Round 2 Preview | AFLW Fantasy 2026

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another AFLW Fantasy Fanatics Round 2 preview show ahead of Round 2, which was still a couple of days away because the first game doesn't get underway until Saturday, which is a bit different to what it was last week. We had footy on the Thursday, but it gives us a couple of extra days to get in order of what we do with our trades, because I think some big decisions should be made this week, obviously, with Round 1. I'm your host, Bales, and you can find BalesDT across the socials. And joining me is my co-host and fellow AFLW Fantasy Fanatic, Tom. Tom, mate, how are you? You're jetting off to another country in a few hours, mate, but as we talk AFLW Fantasy, mate, how does the rest of the week look like for you? Yeah, good. I got to the UK in about eight hours' time. So, yeah. I'm looking to get a little bit of a chat in before I finish packing and get everything ready to go and see the family. I still will be podding, I think, but from a different continent. So, but looking forward to having a little chat and kind of looking forward to Round 2 and try and make us some sense of what we saw last weekend and the weekend before. Yeah, exactly. Well, you'll be watching what the AFLW, I don't even know what the times of games will start. It'll be interesting to see what time the games are on. The early games. A couple of weeks, isn't it? Yeah, a couple of weeks. The early games are early. So, the games that start around lunchtime, East Coast time, are like three or four in the morning, and that's difficult. But the late. The. The late afternoon, evening, twilight and night games are absolutely fine. So, it's not too bad. And to answer your question, Damon, yes, I have tickets to the Hull City versus my new game on Saturday, and I'm very excited. Watching my new lose to a newly promoted side is going to be. No chance. No chance, mate. No chance. And if anyone can. I mean, I'd have been, obviously, but one of the two Hull City fans in Australia, you and Jake from Hat Chat. So, no, it'd be good to see Hull back in the Premier League there. But we are here to talk AFLW fantasy ahead of round two. And we've got our first three trades, Tom, of the year, which is always exciting to get. Finally, we get those starting teams to set. We don't need to worry about tinkering with 29 different players. It's just the three this week. So, I think there's a couple of big decisions to be made. So, I think where we've got to start off with is who are the rookies to bring in? Who's the pick of the rookies? So, if you look in defence, I think the standout one is Violet Patterson, obviously, who scored the 100 points last week and went up 165k, is now costing a pretty penny, but still could be a very viable player to bring in. You've got a few other players, like an Evie Couch, who look pretty solid as well, in her first game, scoring a 50 against North. Look to the midfield. I think the big one that a lot of people didn't start was Ava Usher, scoring the 78. Looked really good as well, much better than the Prackey game. She's obviously a big tie. She's in the midfield there, and there's other players like a Jordan Allen, maybe Imogen Brown. These type of players that had a good score last week will hopefully continue that in future weeks. Rucks, I think it's Yasmeen Janjcek is the clear ruck target if you're looking to make a move in the ruck department, if you had a Jacinda Hose want to go up, or if you want to go Georgia Davis just across. And then forward line, depending on who you started, there's actually a few, right? So, you've got Lauren Young, if you didn't start her, Keely Skepper, Amelia Yassir, probably the standout three. You've got tempted by a little bit of Claire Marnie, possibly from North Melbourne, Lily Johnson for free. And then you've also got Amelia Montana-Beraldson, a little bit more expensive at the 400K range, and Wong Marans as well, who's popped a 60. So, with all those targets there, if you didn't have any of these rookies, who were your top three? Who were your top three in your targeting? Across positions. Yeah, across positions. Because I feel like sometimes it's dependent on what rookie failed and what they're trying to go to. But, like, I think the big question is, I think Patterson and Usher feel like the top two, right? So, that's probably the big decision. Firstly, who would you go between the two, and then maybe give me your three after that? Yeah. So, first thing I would say is, well, I'll talk about Fowler-Patterson, for example. If you're going from a dead rookie, I would even say a Zoe Wachfer. As we've had a couple of questions already, if Lucy Cronin and you have her fails, then Fowler-Patterson is the obvious, obvious first, obvious trading. I don't think I would be breaking my team to get her in, because she is quite expensive. But this is the last chance you have to bring her in, because next week she is going to be way too expensive. Unless she looks like this 100 wasn't a flash in the pan, and it is. So, she could be a longer-term keeper. I think that if you can get there, Patterson is one. Usher is a great option. I'm a little bit nervy about sustainability, with the seven threes four baked into that score. That is a lot of free pill that she got. He's also a good player from her part, with some ball decisions, et cetera, et cetera. But I do think she's going to make a coin. And I'm not going to disagree with what Damon Snell has said in the chat. I think Amelia Youssef is a really good option. I really like her role. I think the best part of all of this is that Richmond's midfield, which is a three-player group, three players went in there, the vast majority of the CBAs. So, I think that scoring potential is replicable. So, across the three positions, they're probably the three that I would go to if you don't already have them. What about you, Bales? Yeah. So, just quickly as well. I don't know if it's just me. Is anyone else getting a little bit of feedback from Tom's microphone? I don't know if it's just me, but maybe it's my headphones. Just felt like there's a lot. A tiny bit of static. I'm not sure if that was me. Anyone in the comments, let me know. And then we can see if we can fix that. That might just be my headphones, and I'll fix that on my thing. Just let me know. But in terms of rookies, I feel like Patterson Usher are the top two for me, just because I feel like Yesir's probably a bit more highly owned there. But I think if you don't have Yesir, right, and you've got a Tia Charlton, for example, that I think Tia Charlton being someone that I think she copped, obviously, I think she would have copped someone. I'm sort of cool, because a few people said how she had strapping on her quad. A few people say it's fine. So maybe it's just my headphones. I'll see if I can fix it on my end. So I appreciate that people let me know. So Tom, you're all good. If you've got, don't know if you see her, and you have, say, Charlton, that could be your ticket to get that 100 or so K that you need to get a Quigley up to a neighbor Usher or something like that, right? So I feel like if it's not the Ford, I think if I'm ranking, I think I've just got, I was going to say Usher, but