Fantasy Rugby

Foxsport

There is one thing that todays Reds-Brumbies Game taught me - beware of going for the expensive players in games like today.   They are likely to let you down.   The other thing is not to select expensive backline players when your forwards do not perform.   That really is a most expensive exercise in futility.   And Pocock only gave me 10 points - he caused some good turnovers - but the penalties he also gave away cost me dearly.

I  only got 93 points today   - but am still on top of the SA Leage point scorers - so I can continue to brag with some real relish.  

Testrugby

Points not out yet- but I do not think I did well at all.

Next Week

I think the teams to go for are the Force and the  Sharks - with a smattering of Stormers players included.   I will not include any Bulls players - and there are possibly two other players I may go for from the SA teams.   Lucky most o the players I am likely to go for are already on my reserve bench so I can limit the number of player changes considerably 

My selections will be made after the teams have been announced - but one thing is for certain - Morne and Francois Steyn will not be amongst them.

The point allocation of Foxsport  has now been adjusted with due regard to the overall performances and I did not do as badly as I thought.   My total points now is 435 points for Round 1   That is only 70 points less than the overall point score leader for Round 1 had  and that gap can be reduced substantially in the weeks to come  The average points per participant is 217 .  

 Am still 42 points clear of the person who came second on  our league - to which some of the members of this Board belong.

Bragging right continues in force

Wonder how I did on Testrugby though. 

Hey Mike,

I would like to join the test rugby site and play. What group are you all in?

Canrugby

Not sure whether you can still join - but if you do - the Division I am in is Stupidzone

I just signed up, and stupidzone asks me for a password. What is it?

Carugby

It is SZ

Cheers!

@mikey,

nice strong showing there for round 1, ur going to do very well. pity ur not in our head to head league, but thats probably a good thing for us, lolz, :oP

dont be so quick to jusge the expensive players cos of 1 round, especially as its OZ teams, 9 times out of 10 the expensive stars always come through with some good points.

one other thing ti keep in mind when it comes to foxsport fantasy rugby, is that u will see they have something called live scoring beside the roun1 in the tab just below the my team/transfer tab.
what that means is the scored havent been finalised and they are gathring in all the stats.
once it says complete, the points that players have earned are final.

i did pretty bad at testrugby too, but i think i know what qualities that site rewards now and i will change my team accordingly.

Sasue

Sorry my ignorance on leage matters is absolute.   I did not understand about the league membership and buggered up  completely.   Is it still possible to joint the head to head leagure - would lik to do so - but also remain a member of my present league.   I thought you actually suggested I should join the present league - so I am really not sure what I should have done.  Is it still posssible for me to joint your head to head legue - and retain my points gathered thus far?   I will like to do just that - but is unsure about what to do to gt in.

I thought that the points was final -  but saw now waht you meant - because they show that the points calculation is still in progress.  I suppose the points can increase still - so I am holding thumbs for that as well.

I also believe in not discarding playes after just one round - but there are payers I would like to bring into my squad and wil have to change quite a number of players for round 2 and some will have to go.  Cooper is one example.   I want Lambie in my squad and cannot accommodate him without discarding Cooper.   Same with Mowen for Coetzee for example.    

In the meantime I noticed that your man Retallick scored a try in the latest warm-up game against the Highlanders.   Will bear that one in mind - despite all my ramblings about him.   And Jordaan (2 tries) and Coetzee (1 try) played blinders in the latest Sharks warm up game..   Jordaan is a definite  together witl James Brier at center in my fantasy team.   The latter must rather not plate his hair and grow a goatee - ihe was nearly unrecognaisable and that style does not really suit him - he would soon enough find that out from the girls - but he may think it makes him looking more mature.  LOL    

Sasue

Put my financial cap on and then came to he conclusion that I will have to replace the following players in my starting line up:-

  *   Sam Wykes

  *   Gareth Delve

  *   Quade Cooper

  *   Ben Tapuia

  *   Henry Speight 

  *   Dom Shipperley

That leave me with Slipper, Alexander, Robinson. Pyle, Mowen, Kingi Pocock, O'connor and Ioane from my round one selections in place.   

I would replace the above with the following players:-

  *    Wykes    -     Bekker

  *    Delve     -      Coetzee

  *    Cooper  -      Lambie

  *    Tapuai   -      Jordaan

  *    Speight  -      Habana

  *    Shipperley  -  Pietersen or Taute

I already have Bekker, Jordaan and Taute on the bench and the latter selection will be a tight one - especially insofar as bench selections are concerned.   Since the games are still in the main local derbies I did not pick any New Zealand players as yet.   The situation frankly is that they are highly priced and I do not know enough to really pick the lower- priced players I can phase in.   If I bring in Pietersen, I will only  able to replace three other players  - if I use Taute - I would be able to replace four players of the present players on the bench or from the six players mentioned. 

