KFC SuperCoach NRL: How to prepare ahead for the byes in 2023

With a fresh NRL team to fit into the draw, KFC SuperCoaches have a whole new bye structure to plan for – not to mention new rules. And the Eels are worst hit.

There’s something new, something old and plenty of SuperCoach gold to mine from the 2023 schedule.

Let’s take a look at how the byes are spread across the season and how the revamped State of Origin schedule impacts clubs.

Then finally what this all means for KFC SuperCoach NRL players and our bye planning.

THE BASICS

With the introduction of the Dolphins, the NRL has an odd number of clubs and so every team will have three byes in 2023.

Two byes are clustered around the middle of the year to minimise the impact of Origin (more on that below) with the remaining byes spread across the rounds (for example the Dragons get theirs in round one while the Eels get their in round 27).

THE RULES

You’ll be able to make up to three trades per round in the ‘major’ bye rounds – 13, 16 and 19 with up to five Trade Boosts available once again.

There will be a new “Best 13 Scoring” rule for the three major bye rounds (13, 16 and 19). In these rounds, you’ll score from your best 13 players only, from your selected starting 17. You’ll still need to ensure that your best available players are in your starting 17 line-up as per every other round, however all teams will be scored based on their highest-scoring 13 from their selected 17.

NRL 2023 bye planner – with a bit of Latrell to liven things up.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

The Titans get through their byes in a hurry missing Round 5, then 13 and ‘playing’ their last bye in round 16. The Sharks are all finished with byes by Round 17.

Conversely the Rabbitohs only start their byes in Round 16 and then miss Rounds 20 and 26; the Broncos are another late starter missing Rounds 16, 19 and 25.

The Storm have a nice even spread missing Rounds 9, then 13 then 19.

In short there’s plenty of variety. For the more visually attuned I have plotted all the byes in a graphic – it’s not the finest piece of visual art ever made but I’m a word guy so apologies in advance.

ORIGIN SCHEDULE

It’s back to the future for Origin in 2023 with no ‘Representative Round’ and instead all three Origins will be played on a Wednesday.

Players selected for Origin will not be available the round prior to the game.

For example SOO1 is scheduled for May 31. Origin squad members (likely including the 18th man) will not be available to play in the NRL in Round 13 (which runs Thursday 25 May – Sunday 28 May) but would be available to back up and play Round 14 if able.

THE ORIGIN PERIOD WINNERS

Cross referencing the Origin schedule with the bye information above you can see that the NRL has attempted to ‘look after’ Origin rep heavyweights the Roosters, Panthers, Storm, Broncos and Titans.

I say ‘look after’ as these are the five clubs that have two of their byes fall on rounds in which Origin players are unavailable.

They also do not have a bye fall either side of rounds 13, 16 or 19.

THE ORIGIN PERIOD LOSERS

Plenty of clubs do have a bye either side of an Origin blackout week within the period of rounds 13-19, the Eels have two.

* Eels (byes round 14 AND 18)

* Knights (bye round 14)

* Sea Eagles (bye round 14)

* Cowboys (bye round 15)

* Bulldogs (bye round 17)

* Sharks (bye round 17)

* Wests Tigers (bye round 17)

Three clubs have a bye that falls just before or after the Origin period

* Warriors (bye round 12)

* Rabbitohs (bye round 20)

* Raiders (bye round (20)

You won’t want any Parramatta Origin players in your squad through rounds 13-19. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR SUPERCOACH?

Early byes

Rugby league has a habit of punishing those who attempt to plan too deep into the future. But there is no hubris in hoping that the players we select to start the season will remain injury free for 6-8 weeks.

Which makes starting the season with a player you know will be unavailable for a round within the first 6-8 weeks seem a bit silly; well it would be if there was a like-for-like replacement available who did not miss a round in the first 6-8 weeks.

Let’s use halfback as a test case.

Both of the elite halfbacks of 2022, Nicho Hynes and Nathan Cleary, will miss a game in the opening two months (Cleary Rd 3 and Hynes in Rd 6).

The next best halfback of 2022, Mitch Moses, does not have a bye until round 14.

So pick Moses right? Maybe not.

If they play every minute of regular time in the opening eight rounds, Hynes and Cleary will play 12.5% fewer minutes than Moses.

And provided (I know, I know, history is no guarantee of future performance but stick with me for the sake of argument) all players replicated their 2022 averages then Moses would score 562 points in eight games. While Cleary would score 559 points and Hynes would score 601 points in just seven games.

Yes, Hynes and Cleary cost more, quite a lot more, but don’t try to derail my point with facts.

And I do have a point – where you have a like-for-like replacement, say choosing between two reliable base stat forwards with similar profiles (for the sake of argument Josh King and Tom Gilbert) then you would pick the guy who did NOT have a bye.

Whereas the impact of an early bye is far less when choosing between position-leading stars who you hope to pick and stick with all season (Hynes/Cleary/Tedesco/Mitchell etc).

Don’t chuck Nathan Cleary out of your pre-season plans just because he has an early bye. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Origin planning

This is where I think having a good think about bye timing can have greater value. For example, no matter how good a season Junior Paulo might be having there is no way I would consider adding him to my team after about round 10. Assuming he was picked for the Blues then not only will he miss rounds 13, 16 and 17 but he’ll also miss rounds 14 and 18.

In a span of seven rounds any Eel who is selected to play in all three Origin matches will play just two games (in SuperCoach).

Any Origin rep from the teams who have one bye within the Origin period (Knights, Sea Eagles, Cowboys, Bulldogs, Sharks and Wests Tigers) will play just three games over a seven round span.

For comparison, the Origin bye ‘winners’ (Roosters, Panthers, Storm, Broncos and Titans) have their players available for four games over the seven rounds.

Warriors, Rabbitohs and Raiders players who play all three Origins will play four games in an eight round span.

Fear the early backup

My last note regards those players asked to backup from Origin into club footy. The following clubs are drawn to play on the Friday the round after an Origin match which would leave the players with under 48 hours to recover between games.

Wests Tigers (Rd 14) AND (Rd 20)

Raiders (Rd 14)

Dragons (Rd 17)

Warriors (Rd 17)

Knights (Rd 20)

Originally published as KFC SuperCoach NRL: How to prepare ahead for the byes in 2023