then I'm like Patterson. Patterson's got 100, right? So it's like, it's such a tough decision out of the two. Maybe Usher, with the pedigree that she has, that has had in her junior numbers, maybe sways me just to her. And I feel like people have got Quigley, and they want to make that trade up. And I feel like it's a bit easier to go to Quigley, so Quigley up to Usher than, say, go a Brewer, right? Brewer or a WAC for up to Violet Patterson, because you're going to need more money. But I really like both, and I think having both could be really helpful with your cash gen. I think those forward rookies would be next. I think you see a Skepper, Young. I feel like the template side moving forward, at least for the next few weeks, is to have those three on field, whether that be you have a forward mid in your midfield and your bench, say, Chloe Bowne or Sonny Lappin, and you've got the three on the field, or it's just you're adjusting to go Charlton down and then get those other rooks. I feel like that's where I'm going. But it's, yeah, I feel like they're the ones. But I think it's also the next tier of rookies, Tom, that people. People are wanting, right? So people that have got, like, as I mentioned, Claire Marnie, Yasmeen Janjchek, Jordan Allen. I felt like they're probably got the three of those names that are just outside. I felt like maybe Marlo Graham could be a bit of a sneaky pick as well with Ali Anderson out for three to four weeks. I know Courtney Hoddle will come in, but I feel like Marlo Gray could still have a decent enough role, at least for a couple of weeks, probably towards the back end of the list, though. But who would be your next rookies that you'd be bringing in? I've currently got Jordan Allen in my side. I just like the fact she was taking kick-ins. And that is. That just shows that Melbourne are comfortable with the ball in their hands. She wasn't being shooed out of the way by a more senior player. She's also that little bit cheaper than some of the ones you've already mentioned. And being that little bit cheaper. I think that they have more potential to grow you're getting it twofold you're getting them at a cheaper price and i think they're going to score fairly similarly and be able and then grow a bit quicker as we've seen a lot with our mid prices they're having to score really well to even maintain their price and this is something that um we spoke about in length after the podcast on monday and it's something that i need to make sure i write in my black book for next year is because the rookies if rookies score okay the amount of cash in the game doesn't change and they're those rookies are going to go up a lot which means the break-ins are going to be higher than the season at price that figure so these mid prices might not have the value quote-unquote value that i think they are from their start of season price that and are more guns and rookies approach might be the way um i like jordan allen i like marnie a little bit nervous because a lot of her possessions were intercepts i'm gonna be honest i didn't watch the brisbane game so i don't want to give too many comments on marlo graham uh i do worry about courtney hodder coming back and what does that do to a role does it end up in a pocket um of some variety which i'm not sure what i'm going to say about that but i think it's going to be a really good game and i think it's going to be the best for scoring and obviously the lions dominated that game um and a slightly too and i said slightly tougher game this weekend playing north melbourne is that going to be a bit of a trap one bad score kind of calls all cash gen um but yeah my big metric that i tend to try and judge my rookies by is time on ground if they have decent time on ground i feel safe and much further away from having these absolutely lily quickly-esque floor scores yeah exactly so that's i feel like they're getting on these rookies as well like i feel like that probably half time of the west coast game to be honest when i was like chai thomas you're gone like it was always know what i was saying i'm getting zippy fishing but i feel like after seeing a decent score towards the back in that game and i think i think i'm more on the i think you mentioned something i think it's just getting these rookies in get the rookies in this week and then you can look at getting these big dogs in as early as next week or maybe a couple weeks time when a few of these other players go down which i think for you i think probably puts us into the next topic uh for discussion which i know that uh daniel woo has put this in here asking about ella roberts shall i trade out ella roberts and i know tom was uh she's one of your your favorites and it's it's going to be interesting to see how she goes this week but obviously tagged her 53 last week which i i looked at her scores over the last couple of years uh just when i was having a look at it i think it was yesterday and that was her worst like she didn't have a score below uh she only had one score below 80 last year which was a 72 in round four against port adelaide so that was her lowest score and it only scored below 70 since round two of 2024 uh when she played sm for 55 so it's been a long time since we've seen a score like that and it's been a long time since we've seen a score like that and it's It's not like the first time that Ella Roberts has been tagged before. She's been tagged in multiple games, but she's been able to break them. This tag was completely different because Grace Koch didn't really look at the ball. It was just about, where's Ella Roberts going? I'm following Ella Roberts around. So her break-even is 126. She scores a 90. She goes down about 80K or just over 80K, depending on magic number movements and price projections, all that stuff as the round goes. But where are you sitting with Ella Roberts? Is it still more important just to fix these rookies up, get the rookies in, and just back in Ella Roberts? Because she's already lost a fair bit of cash, and she's probably going to be a target for people if you trade her out. So then you're saving a trade, getting her back in. So if people are probably getting what I'm saying is I'm holding this week. That's where I've landed on. But just, Tom, whereabouts are you going this week? I'm glad I kept talking because you just sneezed. So it's probably a good thing I just put in that last sentence as you go. But what do you think? I'm also holding, and the reason why is this, Ella Roberts hasn't become a bad pick after one game. Everybody is going to want Ella Roberts next week or the week after, whatever she scores this week, because she's already lost a boatload of cash. To me, trading her out and not getting a rookie, and then trading her back in is compounding the mistake. If you don't trade her out, you're not getting a rookie. If you don't trade her out, the cash that she's lost, you're not losing. Some people will get her cheaper. That is true. But it's just her value is just baked into your overall team value. So I can explain this in the best way possible. You bought her a price. If you keep her, what her actual price is doesn't matter unless you're going to trade her. Because then it does matter. So I think I'm holding, I still think