Trade Talk: Keep or Sweep?

It has been a couple of weeks since my last Keep or Sweep post, as it became hard to find new players on-the-rise or to trash mid-season. Sure there have been some misses (if only I could somehow get the Commish to shut up about Rona) but I am still batting above 0.500 on the year.

And hey, I got the dual-listed duo of Gagai and Frizell for Rona and the useless Mitch Rein, so I don’t feel too bad on that.

Keep

Jake Mamo

Mamo should be a free-agent in most leagues and was excellent starting at fullback last week. It is hard to know what Rick Stone will do up in Newcastle, but with Gidley and perhaps Ty-Rob moving on next year it is reasonable to assume they will let Mamo take on the fullback spot for the rest of the year. This means that in a couple of weeks Mamo should earn dual-listing and be a reasonable 2^nd or 3^rd string guy to see out the season.

I wouldn’t give up anything for Mamo, but I’d have a look in your free agent pool and consider adding him as some depth to your squad.

Robbie Rochow

Rochow might have been picked up again after returning from injury, but this is a short-term solution. Whilst Rochow hasn’t scored a workhorse this year, I expect that to change starting tonight. Houston, Fa’alogo and Smith are out for between 1-4 weeks each and Stockwell is gone for the season leaving Rochow as the last man standing to start at lock.

Rochow was a weekly workhorse candidate in seasons gone by and also a threat for the occasional try. I have picked him up hoping to get a few weeks of solid play out of him heading toward the end of the season, but I will re-evaluate whether I keep him after the deadline over the next fortnight.

Shaun Kenny-Dowall

SKD has kept chugging along all year despite being shifted between centre and wing. He is dual-listed gold and doesn’t have to play next to that god-awful assist-dropper Dan Tupou. With the Roosters returning to a full-strength backline SKD gets to shift to the wing where he can be the guy who just needs to put the ball down over the line outside representative players in Pearce and Ferguson.

I really like SKD as a scorer in his own right, but the dual-listing has me salivating over him. He is the main target for me in trades this week.

Sweep

Boyd Cordner

I couldn’t rate Cordner highly enough coming into this year. In his last 8 matches last year he scored 7WHs, 3 tries, 5 LBs. But in his most recent 4 matches he has a total of 4 points from a one-off workhorse.

Cordner has always been an edge-runner in attack, which aided him in scoring tries running off passes from Mitchell Pearce close to the line. However he also seems to be defending wider this year than he did at the end of 2014 and isn’t getting the big numbers he was capable of.

I loved Cordner so much in the pre-season that I am torn between ditching him (in the league I have him) and trying to pick him up where I don’t. But I don’t have the faith to start him at the moment and have shifted him to the bench. I am not in a position to withstand any more scoreless matches from a backrower right now.

Mitchell Aubusson

Aubusson has been great with his versatility, but with Ferguson returning he won’t see time in the backline (barring Origin week) and the Roosters are stacked in the back row. Aubo becomes a victim of his own versatility and barring injury won’t be worthy of a spot in your NRLCEO squad for much longer. I’d try and capitalise on his recent good form and net back a starting player in your position of need.

Josh Dugan

Dugan has scored six points in his last seven matches. I don’t need to tell you that is utter garbage. But wow, he has been worse than I thought. The NSW fullback has a grand total of three tries and two try-assists all season.

I’m not sure you can get much of a return for Dugan, but send offers to everyone and hope someone bites on the name? Most leagues have at least one numpty who might bite.

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Ryan

Crushed dethroned NRLCEO Champion seeking a trophy for long term relationship.

Latest posts by Ryan (see all)

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