How can you fit top scorers D’Arcy Short and Marcus Stoinis into your SuperCoach BBL team?
They cost a combined $541,700, more than a quarter of your SuperCoach BBL budget. But can you afford to start without last season’s runaway top scorers Marcus Stoinis and D’Arcy Short?
SuperCoach BBL
Don't miss out on the headlines from SuperCoach BBL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
They are the two most important questions every SuperCoach BBL player will ask themselves in the next month.
Can I afford to go without Marcus Stoinis and D’Arcy Short?
Then, how can I afford Marcus Stoinis and D’Arcy Short?
The only players to average more than 90 points a game last season, Stoinis ($278,900) and Short ($262,800) cost a combined $541,700, more than a quarter of your $2 million budget.
If you can find a way to squeeze the star pairing in, it will solve what could become two major issues.
The first, and possibly biggest, is finding the right time to trade them both in.
SuperCoach BBL only allows three trades per round and you will need to prioritise players with a double game week.
Stoinis plays twice in Round 5, but Short doesn’t feature in two games until Round 12.
That could mean potentially overlooking the BBL’s premier batsman from the past two tournaments for most of BBL09.
By picking Stoinis and Short from Round 1, you also avoid the potentially tricky issue of who to captain in rounds where no team plays twice.
That scenario will play out as early as Round 2, when Rashid Khan and Alex Carey should be top of your trade wishlist after a Round 1 bye.
Does the potential points loss of not having Short and Stoinis outweigh the money saved should they plummet in value?
Only you can decide whether it’s a risk you’re willing to take.
Here’s three ways you can fit Stoinis and Short into your starting team:
Start cheaper double game week players
The temptation to start gun all-rounders such as Tom Curran ($210,000), Ben Cutting ($182,900) and Daniel Sams ($170,200) will be strong.
But what if you opted for Daniel Hughes ($115,500), Chris Morris ($125,000) and James Pattinson ($126,600) instead?
It might cost you a few points in Round 1 but the potential long-term pay-off is huge.
BANK: $31,200
Spend as little as possible on your bench
This would be a risky strategy as you want to generate money early and build you bank via the bench.
But if Cameron Green, Jake Fraser-McGurk or Will Sutherland bolts into Round 1 contention, you could consider loading the bench with $42,000 rookies.
In this scenario, you can afford Short, Stoinis and Round 1 double game week all-rounders Daniel Sams, Ben Cutting and Tom Curran. That is a seriously loaded Round 1 side!
The only issue is there’s no $42,000 wicketkeeper as in previous seasons.
Bank: $300
Look past Round 1
Most SuperCoaches will prioritise a flying start to the season.
But could it pay dividends to play the long game when naming your starting side?
By picking Jake Weatherald, Alex Carey and Billy Stanlake, you would have three double game week players locked and loaded for Round 3.
Fawad Ahmed and Cameron Green will also play twice that round, pending selection.
This would put you several trades ahead of rival coaches for much of the campaign.
Starting four Hurricanes comes with some risk as they only play twice once — in Round 12.
But the Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder also don’t have a bye, so you’d have flexibility to name Riley Meredith, Caleb Jewell and Ben McDermott when match-ups suit.
There’s 16 rounds after Round 1, ample time to make up ground on those who load their starting teams with players from the Sixers, Thunder and Heat.
Bank: $8800
MORE SUPERCOACH BBL CONTENT
Star-studded squad lists / Top 10 young guns / Everything you need to know / Key dates to shape your season / Gun imports set to explode / New faces to target / How players earn points
Originally published as How can you fit top scorers D’Arcy Short and Marcus Stoinis into your SuperCoach BBL team?