she can be a top eight mid from here. Last week doesn't matter. All I need is to be the top eight mid from this point onwards. And I think she can be that. I think that game went about as bad for her and the Eagles as possible. But the role was fantastic. Great time on ground. Great, like 94% CBAs. She's not going to get that kind of tag every week. I'm confident she can bounce back. And there is a very real world where she hits that break even this week. Yes, there is a Lucy single flag. Actually, in the past, she has done jobs. But she didn't really do any jobs last year. Didn't do a job on Ella last year. Maybe the success of Grace Koch might mean that like Gold Coast are. I don't think she's going to do any jobs this year. I think she's going to do a lot of jobs this year. But I think she's going to do a lot of jobs this year. And we can also, one of the questions from Mr. Forge asked about Laura Gardner. In a similar ilk, dropped a lot of cash last week. He's probably going to drop a lot of cash this week. You started her. You've already got her. We're all going to want Laura Gardner. Just hold it. And then when you want, when everyone else is trying to trade in Gardner, you can trade in the next person. And that's where you can get your leg up. By sideways in that pick, you're almost compounding last week's quote unquote mistake. So I'll be holding the premiums. I think getting cash generation on our bench is far more important than trading someone who you're going to want to have come season's end. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I agree. If it was a different role, if Elrods was playing deep forward, for example, it'd be different, right? Yeah. If Laura Gardner was playing. If she was playing forward, it'd be different, but they've got the same roles. Laura Gardner had a slow preseason, obviously with the hip issue, and she played pretty low tog for her stands over the first three quarters. Last quarter was 100%, but I don't know if she can play 100% of every game. She did towards back in last year, where she only played pretty much mid to high 90s or 100% tog. I think that'll slowly go up, and she looked great in last quarter. And Ella Roberts, I just think trading these premiums out is you've got more chance of being burned. Yeah. By trading one of them out than, say, trading out of a quickly or trading out of someone that we're contemplating trading out for Patterson and maybe Shantel Emerson, who did nothing wrong, but her break-in's a little bit higher, and she's not going to make anywhere near as much cash as what Patterson is going to over the next couple of weeks, Cronin included, if she does miss this week, which I know that we did get a question at the start as well from, where's it gone? I know someone put it here as well. Yeah, Lee Everett was saying, if Cronin's out, are we trading her straight to Patterson? Yeah. I feel like if she's out, yes. Yes. That's the pretty simple trade, right? But if Cronin's named, I feel like I'm still holding. The roll was good. I think she'll be fine. Like, that shoulder issue, since she pappered in the first part of the game, five seconds in the game, she went to tackle, her shoulder went upwards, it seemed like a bit of a jarring, and she grabbed it, and I thought, here we go, first injury for the year. We've got a trade. But she played out the game. She laid tackles as well, which I'm confident that that'll be, I think it's just an assessment to go, well, we'll just make sure she's 100%. Yeah. So I think if she's fine, we're holding, and we're backing her in, because the roll was still very, very good for her. Zaya's got a super chat. Thank you, mate. He's asking about WACFA to Katie Cronin or Healy. I'm not going to try and pronounce her first name. I think it's, do you know how to pronounce Healy's first name? Or are we just going to go with Healy here? Because I can't remember. I know Liam said it. I don't know what he said. But give me two seconds. It's not like, wait for Healy or something. I'm not sure. But anyway, WACFA to Cronin slash Healy. Let me get that. Heather. Heather. Yeah, okay. Heather Healy. Yeah, so WACFA to Katie Cronin or Heather Healy, or Slocum to Marnie. Where are we going there? What did WACFA score? 35. 35. 35. and slurcombe scored about 40 didn't she and she got lost i'm pretty sure she got like a plus 10 or something after the game as well so that was um yeah she seemed very involved for how low she was on and i don't i'm not surprised by the late 43 for slurcombe and claire marnie obviously got the 66 79 percent tog seven marks and a lot of them were intercepts and this is where i'm at with marnie it's like do i think she's gonna get plenty of access to the ball in that north team i do i think like i think there's gonna be opportunity for her to take these intercept marks because a lot of things are forward yeah the hat kicking hat kicking out of the back out of the d50 um however didn't have like like a dakota davidson that she's gonna have to play on this week or something or or similar i think but you know i think davidson got suspended too i think for a week pretty sure of course she did she did she did she did i i lied i apologize maybe there is the match up maybe yeah i i think the answer to your question and this is a bit of a cop-out is you're not making that much more money by going down to marnie i think the fact that marnie was in north's best team played well bresnahan's three to four was that did i read that right yeah three to four carney's obviously available carney's available she's obviously a different type of defender if they're both named i think and this is how i do this podcast with four teams right so i want to see them make a pick because i'm looking at bringing money into i'm keen on that pick i think i want to see teams see who's brought in for all three of these teams and then as a result try and work out how close the best 16 these players are because that's my worry crowding played forward for fradley yeah there's a few rap contests as well which is also nice to see yeah um i think i'm i think i'm probably whack for to one of the defenders but i could be completely wrong with that i'm sorry i've spent about five minutes of your time making no decision i've tried to go through the reasoning i just think it's it's so line ball i think slow can access the better scores than whack for does consistently yeah yeah i agree it's a it's a tricky one um i'm just looking here like money like and the thing i always like with the rookies is i know we don't care where rookies are named but when a rookie's named on field compared on the bench makes me feel a little bit better they've been named on field to start the game and money was known on field to start the game which was obviously a good thing and there's no clear sort of defend defender that was named on the bench because you had sheer law gavin mangan trapodi king and sheer and i don't know sheer and spend a bit of time a half back and midfield i didn't quite watch sheer and it's going too closely but um i think with all those players maybe if carney comes in which i would imagine she does she'll come in for say like a forward and then they'll just um put one of those defenders starting on the bench or something