It’s Friday so it’s time The Scout dished out his regular Fantasy Football advice. Have you sorted your team yet?
The Scout may have had a shocking week score-wise but that-s only because I failed to take the advice I dished out.
I said cut the Roar out of your squad, but so fearful was I of Perth-s malaise that I kepy Michael Theo over Danny Vukovic between the posts and it was an error, as was my over-reliance on Adelaide, I simply did not see that loss coming.
But as they say hindsight is 20/20, so we move on to what I did well and that was tell you to buy Jason Culina, although it seemed few listened, as Culina is still only owned by 80 fantasy players.
Once again the former Socceroo moved into the Team of the Week with an assured performance, and had it not have been for some Italian stallion by the name of Del Piero, who still somehow features in the official Serie A sticker book, it might have been Culina we were all talking about.
However, given his career-best four goal haul, which led to an overall season-best fantasy score of 50, maybe I should tip my cap to the great man.
And tip my cap, I will. In fact I-ll tip my cap to Frank Farina as well for the job he has done with Sydney FC because ever so slowly they are improving, as are many individuals in his team.
Speaking of individuals as fantasy begins to boil down to the nitty gritty there are the players everyone has. The names Rojas, Broich, Vidosic and Del Piero come to mind and then there are the few who could truly earn you the points as we race towards the finals.
Some players for whatever reason just don-t get picked up, but there are still a few fantasy gems out there that many players don-t have.
This week I-m giving you my top five players that under 100 fantasy coaches have in their sides.
5. Nick Fitzgerald, Central Coast Mariners – $100,300 owned by 26 players.
He was a fringe player at the Roar and he might be just that at the Mariners, but with the loss of Tom Rogic and the goals drying up at Bluetongue, Fitzgerald might just be ready to become a regular performer. He-s a gamble and a long-shot, but as Steve Martin says in Sergeant Bilko “sometimes long shots pay off big”.
4. Jeremy Walker, Melbourne Heart – $137,900 owned by 35 players.
He-s young but damn is he consistent. I like the cut of Walker-s jib and so does John Aloisi and if Heart start playing to their potential there could be some clean sheets to come. Want to make some cash in defence, give him a run.
3. Ryo Nagai, Perth Glory – $107,600 owned by 29 players
Shinji One may be the only Japanese star in the headlines at the moment, but I-ll be jiggered if Ryo Nagai doesn-t do something brilliant before the end of the season – he is the proverbial ball of energy and he more than half of Perth-s side deserves to score a great goal.
Every week he becomes a bigger attacking threat and it truly is only a matter of time before he finds the net. He-s cheap as a sushi roll too and might be worth the investment.
2. Jason Culina, Sydney FC – $232,800 owned by 80 players
Seriously see above. Culina oozes quality and he-s not even near his peak yet, when he gets there it-s going to be open season and you will wish you had him in your team.
1. Joel Griffiths, Sydney FC – $154,200 owned by 55 players
Proven goalscorer that he is, you just know Griffiths is going to score goals, and with Culina and Del Piero feeding him there could be a few to come. Sydney have their tails up, Griffiths is cheap, won-t be penalised for their poor defence and is owned by very few. BUY HIM NOW!
Team of the Week: (The highest scoring, cheapest team available in a valid formation)
Formation: 3-4-3 | Total points = 272
Nathan Coe (MV 16), Patrick Gerhardt (MH 14), Simon Colosimo (MH 14), Jeremy Walker (MH 14), Matt Thompson (MH 18), Jason Culina (SFC 24), Yousouff Hersi (WSW 20), Ali Abbas (SFC 18), Alessandro Del Piero (c) (SFC 100), Richard Garcia (MH 16), Joel Griffiths (SFC 16)
And last but not least a huge congratulations to Sharka who manages Team Sydney. Sharka-s stubborn and unwavering faith in the Sky Blues saw the team come away with 214 points and a $100 VISA Moneycard.
Sharka though is well behind overall leaders Team Sobriquet who have had their lead cut to eght by the Eungai Eels managed by Tim, with the big mover of the week being the Pinoy Hellas, managed by Chris, they jumped from 80th to 14 in the rankings.