Fantasy Teams, which is the best?

[nadoss]

The Fantasy Draft Results (who's the best/your favourite team??)

My friends and I did a fantasy draft over the past week and here were the results. Now we're asking your opinion... which team do you think is the best?

Woodville Warriors
1. Ben Franks
2. John Smit
3. Kees Meewus
4. Brad Thorn
5. Simon Shaw
6. Jarrad Hoeata
7. Pedrie Wannenburg
8. Schalk Burger
9. Jimmy Cowan
10. Brent Russell
11. Chris Ashton
12. SBW
13. Kurtley Beale
14. Doug Howlett
15. Israel Dagg

16. Corey Flynn
17. Anthony Perenise
18. Bakkies Botha
19. Craig Newby
20. Mike Phillps
21. Colin Slade
22. Rod Davies

23 Cj Van Der Linde
24 Maroni Shwalger
25 Martyn Williams
26 Dennis Leamy
27 Andy Ellis
28 Ben Smith
29 Benson Stanley
30 Stirling Mortlock

Schillo's Peanuts
1. Tony Woodcock
2. Tatafu Polota-Nau
3. Owen Franks
4. Sébastien Chabal
5. James Horwill
6. Heinrich Brussow
7. Willem Alberts
8. Kieren Reid
9. Francois Hougaard
10. Quade Cooper
11. Bryan Habana
12. Francois Steyn
13. Jacques Fourie
14. Drew Mitchell
15. Gio Aplon

16. Schalk Brits
17. Brian Mujati
18. Mouritz Botha
19. Joshua Strauss
20. Ruan Pienaar
21. Butch James
22. Napolioni Nalaga

23. BJ Botha
24. Richie Gray
25. Jacques Burger
26. Nasi Manu
27. Morgan Parra
28. Kahn Fotuali'i
29. Patrick Lambie
30. Sean Maitland

Davis Desperadoes
1. Andrew Sheridan
2. Rory Best
3. Euan Murray
4. Alastair Kellock
5. Paul O'Connell
6. Rocky Elsom
7. Richie McCaw
8. Jamie Heaslip
9. Eoin Reddan
10. Ronan O'Gara
11. Shane Williams
12. Manu Tuilagi
13. Adam Ashley Cooper
14. James O'Connor
15. Delon Armitage

16. Ross Ford
17. Jamie Mackintosh
18. Leo Cullen
19. Lewis Moody
20. Takudzwa Ngwenya
21. Gordon D'Arcy
22. Luke Fitzgerald

Matthew Rees
John Hayes
Lionel Nallet
Mauro Bergamasco
Tomas O'Leary
Berrick Barnes
Matheau Basteraud
Rob Kearney

The Corkonian Pirates
15 Mils Muliania
14 Tommy Bowe
13 BOD
12 Seilala Mapusua
11 Maxime Médard
10 Toby Flood
9 Will Genia

8 Sergio Parisse
7 Thierry Dusautoir
6 Sean O'brian
5 Victor Matfield
4 Alyn Wyn-Jones
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
2 Jerry Flannery
1 Cian Healy

16 Richardt Strauss
17 Wian du Preez
18 Donacha O'callaghan
19 David Wallace
20 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde
21 Felipe Contipomi
22 Keith Earls

Reserves:
Lee Byrne
Connor Murray
Vincent Clerc
Tim Visser
Stephen Ferris
Steve Mafi
Dimitri Szarzewski
Adam Jones

Wellington Wizards
1. Tendai Mtawarira
2. Dylan Hartley
3. Soane Tonga'uhia
4. Courtney Lawes
5. Andreas Bekker
6. Jerome Kaino
7. David Pocock
8. Pierre Spies
9. Ben Youngs
10. Jonathan Sexton
11. Hosea Gear
12. Jean De Villiers
13. Jamie Roberts
14. Alesana Tuilangi
15. Juan Martin Hernandez