like that so just looking at the team but um yeah i think marnie's upside is more but i feel like slow can can probably be more of uh can make more money than a whack for um that's probably where i feel so it's a it's a tough one so um yeah i'm we'll see teams we'll see uh what happens with that one there healy's top was very good as well 83 so i think i'm probably healy out of the two um but just seeing where these people where these players are named and trying to work that out after teams is going to be the way to go there yeah exactly um all righty well i guess i'll quickly uh go over captains uh for for the upcoming week so my top five um and i'm one i've got emily marinoff um got carlton sure um we saw how badly they got beaten i know leah mentioned on the free kick pod how badly carlton got beaten in the midfield um sorry uh yeah again by saying killed us i think they'll give points up there any marinoff so i've got marinoff at my number one um number two is is where it gets a bit a bit tricky because i think marinoff is my number one because north have got brisbane and we've seen previously kathy's back has tried to do some jobs on say jazz garner but i've still got jazz garner number two um i still think that she can still get it done regard doesn't matter what matchup she she's the best player in the comp and i think she'll get it done again so i've got her at number two um and i've got a uh i'll say trusty sidekick but it's not really a sidekick right because ashfordell is just as uh nearly as good right so i've got ashfordell at number three up against brisbane um then i've got i think i've got kiara bowers at number four against collingwood and i've got laura gardner at number five against the bombers um and laura gardner could easily have a big score this week um after break-ins 150 her tog might go back up 90 this week against eston and have a big score so i think although those options could be really good i also don't mind say monconti up against um the bulldogs as well i think she can have a pretty good game there is uh and and get it done so i think there's some good options but i think marinoff is my number one option so i've got marinoff captain uh i'll have the vc on jazz garner are you the same tom is that where you're going yes everybody mario i'm a red dot so i don't care yeah exactly yeah we'd have a red dot so but if you got just into actually question if you have just into host because we didn't really touch on uh yan's check mark yeah would you go up and just get the cash in or do you think you would get keep just in toes as a red dot because you'd be probably one of the only coats out that's got a red dot to be able to loop the vc i i was really impressed with yancho like to be fair i think i'd get yancho i was really impressed the bigger question um or i'll be a question the other question is could you do georgia davis to yan check and that's an interesting one you could you could you certainly could right because the decision from based on my trades at the moment is i'm tossing up do i go uh georgia davis to uh yan's check or do i just go quickly to yan's check and then if davis doesn't look great i can trade her to any rookie i want next week which is uh currently what i'm thinking of doing i'm actually tossing up yan's check and jordan allen in my utility spot and i think i i can see yan's check being that ruck for a number she looked as you said i'm impressed with her and i think that she'll she's got that spot until well i say until something happens or until camp burn is going to decide to screw it all up again and and bring in flair davis or or bring another ruck and and and yeah but they won right they won and she played well yeah so i think that's a good question i think that's a good question i think that's a good i'm i was impressed i think i'm prioritizing getting the money because i think it's it's different to men's fantasy where having a vc look is is really important because there's a lot of players that average over 100 105 right because there's only five or so players that average 110 plus and marinoff and and a couple others are quite clearly the best in the comp then we can rely on just a straight captain most weeks um there and and the 50 cent tog threshold is there in case something was to happen um there anyway so i think i'm just prioritizing cash gen at this stage of the year getting yans check in and uh train just into hose um that's what i think what i'll be doing so just to answer that one there we do have a super chat from bay lot of seaters as well saying hey boys can maggie johnston bounce back or do i simply go quickly johnston and charlton to usher allen and barwin cheers guys so what what do you think about maggie johnston i know you didn't watch too much of this game do you put her lower score down to that matchup against brisbane like she only scored uh what was it where did she where was maggie johnson would she score on the end uh 20 so not not particularly high do you put down to brisbane the matchup or do you think you'd be jumping off of her and bringing in one of these other rookies i think i'd be i didn't watch the game so bailey if you did and you're gonna and there's something about her role that you're confident with but i know she had no cbas i think you can jump off because her cash is going to go nowhere this week because she's got that 28 in the price cycle um the rest of the the rest of the so that if that trade option you can 100 do that you can 100 do that um i assume to do that you you have to go bowing and you can't go amani oh you should be able to go money i think because you've got charlton that was all right that was all right 46 had some good moments mid-forward could be handy for some flexibility as well so if you need to get more than that that's completely fine as well but yeah i'm taking off and and the thing with quigley and as you said we can add quickly in this as well is that because they didn't move right so i'll use liquidity example because she was obviously started by so many people and, uh, her, so obviously. So she only scored the 10. Obviously, horrendous conditions in that game there as well. But her break even now is up at 33, right? So she scores a 60, which is a good score, right? She'll go up a little bit. And then her break in will reset a little bit, right? So we can trade her out and bring her back in as a downgrade option in a few weeks, right? Because we had so many debutantes last week. The debutantes aren't going to dry up in a few weeks, Tom. I think that's why me and Tom are very, like, we're pretty set on we're getting these rookies in this week because they're going to start drying up. We're going to need that cash to upgrade on field, right? It'd actually be good if players like Quigley and Maggie Johnston and like Daddario from St Kilda isn't quite ready yet. But if she comes in a few weeks' time, it'd be good to have a few of these downgrade options in a few weeks' time to then get these upgrades on field and get these midfielders in. And then we can get these defenders in forwards and start completing our team. So I think that you get Intrade Quigley out and Johnston out. Get your ushers, get your Allens, whatever rookies you don't have. Get this cash gene