KFC SuperCoach 2020: How to avoid common mistakes and put your team on the path to success
Have you seen a footy fan in agony, and it isn’t a Melbourne supporter? It’s probably a SuperCoach player who has made one of these costly — but easily avoided — blunders.
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First year of playing KFC SuperCoach, or returning after a long hot summer? Never fear, we are here to help steer you in the right direction and help you avoid some of the rookie errors that new (and old) players often make.
TEAM SELECTION
When you are selecting your starting squad there are a few things to consider.
First, don’t forget the rookies. They are as crucial to this game as the premium players, and this is where plenty of your pre-season research needs to go. Picking between Patrick Cripps or Lachie Neale largely comes down to personal choice, and really you can’t go wrong with either. But getting your cheap players right can make or break your season.
Make sure that you are all over who is likely to be in their team’s best 22. Some first-time SuperCoach players will just pick the players who went in the first round of the draft, but not all of these guys will play from Round 1. Some are kids who are not ready to play yet or they might have players ahead of them for selection — it’s hard to see No.4 draft pick Luke Jackson displacing Max Gawn at Melbourne any time soon.
Brisbane’s Deven Robertson is a popular rookie pick this year based on his outstanding under-18 numbers, and he will likely be a top SuperCoach scorer one day. But will he break into the Lions midfield straight away?
The priority is finding rookies who will get early games. We need to start making money from Round 1 to fund our trades, and this is the best way to do it.
The only exception to this is your ruck bench. This position is often sacrificed as it usually doesn’t generate any cash and you can use it to save money and have a double chance at the captain score using the vice-captain loophole.
TRADING STRATEGY 101
You have 30 trades for the entire season. It sounds a lot now, but they can run out quickly, so make sure you use them wisely.
It can be tempting to trade out players you are frustrated with but the best way to maximise the value of your trades is to use them to cash in rookies who have increased in value (which they will if you pick the right ones!) to get more bargain basement players who debut during the season, building cash to add more stars to your squad.
Some first-time players will use all of their trades in the first 15 rounds (you can only make two trades a week in the non-bye rounds) and then have none left for the back half of the season when players get injured or get sent off for surgery if their side hasn’t made the finals.
ONE GOOD GAME DOESN’T MAKE A GREAT ROOKIE
In SuperCoach we don’t see a player’s price change until their third game. This gives us a couple of chances to see how these cheap players go before taking the plunge on them.
In the past plenty of players have been caught out by a rookie who has a fantastic first game but struggles after that. Herald Sun reporter Gilbert Gardiner refers to this as the “Josh Glenn Rule” in reference to the Gold Coast Suns player who scored 103 on debut and was traded in by many coaches only to stink it up (in SuperCoach terms) after that.
If you see a rookie that has had a great first game, give them another week to prove themselves before jumping on. New SuperCoaches can be dazzled by a big score at a cheap price, but wiser old heads know that we need to see them do it more than once before we use a valuable trade on them.
DON’T PANIC
Just like one game doesn’t make a rookie, one poor game shouldn’t condemn a premium. Too often we see coaches panic after one of their premium players either gets a 1-2 game injury or they have a week or two of poor scores.
SuperCoach is a marathon, not a sprint. We don’t have enough trades to be able to swap our best players in and out each week. Too many times we see new players jump off a premium for a one week injury or a poor game. Imagine if you traded out Brodie Grundy last season after his 81 in the first round!
CHECK YOUR TEAM BEFORE LOCKOUT
During the week we all like to play around with our sides making trades, moving the magnets around and playing with captain choices, using the “Reverse Changes” button more than once. But this creates a potential pitfall.
Every seasoned SuperCoach can own up to making changes and reversing them then going into a round without fully reviewing our teams. Remember the “Reverse Changes” button doesn’t just undo your trades, it can also reset emergencies and captains and sometimes move players from the field to the bench.
Making sure you check and double check your team prior to the first game of the week is an easy way to avoid losing points you shouldn’t lose.
MORE SUPERCOACH ADVICE:
KFC SuperCoach 10 commandments: Follow these rules for success
The 10 must-have KFC SuperCoach players to build your starting team around
Quick guide to picking a winning KFC SuperCoach AFL team
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
A mistake we see a lot of SuperCoach rookies make is putting the emergency on two players from the same line, particularly in the midfield.
If you have a late out in a line with two emergencies on it, you get the LOWER of the two scores! Many new players think that they will get the best score and are having a double dip at it, but, no, it is the lower of the two that will count if one of your players is a late out.
So unless you have two late outs in the one line, just keep it to one emergency per position.
FINAL WORD
Don’t let all of this overwhelm you, SuperCoach is a fun game to play with your mates, but if you take note of these few things and try and avoid these errors, you will give yourself an advantage against your friends and hopefully it will help propel you to victory.
Originally published as KFC SuperCoach 2020: How to avoid common mistakes and put your team on the path to success