16. Hika Elliot
17. Dan Cole
18. Dan Vickerman
19. Thomas Waldrom
20. Byron Kelleher
21. Johnny Wilkinson
22. Ben Foden

Ged Robinson
Sona Taumalolo
Jeremy Thrush
Tom Croft
Mamuka Gorgodze
Francois Trinh Duc
Riki Flutey
Rupeni Caucaubucani

Massey Mongols
1. Wyatt Crockett
2. Keven Mealamu
3. Carl Hayman
4. Chris Jack
5. Sam Whitelock
6. Jerry Collins
7. Matt Todd
8. Victor Vito
9. Piri Weepu
10. Nick Evans
11. Zac Guilford
12. Dan Carter
13. Robbie Fruean
14. Sitiveni Sivivatu
15. Cory Jane

16. Andrew Hore
17. Greg Somerville
18. Anthony Boric
19. Liam Messam
20. Alby Mathewson
21. Aaron Cruden
22. Ben Blair

23. Jason Rutledge
24. Neemia Tialata
25. Tom Donnelly
26. Chris Masoe
27. Brendon Leonard
28. Tony Brown
29. Tana Umaga
30. Tim Nanai Williams

Massey Mavericks
1 Gethin Jenkins
2 Bismarck du Plessis
3 John Afoa
4 Nathan Sharpe
5 Ali Williams
6 Adam Thomson
7 Juan Smith
8 Imanol Harinordoquy
9 Fourie du Preez
10 Matt Giteau
11 Digby Ioane
12 Ma'a Nonu
13 Conrad Smith
14 Rene Ranger
15 Isaia Toeava

16 Stephen Moore
17 Ben Alexander
18 Franco van der Merwe
19 Ryan Jones
20 Chris Smylie
21 James Hook
22 Richard Kahui

RES Coenie Oosthuizen
RES Saia Faingaa
RES Hugh Pyle
RES James Haskell
RES Luke Burgess
RES Luke McAlister
RES Doppies La Grange
RES Rudi Wulf

 

[ranger]

Massey Mongols would destroy everyone else. Woodville Warriors look like the wooden spooners

 

[nadoss]

you might not have noticed (and this probably speaks to your home town...) that the Mongols are only NZ players.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Mavericks, Mongols and Peanuts a head above the rest IMO. In that order.

 

[ranger]

you might not have noticed (and this probably speaks to your home town...) that the Mongols are only NZ players.

Where you suspect my hometown is doesn't really have a bearing on my selection mate..

The reason i chose the Mongols is because:

-They have a front row that isnt world beaters, but should hold their own against every other front row here.
-The three locks they have in the 22 are genuine lineout aces, with one of the best back jumpers around in Vito to make things extra difficult. (Contrasted to Woodville who have no real lineout threats in their 22 besides Shaw at a push. In Thorn, Bakkies, Wannenberg and Hoeata they effectively have 4 of the same player- physical impact around the field, huge work in the scrum and rucks, but dont have the height or skill to command consistant lineout ball.)
-The loose forward trio is the weakest of all the teams, but with Mealamu and Whitelock stepping up their workrate and Hore, Messam and Boric off the bench, i think they would be able to keep their deficet in this facet close enough to let their backs compete
-The options in the inside backs are ridiculous. I have no idea how he managed to snag both Evans and Carter, but he did and this is the teams biggest strength. Weepu is a top drawer operator in his own right, but throw in Carter and Evans and that combination should simply be too clever tactically for anyone else.
-Fruean is the perfect foil for the smaller 1st-2nd combo; a strong option to offload to under pressure, and this year he showed that he has the awareness and athletic ability to capitalise on gaps that are made for him, which will be happening all day outside Carter
-Guildford and Jane are the perfect low error, high workrate outsides for this style of team, Sivivatu doesnt fit too well but its not a bad enough selection to ruin the team.

