It's a dilemma that confronts footy coaches every week.

You have a star player under an injury cloud. You know that if he stands up for the entire match he is a better man than his likely replacement. But if he succumbs during the match, particularly early, you're stuck with a gaping hole in your line-up.

The AFL and the VCFL offer a partial get-out for coaches - teams can name up to three emergencies and, if things are touch-and-go on game day, players can be subbed at the 11th hour.

AFL dream team is supposed to offer something similar. But there is a catch.

Take Heath Shaw, for example, who was feeling the pinch from a back injury from the Magpies' loss to St Kilda two weeks ago. Shaw was listed on Collingwood's injury list and there was some doubt about whether he would take the field for the Pies.

Just as Mick Malthouse would have to take something of a punt on Shaw, dream team coaches were in the same pickle. Do they keep him in the team, knowing he may spend time on the bench or miss out entirely, or name him as an emergency and go with a bloke likely to play 100 minutes?

Unlike Malthouse, virtual coaches don't have the luxury of fitness tests and access to medical experts to make their call.

On the weekend I took the "safe'' option. Shaw was my emergency, and Matt Maguire was named in the squad. Result: Maguire provides 41 points to the cause, Shaw's 111 points float off into the ether. Bugger.

Many dream teamers will have similar choices with Hawthorn pair Sam Mitchell and Cyril Rioli, and Brisbane's Simon Black.

Good dream teams, of course, get away with this by having remarkable depth. And the best way to ensure that is to make sure your cheapies (especially players you "buy'' for less than $100,000) regularly score strongly.

Enter mature-age Geelong recruit James Podsiadly, who this week costs $77,800 but earned 115 dream team points on the weekend. Dream team coaches have 20 trades for the season, and you have to spend them any time you get an opportunity like that.