Pick a SuperCoach team in five minutes with this easy cheat sheet

Need a SuperCoach team in a hurry? You’ve come to the right place. Here’s everything you need to know to get in on the action of Australia’s biggest fantasy game before the Blues face the Tigers.

Need a SuperCoach team in a hurry?

Have you been too distracted by AFLX or Married at First Sight to pick a team? Or need to bring a work colleague up to speed quick to fill that last spot in your private league?

You’ve come to the right place.

Follow the easy step-by-step guide below and you’ll have a team in minutes ready to vie for your league premiership.

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RESEARCH: CHAMPION DATA’S PRE-SEASON FORMGUIDE

RISKY PICKS: EVERY SUPERCOACH MID-PRICER RATED

PRE-SEASON: EVERY JLT SERIES SUPERCOACH SCORE

WHAT IS SUPERCOACH?

If you’re totally new to the game the idea is to pick your own 30-man squad of AFL players who score points based on their performances in real games. The SuperCoach player with the most points at the end of the year wins $50,000. Awesome, right?

Remember you have a $10 million salary cap so you want to get maximum bang (in the form of SuperCoach points) from your buck for every pick. The names below are based on pre-season form, players who have performed well in SuperCoach in the past, and educated guesses at who will improve this season and, in the case of rookie-priced players, who will get games.

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ROLLING LOCKOUT

SuperCoach operates on a rolling lockout which means players are locked in as their teams play across the weekend.

After the ball is bounced at the MCG at 7.20pm tonight (AEDT) all Carlton and Richmond players will be locked. But players from every other team can still be moved or traded in and out of your side until their teams play (Cats and Pies are locked at 7.50pm tomorrow, and so on) without affecting your 30-trade limit.

If that’s a bit confusing the important thing to remember is to get your Blues and Tigers set for tonight, and you can keep playing around with the rest of your team tomorrow. But if you leave out Patrick Cripps, have Dustin Martin on the bench or forget to put the emergency on Michael Gibbons, you can’t change it.

TRADES

You can make unlimited changes to your team until the final Round 1 lockout, then we have 30 trades for the season — use them wisely!

The final lockout this weekend is the start of the Fremantle v North Melbourne game at 6.20pm on Sunday AEDT. So if Nat Fyfe is a late out (heaven forbid) you could swap him for another player without affecting your 30-trade limit — but only for someone else in that game because all other teams will already be locked (Shaun Higgins, come on down).

You must have a team saved with 30 players at that final lockout to be entered in this year’s competition.

LEAGUE FUN

Private leagues are also locked away at that final Round 1 lockout - so if a friend is still putting off joining, make sure they are in by then (with a saved 30-man squad) or your league will be auto-filled with other players.

Head-to-head league matches start in Round 2 (for 10-team leagues) or Round 3 (18-team leagues).

Max Gawn is set for another huge season.

PICKING A TEAM

Follow our quick guide below and you’ll have a team in minutes.

Pick the names you like from each bracket including a range of prices — if you only take the most expensive guys you’ll run out of cash pretty quick. You might have to do some shuffling to get the numbers to add up and fit everyone under the $10 million salary cap.

It doesn’t hurt to pick someone not on this list — the gut-feel left-field choices are what make the game fun. A whole team of them might get you in trouble, though.

LET’S GET STARTED

On the SuperCoach teams page you will be directed straight to defence but this year our tip is to jump to the rucks. Your decisions here will impact who you can select in every other position.

The default strategy is to pick the two most expensive ruckmen, Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn. They averaged 131 and 128 points a game last year respectively, more than 20 points ahead of the next best ruckman, Brisbane’s Stefan Martin.

The problem with this approach is they are very, very expensive. If you are happy to chew up nearly 15 per cent of your salary cap on two players - in return for big scores each week - go for it. But if you want more cash to splash on your midfield, defence and forward line - or think Grundy or Gawn will come back to the pack this year - go for option B.

RUCK

PICK BOTH OF THESE GUYS

Brodie Grundy (Coll) $708,200

Max Gawn (Melb) $692,100

OR ... PICK ONE OF THESE GUYS

Brodie Grundy (Coll) $708,200

Max Gawn (Melb) $692,100

AND ONE OF THESE GUYS

Stefan Martin (Bris) $573,700

Todd Goldstein (NM) $548,000

Toby Nankervis (Rich) $533,000

PLUS ONE OF THESE GUYS ON THE BENCH

Zac Clarke (Ess) $142,600

Darcy Fort (Geel) $117,300

DEFENCE

Now back to the backline, where there are a number of cheap players who look like they’ll play early and score well, so we’re going to pick more of them here than in other positions.