They arent perfect, i think between Evans, Carter and Weepu he had 1st 5 covered. Cruden might have been alright at a push but Tony Brown was a waste of a pick that they really needed to use on another wing, Even JP Pieterson, Mark Cueto or Lee Halfpenny were good unselected options. I think they could have done better than Collins at 6 too, but then i cant really tell where abouts in the draft he got him. In any case he could have grabbed Fernandez Lobbe or any of the other quality loosies in Argentina and France who went undrafted.

To run through why i didnt pick the other teams:

Woodville:
-Very shakey front row, with no talent on the bench.
-Lots of good secondary options in the lineout but no aces
-Brent Russell is a great runner, but running a backline? not his strength. Jimmy Cowan isnt the kind of guy that runs a game from 9 either and SBW certainly isnt going to be orchestrating the attack. When Slade gets on it would be better but for the most part they would be utterly directionless
-Kurtley Beale starting at centre =?

Schillos peanuts-
-Best front row
-Average lineout
-Fairly decent loosies
-Quade Cooper doesnt fit with the rest of the backs. Cooper-Steyn looks like it would be the same game-philosophy clash disaster that Cooper-Barnes used to be. Also Hoggard is a great runner but Cooper relys on Genia alot to carry alot of the tactical workload and uses him to control the game in tandem. I dont think Hoggard would be up to that.
-The rest of the backline looks good but i just dont think the 9-10-12 axis could utilize them well enough. Still top contenders though

Davis Desperados
-Enigmatic front row, could screw anyone, could get screwed by anyone.
-Handy locking options
-Up there with best loose forwards
-Terrible halfs combo.
-Tuilagi is the wrong type of player to pair with O'Gara. Crash balls will get the advantage line moving, but linebreaks will be very hard to orchestrate in this backline combo.
-Between O'Gara and Armitige, they are good enough to play a tactical kicking oriented game, but the pack isnt consistantly dominant enough to pull it off.

Corkonian Pirates:
-Castro is a good bet, but Healy and Flannery? meehhh, maybe. Not sold on this front row
-Well balanced locking combo
-Deadly loosies
-I'm not sold on Flood-Genia... it seems like they would both be trying to control the game in different ways.
-The backs look a bit old in the legs, but if Flood-Genia sort it out they could be an exellent Crusaders-style polished set play backline. If not they dont have the tools to "wing it"

Wellington Wizards-
-Front row- Not great. Starting with 2 looseheads isnt ideal.
-Interesting locking combo, could go quite well.
-Potentially a great set of loosies, but the pack wont have the supremecy needed for Spies to be effective
-Handy 9-10 combo.
-Very nice set of backs.
The front row selection and Spies really lets this side down. If they get Cole on they are would be well up there.

-Massey Mavericks
-Quality front row
-Handy locks
-Another very classy looseforwards combo
-Matt Giteau ruins the team (If we are talking current form) He has never really played well at 10. Hook isnt much of an upgrade either (In the 10 shirt at least)
-Very well put together backline.
This is a great team hamstrung by the lack of a good flyhalf. There is a chance that FDP could run the ship but not so sure how he would handle running an Australiasian-type backline.

The Moral of the story is i didnt just pick that team because i liked the country they were from...

 

[nadoss]

well good analysis. What I meant to say was that people outside of New Zealand don't even know some of the players on the Mongols' team, I'd say that the other teams don't get out there until the last few reserves. I think that he definitely has the most organised team and they'd have good chemistry. I think the Desperadoes would be able to do a pretty good job if they could get a couple of good pick-and-go's and shooter plays, and i think that O'Gara has the ability to get the back line started decently, but i wouldn't expect him to make any great plays. The other advantage of the Desperadoes is that they'll always have a good team on the field because they have very versatile defense. Although, I'd still pick the Mavericks to be my best team across the board, but I think teams would have a hard time beating Davis because of their ability to win and maintain possession.

