KFC SuperCoach winner Dwayne Delmenico reveals his tactics to go back-to-back in 2020
Dwayne Delmenico climbed from outside the top 40,000 to finish last season as best of more than 200,000 SuperCoaches. Here’s how he plans to go back-to-back in 2020, including bold picks from Gold Coast and Essendon.
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You are never out of the running in SuperCoach.
That’s the major lesson from 2019 winner Dwayne Delmenico, who thought he was “screwed” sitting outside the top 40,000 after five rounds.
By the end of the byes he had surged to 13th spot.
Two months and several flawless trades later, he was $50,000 richer after his team Rexwell Crumbers was crowned the 2019 SuperCoach winner.
“You can trade your way to a really good team and make up the points,” Delmenico said.
This year he isn’t doing anything silly.
Like always, he will be avoiding injury prone players, with rookie-priced Stephen Hill and returning Blues defender Sam Docherty the exceptions to the rule.
And while there are plenty of players pending selection, he will definitely be going without new Cat Jack Steven — currently in 28 per cent of teams — despite his $361,700 price tag and dual-position status, with his pre-season calf setback vindicating his previous decision.
“He 100% won’t be in my team,” he said.
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After starting with speculative selection Bomber Kyle Langford last year, he advises SuperCoaches to block out that “little voice” that tells you to pick the outside-the-box mid-pricer, because it generally ends in despair.
We all know that voice all too well.
As a general rule for mid-pricers, he asks himself two key questions:
“Are they going to make $200k? Are they going to be top-six-to-ten (in their position)? If not, there’s no point.”
It is the reason why he has no Tom Doedee or Dylan Roberton — both sitting in more than 20 per cent of teams — in his defensive set-up at this stage.
Guns and rookies are his rule of thumb in the midfield, only selecting midfield premiums who have played more than four seasons at AFL level, and has five stars and three rookies on-field.
Prolific Bulldog Josh Dunkley just passes the test entering his fifth season this year, and Delmenico believes he is underpriced given his average start to 2019.
“I wouldn’t be looking below (Patrick) Dangerfield at $625,500 in the midfield,” he said.
While last year’s winner is conscious of not buying into pre-season hype, a couple of buzz players are on his Marsh Series watch-list.
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He is always on the lookout for role changes – a key to his success in 2019 – and the midfield minutes of Power defender turned midfielder Dan Houston and fresh Sun Hugh Greenwood will be high on the pre-season agenda.
“If I see a role change, I jump on,” he said.
Delmenico is also keeping a keen eye on SuperCoach defender Lachie Weller, Hawthorn dynamo Chad Wingard and Swans defender Callum Mills.
And while he has no room for popular Bomber Devon Smith, barring a glittering Marsh campaign, he has one of his teammates his sights.
That man is Darcy Parish, in just 1 per cent of SuperCoach teams. His high ceiling and the potential for greater midfield time are the main reasons why the point-of-difference is currently in his forward line.
But there will be no PODs in the ruck with set-and-forget approach Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn locked away.
Last year the $50,000 prize came at an opportune time for the SuperCoach nut with his wedding just around the corner.
Next week Delmenico will be happily married to his partner Sammi, meaning his SuperCoach research will have to take a back seat.
However, his phone is already filled with pre-season SuperCoach intel — that he generally forgets to look at again.
“I keep a bunch of notes in my phone … it’s an absolute mess,” he said.
Originally published as KFC SuperCoach winner Dwayne Delmenico reveals his tactics to go back-to-back in 2020
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