@Dreamteam_Guru in focus – Collingwood’s @heathshaw39

@DreamteamGuru rated 79th player in the league

Shaw, Grundy & Scotland.  The Heaths were all worth looking at 2010.  But if I had to pick one in 2011 it would be Shaw.

His overall ranking sees him in the lower half of the first 100, however to put that in perspective the top 100 is dominated by midfielders.  The real value in dreamteam has to be with the forwards and defenders.

For one thing, you are forced to have one more defender and forward playing compared to your mids.

It is also harder for these positions to score higher than 100 (regularly) as they don’t travel with the ball.

Heath Shaw is a great option for your defence as he is reliable, and is a defender that can score for you (no offense, Presti.)

Watch this.

2010 average – 81
2009 average – 83
2008 average – 82

Consistent. And he is durable.  If you can 80+ points regularly from a defender, you would have to take that.

Lets see who else is around Heath Shaw according the formula.

76. Cameron Bruce (199)
77. Andrew Emberly (198.667)
78. Shaun Burgoyne (198.333)
79. Heath Shaw (198)
80. Jason Winderlich (197.333)
81. Patrick Ryder (197)
82. Paul Duffield (197)

So surrounding Shaw there are a lot of midfielders.  These ones may be cheaper in price, but for the price you are paying you are better off spending an extra $50K and buying someone from the top 100.

As in earlier editions of this BLOG, I am ruling out any Essendon players that I might need in round 24.  Love your work, Paddy – just not this year.

So who would I take out of Shaw and Duffield?  Good question.  Shaw is the reliable pick.  We know what we are going to get each week.  Between 75-85 points each week.

Duffield has average 88.5 over the last 2 years, but 3 years ago average only 64.  This is the reliability we know from Shaw, but I think that Duffield has the potential to throw up some large numbers.

So there is one more factor to consider.  The impact of the bye.  Fremantle players are better this season as their bye won’t impact on dreamteam games (they share both their byes with 2 other teams both times that they come up).  If its between Shaw and Duffield this year, I am going to have to choose Duffield.  Let’s face it, according to my ranking there is only 1 point difference, so the risk isn’t too big, is it?

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