: All scores doubled[/I]

Total from captains:	616
Average per week:	77
Total to date:		3116
Captains' contribution:	19.7%

 

[dudebudstud]

I'm slowly inching up. I in 85th place, up 11 places from last week. The Crusaders/Hurricanes cancelled game back in round 2 hurt me as I had to use my wildcard, so I have had to slowly rebuild my team with a few strategic transfers each round.

If I crack the top 50 by the end of the season I would say thats pretty good for a guy from Canada who has to stay up until 3 am to watch Super Rugby online.

 

[OzSash]

If I crack the top 50 by the end of the season I would say thats pretty good for a guy from Canada who has to stay up until 3 am to watch Super Rugby online.

Well done indeed sir. Being in Bahrain is absolutely perfect for S15 viewing. NZ games generally begin at 9:30/10:30am depending on daylight saving and whether there's an afternoon match, Aussie games follow 11:30/12:30 with the relevant Perth game if it's on immidiately after. Saffer games generally after 6pm.

And wrt to watching them online, which site are you using? Sometimes watch the games at the pub, but if I want to watch at home I generally end up with very poor streams (although the Kiwi games are usually faultless).

 

[Newb]

stud, i'm guessing you mean it starts at 3am. that's my situation too. tempting, but i usually force myself to miss most games while i sleep and then i wake up saturday morning (my time) to catch the games in south africa. sometimes i stay up for the early NZ game. nice to have your company though.

also, new blog post is up http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/ggr-fantasy-comp-update/

 

[dudebudstud]

stud, i'm guessing you mean it starts at 3am. that's my situation too. tempting, but i usually force myself to miss most games while i sleep and then i wake up saturday morning (my time) to catch the games in south africa. sometimes i stay up for the early NZ game. nice to have your company though.

also, new blog post is up http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/ggr-fantasy-comp-update/

Yep 3am starts, although once in awhile there are a few games that start at 1:30am. I work wierd hours sometimes so often I come home after midnight and then catch a game before going to bed.

 

[Sandpit Fan]

Well done indeed sir. Being in Bahrain is absolutely perfect for S15 viewing. NZ games generally begin at 9:30/10:30am depending on daylight saving and whether there's an afternoon match, Aussie games follow 11:30/12:30 with the relevant Perth game if it's on immidiately after. Saffer games generally after 6pm.

And wrt to watching them online, which site are you using? Sometimes watch the games at the pub, but if I want to watch at home I generally end up with very poor streams (although the Kiwi games are usually faultless).

Got that right. Perfect day of Rugby watching most Saturdays. Would have thought you could get OSN satellite coverage in Bahrain? Most games are on the HD channel as well. I think the WC games will be on OSN as well.

Speaking of pubs, is it business as usual at the Delmon these days, or have the support staff done a runner?

 

[OzSash]

Got that right. Perfect day of Rugby watching most Saturdays. Would have thought you could get OSN satellite coverage in Bahrain? Most games are on the HD channel as well. I think the WC games will be on OSN as well.

Speaking of pubs, is it business as usual at the Delmon these days, or have the support staff done a runner?

Yeah OSN covers it, but since they changed to a digitally encoded signal not to be accessible to Dreambox, I am pretty much farked as I haven't been bothered to get OSN to replace my useless dreambox at home.

Also, the Dilmun is pretty much business as usual. Same for the Rugby Club. Same for the Brit Club which is where I intend to watch the Reds game this weekend as they have a huge Bulls contingent down there and myself, along with my brother (if he bothers to show) will be the only QLDers there. On the whole, however, Bahrain is completely screwed. Business is terrible. Streets are eerily quiet and the government talking very tough about what happened over the past couple of months - have choppers over my place every night. Apparently they are continually rounding up those involved with the uprising and 'disappearing' them.

Apologies all for the relatively OT para above.

Cheers
Sash

 

[Newb]

damn sash, sounds like a real paradise over there. be safe mate.

 

[hench]

Carter in.
Chilliboy starting.

 

[barbarian]

Big call Hench, Chiliboy does not get much game time with Gary Botha back from injury now.

I am hesitant to bring Carter back. It would mean I would have a very common backline (Gits, Carter, Beale, SBW, Poki, Schmoo), and to win the big bikkies (as well as move high in the overall comp) you need to take a punt and find the lesser known player that will score big. I like the look of Colin Slade, but am open to other suggestions.

Think I might boot out Beau as well. Was going to bring in Nasi Manu last week, but unwisely opted against it- he scored about 40 points more than Beau. If I do bring in Manu though it meas I have 4 Highlanders, and they can be a bit flaky. Again open to backrow suggestions here.

 

[Ash]

So...for those with Battleship on a bye and Chiliboy on the bench, are you going to sub or rely on the 50 to 60 minutes Chiliboy will likely get vs the Reds? Ged Robinson nearly as cheap and looks to score slightly more consistently, especially as the Bulls seem to only be resting Botha, and thus Chiliboy will probably be subbed early.

With Sam Whitelock out, I reckon a good buy might be the old seagull Chris Jack from the 'Saders. He will play 65 - 80 mins each week and costs just $118k. He could outscore Al Campbell from week to week for only $20k more. The best thing is that the Crusaders do not have a bye in those three weeks of three byes per week.

With Myth out a similarly priced player worth consideration seems to be WP Nel from the Cheetahs. But I won't have a spare transfer

Is Dan Carter worth taking this week over Ioane? Not to sure the opportunities Ioane will see vs the Bulls...depends on the Reds' gameplan. Ioane ties up a lot of capital for a player who may score big depending on the gameplan chosen by the Reds week to week.

Finally, Vito v Messam. Not sure if Messam is worth the extra $64k, but the Canes share a bye with the 'Clan, meaning either Thomson, Vito or both must be subbed in that week.

Decisions.

 

[barbarian]

Carter has redone his hammy and will be out this week.