PICK THIS GUY

Sam Collins (GC) $188,900

AND TWO OF THESE GUYS

Jake Lloyd (Syd) $608,200

Rory Laird (Adel) $587,600

James Sicily (Haw) $570,400

Kade Simpson (Carl) $570,300

Shannon Hurn (WC) $523,400

Lachie Whitfield (GWS) $542,100

Lachie Whitfield is a popular pick in defence.

Dustin Martin offers good value in the midfield.

AND ONE OF THESE GUYS

Zac Williams (GWS) $407,800

Alex Witherden (Bris) $455,000

Jayden Short (Rich) $475,600

Nic Newman (Carl) $394,100

Brodie Smith (Adel) $332,500

Jordan Ridley (Ess) $233,100

AND FOUR OF THESE GUYS

Jordan Clark (Geel) $144,300

Jack Scrimshaw (Haw) $149,800

Xavier Duursma (Port) $130,800

Marty Hore (Melb) $117,300

Chris Burgess (GC) $123,900 def/fwd

Ben McKay (NM) $123,900

Darragh Joyce (StK) 123,900

* Note: At this point you should have more than $6 million salary cap left

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MIDFIELD

This is where we can pick the big scoring machines and the best first-year players, and this year there are some very tempting mid-price options as well.

PICK THREE OF THESE GUYS

Jack Macrae (WB) $689,700

Patrick Cripps (Carl) $648,200

Clayton Oliver (Melb) $622,600

Nat Fyfe (Frem) $618,200

Josh Kelly (GWS) $617,800

Lachie Neale (Bris) $607,300

Adam Treloar (Coll) $594,200

Stephen Coniglio (GWS) $588,200

AND ONE OF THESE GUYS

Dustin Martin (Rich) $563,800

Matt Crouch (Adel) $551,300

Zach Merrett (Ess) $544,800

Angus Brayshaw (Melb) $526,900

Jack Steele (StK) $512,600

Marcus Bontempelli (WB) $564,600

AND ONE OF THESE GUYS

Tim Taranto (GWS) $481,600

Brad Crouch (Adel) $418,000

Dom Sheed (WC) $394,100

Tom Liberatore (WB) $300,400

PICK THIS GUY

Sam Walsh (Carl) $207,300

AND FIVE OF THESE GUYS

Chayce Jones (Adel) $171,300

Zac Butters (Port) $157,800

Jackson Hately (GWS) $148,800

Charlie Constable (Geel) $123,900

Brett Bewley (Frem) $117,300

Bailey Scott (NM) $117,300

Nick Hind (StK) $117,300

Tom Atkins (Geel) $112,900

Michael Gibbons (Carl) $102,400

* you should still have at least $2 million in the bank

St Kilda’s mature-age recruit Matt Parker.

FORWARDS

The top two forwards are clear-cut. After that it’s a bit of a lottery which leaves the door open for some adventurous picks.

PICK THIS GUY

Patrick Dangerfield (Geel) $660,500 mid/fwd

AND THIS GUY

Will Setterfield (Carl) $144,900 mid/fwd

AND TWO OF THESE GUYS

Isaac Heeney (Syd) $529,200 mid/fwd

Sam Menegola (Geel) $543,100 mid/fwd

Devon Smith (Ess) $531,300 fwd/mid

Robbie Gray (Port) $525,500 fwd/mid

David Mundy (Frem) $520,900 fed/mid

Josh Dunkley (WB) $516,300 fwd/mid

Tim Kelly (Geel) $505,800 fwd/mid

Jack Billings (StK) $437,600

James Worpel (Haw) $395,700

Toby Greene (GWS) $354,600

Darcy Moore (Coll) $239,400 fwd/def

AND FOUR OF THESE GUYS

Nick Blakey (Syd) $166,800

Dylan Moore (Haw) $123,900

Willem Drew (Port) $123,900 fwd/mid

Noah Balta (Rich) $123,900

Jack Petruccelle (WC) $123,900

Chris Burgess (GC) $123,900 (if you didn’t pick him in defence)

Matthew Parker (StK) $117,300

If you’ve filled your squad and have money left over, try upgrading a forward line rookie to a mid-pricer or a mid-pricer to a premium. If you’re short, try swapping a top-priced premium for a value alternative. Once you have a 30-man squad locked in, hit SAVE!

Originally published as Pick a SuperCoach team in five minutes with this easy cheat sheet