going. And hopefully in a couple of weeks, there'll be options to bring back in. That's the hope there. But if they're not, then you've traded them out and you've got rid of a deadweight sort of rookie on your bench that you can now get cash out of. So, yeah, I like those trades. I'll be doing those ones there. Next question is from Chabby Bell. Is it more important to get Usher and Patterson but a basement player or to get Usher and two other good rookies? This is going to be another common question. Do you bring in a basement rookie on the other end? Or do you get creative by trading out another player to get the cash down to get these two rookies in? Like Usher and Patterson, do you just have to get these two in? Or do you think you could go without one and get maybe, say, I'm assuming it'd be like what Usher and, say, Jordan Allen and Janšek, for example. I don't – I know you're huge on Usher. I'm less huge on Usher as an option – as like a definitive you have to get her at all costs. Purely because – I don't think it's – we saw that she does have a flaw in the practice game, in this role. The role was no different in this game. So as a result, if you have to get Allen and a Brown over an Usher and someone cheaper, then I think you can definitely do that. Like, as I say, Brown's break-even is two. The next couple of games are definitely scoreable. If she averages 40, she will make 130k over the next two games. And if Usher averages – Phil Tang, while I get there – if Usher averages 50, she will only go up 10, 15k more. It is more fieldable, I think. But if Imogen Brown averages 50, then she's going to go up more money. And you're going to get that cheaper. With similar kind of half-forward flank roles. I do think Usher is safer, and it's currently where I'm going. But if it means you can get Allen and Brown over Usher and somebody that you're not too keen on. I'd get the two that I've shown in the AFL system in an AFL game that they can score. Yeah, I agree. I wouldn't be getting a base of play just to get Usher and Patterson. I'd want three players that you'd feel confident are going to make money for you this week. So if that's a Patterson and two other rookies, if it's an Usher and two other rookies, whichever ones fit your team, I think I'd be doing that as well. I wouldn't be sacrificing one spot. Because if you're just going to get a basement, then you could even just look at a red dot, right? You can look at a red dot and do that. But I think I'm prioritising cash gin. At this stage, I want three players that are going to make some nice cash. Ollie's question, your current trade. Yep. I've got a question for you. We've spoken a lot about rookies. Obviously, that's our pride. That's what we think we should do. There are some people who might see that differently. What is your mid-price slash premium targets for the week? It's a good question. I feel like if I'm looking in defence, I was still quite impressed with what I saw from Daisy Darcy in those conditions. The role was there. She took some kick-ins, looked good. A few frees against and the conditions, I think, meant that she scored only 66. Like three frees against, she actually dropped the number. I lost count of how many marks she dropped or how many bad kicks she got. And they were looking clear looking for her. So I think she's the one in defence if you didn't start with her, which I know. A fair few people didn't. Only a 34% ownership, 50% top 1%, 50% top 5%. So one out of every two coaches amongst those top few didn't start her. So I quite like her in defence. In midfield, I think it's Claudia Whitford. Obviously, she scored the 100, but the 66% tog is slightly concerning. Maybe it goes up. I don't mind, say, like an Ellie Runnels as well. And if you're going up towards the topper end of the mid-priced options, Ash Woodland could also be a nice pick for you, at the higher 100Ks. But she's getting closer towards the lower end premium than the mid-priced ones, just if you have a little bit of extra money. And then the forwards, I think, of the pick of the mid-prices. And this is probably a good question for you as well. Havana Harris is clearly, by far and away, my favourite mid-priced pick because I think she's going to be a top six forward. I know she scored 86 in the weekend in the bad, like, torrential rain, essentially. She still scored, had seven marks, which I was really impressed with. Finished slow as well. I think that she can maintain a mid-70s to mid-80s average somewhere in that ballpark. And at 696K, I think she's only going to continue to go up and up in price. So, for me, she's my, by far, my favourite. And I've maybe got Daisy Darcy at number two. Are you similar thoughts? Two Gold Coast girls are two great options if you don't have those two? Or is there someone else maybe I've forgotten or you have higher? No, I've got. I agree. One thing I will say about them, I don't think either of them are going to get away from you. For example, Harris's break-even is 56. She's not going to be out of reach any time soon. Daisy Darcy is 53. Once again, I don't think either will get away from you. That's why I think rookies this week are the priority. Because they will get away. Claudia Whitford's an interesting one. I think you can still go there this week. But this is by far. It's almost last week to get her, isn't it? Like, she'll be probably a Hannah Cate this week. Yeah. And it's almost already one week too late for how much I think she's going to average. If you're bringing her in now, you're expecting her to average 90 to be a good pick. Yeah, great. You may as well get a rookie who's going to make that catch. Unless you're starting two rookies on field, and you're like, I need to change my structure. Or you want to drop down from. You're like, no, Ella was that bad. I want to drop down. Then you could go down to Claudia Whitford. I do like Woodland. I agree. I think she's going to be solid. But once again, I don't. She's already priced at about. I would say in the 80s. I don't see her averaging three figures. She didn't go three figures at all last year and went 100 in this, which is great. Awesome. People started her over the hatch ads and the parkers are laughing. It was a really good performance. But I don't think it's. I think the rookie cash gen is way more important. Yeah, agreed. And that's, I think, why we both started Claudia Whitford at the end, right? Is that we wanted that cash gen and possible pop score to start. Again, with some midfielders out. But obviously, Shira and Makai probably like to come back in this week, which if Makai gets extra CBAs on with her sister, and then Shira's in there as well. I think Whitford's still going to be in the midfield. I can't see her playing half forward, but it could still be the low TOG because there's extra numbers in there. So just something to watch as well. And she played really well on the weekend, but we do want that TOG up a little bit. So, and she is over 700K now. So, yeah. And that's why, again, why I think the rookies is the pick this week. And you can target maybe the mid prices, as early as next week. Ollie's question. Current trade outs are Charlton, Britton and Quigley, Skepper, Usher and Allen in thoughts. And these are the 250K for next