I am trying to plan on the longer term as well - hence my reasoning as outlined above.   Your valuable advice on the issue would as per normal be sincerely appreciated.     

@mikey,

im sure it goes without saying that the first thing with selctions is to hold off for as long as possible before making them, or until the players u want or a considering at confirmed to make thestarting team.

hard to give advice bro for players teams, even harder when trying to build for the futures such as urself.
for me personally i am always mindful of the future, but i find that the number of transfers leaves me restricted to worry only about the present and near future (2 rounds ahead). the all aussie darbie in round 1 has really thrown a spanner in the works as far as that is concerend.

i have taken the liberty of listing ur team to, it is public info BTW so i hope u dont think im treading on ur toes. if u wish to look at anyones team in our league, just click on their name to he who they picked the for that round.

FR b alexander, j slipper, (R) f malharbe
HK g robinson, (R) c burden
SR h pyle, s wykes, (R) a bekker
LF d pocock, g delve, b mowen, (R) r elstadat
HB r kingi, (R) c reinach
FH q cooper, (R) d catrakillis
IB b tapuai, j bieber, (R) p jordaan
OB d ioane, h speight, d shipperly, (R) j taute

for me personally, i will be trying to ensure that both my starting XV and bench players will be starting, while being midful of teams that have a bye the following week.
but looking at ur team, i would say that u shouldnt have too much problems with the transfers u want and the players u want out.

  *   Sam Wykes
  *   Gareth Delve
  *   Quade Cooper
  *   Ben Tapuia
  *   Henry Speight 
  *   Dom Shipperley

sam wykes is easily replaced with bekker
b tapuai with p jordaan
h speight with j taute

so that sorts out those three without even touching a transfer

delve can be replaced with coetzee.
cooper with lambie
shipperly with jp pieterson
that will cost u two transfers and leave u with 4 transfers to replace others, stengthen ur bench or use to free up some cash.

if u are after some possible tips as to who might be good but cheap from NZ waters, then thats a lot harder to answer, mainly because its the first round and players are finding thier feet.
the only cheap NZ player i have on my bench is charles piutau from the blues and hes going straight into ,my team next week.
there are others i would have picked, but their selections were not 100% guranteed, but if ardie savea is selected in the hurricanes starting line up, i will be picking him for sure.

Sasue

Thanks for that advice.  I am really waiting for the sstrating line-ups before I make any selections.   Just one thing - I asked earlier about joining the head-to head league - do you think I still can?  And is I can how do I go about it?   Please help in the erlevant regard.

I have looked at the Test Rugby team as well and I can make vast improvements without really destroying my budget.   Will let you know by Thursady evening what I have done - once I have registered the team.  Present indications are that after the changes I would still have 10 replacements for the other two rounds. 

Normally there's a lot of action in the testrugby market early on in the game but I see the testrugby admins have stated that because there are such unnatural market swings due to only 4 teams playing, they are going to keep all player prices frozen until the lock of round 2.

I mention this because in normal circumstances it's a good idea to sell players that you don't want and to buy players early in the week to replace them if you're pretty sure they'll be playing next week . . . as I had done already before I saw their announcement . . . but in this case you may as well wait until the sides are announced before doing any testrugby transfers.

From next week when things get back to normal, it's worth taking a risk every now and then by buying a player for the following round early in the week to make sure you get him at the best possible price. This is especially true after a bye week. Let's just say for example you sell Dan Carter because the Crusaders have a bye that weekend. The time to buy Carter again is immediately after the lock of the round when he has a bye when his price is at it's lowest. This strategy can backfire if the player is not selected for the following game because it means you've wasted a trade but sometimes it pays off.

@mikey,

i need to double check, but i dont think u can eneter the head to head league anymore.
unlike the normal league we are currently in, once the deadline is missed u and even new players can no longer participate.
i am basing this on how it was run last year, but i will souble check and if it is not the case, i will get back to u.

i just took a look at testrugby and i think i will be using up 7 transfers this week, but keeping within the budget will be tough.

Sasue and Jalap

I did a manual  test already - financial wise -  on the players I want to change and am well within budget.   However, there are two low priced players still under consideration - because I do not know whether they will be included in the teams and that is Du Toit at lock and De Allende at center.   If they are in the starting line-ups they cannot be worse point scorers than the present two I have - namely Jones and Inman of the Rebels  

The other low price players I will probably go for are Godwin - Against the Kings he will be a star - I believe - and Jesse Mogg 

@mikey,

i agree about ur comments on godwin, he was really impressive against the rebels.

@jalapeno,

interesting dymanics involved with selections on test rugby.com. the fact u are given a certain number of trades after every so round, means that u can afford to gamble, provided ur team is secure and strong, so it will be interesting to see what happens from here.

can u roughly tell me what kind of a price hike can u except if say (hypothetically speaking) carter is 1.2 million before playing in a round where he has an outstanding game???

