“I did get a little bit of that. You’ve got salary cap restraints and so on. It’s quite a bit of fun,” Walls said.
Walls coached at Fitzroy, Carlton, Brisbane and the Tigers but was never as spoilt for choice as he was two weeks ago when he logged on to afl.com.au to pick his team.
“Ruckmen are of importance so I went for (Dean) Cox and (Aaron) Sandilands. I chose (Matthew) Pavlich up forward, he always seems to play pretty well. I’ve picked Joel Corey as well and a few kids who don’t cost much but I think they might get a few senior games – guys like Daniel Rich at the Lions,” he said.
One surprise selection Walls made was Carlton forward Ryan Houlihan, who only managed five games last year as he battled with injury.
But at $244,900, Walls said Houlihan offered plenty of value.
“I took him because I think he is going to be a better player. It’s make or break for him and I think he is going to be in the best Carlton team he has played in for seven years,” he said.
“You’d like to think there is massive motivation for blokes like Houlihan and Paul Hasleby. They’ve had a year out and at their age if it doesn’t happen for them it’s good night.”
Walls said the bargain points in the Dream Team game were to be found in the back half of the ground.
“With defenders’ statistics there are a lot of cheapies down there. They kick backwards and sidewards. A lot of them are meaningless disposals but with this game that doesn’t come in to account so you go for it,” he said.
Walls’ side has been submitted in the AFL celebrity league where he will go head to head with some of the biggest names associated with the sport.
And he already has his targets set on one potential rival, journalist Caroline Wilson.
“Look, if I didn’t beat Caro I’d have to give the game away. Simple as that.”
