I HAVE experienced some tough weeks of Fantasy footy in my time and that round was right up there with the 'best' of them.

The snowball effect started with the late withdrawal of Rowan Marshall before the selection bombs started dropping with Matt Flynn remaining out of the side for his coach, Shane Mumford, and the omission of Jordan Clark caused a donut on Sunday as many coaches had already used their trades to patch other holes before that news was available.

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The injuries were where the real bullets hit however, and they started flying in nice and early Friday night via a Jordan De Goey three-point performance to ruin the weekend before it had even started. And it didn’t stop there with stars Jeremy Howe, Dan Houston and Jordan Ridley permanently leaving the ground well short of their average and even Tom Hickey, who had been effectively filling a hole in the ruck department for his coaches succumbing to injury.

After wiping away the tears and regrouping with the reminder that crisis creates opportunity, the DPPs couldn’t have dropped at a better time to peel us off the canvas and launch back into action. Never before have I seen so many relevant and exciting names become available in one roll out. The likes of superstars Josh Kelly, Nat Fyfe and Lachie Hunter gaining forward status put them all high on the trade target list and having the flexibility to patch holes down back with players like Nick Hind or youngster Miles Bergman are invaluable for coaches scrambling to offload players like the out-of-favour Clark.

TOP FIVE PRICE RISES

• Miles Bergman (DEF/FWD, $273,000) +$46,000
• Jack Redden (MID, $641,000) +$45,000
• Lachie Sholl (MID/DEF, $578,000) +$44,000
• Kysaiah Pickett (DEF/FWD, $464,000) +$44,000
• Chad Warner (MID/FWD, $452,000) +452,000

TOP FIVE PRICE FALLS

• Jordan De Goey (FWD, $488,000) -$62,000
• Jarrod Berry (MID, $570,000) -$57,000
• Jeremy Howe (DEF, $603,000) -$47,000
• Matt Kennedy (MID/FWD, $488,000) -$45,000
• Jason Johannisen (DEF, $497,000) -$42,000

LOWEST BREAKEVENS

• Matt Flynn (RUC, $346,000) – 10
• Miles Bergman (FWD/DEF, $273,000) - 8
• Jordan Sweet (RUC, $200,000) - 8
• Jy Farrar (FWD, $256,000) - 3
• Beau McCreery (FWD, $240,000) - 2

HIGHEST BREAKEVENS

• Tom Rockliff (MID, $818,000) 187
• Luke McDonald (DEF, $635,000) 154
• Dylan Shiel (MID, $722,000) 151
• Stephen Coniglio (MID, $670,000) 150
• Shaun Higgins (MID, $615,000) 146

BUY

Josh Dunkley
WESTERN BULLDOGS
MID/FWD, $813,000
The midfield superstar is finally back in the role his Fantasy coaches have been calling for, and his scores have reflected that. He is now the No.1 player in the game averaging 119 on the back of his round-high 151. He has a breakeven of 85 and is a must-have.

Jack Ziebell
NORTH MELBOURNE
DEF/FWD, $735,000
The Roos skipper has found a nice role in defence where his teammates look for him at every opportunity. He is also the designated kicker from behinds which resulted in a bonus 39 points on the weekend. Elite ceiling with games of 139 and 140 already this year.

Jy Farrar
GOLD COAST
DEF/FWD, $256,000
The injury crisis at the Suns opened up another opportunity for the mature-ager. He made the most of his first game of the season with a high volume marking role down back which included eight on his way to an impressive score of 86.

Also consider:  Max Gawn, Tom Mitchell, Jarryd Lyons.

HOLD

Patrick Dangerfield
GEELONG CATS
MID/FWD, $748,000
It was an underwhelming return by the superstar Cat with 22 touches and 72. He had his second injury concern for the game late in the fourth quarter and despite sitting it out, looks on track to be available to play on the weekend.

Jordan Ridley
ESSENDON
DEF, $700,000
It was devastating to see the star defender go down with concussion on 15, which of course rules him out of the ANZAC day clash. Now if you have cover on the bench, he is worth holding given his scores of  90, 109, 124 and 110 to start the season are elite.

NAT FYFE
FREMANTLE
MID/FWD, $688,000
The Docker's numbers would have him on the chopping block as a midfielder with just one score in triple figures for the year but given his newfound forward status, he is a valuable keeper for the season. A 91 average from a genuine gun sitting forward is gold.

Also consider: Dyson Heppell, Josh Kelly, Lachie Hunter.

SELL

Jordan De Goey
COLLINGWOOD
FWD, $488,000
Just when his coaches thought it couldn’t get any worse … A score of three, price drop of $62K and a week on the sidelines. Have mercy. What makes it harder to swallow is the midfield role was finally there before copping a nasty blow on the beak.  

Jordan Clark
GEELONG
DEF/MID, $442,000
If you held Clark last week, Saturday night teams delivered some disastrous news with the young Cat's omission. He went on to be named as sub and almost made matters worse with murmurs of him hitting the park with 10 minutes left for the injured Dangerfield.

Tom Phillips
HAWTHORN
MID/FWD, $587,000
The former Pie had been serviceable over the first month but if you have a luxury trade, his score of 56 on the weekend is enough to send him packing. With so many reliable players receiving forward status, it would be a nice trade to Fyfe, Kelly or Hunter.

Also consider:  Adam Cerra, James Worpel

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