week. Yeah. Love them. Tick, tick, tick for me. Yeah. And 250K could be quite handy for next week as well. Get a couple of mid prices in if we don't get rookies or get a couple of rookies and maybe get, maybe you could go as early as next week for Laura Garda. Maybe Roberts pops a big score and you jump on her straight away. So yeah, I think that 250K could be really handy for next week as well. So I'm fine. I think I'm, I think after my trades, I'm probably going to have, yeah, I've got currently, I don't know about you, but I've got 215K. We'll go through our trades towards the end, but I've got couple hundred K in the bank for next week as well. So I think that's going to be quite handy. Yeah, that's, that's, I don't, I'm spent up, but I think I'm getting other rookies or not trading that rookies. So you don't need cash in the bank, but if you've got a bit, that's absolutely fine. Thank you. absolutely fine you you didn't change the sentence you said absolutely and then nothing so i was like yeah you you froze oh did i uh right there we go go bloody technology hey hopefully we uh hopefully it's all good when you're on the other side of the world and we'll be going okay um yeah jonte this is i like this question is emerson out for patterson risky for d5 uh have molly ahead d6 and making good cash lets me get usher and graham so before we go on to jonte's question individually that emerson really good in the first half slightly a little bit the second half but did nothing wrong scored a 53 but her break even is like so i'm just i just want to pop it up here so chantelle emerson so her break is 44 she was a 53 again next week she goes up 21k right she goes 60 she made a little bit more i think i'm fine even though she didn't do anything wrong to trade to get patterson to get that accelerated cash gen is are you if that's your way to pass and is that what you're if you've got a spare trade and you don't have three or you've got two fires you've got in a spare trade i really like the the emerson to patterson trade because i kind of see them as the same output kind of player however um you patterson is going to go up in cash way quicker than emerson so obviously with that 100 the price cycle they both go 50s emerson doesn't move and patterson goes up 150k so that's why i really like the trade d5 to d6 does it matter that much i think i would also be i'd be a little bit uneasy having both of them on field i see why you're a little why you brought that into the question but i still think you can do it yeah i think you can as well i'm not opposed to even trading out of a molly o hair you take the 55k she made from week one and and jump off because i think uh mave chaplin funny enough is actually even close to return i think she's she won for two weeks i think i read during the week like she's very close to one to two is fine though we're not we're not expecting to hold these players past a couple of weeks they're going to top out in price in the next week or two so exactly i guess my point being is i think i'd rather like if you had the money to go molly a hair up i'd almost do that and have emerson d6 uh and then no sorry uh patterson d6 emerson d5 but if you need the cash i don't mind it i think emerson and patterson is something that we're both looking at this week so i think we'd be ticking it off there um next question and then uh jonte's uh last part of his questionnaire as well he just added the question again and said my thinking is the same price bicycle fit oh okay we print what you said next two weeks one's going to get 600k quick and upgrade sooner let's see what we said so yeah perfect so you're on the same uh thinking they're jaunty as well um shabby says uh field usher or bound i think i'm still bound i was really impressed with her i'm comfortable i'm quite comfortably bound um because as i keep going back to this it was uh it was like one cba for for usher it was a half forward roll um she was x like she played well but it was seven threes four but that's just not as sustainable i thought bang was excellent um if you don't have my number one she'd be probably our number one rookie pick this week if you didn't have it yeah yeah yeah but i think there's uh yeah she's owned by over 90 the top one of five percent so i imagine she's pretty If you don't have her, she would be one that you'd be targeting as well. Eliza Sloan says, would you trade Wackford or Georgia Davis first? I'm still quite bullish on Georgia Davis. As a player who can score, that game and those conditions were as bad for her as physically possible. But, four threes against the wall. However, Janczyk is going to make cash quicker. And that's just a fact. Zoe Wackford, it depends who you're going to from Zoe Wackford, I think. If it's Patterson, you're doing that. Yes, yeah, I agree. If it's. If it's Healy or Cronin, I think I prefer getting Janczyk. Yeah, I agree with that. But, because it's something I'm considering this week, I'm not against putting Janczyk slash Georgia Davis in utility. I'm not as. I know it locks out a little bit, but. Because you're locked into that, and then, and or, you're forced to trade a rook to get access to that utility spot. I'm not as keen. I don't think either are good enough to be like, yes, we must have both. In my opinion. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just looking at thinking, well, because I'm. Like, Jordan Allen's good. I think she'd be a good rookie. I just, I do worry that with. Because Mo Chapman said one to three, right? She could be back next week. And then, does that role shift? That's just my only worry. Whereas, I think that the role of Janczyk. It could last longer. But I still may go for Jordan Allen this week. I might go for Jordan Allen over Janczyk and get Janczyk possibly next week. So, I think Janczyk. Well, she scores a 50. She goes up 100K as well. So, there's a lot of money to be made. I wish I could jump on all of them. But, unfortunately, only three trades. Damon just told me Ella Roberts saying 126 is very achievable and scored 116 last year against the Suns. Surely, she's pissed off how the umpires didn't call her being held. Most likely, you will surely get 8%. Oh, great. Yep, 100%. That's what me and Tom were saying. We didn't also touch on that she should have had. She should have had seven frees for as well. As well as Ava Rush. She should have had a lot of frees for. Didn't get paid. Probably got frustrated towards the end as well. I think she'll be rearing to go for this game. Hoping that West Coast will spawn. If Daisy's not on the phone to AFL WH Quarters about the way Ella especially was umpired last week, then she's not doing her job properly. Because the holding was outrageous. And then we get called for holding when it was marginal at best. I'm not still angry. