TEAM REVEAL: LEKDOG

We are back again, this has to be my 10th team reveal on the site now…I’ve become an old man, an old cranky man.

Any feedback that isn’t “this is the best team I’ve ever seen” might get you a very cranky response.

A huge round of applause though to the youth who have reinvigorated the website this off-season, from BBL to 26 podcasts before Round 1 even kicked off! Amazing stuff. So thank you Damo, Dyl, Azz, Kev, Foz, Statty, Clarky, Barron and Patch, you’ve kept the site alive for another year.

Now, the team…

Structure has remained the same pretty much all off season but you’ll notice that I’ve jumped off Jake Lloyd, Lachie Neale and Patrick Dangerfield…this happened on Wednesday and I love it.

The aim of the game was durability, total points and a clean preseason, only Tom Stewart had an injury in the off-season and I can live with that.

ROOKIES ARE PENDING YOU BASTARDS

I accidentally made this version of the team use exactly 100% of the salary cap, i took this as a sign and as a result I present it to you.

Rory Laird was the first picked this year, midfield time, previous scoring history, defence eligible, lock.

Caleb Daniel is so bloody consistent, loves to chip kick and mark, I think Bevo knows where to play him, tick.

Jayden Short was in my side when the team picker dropped last year…this year…who knows, time is meaningless. Annoyingly I had him at 2% ownership, then he scored ten thousand points in the preseason game and everyone jumped on, to those of you who did I say “get stuffed.” New rules, hitting his prime, barely over $500k, tick.

Tom Stewart had some injury clouds over him earlier in the preseason but he is the new Corey Enright in that he has a pretty low standard deviation and I believe I can rely on him, tick.

Jordan Clark is not a player I particularly want in my team but I’m not willing to try and guess five of the top six forwards before Round 1 and he is in 50% of teams so the risk is pretty mitigated…lack of rookie options hurts too, question marks remain.

Highmore and Koschitzke look like they’ll play Round 1, that’s enough for me. D8 is currently Murray but could be Fyfe…who knows.

Clayton Oliver missed his preseason game with general soreness, I’m not counting that as a preseason red flag. As Patch said in his reveal here Clayton Oliver has scored below 80 just four times in his last 96 games, lock.

Jack Macrae scared the shit out of me in October/November of the year we don’t speak about when Treloar made the move across to the Dogs, honestly he’s just too good not to pick and will thrive in whatever role Bevo has for him, even if it’s in the coaching box or something ridiculous, lock.

Zach Merrett hasn’t left my side yet in the preseason and given we have less than an hour until game one, he’s fairly entrenched there. He averaged 119 from Round 7 onward in 2020, that’s pretty freaking good, tick.

Travis Boak is the magic that makes this team special, I slotted him in and bang, the salary cap showed $0…meant to be. He’s old yes, but age is just a number baby, he’ll be in the top-20 Supercoach scorers again in 2021 and I’ll admit, I was feeling uncomfortable without a POD in the team, POD pick.

I like picking rookies who are named, so far Campbell, Bruhn, Powell, Jordon, Downie, Gulden and McNeil all look like they are playing. These could changes you vultures.

Tick.

I didn’t particularly want Josh Dunkley in my team but he’ll end up being a top-6 forward barring injury so it’s an easy choice, plus he doesn’t cost $600k so I’m not mortgaging my structure to have him, tick.

Dustin Martin is in my team, deal with it. Yes he’ll likely be cheaper later on, yes he’ll lose interest in a couple of games but guess what? He’s going to be a top-6 forward barring injury in 2021, tick.

Dayne Zorko is a man I just couldn’t get out of my head and quite frankly I was going to pick him even if he became a permanent forward this year. He’s cheap, Cam Rayner going down helps to strengthen his midfield time and he’ll end up being a top-6 forward barring injury, tick.

Warner, Jones, Rowe and Scott are all likely to play in Round 1 and stick in my side, Fullarton is a gut feel but if he doesn’t make the cut for the Lions, he doesn’t make the cut for the Puppies.

Here it is, Lekdog’s Puppies for 2021.

Please, if you have enjoyed this preseason’s content, hit up the boys on the buy me a beer links and donate a couple of bucks or donate to my one and I’ll pass on the funds to everyone else, just remember to leave a note of who you want it to go to.