EACH week, Dr Dream Team answers your questions and queries about the Toyota AFL Dream Team competition. Sore forward? Backman with a fever? Drop him a line at dreamteam@afl.com.au and don't forget to include bank and trade details.

What's up Doc? I'm after your read on the best forward option. I'm doctoring (pardon the pun) a trade which allows me to get any forward apart from Chapman. I'm thinking Richo, Steve Johnson or Nick Riewoldt. Who's your pick? Or do you have another fancy? - Steve (18 trades, $17,100)

Steve, puns are always pardoned in these here parts, or indeed throwbacks to classic cartoons of the small screen. But buying players at peak price or when they teetering on the edge of big dive is not, my friend. Now don’t get me wrong, Johnson is a player you want to go after, but following a tragic 72 last week now is not the time.

Richo is in the same boat after a score of 26. There's far too much value floating around up forward, so put these guys on your watch list for a couple of weeks and bag yourself a Pav ($373,400) or a Buddy ($365,800). I don't reckon you'll see either this cheap for the rest of the season, while opportunities to buy the other three will present soon enough.

Doc, after winning in round four, round five was a disaster. I only scored 1700 after both David Hille and Brent Harvey went down early. I am now faced with some major trading decisions before this weekend. Who should I be aiming for to replace those two guys? - Shane (16 trades, $140,000)

Shane, now we don’t want to sledge the bloke while he's nursing a serious knee injury, but David Hille let down a lot of DT coaches this season. Having said that, let's just be grateful he didn't win the first hit-out on Anzac Day or we'd be doing some serious tin-rattling. Luckily Boomer scored a zero as well, so there was no dive in either player's price. 

Now, doing the sums, you've got yourself $840,100 to splash out here including your bank balance, so the last question is do you have Cox? If not I'd recommend a Cox/Buddy pairing that will scrape in with $3,000 to spare.

If you do have Cox, or if you feel like livin' a little, I'd say pair an undervalued gun in the Pav with an undervalued Blue in Kreuzer. Both are going to gain value, and beyond Cox there isn't really a ruckman that's going to see you sleep any easier than the Blues' No. 1 draft pick. He racked up 95 DT points last week and plays like a DT gun in the making.

Hey Doc, I have been toying with the idea of trading Kerr for Bartel. I have the funds; the problem for me is I already have Ablett and Selwood. Is another Cats player in my midfield too much? – Chris (16 trades, $170,000)

Hey Chris, I understand your concern for the team's balance, but this isn’t a problem with the Cats. Stacking your side with field players from, say, Richmond is a big risk as the Tiges are bound to have more off weeks than the other way around.

The Cats, though, their record in DT speaks for itself. They'll continue to play a possession-heavy game and your team will benefit as a result.

However, it seems you got Kerr into your side as a value buy and I'd question your timing in trading him out and, likewise, trading Bartel in. Trading out your players when they're hitting peak value is a key to DT, so I'd weight up whether the benefits of getting Bartel into your side now out-weight the money you could save if you wait for him to drop and for Kerr to hit some form, thus giving you a fair return.

Hi Doc, I'm not sure about trading young players whose prices have gone up. I have Andy Otten and Liam Picken on my bench and Garry Moss on the field. Their value has gone up a lot but should I wait and see if they go up even further or should I trade now? - George (18 trades, $14,600)

George, knowing when to sell the young blokes that have done so much for your side is one of the finer DT skills, and on these three I reckon you're jumping a touch too early. Otten would be the only one plump enough to sell, but Picken (scores of 82 and 83 in the last two weeks) and particularly Moss (125 and 120) are nowhere near it.

When these guys are earning you less than around $5,000 a week it's probably time to look at cashing them in as a bad game may only be around the corner. So I'd say, depending on future scores, another two to three weeks at least on Moss and Picken and possibly next week for Otten.

If you're trading down to another rookie to make some money for upgrades, it's vitally important to get those players before they've played three games. So with Hamish Hartlett set to jump in value after this round it may be worth doing an Otten trade now.

Elsewhere, a couple of rookie-elevations to keep an eye on are Adam Cockie (West Coast) and Matt de Boer (Fremantle). Both could hold their spots after debuting this week and be primed to trade in when Picken and Moss peak.

Captains

There's a bit of a trend taking hold among DT coaches and it's taking captain selection back to old school. Rotating is out and picking a skipper for the season is in. It must be said, this trend is for coaches riding on the coattails of the little master, including yours truly.

Jimmy Bartel also looks a safe bet against the Demons, while Dean Cox's form should see him get around Subiaco and notch a healthy skipper's score in the Western Derby.

This week's top three:

Gary Ablett (140 last week)
Jimmy Bartel (137)
Dean Cox (138)

Best of luck to you all, Dream Teamers!

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.