Jonathan Brown explains how he’s using his five SuperCoach trades
Everyone has regrets in SuperCoach, even new members of the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Now we have a chance to fix them. Jonathan Brown reveals his five trades for Round 2.
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You’ve heard it from AFL coaches a hundred times: the season is a marathon, not a sprint.
This year, forget all that.
If a normal year is a 42km endurance test, season 2020 is the 5000m.
No team can afford to miss the starter’s gun because it’s going to be harder than ever to catch up. And that goes for SuperCoach as well.
Fortunately, we have five trades to help get off to a flying start, but we can’t afford to get them wrong. Do we make wholesale changes or avoid risky moves?
My game plan is to have a mix of younger players and stars in their prime who will best handle this unique season.
Experience and leadership will be vital on the field but staying healthy will be more important than ever, which makes me worry about some of the old dogs in the competition. Lance Franklin has already succumbed to injury and he’s unlikely to be the last.
Kicking a footy with a mate and your dog running around the park will not prepare you for a game of AFL football in three weeks, I don’t care who you are.
Look for teams with a good fixture. I picked Patrick Dangerfield and Lachie Neale from Round 1 and both have been given a golden run of home games over the next month.
Elliot Yeo didn’t have the best score in Round 1 but I’m not worried about how he, or his Eagles teammates, will perform in their Queensland hub. It will be like the altitude camps we used to do that went for 3-4 weeks and helped galvanise the team.
Players who are coming back from injury will benefit from extra time to get their bodies right – good news for Sam Docherty and Devon Smith, two more of my pre-season picks.
But I didn’t get everything right. Frank Sinatra sang “regrets, I’ve had a few” and my biggest regret was taking Chad Wingard out of my team just before the season started. I was hot on him all pre-season but baulked at the last minute, and of course he scored 131.
I’m also a huge Jack Viney fan and I love the way he’s handled his demotion from the Demons captaincy. He looks strong, determined and ready to grab the season by the scruff of the neck.
I toyed with the idea of trading his teammate Max Gawn but then I saw his new haircut. The last player to show up at training with a mohawk was a guy named Dustin Martin in the 2017 pre-season. We all know how that went.
Besides, I can’t flip on my No.1 golden rule of picking Gawn and Brodie Grundy in the ruck.
I’m happy with my rookie selections, led by Marlion Pickett, Matt Rowell and Curtis Taylor. I missed Docker Sam Sturt but I’ve got one trade left up my sleeve to pick him up if he’s named on Thursday night.
To get him I’ll have to trade out another cheapie but I can’t get rid of Max King or I’ll be banished from the key forwards association.
The biggest danger for SuperCoach players is having too much time to think about how to use those five trades. Don’t fall victim to analysis paralysis — back yourself and remember why you picked your original team in the first place.
You might have made a mistake or two — mine was missing Wingard — that we have a chance to fix, but don’t throw out all your plans because of one bad game.
Good luck. I’ll see you at the finish line.
BROWNY’S FIVE TRADES
1. Brodie Smith $481,300 DEF to John Noble $215,400 DEF
2. Brandon Zerk-Thatcher $189,000 DEF to Adam Saad $443,500 DEF
3. Sam Walsh $471,900 MID to Jack Viney $439,300 MID
4. Cameron Zurhaar $353,800 FWD to Chad Wingard $412,300 FWD/MID
5. Hanging on to this one until we see the Round 2 teams. Sam Sturt ($123,900 FWD) is on the radar.
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Tim Michell reveals his five Round 2 trades for KFC SuperCoach
Top 30 most popular KFC SuperCoach players revealed
Champion Data guru Fantasy Freako reveals his five Round 2 KFC SuperCoach trades
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Originally published as Jonathan Brown explains how he’s using his five SuperCoach trades
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