KFC SuperCoach 2022: Recap winners, losers and big calls of expert SuperCoach Draft

When 10 experts gathered for a KFC SuperCoach Draft, there were some big calls, and some even bigger sledges. See how it went down.

Holding your own KFC SuperCoach draft is great fun ... until you’re on the clock.

Last week 10 KFC SuperCoach experts assembled for draft night, and more than one noted the temperature seemed to rise in the room when their turn came to pick.

In KFC SuperCoach Draft every player can only be selected once, leading to totally unique teams and opening a new world of strategy, tactics and trying to out-fox your opponents to assemble the strongest possible starting team.

Patch from the Jock Reynolds SuperCoach Community was lucky enough to draw pick 1 in the randomised draft order, while News Corp’s own Dan Batten had pick 10, the final selection of the first round.

The full league line-up is Dan, Al Paton and The Phantom plus Patch and Lekdog from Jock Reynolds, JB from Doctor SuperCoach, last year’s KFC SuperCoach champion Em Challis (aka SuperCoach Mumma), Cam McLachlan from the Draft Doctors, JD from Fantasy Take TV, and SuperCoach Investor Dan Begala.

Check out the expert teams below and how they rated their draft night.

Al Paton took a gamble on Sam Walsh in the expert draft. Picture: Michael Klein

PICK 1: PATCH (@patchtothemax)

Pick 1 is really hard.

Not just because Cam and the Draft Doctors guys say so, and not just because I’m bad, or because it’s hard to decide who to take at No.1 - Jack Macrae was an incredibly easy selection.

It’s because on the turn back, at picks 20 and 21, there’s not a lot there. The gun mids and forwards are gone, the good rucks have vanished and it’s too early to get stuck into the backline. You’re in a weird no-man’s land, where Tom Hawkins and Dustin Martin were somehow my best options.

However, being able to go back-to-back meant you didn’t have to weigh up which pick would be there next round, you just took the two guys you loved the most. It let me package Rowell and Serong, Dawson and Heppell and Ladhams and Lycett to fill chunks of the ground at once.

Also, for the love of Gary Ablett Jr, make sure you don’t let the clock run out on you, lest you end up with Joel Selwood like I did.

Jack Macrae was an easy decision at pick 1. Picture: Michael Klein

PICK 2: JACKSON DAVEY (@jacksondavey)

Getting your friends (or in this case a group of SuperCoach experts) all together at once and having a draft is full of good banter and laughs, and the experience has only gone up with all the new additions and features this year.

The good: Picking at #2 made my first selection pretty easy! I got Jack Steele up first and then prioritised my forward line, filling it out with Heeney, Butters and Coniglio.

The bad: Between picks 79 and 82, I needed a Mid and Def and had my eye on Ben Keays and George Hewett. Looking ahead at Patch who had picks 80 and 81 on the turn already had a full midfield. I tried to use this to my advantage and picked Hewett at 79 thinking Keays would fall back to me at 82 ... only for Patch to take Keays anyway as his first bench player! This one hurt, I outsmarted myself.

The ugly: Draft expert Cam was behind me at pick #3 which means he got a chance to ‘snipe’ my picks every second round when the draft order reversed. So much extra pressure when the expert is next to you!

Best pick: Tom Liberatore (Pick 102) - Libba finished my mids at the top of R11. Averaging 103 and 106 in the past two seasons presented great value this late in the draft.

Worst pick: Andrew McGrath (Pick 82) - After my Keays strategy failed I panicked here, someone I believe will get DPP after R6 and be useful, would’ve liked to have picked him up later then this.

Pick 2 in @al_superfooty#SuperCoach experts draft. Biggest surprise was learning I'm an expert!

Lots of fun - prioritised forwards after taking Steele (mainly because sniping Butters from @JB_DRSC was on the pre-season to-do list, now hes 'my boy' for the year)

How'd I do? 👇 pic.twitter.com/euB0kKAlmB

— JD @FTTV (@jacksondavey) February 28, 2022

PICK 3: CAM McLACHLAN (@thepotatobake)

Forwards are so damn thin this year. My hope going into the draft was to pick two forwards early and bank on getting some decent midfielders when everyone else switched from picking midfielders to forwards.

What really went my way was defenders being prioritised prior to forwards by the majority of the group (with the exception of JD, who had a very similar strategy). This meant I could still get a great F3 with potential breakout level upside - and still land a solid midfield.

I prioritised additional midfield depth before finishing my defensive line, which is probably the weakest in the league.

Oscar Mac to break out!

Great fun drafting a #SuperCoach team with @al_superfooty@danbatten_@danbegala@EChallis@jacksondavey@lekdog@PatchToTheMax@ThePhantomSC and @JB_DRSC!

Small team sizes - how'd I go?

Punted defenders and rucks. pic.twitter.com/kWDeHc3bf7

— Cam (@ThePotatoBake) February 28, 2022

PICK 4: THE PHANTOM (@ThePhantomSC)

I went in with just about the best pick in the draft – No. 4. I knew I was going to get one of the rolled gold midfield stars or the best positional player on offer.

My plan was to take Josh Dunkley as a forward, and still get a great midfield premium at No.17. Dunkley went at pick 3, so I took Grundy, the man who I expect to claim the ruck crown again this year, without hesitation. But I got the second part in Bomber Darcy Parish. I think he will go to another level this season, despite some concern over taggers and the return of his midfield teammates – some players are just too good.

I couldn’t – and still can’t – believe who was there with my next four selections. Sure, they’ve had interrupted pre-seasons, but Mitch Duncan (pick 24), Aaron Hall (44) and Callum Mills (57) are capable of averaging 110. Then there’s Josh Kelly, who had 161 points in the AAMI Series, at pick 37. I just couldn’t pass any of them up.

