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 opinions 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.

We’re at the point in the season where you’ll have a decent idea where you stand. Contending, middling or out of it. Hopefully you’re not out of it, but it’s a reality. And so today’s deals have to have some context – if you’re two games clear on top of your ladder, you’re not picking up streamers for this week, you’re thinking about what your team will look like when finals start. You can start doing two for ones, trading away some depth for better starters. Conversely, if you’re in need of wins to sneak into the finals, what your lineup looks like then isn’t of the utmost importance. It’s getting the W this week and next. We know anything can (and usually does) happen in fantasy finals. Getting there is the most important thing. So I’ve separated a few deals at the end for those of you looking ahead. Let’s get into it!

BUY – HAWKS – Really can’t stress how good their run of matchups over the next two months are. Whatever area of your team needs a hand, there’s plenty to buy from and you can probably get players at a good low cost.

ADD – DAWSON SIMPSON ( R ) – If you need a ruck, Lobb’s out for at least a month, so we would assume Simpson gets a call up unless GWS try Flynn. Aside from WCE, Simpson would run into a reasonable run of matchups in that 4 week timeframe.

ADD – MATT KENNEDY (M) – It’s been a rough year for Kennedy with constant injuries nagging him. He had 29 disposals in the VFL last week and is sure to be in line for a recall.

BUY – CHARLIE CURNOW (F) – Has been putting up okay numbers, no tons since round one but given the way Carlton are struggling, he’s been great. Why buy then? Well, he should be pretty cheap in terms of trade and after round 15 Carlton don’t play a team currently in the eight.

DROP – DANIEL WELLS (M/F) – Likely out for the season, there’s no reason for him to be on your roster.

SELL – ZACH MERRETT (M) – Obviously you’ll want to get a big name back, but with Essendon’s next 6 weeks featuring a whole lotta teams who tag (Sydney, GC, North) and sometimes tag (Freo, WCE), Merrett may well underperform with attention.

SELL – GOOD PERSONALITY TOM LYNCH (F) – On bye, bit of a worry his side strain is still niggling him and Adelaide have a horror run of matchups. Don’t want any of their forwards to be honest, but Lynch may be the most sellable.

KEEPER BUY – SAM POWELL-PEPPER (M) – So I don’t talk about keeper stuff too often, but in a keeper I’d be looking to buy SPP. Not sure what the cost will be but I imagine it’s about to shoot up. Looking for a third year breakout next season, but the big kicker is Ollie Wines. If Wines leaves, good times for SPP. Obviously don’t trade the world since there’s a lot of variables here, but a sneaky buy could be handy!

ADD – CHRIS MASTEN (M) – Widely available, on a heck of a lot of waiver wires and at least fills out your M7 spot.

Okay, let’s look ahead. With matchups against Brisbane, the Dogs and the Saints, I’d be interested in picking up some North players.

Jed Goaterson is 70% owned. Billy Hartung is free. Waite, Brown are cheap to get. Higgins is the top guy to get, and he isn’t averaging huge across the season so is gettable

If your finals series goes through rounds 22 and 23, Adelaide are playing North and Carlton. These 2 teams run tags so I’d be wary if I was a Rory Sloane owner, or of trying to trade in Sloane. Not only has he missed a heap of footy, we’ve also seen him be greatly affected by taggers.

Richmond have good matchups in rounds 21-23 so they’re worth considering, although they are quite unfriendly for fantasy! Also on bye, so it could be a good time to buy.

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Good luck in your deals and matchups!