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And we didn't lose because of the umpires. We lost because we were rubbish. Yeah, bit of both. But yes, West Coast didn't play particularly good either. Lockie says, Is it worth getting rid of Lucy Cronin if it allows you to get all three of Patterson, Skepper and Jordan Allen? Or get rid of Emerson but have to downgrade one of those trade-in options? Well, I guess decision will be made for you if Cronin's out. But if Cronin's named, are you fine trying to get Patterson, Skepper and Allen in? So the answer is, so the question is for you, Bales. Is it Skepper and Emerson or Cronin and Barney? Is that what it is? Well, there's about 150k between those. All of those options. As in, that's about what you'll have. Well, I feel like I'm leaning towards Cronin and Barney because Cronin can stand field for you and put up good scores, but also would want Skepper, right? So could it be like, is it like, is that where it goes like Allen down to, does Allen to Jan check with that 40k? Does that get you enough money? Maybe not. That's what I mean. It's a decent chunk of coins. The difference between Emerson and Cronin, Emerson and Cronin is only 80k. I thought it would be. Yeah. Yeah. I think you might think you might be able to swing that. I think you want Patterson. I think you want Skepper. Like Skepper was really good. Had the same role. Tackling pressure was great. Eight tackles. I think you want Skepper there. And you probably want Patterson as well. So maybe if Cronin is the only way you can do it, I don't, I don't hate it. It gets that, gets the cash gin in. If Cronin goes, like Cronin's breaking is 51. So she, again, if you try to actually, and she's not going to get away from you, maybe she's an easy trade into again, if you think she's going to go much better, but if she's not top six and you won't have to trade into her again. Right. So with Patterson popping, I think you can do it. I'd prefer to trade Emerson out of the two, but if you need to do it, then that's fine. I just think Cronin with that midfield role, just got an access to a higher ceiling of points. Exactly. Like she, I don't think Emerson can score an 80, but I think Cronin, I don't think Cronin can. Is, is how I feel about the pair. Yeah. And she was still full-time mid as well. Cronin. She was like, I was sort of wondering with a few, and there's still defenders to come back in. So the fact that she played midfield with Jordan Allen and Lauren Butler, both not playing has just given me more confidence that that's where they want her. They want her in the midfield. So I think that's where she's going to play. So I'm happy holding. Frio girl says thoughts on Hatchard versus the Eagles with a bad record. She looked good when playing mids until moving forward and usher switch to the mids. I should Excel. We're moving to the mids. I didn't see Hatchard as forward as, much um a tiny bit of the first quarter i think she starred the first quarter forward but she certainly rolled up um there and she probably had the same role she at the crows right she can go forward for marks and everything i'm still fairly like bullish not of like a triple figure and i think i'm still looking at a average in the 90s i think it's still possible she scored a 76 in really bad conditions and i think that um more games at gold coast will just get more use of the system so i think i'm holding at least for this week yeah yeah i think i don't yeah and like she had 82 cba she was still the second the second banana behind lucy single for hatchard i think she gets this i i don't think i'm worried about her record either it's a different team as well um yeah also because it just might be she played against the because they don't play everyone every year adelaide might not have played everyone every year she played the eagles when she was full-time mid and flying and then might played the eagles when she played full-time forward and had a lower score so i don't really look at record in aflw as much unless they've got a really good record but there could be a reason for a bad record because they don't play everyone every every year um yeah if she performs average to fall this week then you can definitely trade her next week as maybe an upgrade to one of the premiums you don't have um but i think she gets this eagles game so i think it could be a half decent score coming our way yeah like for example if hatchard doesn't do it again right and laura gardner scores 100 right she'll be laura garden will be under 1.2 million she'll be in the 1.1s easy switch if you've got the money you can just go to gardener next week as early as next week it could be two it could be two rookies down for hatchard to gardener yeah or it could be another could be exactly right so there's there's options there so i think i'm holding this week in a good match up and uh we'll go uh and reassess next week as well uh we'll go a couple more questions before we do wrap up there as well um eliza son says how did we feel about molly o'hare was a painful watch for me and she saved in the last few minutes she did she got what a mark and got a couple marks actually i think it wasn't was in it wasn't the mid 40s and got herself to a 60 but she wasn't like she got 30 points in the last quarter but like in terms of like looking at a mid 40 score compared to a mid 60 score looks a little bit different but like it i think she's a hold but if she's your avenue to patterson i think i'm still pulling that trigger yes yeah yeah like she i thought she was exactly what she was going to be like the role wasn't horrendous she's not the primary just distributed from back there but because she they don't mind kicking to her you. i didn't think she played that well if you're like and it's as you said it's a sideways swappage to patterson you can definitely pull that trick yeah yeah i agree uh we'll go these final two questions then we'll wrap up so uh shin uh has got this question along with tommy megaman saying thoughts on imager brown that was from shin and then tommy says imager brand also too easy matchups unlikely to be moved from the side you would think after last week so what are your thoughts on image around i think you played on the wing from what lean was saying um yeah but played on a wing played well obviously really really nice score lowest break even in the game too um my one it is fair was fairly low tog at 67 that's my one slight worry but if there's a couple more if there's a player or two back this week for for sydney is there a chance of a win i don't know if there's a chance of a win i don't know if there's a chance that that top reduces even further um but i don't i don't i definitely don't i definitely don't hate it and if that's the best you can do like in when i spoke about getting alan and brown instead of usher and a cheaper player it could be you want i can get patterson alan and brown i think you can definitely do that because all they need to do is put up a reasonable score this week as in reasonable being faulted plus and they're going to make 100k and they might be one of the first players you trade out as a downgrade i think usher has the capability of maybe going a little bit higher still but for a couple of weeks and bank that good score in the cash dent cash cycle you can definitely do yeah yeah great uh and then toby's point as well with image of brand there we say he's looking at going uh healy or someone else under 280k um and usher or going alan and image of brown so would you go um usher and healy or would you go alan and image of brown the fact you can still get healy i think i'd take a punt on healy as a as the defender i agree i think i think um but if you can't obviously