I’m tipping big things from young Swan Errol Gulden (97), and Nic Newman (77) and Jack Sinclar (84) will take plenty of kick-ins this year.

Had pick 4 in @al_superfooty's KFC #SuperCoach Draft tonight. Very happy with Grundy and Parish with first two selections. Injury could be the end of me but some of those names were too hard to pass up down the order. Love Cunnington, but he was an auto-pick. pic.twitter.com/M3mOrE1Eux

— The Phantom (@ThePhantomSC) February 28, 2022

PICK 5: LEKDOG (@lekdog)

My aim heading into the draft was punting forwards. I figured that given the best forwards aren’t that high scoring in SuperCoach, I may as well load up everywhere else.

Grabbing Max Gawn at pick 5 locked away some huge scoring potential early and I was able to then target Merrett, Petracca, Cerra and Boak to round out the mids and the engine room of my side.

Finally I was able to secure some really solid scoring in defence with Rich, Ziebell Hardwick and Vlastuin.

We don’t need to talk about my forwards …

Pick 5 in @al_superfooty’s #supercoach draft tonight.

Supercoach Plus has me scoring the most for round 1 👀 (it also has Cerra out scoring Trac) pic.twitter.com/lznRe7LQs4

— Lekdog (@lekdog) February 28, 2022

PICK 6: DAN BEGALA (@DanBegala)

KFC #SuperCoach presents:

The Begala Brigade

(Draft Edition)

Plenty of familiar faces, but I think Andy Brayshaw @ Pick 35 was my best.

Happy drafting, all. pic.twitter.com/xmHyxN43t0

— Daniel Begala (@danbegala) February 28, 2022

PICK 7: EM CHALLIS (@EChallis)

With pick 7 I was very excited to see Touk Miller’s name still on the board. With his role change early last year, Touk scored 16 consecutive tons from Round 6. He could be the No.1 mid by the end of the year.

After the premium defenders started to walk I picked up Mr consistent and usually reliable Tom Stewart with pick 14, who looked great last week. Tarryn Thomas was next and I think he is going to fire this year and being a DPP is super useful.

If I had my time again, I wouldn’t have picked Nic Naitanui with my fourth pick but maybe another premium mid instead. Al picked Sam Walsh straight after me and maybe I should have targeted him or another mid like Luke Parker, because you can get a ruck quite deep. For example, Todd Goldstien is currently sitting on my bench!

My favourite smokey pick is Tyson Stengle who looked amazing in the Cats’ first practice match.

Had fun drafting #supercoach with @JB_DRSC@danbatten_@danbegala@PatchToTheMax@lekdog@jacksondavey@ThePhantomSC
Thought I got a balanced team- maybe went too safe. shattered I just missed out on Luke Jackson. Who should I trade LOL pic.twitter.com/Vphio68ZvE

— Supercoach Mumma (@EChallis) March 1, 2022

PICK 8: AL PATON (@al_superfooty)

The big dogs were off the board by pick 7 but I hope I got a 120-plus midfielder in Lachie Neale with my first pick.

My plan had been to sleep on defenders with the talent running so deep and try to nab forwards early, but with Josh Dunkley and Adam Treloar gone I couldn’t bring myself to take a punt on someone like Isaac Heeney or Jordan De Goey when elite scorers like Jack Crisp and Jayden Short were still available. That meant taking some very speculative picks up forward late, but based in his AAMI Series form Rozee could be a stroke of genius.

Sam Walsh was the biggest gamble with a selection in the 40s – hopefully he returns in the early rounds.

A couple of injury worries but happy with my #supercoach draft line-up. Took Lachie Neale with pick 8 and grabbed some Tigers late pic.twitter.com/PzIdRMGaX2

— Al Paton (@al_superfooty) February 28, 2022

PICK 9: JB (@JB_DRSC)

Okay so drafting is tough!

I wanted to nail a big name midfielder at pick 9 who would play 22 games, then aim for another reliable player in defence or attack - luckily Jake Lloyd was available for my second pick. From there, it was purely reacting to the draft trends and picking when to zig while others zagged!

Having to pick forwards early as they flew off the board was not part of the plan, however a necessary correction. Finding undervalued guys like Nat Fyfe and Toby Greene helped fill out my side, however I’ll be sweating on some injury news throughout the year, no doubt.

Finally, securing consistent averaging, young players with durability such as Houston, Salem and Wines gave me enough confidence to get a little riskier with some other selections, like De Goey, for their upside.

Overall I think I’ve set myself up to be ultra competitive in what should be a fun league!

Full disclosure, I'm not a draft guy and some of the gentleman in there are definitely draft guys.

Let me know how I faired in the 10-team "expert" #SuperCoach draft!

*Houston for the memes baby! pic.twitter.com/3b9MNr8J7Y

— JB (@JB_DRSC) February 28, 2022

PICK 10: DAN BATTEN (@danbatten_)

I have taken part in loads of KFC SuperCoach Drafts over the years, but none were with such an illustrious cast.

I started with the final pick of the first round – having two picks in a row can be great, but when it gets to your turn all the players you want are often gone.

It is often the pre-season hunches that can pay off in draft, and I think that could be the case with Lachie Weller and Will Brodie up forward, where options were scarce.

Sean Darcy was a high-risk, high-reward first pick with the potential to go 120-plus if he stays on the mark (a big if), while I am crossing my fingers and toes that Scott Pendlebury will gain defender status by Round 6.

Originally published as KFC SuperCoach 2022: Recap winners, losers and big calls of expert SuperCoach Draft