Welcome to Fast 5, my final article of the year where I give a quick summary on the 4 most popular trade ins of the week plus my POD of the week for those looking to stray away from the pack. With trades slim, percentages are way down compared the earlier in the season. Most of these trades will be sideways trading injured players or luxury trading to better options.
Reuben Cotter $707k (BE 55) Average: 53.9 Ownership: 6.6% (+0.33%)
Cotter seems to be back to full fitness after gradually increasing his minutes (38, 53, 56) and his output (32, 48, 64) over the past three weeks. Given that his season average when starting prop this year is 58, he seems to be great value for the remaining three rounds. His DPP HOK/MID should give you some great coverage for EMG is you don’t already have a 2nd gun hooker. Just be aware when picking him up that there is a slight chance that he could be rested in round 25 since the Cowboys sit comfortably in the top 4.
Final Decision: YES
Adam Doueihi $664k (BE 24) Average: 47.3 Ownership: 12.1% (+0.32%)
Adam Doueihi has had a monster end of season run despite being in an underperforming Tigers side, proving his gun status when playing five-eighth. His average in this position this season sits at 63.6 which mirrors his output from last year of 61.4. The great thing about Doueihi is that he is still greatly undervalued and has the DPP HLF/WFB. If you are looking to trade out any of your red dot guns, I think he is by far the best option under 750k.
Final Decision: YES
Kade Dykes $232k (BE 5) Average: 24.5 Ownership: 3.6% (+0.27%)
At this point in the season, looking at cash outs probably wouldn’t be the strategy I would be going with unless you are above the 3-trade mark. With trades at such a premium, for overall coaches it is usually worth sideways trading to a similar priced gun rather than burning an extra trade for 5-10 extra points per round (unless it’s a must win H2H obviously). However, if you are in a luxury position that can afford to burn trades, Dykes probably looks like the best of the cash outs. An average of 24 in his two starts is nothing special, but he does pass the eye test as a good player with potential and has a pretty easy run home.
Final Decision: YES – however for overall coaches avoid double trading with cash outs if possible
Joseph Suaalii $509k (BE 28) Average: 35.7 Ownership: 12.3% (+0.23%)
Now this is a strange one for me. Yes Suaalii has had two great scores of 43 and 53 in the last two weeks but he still has a season average of 35 on the wing. If you need someone around a similar price range, I think Ramien (Who has an easy run home) and Jack Bird (Who averages 48 at lock) are probably the two that I would be looking at. If positioning doesn’t matter, maybe even have a look at RFM who played 80 minutes at lock last week.
Final Decision: NO
Jake’s POD of the week
Scott Drinkwater $612k (BE 42) Average: 46.1 Ownership: Top 100 – 0.00%, Top 1000 – 0.30%, Top 5000 – 1.30%
This might be a bit of Cowboys bias mixed with a bit of “willing into existence”, however Scott Drinkwater looks ripe for the picking. Two of his final three games of the season are against the woeful warriors and a round 25 Penrith side likely to rest as many players as possible. His average season when playing 80 minutes at fullback bumps up to 50, with a last 3 round average of 54.7. Out of the players around that 600k mark I think he is a great pickup (except for coaches that don’t already own Adam Doueihi).
Just to finish off, I would like to thank everyone who has read my Fast 5 articles this year, it has been great fun writing and interacting with the community! As always, big shout out to footystatistics.com, which is where I do all my statistical research. Good luck to everyone for the week ahead!
If you haven’t yet check out the round 23 BUY, HOLD, SELL, AVOID with Andy, Kyle, Jason, and Louie. Also be sure to send your questions in on our live Facebook Q&A at 6:30pm Thursday with TK, JWarrior, Riley and myself.