Jalap

That is a very interesting question of Sasue about Carter - maybe you should indicate what you expect in his case - but also what would happen to Godwin - if he has a good performance in the Sharks game - taking into account the performance against he Rebels as well - and also a player like De Allende if he plays a very good game against the Cheetahs

Just one stupid question - if you buy a player at a low price and trade him in when the price is much higher - do you get the higher price at the time of Trade-in:   I assume you do.   Another question is - if a player is high priced and have a number of bad games - does he come down in value?   In such an event I assume you get the lower price if you trade him. 

Sasuke, don't hold me to this, but I'd guess a player's value can change by up to FR$100k from one round to the next if there's a big change in performance or if the player's team has a bye.

Capone, you've been on testrugby.com for as long as me, what would you say to Sasuke's question regarding price fluctuations? How much would you guess a player's value can change between rounds?

@jalapeno,

while i know thats just a rough guesstimation, thats not as bad as i first thought, but i guess if price increases hits all the players u want, it can be problamatic,,,,

i have also started to see a few areas i can improve my selections with and i think i will experiment with them this weekend.

I had ab absolutly shit start to my FL season!

I really thought i had a cracker of a side, but most of the stars had shit games...

Cooper??? pfft... reckon his mind is on the ring

Beale??? lol i got a measly 95 points from him!

Pocock - 140?

I reckon the only current player that i'll keep is Tapuai

Are you fellas going to also be making wholesale changes??

@wally west,

most definately, all ausie darby in the first week was really annoying fantasy rugby wise, but its game on from here on out as we all start phasing in the best of the best based on our years as professiional couch crtics, :oP

Flash

I thus far has made 9 changes and is cntemplating a tenth one - but waiting for the Sharks team announcement before finally deciding on the issue.   My problem is with Pocock - will probably keep him for one more week - but if he carries on like he did last week - he is history as far as I am concerned.

Sorry Jalapeno!! I seem to have missed this.

Must agree with you. The value of players fluctuate ... this depends solely on how much they're in demand ... naturally.

If a player does well everyone ends up buying him and his price goes through the roof. 

If on the other hand he does poorly or as you rightly mentioned happens to be on a bye next weekend, everyone sells him and his value drops.

Sometime it can be a drastic climb or fall and a 100K can easily be lost if one's not paying attention. I would recommend you watch every match ... check the fixtures and who's on a bye each week ... if you can. I certainly try to do so.

Besides helping in the selection of potential big point scorers ... it also gives one immediate info regarding injuries, poor performances and so on and you can decide accordingly. 

Information is very important in this game. The earlier you receive it the better. That is why I surf all rugby sites for bits of info.

For example ... bits of info leaked to the media about the mood of certain rugby camps, like the Brumbies a season or two back, presented an opportunity to save some moela. You see the players take that mood onto the pitch and it effects their performance. I got rid of some of my Brumbies before the lock down. They subsequently got thumped and the value of some of their key players dropped. 

There's more to this game than merely picking a player and hoping for the best. One has to put a little thought into the process ... and THAT'S why I enjoy this game so much.

I will probably play this silly little game till the grave beckons.

Thanks for bringing me in on this!!

Oh and remember ... if ever you guys are in need of a little inspiration ... just shout out loudly ... 

SSSSSSLLLLLLLEEEEEEEPIIIINNNNGGGG GGGIAAAANTTSSSSS!!!!!

and all will be good.

Capone

Thanks for the info- but it really makes me a very worried person.  I am keeping Pocock this week - after he had a poor start in round 1 - if he repeats that he may drop a hell-of-a-lot in price - so should I trade him now and not wait another  week like I intended to do?    

I do not really like high-priced players - unless they can be pointscoring machines and even then I look carefully at the opposition they play against as well.  I think that the Rebels forwards are not as tough as the Brumbies - hence my thought on Pocock.  

Incidentally I thought of replacing Pocock with Elstadt - what do you think?

Pocock was one of the top three loosies in this game last season.

He has also just come back from injury and was a little rusty last weekend.  Flashes of brilliance showed itself during the match and gave me a little hope.

I am yet to decide his fate and will wait till the teamsheets are available.

There is every indication that he'll lose value come Saturday ... one also has to bear in mind that the Brumbies go on a bye the week after ... so holding onto him for another week may save you a trade.

I think he may come good against the Rebels this weekend ... their loosies didn't impress me at all ... so you could end up losing money ... however you may chalk up good points and that in turn will put him in high demand again. 

Decisions .... decisions.   . . 

Capone

The Brumbies by in Round 3 is the final nail.  I know I am living dangerously - but by selling Pocok I have a hefty balance for the next week.  I am living dnagerously with all the trades made - but that is really as well and I am known to be a gambler