For PLL Week 8 in Dallas, Texas I’m going to show my fantasy team of the week. Here’s my strategy when I’m picking my team.
This is a mistake I’ve made before, make sure my Attackman and Midfielder are not facing my Goalie. Also make sure your D position isn’t playing your Attack and Middie if you can. The Attack and Midfield positions are really a tossup with so much talent in the league, but you know if Lyle is on the field and healthy then he will put up numbers. Will Manny and Jeff Teat are balling out this season, so they’re safe picks. Once that Chaos offense gets back to their championship level a pick of either Cloutier, Byrne, or Frazier will probably be on most Player Royale teams.
Midfield players can have such hot and cold streaks especially depending on the matchup, but Zach Currier is a solid choice most weeks because of his ability to play on the Wings and D, plus he’s always picking up GBs. With so many converted Attackmen playing Midfield in the league you’re just trying to find a player with a decent shooting percentage and few turnovers. The trick is to find the best Middie who isn’t going to be guarded by a pole during their game. Justin Guterding doesn’t usually get a pole with Chanenchuk and Brad Smith on the team. Ryan Drenner for the Cannons fits that role as well. Tre Leclaire playing more SSDM for the Archers his numbers might explode with transition points and trapping offensive Middies on defense.
If Trevor Baptiste is healthy and NOT facing Joe Nardella then he’s usually my first pick at the FO position. The next best thing is if a veteran is facing a rookie, then pick the veteran in that matchup. That would have backfired last week in Connecticut as rookie Justin Incacio dominated at the Stripe against veteran Alex Woodall, but I think this is the exception to the rule. Also, if you're picking Jake Withers BEWARE, he doesn’t win a ton of face-offs to himself, it is much more of a 3v3 than a 1v1, so his numbers might not be as high as other Faceoff athletes.
The Defense position is tough, it’s the spot I have the hardest time picking a productive player. If Scott Ratliff was playing his natural position of LSM he would be my pick every week, but the Archers have him playing Defense this season. Most people would pick Michael Ehrhardt, but my Whipsnakes/UMD/Long Island dislike won’t let me pick him. John Sexton is usually a whole menace in the middle of the field, but he’s still working back to All-Star level after his return from injury. The options usually look like this to me:
Do you pick a SSDM who can get some goals & assists on fast breaks or some groundballs off of faceoffs?
Do you pick a LSM who recks havoc all over the field and has at least one of each a game- GB, CT, A, & G?
Do you pick a Close Defenseman who is going to be a GB and CT machine?
For Goalie Blaze is almost always a safe pick, the man just makes saves, even in loses he makes saves. I think if the Redwoods can solidify their defense, then Jack Kelly’s stock will only continue to rise in cage, he's a former All-American and Team USA member with a gold medal. Nick Marrocco has had more good games than bad even with the Cannons only having 1 win so far this season.
Alright, that is the process here are the picks.
Attackman- Will Manny (Tier 1) At the Attack position you’re really splitting hairs, but Manny, the lefty shooter, is playing well this season. I was going to pick Jeff Teat, but the Archers have a slightly better defense and Coach Resch will make it a challenge for the Canadian to get going.
Midfield- Ryan Drenner (Tier 1) The Cannons picked up some new pieces this week from the Player Pool, I’m interested to see how those pieces mesh, but Drenner has been productive on every team and at either position so he's my pick this weekend. I don’t think he will have the Pole in the matchup against the Waterdogs and their SSDM are pretty banged up. This could be another explosive outing from Duce Duce.
Defense- Jarrod Neumann (Tier 3) Neumann has not been the 2 point-goal threat in the last three seasons as he was in the first season of the PLL. This week he is facing the Redwoods without Jules. The Chaos DESPERATLY need a win in Texas. The Teir 3 spot is tough, but if Neumann gets out in transition maybe we will see some of the two bombs from the 2019 season.
Faceoff- TD Ierlan (Tier 2) The Woods are set to play Chaos this weekend and TD has been a bit underwhelming this season at the Faceoff Stripe, but all three Chaos Faceoff men are listed as either questionable or out. This seems like the best choice with Trevor Baptise listed as questionable for his game Saturday. Plus, Max Adler will be playing his first game since returning from the NLL season where he picked up an injury to end the Finals.
Goalie- Nick Marrocco (Tier 2). The Waterdogs are going to be without some key pieces this weekend, no Ryan Brown plus both Mikie Schlosser and Michael Sowers are listed as questionable on the official injury report. All the other games this week could be either very low scoring defensive matchups or high scoring barn burners, it's always hard to tell with the PLL.
I might come back and change some picks when the gameday rosters are released, but this is my fantasy team for week 8 of the PLL.
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