Higher Scores a Good Thing??

[samwise]

It is just very disheartening seeing such high scores and it is also disheartening seeing how strong the sides are so early. It should take weeks to get a team that strong. It is also frustrating seeing teams looking so similar. Makes supporting your teams frustrating because at least half of my players mean nothing in the overall scheme of things because everyone has them

yeah that is the bit i hate the most. especially when you are in a bigfooty league where it's just gonna be like 5 players every week that matter. definately think the salary cap was too generous but maybe they did it on purpose because they are trying to promote it so much this year so they dont want people to do poorly.

 

[Stormer]

I'd actually say I'm in a better better position this year than last year but, like others have said, ranking definitely does not show it

 

[LemmingMaster]

You would hope that every year that goes by in a competition it should get harder to win.
I know when I first started, I had no idea how to play DT. Just picked a bunch of random names that I thought would be good. The following year I learnt about things like Break evens and how price movements work.

Then eventually you get to a point where things just all start coming together. I'm sure there are many other people like myself, all on a massive learning curve.

In the coming years with 17 teams coming into the competition and an increase in the amount of players, changing the way you play DT. Just as you start to get used to a certain system, it all gets changed again.

There will still be many many people that fall, trading away in the opening rounds. They come onto BF saying in round 12, "My team is now set" only to never post again as they run into some "bad luck" at the end of the season.

Then 2010 comes around and they all post stories about how they ranked 6000th, but they had a terrible run of injuries.

 

[kangaroo19]

There is one, remarkably simple explanation for the higher scoring. The popular players are scoring well.

Maybe they're popular because they were expected to score well

 

[LemmingMaster]

Maybe they're popular because they were expected to score well

Just like Nathan Jones?

 

[Skystyler]

Maybe they're popular because they were expected to score well

and so far this year, reality has met with expectation. That is not always the case.

I find it harder to explain why my SC team is doing so well and my DT so ordinary. Used the same philosophy with both and the only real difference was my choice of premiums. Got all the usual suspects in both (houlihan, skippy, kraka, rich, Higgins etc).

 

[Beau_Waters for PM]

Just like Nathan Jones?

I was thinking Ricky Dyson.

 

[Knight Ryders]

With football being so fast paced (meaning more players are being rested because of 'soreness' and tight so and so's) and the tribunal being so damn soft, trading strategy is going to be a massive factor at the end of the year. The winner/top 10 may not emerge until later in the year, but I imagine you are going to have to time your run to perfection.

Being a regular reader of DT Talk and to a lesser extent Fan Footy blogs, quite a few people are doing several sideway trades (Hodge out, Lockyer in etc.) that could see them continue to go well early, but will cost them dearly in the last 4 rounds.

It's definitely going to be more competitive, but I'm just going to stick to my strategy and see how it goes. If it is not good enough, then so be it.

 

[lifelike_]

I'd actually say I'm in a better better position this year than last year but, like others have said, ranking definitely does not show it

From a team point of view I'm definitely better off than last year. The problem is that I'm ten thousand places lower than I was at this time last year.

It's been said numerous times in the thread, but trading this year will be absolutely vital. It's not hard to copy a good team and end up with a good early ranking, but once the sheep have to think for themselves things will go wrong.

It does get annoying seeing people having a whinge about not being able to crack 2,100 because they think they've got some divine right to do so, but I guess that comes with the lower than expected increase in player prices.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

I think this year will be interesting with regards to how the average Joe who has suddenly had so many resources open up to him ends up. Everyone knew about Skipworth and Robinson, but how they choose to upgrade these two (for instance) or whether they upgrade them at all will ultimately decide how they finish. Picking a pretty good starting squad is relatively easy, with the resources available and a good slice of luck (no Bock or Shaw for instance). Picking a great finishing squad is a hell of a lot harder.

Another thing to consider is picking a squad next year with only 1-2 from each team in each position, to prepare for the bye. If you've had a practise run, you will be sitting a lot prettier than the people who are doing it for the first time with the bye. While no ABCS may well cost you next year, it'll hurt everyone else the following year.

 

[Tippaz]

i'm in the same boat as lifelike,

after rd3 last year i was ranked 1,600th
after rd3 this year i am ranked 24,000th... with more points

strangley, i feel i've done a better job than last year. no Dysons, no Nicoskis, etc. and tactically, i feel better off. still got my 20 trades too. the good DTs get going rd15 -> onwards, so there's no point in worrying about a meaningless rd3 ranking fellas .

 

[SELFCONFESDAFLNERD]

<snip> It is also frustrating seeing teams looking so similar. Makes supporting your team frustrating because at least half of my players mean nothing in the overall scheme of things because everyone has them <snip>

I agree with this point and this only nearly prompted me to make a secondary team with unique players this year. I am glad i didn't but the prospect was certainly very tempting. My team is quite 'unique' IMO this year anyway, in rounds 1 and 3 where the average score was very high i did poorly and in round 2 when most suffered low scores i pulled a great 2100 which got me 84th for the round - remarkably this score would have only got me around 6500th for round 3.

There is still plenty of room to be different though - i'm surprised at how few top teams own players like Swallow, Ward, Bird, Hocking, Proud, Mackay etc, just the 2nd or 3rd year players who can make you a quick buck in the midfield - Clinton Jones last year was a prime example.

So there are plenty of 'unique' players that you can still pick that can serve you well but their does seem to be a hell of a lot of top teams with Skipworth/Houlihan/Higgins/Krakouer/Raines and their so popular mainly from overexposure and a general boom in the industry. Last year there were only about 127k teams in round 1 - my mate got into the eliminator by registering during the round 1 lockout. This year there were about 95k or 100k more teams signed up from the outset of the competition.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

I should point out that i have used the resources in the past couple of years and have improved my overall position from about 5000 a few years ago to 1050 last year and 300 so far ths year.

My strategy hasn't changed so much - but now i have many more resources to provide a solid basis in implementing my strategy. In particular understanding the breakevens and when to trade a player in or out is imperative.

in terms of being unique - i certainly have a lot of the common players - but seemed to do really well in rd 2 on a comparable sense.

 

[AjsGuns]

I didnt really care about having a "unique team" i went into the season trying to get together the best squad i could form if they were unique great but i certainly didnt go for unique picks over someone like higgins/krakouer. The one different player i decieded to go was Brent Harvey as i knew alot of guys were going deledio/pav the serious dters anywa and it looks like it backfired. Im relatively happy with my start only 4 player decreasing in price 2 who i knew would in Ablett and Cox.

As for the topic i think there are many variables that play an integral role into this seasons high scoring common players are scoring better than last season, the rolling zone and the new 3 point rule has made an increase in points as well as all the information avail to the average DT joe. Like said previously trading will seperate the men from the boys.