Our SuperCoach experts list their worst trades of the 2018 season
EVEN Don Bradman made ducks and even our SuperCoach experts have missed the mark on some key trades. But what was the worst of them? Check out the one or two decisions they’d love to have back and let us know yours.
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CONFESSION time.
As another SuperCoach season draws to a close it’s time to open the trade history tab on the SuperCoach site and review the decisions that got us to this point.
We can bask in the glow of some genius moves (trading Riley Bonner to Jack Macrae in Round 7 is a personal highlight) but we can’t escape the bad decisions that have haunted our seasons.
LOOKING BACK: WAS BJ SUPERMAN OR THE GRINCH?
TRADE BLOCK? WILL EDDIE STAY AT CROWS?
TOO MUCH: THE MOMENT BEAMS BROKE DOWN
It helps to share your problems, so in that spirit our experts have revealed the moves they regret most in 2018.
What is your biggest trade shame?
AL PATON
I should know by now there is no romance in SuperCoach.
Trading in an old favourite turned out to be a terrible idea not just once, but twice. Brett Deledio gave me one big score after he came into my team in Round 6 before missing most of the rest of the season with injury — he became Ben Ronke three weeks later. However, I haven’t been able to escape the stain of Tom Rockliff who has been stinking it up since I recruited him in Round 11, when I parted ways with Tim Kelly in a supposed ‘upgrade’.
That has to be my worst move for the year but possibly even more frustrating was picking Jeremy Howe as a premium defender in Round 10. He was averaging about 110 at that point and was a perfect fit for my bye strategy but proceeded to score 59 the next week then get injured. Then he came back, scored badly and got injured again.
In Round 18 I swapped him for Jack Crisp, who has been so-so. Will think long and hard before picking any Magpies in defence in 2019.
GILBERT GARDINER
Where do I start?
Offloading Aaron Naughton after two games (for Isaac Cumming) to complete a captaincy loophole set the bad precedent and Gilbert’s Guidance only went downhill from there.
Went far too early getting rid of Tim Kelly and Bayley Fritsch and only compounded my woes by bringing in stop-gaps with little job security.
Rory Lobb a left-field selection that backfired, then I followed the pack by adding Jack Macrae mid-season — he lasted just four weeks before getting injured.
All told a forgettable season despite having reached some lofty heights (overall ranking 78) early doors.
THE PHANTOM
I’ve made a few this season but, while it made sense at the time, trading Tim Kelly to Tom Rockliff in Round 11 takes the cake.
While it was supposed to be the standard cash cow to fallen premium trade, Kelly has gone on to score 88 more points than Rockliff since Round 11.
Nic Naitanui to Todd Goldstein isn’t far behind. While Goldstein’s early season form warranted a trade in Round 5, the North Melbourne big man posted 10 consecutive SuperCoach tons from Round 9.
As always, patience is key in SuperCoach.
DAN BEGALA
The worst decision that I made at the selection table in 2018 has to be the acquisition of Michael Walters as part of my bye strategy in Round 11.
He was fresh from a monster score, free of injury and loomed as the perfectly-priced solution to my forward line woes.
It’s not the end of the world, I’ll admit, but his untimely suspension contributed to my first (and only) doughnut during the injury-riddled Round 15 bye.
The biggest non-decision of my season was selecting Todd Goldstein ($521k) over the rampaging Brodie Grundy ($534k) in Round 1.
Hindsight is a dish best served cold, but if I’d squeezed Grundy into my initial squad I’d by 624 points better off and 47th overall.
It’s a tough old game, SuperCoach.
ANTHONY HACK
Mine is an easy one. In Round 11 I traded out Zach Merrett to bring Michael Walters back into my team. Yes, I’d traded Walters out just four weeks earlier after starting with him at the beginning of the season.
Walters had just scored a 146 in Round 10, so I missed that one, then he only topped 100 once more over the remainder of the season. The worst part of that trade, though, was that Merrett went on to score 100-plus for the next 10 straight rounds, only breaking the streak last week with a 93.
I should have been more patient with Merrett, and more so, should have known better than to chase last week’s points with Walters.
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