How to win SuperCoach AFL Draft: Everything you need to know about how to dominate
Still unsure how to walk out of your upcoming SuperCoach AFL Draft looking like a pro? Are you looking for a bit more of an edge? Draft expert Lekdog has everything you need to know.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Still unsure how to walk out of your upcoming SuperCoach draft looking like a pro? Still trying to figure out how it works? Are you an experienced player looking for a bit more of an edge?
SuperCoach Draft expert Lekdog has the tricks of the trade to help you dominate on Draft Day.
THE BASICS
The best draft tactic you can employ is understanding your draft.
It’s the basics that you need to be aware of before heading into a draft.
How many players are you picking? How many bench spots do you have? Are captains turned on? Is the flex position in play? Are you playing through the byes?
All of the questions are simple ones, but you have to have an understanding before that draft kicks off.
I once completed a draft and was horrified to see that captains were turned on and I had no idea!
MAKE YOUR PREFERENCE LIST
Whether it’s on the SuperCoach platform or a scrap of paper, make sure you rank your players ahead of time.
In a lot of instances you can’t change your rankings on the fly once the draft has started, so make sure you have a plan heading in.
Drop those injured guys to the bottom. Drag the players who missed last year up the order. Don’t forget about first year players in those deeper draft formats.
Make sure you rank your players because nothing hurts like seeing Liam Duggan get selected at pick 93 when you forgot to even add him to your list.
READ MORE: TOP 100 PLAYERS IN SUPERCOACH DRAFT RANKED
DON’T REACH
There are two ways that you can reach in a draft, you can go “early” on a player who you rate more as a breakout option than anyone else, or you can over value positional scarcity and go for positions over points.
The first type of reach is one that I’m actually OK with. I’d much rather see someone who has done the research or has the gut feeling on a player, to pick that guy and back themselves in over the general consensus.
But I personally don’t think that you need to fill positional needs when you have considerably more points on the board that you can still lock in.
So here’s a question to ask yourself when picking between filling a spot on the field that you’ve left bare or grabbing the best scoring player available, how big is the gap?
For instance, is the gap in points between the best defender available on the board and the second best defender realistically available to you at your next pick, bigger than the gap between the best midfielder up for grabs and the next best midfielder you might land?
If the answer is yes, you’re probably better off grabbing that defender now.
In our official mock draft, which you’ll hear more about in a podcast and article soon, I was in a position where I still needed two on-field forwards but opted to take Willem Drew to round out my midfield.
Ultimately I thought I was better off locking in Drew’s potential 90 points per game, knowing that any forwards getting taken at this point in the draft were essentially as good as each other.
Yes, a Mason Wood and Kysaiah Pickett combo might look nicer on paper than the Ben Keays and Kyle Lagford duo I picked up, but the total point differential should be minimal by the time the season ends.
FORWARDS GET THIN FAST
This is more of a PSA than a tactic, the forwards get thin fast, very fast.
The forwards get thin so fast that they’d win the Grand Final Day Sprint if they entered.
While I’m someone who punts forwards, punting means I basically ignore them, I agree with Steve from the Draft Doctors (drop link to forwards episode of Drafted here) that you’ll want at least one good forward on your team.
There are between five and eight forwards who could realistically average 90+ points in 2025 and maybe three or four of them who could nudge triple figures. Ideally you want one of these players, but likely not with your first selection in the draft.
If you can’t snag one of them, there’s probably another five forwards in the Liam Baker-Sam Darcy range that wouldn’t look completely out of place at F1 in your SuperCoach side. But beyond that, it’s a barren hellscape which effectively plateaus from the 15-30 range for forwards.
Grab a good forward if you can and expect it to be really ugly when trying to pick another one.
DON’T BE PRESSURED BY THE RUCK RUN
The ruck run will come but you don’t have to join in the race.
At least two ruckmen will go in the first round of your draft and they’ll probably be Max Gawn or Tristan Xerri, if you select one of them then you’re basically set for the season.
For everyone else, a ruck run will come in the second or third rounds of the draft.
A run is essentially what happens when a coach picks Tim English, Tom De Koning or Brodie Grundy and then everyone else realises that they need to grab a ruck now or be stuck in the doldrums.
You don’t have to participate if you don’t want to. There will be midfielders and defenders available to you during the ruck run and I would encourage you to consider them.
Guys like Jarrod Witts, Darcy Cameron, Lloyd Meek and even Reilly O’Brien should be available to you later in the draft and they will all score consistent points for you.
The same might not be said for midfielders and defenders as the draft progresses, so weigh up your options and consider opting-out and unsubscribing from the ruck run.
The only risk is that the really annoying coach in your league grabs a second ruckman way too early out of spite and leaves you hanging, but it’s a risk worth taking.
HANDCUFFING CAN WORK, BUT IT CAN BE A TRAP
Handcuffing is the act of drafting a player and his immediate real-life backup into the same side.
Generally you’d see this with ruckmen, taking a Nick Bryan and a Sam Draper in deeper leagues for instance.
Neither one of them is particularly palatable on their own, but if one stops playing at AFL level, you’re already there to reap the benefits.
The obvious risk here is that you’re likely using a valuable bench spot to hold one half of the handcuff and there’s a decent chance it never pays off to begin with.
BALANCE HOW MANY INJURED PLAYERS YOU HAVE
You’ll never see me draft a player who is out with a long to mid-term injury.
I think points on-field early in the season are far more valuable than the potential upside of whoever you’re carrying later in the year.
But there are instances where you can talk yourself into holding an injured guy, Mattaes Phillipou is a great example of this.
He might come back and play some key midfield minutes for St Kilda and could end up being a top-15 forward by SuperCoach average, but what is the opportunity cost?
How many great waiver pick-ups would you miss out on by holding Phillipou? How many games will you lose by being forced to drop someone who you didn’t really want to lose because he didn’t have the potential of Phillipou?
We need to be careful of the sunk-cost fallacy when it comes to drafting injured players in SuperCoach Draft.
Originally published as How to win SuperCoach AFL Draft: Everything you need to know about how to dominate
‘Takes it toll’: AFLW’s best player’s radical season shift idea
Reigning AFLW best-and-fairest Ebony Marinoff has conceded the league is yet to “nail” the perfect season start date and has thrown up her own idea which would impact the AFL fixture. HAVE YOUR SAY.
Gwilt, Bruton, Lai: Power bolter joins select group of footy recruits
There are few footballers who go from local footy direct to the AFL. MATT TURNER looks back on the players who have followed the same path as Port Adelaide’s new SSP signing Josh Lai.