you can but other people can't get healy you have to go even lower i think i'm getting the the two cheap the two middle options so alan and brown yeah nothing's good call and then final question was uh from john t there as well saying is money a risk with carney returning on any reports he's coming back this week yes um but i think tom you said it before like they're different players right so i think that carney comes in of course it's always a risk right it's north melbourne it's a it's it's a pretty hard team to crack but the fact that money's been able to crack inside the team is is a very good sign and that players like tessa boyd and chris lee western turner were named in the emergencies so the fact they've given her the game and she played well i think she has one poorer game she's not going to be moved out straight away because i think north melbourne will give her a game a couple of games but obviously that is the risk right yeah oh there's a risk the one positive about carney and and not being someone like bresnahan it's i think they're going to really manage carney they did last year they'll do it again carney will play super low tog and they'll just manage her through um but once again we let's have a look on when teams are named tomorrow um and just let's just we can count the defenders i'm pretty comfortable with getting money in because unlike men's we're not they don't these players don't need three four five six weeks to make their coin literally two weeks yeah be great get two weeks out get two weeks out of them and we can flip over the next one and then you're doing great yeah because exactly with marnie and i've said this with a lot of players if they go 40 they will go up 125k ish in the next fortnight and they're gonna be all you need well you want more you'd love you'd love them to score 60 but 40 is like a low bar to still make a decent amount to call them to the next one if if they go badly and it's at the end as well you might be able to might be able to get some extra points back at the back end of the game as well so that's something to it didn't matter in their hands which is always a great exactly exactly and north just keep giving us these four rookies that we we keep doing look at bogue last year as well just one to name as well trapoli the year before which is good so and then we'll finish on this one for cory just said quickly charton and whack for to johnson and for our usher and alan i think we're ticking those off as well i think we said we'd probably go marnie over johnson for the 30k but johnson was also impressive in her own right as well yeah emerald driscoll is a worry um but i definitely don't mind lou johnson if you if you how far away was i do school i don't know i've not seen injury reports i've been quite busy trying to sort out this trip yeah uh i'll have a quick look as i uh scroll here if it's too if it if it's two or more i might end up going there over marnie depending on how that defensive line at north looks i thought johnson was was was good and once again was a capable user which is i think always important especially in aflw that the senior players are happy passing to these younger players coming through yeah yeah exactly funny enough i don't know if it's true if it's true but i think if it's true if it's true i think it's true i think it's true i think it's true i think it's true i think it's true i think it's true i think it's true uh oh emerald driscoll's a test so yeah i think i'm that's my worry yeah that's the worry if emerald driscoll's a test she'll she'll likely be back and then you've also got even maddie scanlon's one to two as well and she i think will still be is that back on so yeah i think i'm if i'm going between the two as well so cool all righty that'll wrap us up but uh as always traits tom what are you looking at doing so i know that we've both adjusted from what we did say at the end of the pod um yesterday but a couple days ago sorry have i i'm pretty sure maybe did i i've changed a little bit but i thought you might have but maybe you haven't maybe you haven't maybe the same traits no i'm happy i'm doing charlton yeah brian quigley to marnie usher and alan i believe is what i said before i've not touched it so i think it's the same yeah well there you go so they're they're the same okay well i've changed slightly um because i said on the other pod i to get Patterson in. If it wasn't, Patterson's coming in. So it is. eminson making weight um because that's just the way that the trades have got to i've got to work so i'm going eminson to patterson uh then at this stage it is um if i go to trade thing there uh yeah uh charlton down to marnie to make that uh work but also go i've gone quickly to uh yang check as well um at this stage so um there is a world where i'll adjust trades and with a cup might be able to trade a different rookie instead of say like an eminson or maybe even a charlton and make it work that way but i think that's uh currently where i've lent uh to with with trades at the moment so the three rookies trio of rookies are coming into my side this week all righty well that'll wrap us up for another preview pod uh i think from probably next week onwards they will probably be doing these i'd love to be doing on thursday nights but we'll coordinate with i'll check with lean for free kick to see when they're going to be doing their on air show and we'll just do it the opposite not to they're doing so 30 thursdays we'll do fridays if they do fridays we'll do thursdays that sort of thing so um we'll be late in the week so we'll know teams when we do the pod and it'll be much easier um then we can answer all the rookie questions with more information but uh yeah but tom thanks for jumping on once again mate where can the people uh not finding the world because you'll be in america in england but where can they find you across the socials uh and your team name for foes uh yeah you can find me on exit tom underscore underscore poll united for foes have a great week and i hope yeah i'll see you next week yeah exactly and you can find me at bells dt across socials us at april fantasy fans on x my team name is bales nails if you'd like to uh add me to foes there as well and don't forget to join our open league as well i'll post that for another couple of weeks and then if you haven't joined it by then uh then just just check the link uh there as well but the code for that one is a df4j y zero w l and i will put it in the podcast as a description of the episode for for both as well so you can just add it there as well so make sure you join um and get involved you might get shared on the pod if you're up towards the top there or top score for the week so make sure you uh jump in there all righty good luck this week everyone hope you smash it a good score and enjoy the footy it'll be another good weekend once again um and uh yeah we're back on i believe this the pod will be probably out on monday because we might record on sunday but we'll i mean tom we've got a chat about that because obviously be uh traveling so we'll see how it goes but uh anyway good luck this week we'll chat to you guys uh after the round's finished for our round recap so thanks everyone enjoy the footy i'll chat to you soon see ya bye