Round one reminds me of what a cruel mistress fantasy footy is for those of us who take it more seriously than we should. How good is it to be back! 

The emotional roller coaster of the opening round brings up all sorts of feels, kind of like the Dons v Hawks on Saturday night. It raises questions about how well our preseason preparation has been, if we’ve gone with the right premo-mid-pricer-rookie strategy, and usually confirms our gut feel prior to Thursday’s bounce.

There’s nothing like seeing that player we had in our team all pre-season score big and then remember we moved him out sometime on Wednesday evening. I’m looking at you Callum Mills. 

But this is the fun of it, isn’t it? To consider all the what-ifs on Monday, rage trade our way through the week, and then finally settle somewhere ‘sensible’ on Friday afternoon (or Thursdays a little more these days). Well, it is for a hack like me. 

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But what of Round 1? 

We’ve got issues to deal with all around the place. 

First, Matt Rowell. We all know he’s got to be moved, but who do we shift him too? Sam Walsh perhaps? Will he end up being a Top 10 mid for the year? It’s hard to tell off the back of one round but he did look solid. Or perhaps there’s those we might be able to reach with a little more cash–Bont, Oliver, Mitchell, Boak, Merrett, Brayshaw? They’re all in the mix after performances this week. Then there’s always the option of a downgrade. 

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Second, depending on who you’re listening to it looks like Danger will be out from 1-12 weeks with his bump. This could easily become a sideways trade again, but that just doesn’t feel right, not after week one of the season. But a Dunkley, Zorko, or a Martin is a solid swap so you wouldn’t complain in the long run considering their scoring potential.

A downgrade option would be a James Rowe if you don’t have him, which would bring plenty of cash to use in other areas (see Rowell issue above). But if you don’t quite want to go the rookie target then there’s the impressive form of Walker, Stephenson, and Heeney to consider.

At best these are short-term options that will need movement later, at worst it’s just points chasing. The more risky opportunity is the option to hold for 2-4 weeks, but that’d have to be for the league only players rather than those of us going for the overall.

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For some reason people are already worried about their Ruck strategy. Sure, Gawn and Grundy didn’t go as big as we would’ve liked but it sounds crazy to me that we’d consider moving them. We know their ceiling, it’s only round one, and there is a reason the ‘set and forget’ strategy is called set and forget. Don’t bring that cancel culture into Supercoach! 

Plenty of decisions to be made this week, that’s for sure. No doubt I’ll be reversing trades a few times waiting for the bounce come Thursday. Whatever the case may the Supercoach gods look fondly upon your picks!