One of the most fun aspects of playing draft style fantasy football is making trades. It’s not like the salary cap version where you just make them, in draft you’re haggling with league mates and trying to get the best deal and sell high, buy low – all while balancing your team for a tilt at a premiership.

If you’re new to the Draft Doctors podcast, the ‘A Dozen Deals’ article has been a staple for 2 years, where each week I write about various transactions you could make; be it a BUY, SELL, HOLD, ADD or DROP. Buy, sell and hold all relate to players who are most likely owned, and add/drop to players who may or may not be, more fringe type players. I base these suggestions on a 10 team-22 player roster, so depending on your league size and format, there may be some variation in value (which I will generally specify). The whole point of the article was to give advice on making moves in your draft league. Did all the moves work out? Not quite. However, through the season there was a very high success rate and by and large they worked out.

ADD – BULLDOGS! – Okay, so not real scientific here but Jong, Daniel, Boyd, Dale, Dunkley are the guys I’m mostly looking for.  Some will no doubt be owned but some will be in the pool in your league. Reason: they’re playing the Suns who are on their seventh road game in a row, in Ballarat no less, and the Suns have conceded over 400 possessions in each of their last 3 games, including a whopping 457 last round. The Dogs are averaging the 6th most disposals a week and leading the league in marks. The Suns are also conceding the most DT points per week. These things lead me to believe good scoring is in store for the Dogs. Steve May and Handsome Tom are also missing. Yeesh.

ADD – MASON COX (R/F) – It’s being reported that Brodie Grundy is dealing with shin soreness. Sounds like the sort of thing that might get better with not going to Brisbane to run around. I’m not expecting Grundy to miss, but if he does it’s a nice insurance policy and Cox can be played in the F line also. At any rate Brisbane are a plus matchup for key forwards also and Cox did start clunking a few last week and should spend more time in the ruck.

BUY – LUKE PARKER (M) – Parker’s only given us one 100 since round one and a few crappy scores in there to boot. Is one of those guys who hovers between elite and above average for fantasy. I still really like Parker, the Swans draw opens up soon and this is a great time to buy.

BUY – NATHAN JONES (M) – Has some tasty matchups over the next three weeks and by then (fingers crossed) Jack Viney is back and Jones can spend a bit more time outside like in 2017 where he excelled. Scores are down a bit so a good time to buy low on a solid player who won’t cost the earth.

DROP – JAMES AISH (D) – A reported 6 week spell on the sidelines after injuring his knee takes Aish through to Collingwood’s bye. Whilst he’s been fine, there should be some options in your pool with more upside and ability to help your team in the meantime.

DROP – LIAM DUGGAN (D) – Time to admit defeat on this one. Too many better users off half back for the Eagles for anyone to want to give Duggan the pill. Was seen as a potential breakout, despite historically not being a high possession winner.

SELL – TIM TARANTO (F/M) – If Kelly returns, the assumption is that it will affect Taranto more than the other mids (Shiel, Ward), which makes sense as he can go forward with more effect. If I’m shipping Taranto I’m looking for a great deal. I still think he can score well with Kelly back, just not as well as he’s been going. Think how Menegola gets the squeeze at Geelong when they’re all fit and firing.

ADD – DARCY BYRNE-JONES (D) – Still under 65% ownership on UF, like DBJ’s potential with Hartlett out. His ability to win intercepts and contested possessions makes him an attractive own you can grab for free.

BUY – JACK BILLINGS (F) – I still believe.

ADD – HARRY MORRISON (D) – Lowly owned, I just really like the guy. Wheels and skills in Hawthorn. Sign me up!

BUY – JACK STEELE (M) – Now, he’s not someone I’m paying a big price for, this is more a swap of low level assets, but Steele is actually getting something resembling okay game time. That’s a good thing, as he’s always been able to score but it’s tough to score when you’re on the pine. A tackling machine, a nice matchup in the most-tackled side in the league (Melbourne) awaits.

SELL – PAUL SEEDSMAN (D/M) – So The Statesman and I apparently disagree on this one, but I believe it’s a good time to make a move on shopping the Seed. All the mids bar Brad Crouch are back this week or next. Wayne Milera has moved to half back. I can’t see Seedsman maintaining this pace of scoring once the stars come back in, it just wouldn’t make sense. I’m ok holding if you can’t swing a deal, but I have to say it would be shocking if Seedsman finished as a top 5 defender, which he is on pace to be. He does have a good matchup this week in Carlton so you might want to hold a week, or maybe start asking about trade deals and then once you’ve got him in your leaguemate’s mind and they see him score well, it could help a deal next week. It’s a good time….to…..plant…………the………………….seed.

I’ll see myself out.