 

[ranger]

well good analysis. What I meant to say was that people outside of New Zealand don't even know some of the players on the Mongols' team, I'd say that the other teams don't get out there until the last few reserves. I think that he definitely has the most organised team and they'd have good chemistry. I think the Desperadoes would be able to do a pretty good job if they could get a couple of good pick-and-go's and shooter plays, and i think that O'Gara has the ability to get the back line started decently, but i wouldn't expect him to make any great plays. The other advantage of the Desperadoes is that they'll always have a good team on the field because they have very versatile defense. Although, I'd still pick the Mavericks to be my best team across the board, but I think teams would have a hard time beating Davis because of their ability to win and maintain possession.

I dont know man i have davis towards the bottom of the table..

Reddan + O'Gara is a truely shocking halves combo, and there isnt even a backup on the bench! O'Gara can probably get some backlines going, just not this one. He doesnt have the pace to create his own gaps and his 2nd doesnt have the creativity at 2nd to set up plays for anyone else either.
Tuilagi is a poor option at inside centre, he is more suited to an out and out runners role on the outside centre or on the wing. I wouldnt be too confident of his defensive positioning at 12 either. AAC has his strengths in running lines off half breaks, but with the players inside him i dont see that happening too often.

Defense is really not a hallmark either, the halves combo will get demolished (O'Gara, really?), Tuilagis positioning at 12 is suspect enough without having to watch the inside channel aswell. Williams and O'Connor arent poor defenders, but they are pretty tiny which could count against them. Armitige is neither here nor there and AAC is solid but the damage has already been done around him.

While they have a good forward pack, i dont think its truely dominant enough to choke these other teams out of the game.

The Mavericks are so close, but they have no one for the 10 jersey. Thats a pretty pivotal area to have a weakness in.

 

[big ginger 8]

Corkonians pretty good team.

Why on the wizards is Tonga'uiha tighthead would get destroyed their.

Also on the Peanuts why oh why is Chabal ahead of Gray.

 

[nadoss]

I dont know man i have davis towards the bottom of the table..

Reddan + O'Gara is a truely shocking halves combo, and there isnt even a backup on the bench! O'Gara can probably get some backlines going, just not this one. He doesnt have the pace to create his own gaps and his 2nd doesnt have the creativity at 2nd to set up plays for anyone else either.
Tuilagi is a poor option at inside centre, he is more suited to an out and out runners role on the outside centre or on the wing. I wouldnt be too confident of his defensive positioning at 12 either. AAC has his strengths in running lines off half breaks, but with the players inside him i dont see that happening too often.

Defense is really not a hallmark either, the halves combo will get demolished (O'Gara, really?), Tuilagis positioning at 12 is suspect enough without having to watch the inside channel aswell. Williams and O'Connor arent poor defenders, but they are pretty tiny which could count against them. Armitige is neither here nor there and AAC is solid but the damage has already been done around him.

While they have a good forward pack, i dont think its truely dominant enough to choke these other teams out of the game.

The Mavericks are so close, but they have no one for the 10 jersey. Thats a pretty pivotal area to have a weakness in.

O'Gara's backup is O'Connor, if O'Gara gets hurt, O'Connor shifts over to flyhalf and one of the wings comes in from the bench. The starting XV could also feature D'arcy instead of Tuilagi for a bit of stability at 12, and Williams could come out for Fitzgerald, who is always solid. One could also consider playing O'Connor at 10 from the start and bring in some of the good offensive wing options, like Fitz and Ngwenya... I think Reddan is a good old-school scrum half, and obviously can't be too bad considering that he's part of the championship team of Europe. I think the strength of the Desperadoes lies in the match ups, they could play a few different styles of game and have a few drastically different looks at the start of the game. If there's a good coach who's scouted his opponents well, he could use the Desperadoes to craft a well chosen lineup. I consider the Desperadoes to be an extremely conservative team defensively that will be sure to make a safe tackle all the time and then challenge at the breakdown, rather than challenge in the back line. I'd consider them to be middle of the table but I think they could win or lose any game they play. I think they could beat either Massey team, but they could also lose to the worst team at any moment as well...