the worst of times.

The Steven Baker versus Steven Johnson affair sees the

footy world divided.

With such an unholy spat, though, there can be no winner.

For the 30,946 dream team coaches who stand with Steven Johnson and the 11,395 who align with Steven Baker, cursed are they.

As one of the Steven Johnson faction, Stevie J’s righteous fury has made a right mess of my planning. For the Baker brigade, no better.

In a perfect world, retaining trades, particularly if your dream team is looking forward to finals action, is where you want to be.

As bad as blowing trades is, trying to carry a $400,000 forward for a month or more without scoring would appear worse.

It is for such a rainy day, we retain our trades. How to get best value, is more complex.

The simplest solution is to replace either player with one of similar value. For Steven Johnson there are plenty of options, including: Matthew Pavlich ($373,900), Dale Thomas ($391,800), Lance Franklin ($386,500) or Alan Didak ($393,300). All should average at about 90 points per game.

Steven Baker at $280,600 offers fewer attractive alternatives, but for those with limited trades remaining, you could settle for Lachie Hansen ($285,800).

Ultimately though, every trade — including the desperate ones — should be about making a team stronger in the long term. Our strategy is: trade out an expensive player for a cheap one with plenty of potential to increase in value, so you can spend the saved cash on a superstar.

If there a silver lining to letting go of Johnson, it is that there is an excuse to right matters. Brendan Goddard ($479,000) is an almost obligatory member of any successful dream team — it is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done, from a fantasy footy point of view, to trade Goddard into my team. The price

paid is a punt on Adelaide Crow Matthew Jaensch ($171,700) who, after a score last round of 86, may

be ready to become a permanent fixture up forward.