Trade Talk: Sideways trading Nat Fyfe now is not getting you any closer to the end goal of a complete SuperCoach team

At the start of the season, you select your premium players for a reason. While it will help this week, sideways trading Nat Fyfe will not get you any closer to the end goal of a complete team.

• The Phantom’s Round 3 Review
• Is Neale the man to replace Martin?
• SuperCoach Trade Targets
• The Phantom’s Waiver Wire

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Just because you have two trades, it doesn’t mean you have to use them.

And just because this weekly column is titled ‘Trade Talk’, it doesn’t mean I will be telling you to trade.

In fact, for most part, I will, again, be telling you to hold fire.

At the start of the season, you select your premium players — the stars of the competition — for a reason.

You hope, by the year’s end, they will be among the top-scoring players in their position.

Some you won’t have to worry about, they will never let you down.

With others, there will be fluctuations in form and, unfortunately, injuries.

If it’s a short-term injury — no longer than 2-3 weeks — you stick by them.

If the role is still there, but their form isn’t, you stick by them.

Of course, if it’s a long-term injury or their form really spirals out of control over an extended period, you need to trade.

But if you think the player is a top-scorer in their position and one you will want in your final team, why trade!?

No, a price-fall is not a reason.

After you’ve picked them, the price of your premium players becomes almost irrelevant.

Sure, a huge part of SuperCoach is buying and selling at the right price but you don’t pick a Jack Macrae, Patrick Cripps or Nat Fyfe to make money.

You make money in SuperCoach to fill your team with these players.

The aim is to complete your team with 22 premium players on the field by downgrading some your cash cows when they peak in price and upgrading the others. The same can be said for mid-price stepping stones, who don’t turn into season-long keepers.

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If Nat Fyfe misses two weeks, sure, sideways trading him now should improve your score in the next two rounds but it’s not getting you any close to a complete team.

The only thing you’re getting closer to is running out of trades.

That statement might seem silly but, trust me, 28 or 30 now will become less than 10 very quickly post-byes.

Trading Bulldog Josh Dunkley to, say, Travis Boak is — on current form — likely to have an immediate positive impact on your total score.

But, again, it’s not helping you achieve the goal of a complete team.

Be patient, wait for your cash cows to fatten and upgrade to Boak that way.

Once you’ve packed your forward-line with premiums and pushed Dunkley down to F6, then assess his form.

If he’s still struggling at that point, then, by all means, trade him.

But I bet you he won’t be.

I understand the need to be aggressive if you have made a slow start, especially if you are focused solely on your leagues.

So, of course, there are exceptions.

The game is also about finding — and making the most of — the value.

Tom Liberatore is still great SuperCoach buying ahead of Round 4.

Let’s take Tom Liberatore for example. The clearance machine has posted scores of 128 and 150 in the past two weeks and, despite a huge price rise, is still available for $379k ahead of Round 4.

And his scoring history — Liberatore averaged 107 in 2013 and 110 in 2014 — shows it’s form he can maintain.

If you didn’t start with the 26-year-old, it would be a mistake not consider him this week. For a player who could average close to 110, if all goes well from here, picking up Liberatore for anything less than $400k is great buying.

Obviously, an underperforming premium would have to make way.

But the cash surplus will help down the track or with an immediate restructure.

This was the thinking behind The Phantom’s Dustin Martin to Tom Rockliff trade last week. It was more about the value of Rockliff than Martin.

But, for most of you, the best way to achieve SuperCoach success is to play the long-game.

The total points you could lose as a result of having limited trades in the final month of the season is likely to be much greater than the differential between a rookie-price player, acting as cover for Fyfe, and a premium replacement.

If your team is in good shape, what you should be doing at the moment is keeping an eye on the underperforming premiums that aren’t in your side.

Eagle Elliot Yeo, whose price has already dropped by more than $40k and is still falling, should be at the top of your watchlist.