A guide to how the KFC SuperCoach captaincy loophole works
North Melbourne rookie Charlie Comben and Gold Coast’s Matthew Conroy are two of the most-popular ruck loophole prospects for 2020. Who will give you the most chances for maximum SuperCoach points?
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SuperCoach is all about maximising your scoring potential.
Monitoring break-evens, starting the right rookies and trading for fallen premiums are proven strategies to help achieve this.
Then there’s the captaincy loophole thousands of savvy coaches have cottoned onto.
There was a period when the loophole was considered taboo and something only coaches chasing an unfair advantage would use.
Now, if you don’t use it, you’re in the minority.
In its simplest form, the captaincy loophole is deployed via a non-scoring rookie ruckman at R3 – think Luke Strnadica, Tony Olango and Patrick Bines.
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This year, North Melbourne’s Charlie Comben (117.3k FWD-RUC), Gold Coast’s Matthew Conroy (102.4k, RUC) and St Kilda’s Jack Bell ($121.9k) should be the popular loophole ruckmen.
Collingwood recruit Darcy Cameron (36 per cent of teams) is currently the second most-popular SuperCoach ruckman behind Brodie Grundy (66 per cent).
But the former Swan can’t be used as a loophole with Grundy as he’ll be locked out at the same time as SuperCoach’s No. 1 big man.
Cameron is currently in double the number of teams Comben (18 per cent) features in, while Conroy (14 per cent) and Bell (0 per cent) are much less popular.
Here’s how to capitalise on the captaincy loophole and which of Comben, Conroy and Bell should be in your side at R3.
HOW THE LOOPHOLE WORKS
1. Put your vice-captaincy (VC) on a player featuring early in the round. For example, the top scorer of the past two years, Brodie Grundy, plays three Thursday night matches (rounds 2, 4 and 14) and five Friday night fixtures (rounds 1, 7, 17, 18 and 22). Lock Grundy in as your vice-captain.
2. If the Collingwood ruckman scores 125+ (he averaged 130 last year) then you can double his score by putting your non-playing ruckman on field. In this example, if you had Max Gawn and Matthew Conroy, you would field Conroy, make him captain and put Gawn as your bench ruckman. Grundy’s score would be doubled after Gold Coast’s match and Gawn would replace Conroy, as long as you put the E on him. Unlike SuperCoach BBL, you need to nominate Gawn as an emergency and there’s no auto emergency.
3. If Grundy scores less than 125, leave Gawn on field and choose one of your other players as captain. The beauty of the captaincy loophole is you get a risk-free roll of the dice. If it doesn’t work out, you should have several other options to make captain based on match-ups and form.
4. You can achieve the captaincy loophole via your forwards, midfield and defence, although it’s more complicated as it involves a choice between two bench players as emergency. To achieve this, field a non-scoring player and ensure the bench player you want to replace their 0 is nominated as emergency.
5. In the example below, if you benched Gold Coast’s Izak Rankine ($123.9k, FWD) as emergency for Barry O’Connor, you would double your vice-captain’s score and gain Rankine’s total as F6. The risk involved is that the other player on your forward bench (Max King) could score more than Rankine and mitigate some of the success of your captaincy loophole. This scenario could also play out in defence. It’s even riskier in midfield, where there are three bench players. Having a non-scoring player on either line limits all-important cash generation from rookies too.
WHEN SHOULD YOU USE THE LOOPHOLE?
That’s a tough question. The line most coaches use to take their vice-captain’s score is 125 points. But this can change depending on several factors. What if Brodie Grundy scores 115, but Jack Macrae is going to run into SuperCoach nemesis Matt De Boer later in the round? Or Gawn scores 130 but Tom Mitchell is coming up against Gold Coast? Most SuperCoaches will tell you the best policy is to back your gut, even if that means playing it safe and taking the lower VC score.
WHO SHOULD YOU CHOOSE FOR THE LOOPHOLE?
Charlie Comben, Matthew Conroy and Jack Bell are the top options this year at R3. Gold Coast’s Conroy is the cheapest at $102,400, but Comben plays 14 times after popular captaincy options Grundy and Jack Macrae. Bell is the most expensive of the trio but on average, St Kilda has more matches late in rounds than North Melbourne and Gold Coast.
JACK BELL (St Kilda) $121,900 RUC
The case for: The Saints open the season with six Sunday games and Bell plays later than Brodie Grundy 15 times to Round 22. That’s an easy captaincy loophole every week if you plan on using Grundy as VC. The No. 5 pick in last year’s rookie draft, Bell won’t be seen at senior level in 2020 with Rowan Marshall and Paddy Ryder to share ruck duties.
The case against: Why pay $20,000 more than Conroy? It doesn’t sound like much, but what if it’s the difference between landing an uber premium in midfield or settling for a player who averages 105? If you’ve got to the spare cash, his fixture is loophole friendly.
CHARLIE COMBEN (North Melbourne) $117,300 RUC-FWD
The case for: Comben plays later than Grundy and Jack Macrae 14 times. North Melbourne plays 12 games on a Sunday which gives you time to consider whether to deploy the captaincy loophole or not. He’s not going to play ahead of Todd Goldstein at any stage.
The case against: He’s an extra $15,000 than Conroy. Hard to find too many faults other than that and it’s a bonus he has forward eligibility too. Remember when Reilly O’Brien was thrust into the No. 1 ruck role at Adelaide last year and thousands of coaches swung Patrick Bines forward?
MATTHEW CONROY (Gold Coast) $102,400 RUC
The case for: The only $102,400 ruckman this year. He plays 12 matches after Grundy. The Suns don’t feature on Friday night so if you’re taking a vice-captain in the early game you can always use him as your loophole.
The case against: Bell and Comben both play more games after Grundy, who will be the popular vice-captaincy choice. Two extra games don’t seem significant, but you’ll thank yourself for paying extra for Bell or Comben if the Magpies ruckman dominates those fixtures.
THE VERDICT:
Comben. The additional $15,000 from Conroy isn’t ideal, but the extra late games make it worthwhile. It’ll also mean you can swing the North youngster forward if Sam Draper (Essendon, $123,900) or Darcy Cameron (Collingwood, $123,900) score well in their opening two games when opportunities arise.
Originally published as A guide to how the KFC SuperCoach captaincy loophole works