Beginner’s guide to KFC SuperCoach Draft 2021
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KFC SuperCoach Draft is an alternative fantasy AFL game that’s fun, unpredictable and wildly addictive. Here’s how it works.
The premise of KFC SuperCoach Draft is simple.
Rather than having a salary cap and the ability to pick any player you want (as is the case in KFC SuperCoach Classic), you have a draft with the other coaches in your league and take turns picking players until every spot on each team is filled.
In Draft, just like in the AFL, players can only play for one team each round. Once Max Gawn has been drafted in your league (most likely with the first pick), no other team can pick him.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE 4 REASONS WHY DRAFT IS THE BEST FORMAT OF KFC SUPERCOACH
This means every team is unique, there’s no such thing as a ‘cookie cutter’ team, and there’s no way of measuring yourself against the rest of Australia.
For what it’s worth, I’ve won my league two years running, so I could call myself the best KFC SuperCoach Draft player in Australia and nobody could say I’m wrong.
KFC SUPERCOACH DRAFT IS FREE TO PLAY
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HOW TO SET UP A SUPERCOACH DRAFT LEAGUE
One of the best things about KFC SuperCoach Draft is you can adjust the rules to suit you.
You can have as few as four teams in your league and as many as 20 - though you’ll need an even number.
You can also choose how many players you want in each team. You can have either 12, 15, 19 or 22 (with various formations available).
For instance, the 2-3-1-2/4 format indicates a league where teams have two defenders, three midfielders, one ruckman, two forwards and four bench players, who can be substituted onto the field in case a player misses matches through injury, suspension etc.
Teams with lots of players work best for leagues with fewer coaches (8 or fewer).
Similarly, teams with few players work well for leagues with lots of coaches.
ICYMI | KFC #SuperCoach Expert Draft Night!
— SuperCoach AFL (@Supercoach) June 4, 2020
Join our SuperCoach experts as they Zoom in for their draft night. https://t.co/FjOI9bP7IQ
If you had 20 coaches drafting 22 players each (with one minute per pick), your draft would go for more than seven hours!
If you’re worried about your draft taking too long, you can set a short time limit for each pick.
If the coach doesn’t select a player in his or her allotted time, the KFC SuperCoach app will automatically pick the highest-scoring player of 2020 available.
Or, if you take KFC SuperCoach very seriously and need time to look through your spreadsheets and draft ranks between picks, you can extend the time limit for each selection significantly.
This works well for leagues in which the coaches can’t all get together for a draft at the same time, and is perfect for leagues where coaches are in different timezones.
Drafts can take place online over multiple days to accommodate these situations.
GET A TASTE OF THE DRAFT NIGHT FUN IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE AND BELOW
HOW SNAKE DRAFTS WORK
You can also choose the draft order and the drafting format - the ‘snake’ option is fairest in most cases.
In a snake league, after all coaches pick their first player the order ‘snakes’ backwards, so the last coach to pick a player in the first round has the first choice in the second round, as it progresses in reverse order.
This means that in a 10-coach league, the picks will be distributed like this:
Coach 1: Pick 1, Pick 20, Pick 21, Pick 40, etc.
Coach 2: Pick 2, Pick 19, Pick 22, Pick 39, etc.
Coach 3: Pick 3, Pick 18, Pick 23, Pick 38, etc.
Coach 4: Pick 4, Pick 17, Pick 24, Pick 37, etc.
Coach 5: Pick 5, Pick 16, Pick 25, Pick 36, etc.
Coach 6: Pick 6, Pick 15, Pick 26, Pick 35, etc.
Coach 7: Pick 7, Pick 14, Pick 27, Pick 34, etc.
Coach 8: Pick 8, Pick 13, Pick 28, Pick 33, etc.
Coach 9: Pick 9, Pick 12, Pick 29, Pick 32, etc.
Coach 10: Pick 10, Pick 11, Pick 30, Pick 31, etc.
This means Coach 1 might get Max Gawn (pick 1), Josh Dunkley (20), Nat Fyfe (21) and Caleb Daniel (40) with his first four picks, while Coach 2 might get Josh Kelly (pick 10), Lachie Whitfield (11), Adam Treloar (30) and Isaac Heeney (31).
This is a more even system than the format the AFL uses, which rewards the team that finishes last on the ladder with the first pick of each round.
HOW TRADES WORK
After the draft itself, trades are unlimited but they involve plenty of interaction with the other coaches in your league.
Like in the frenzy that is AFL Trade Period, players can be traded from one team to another, provided both coaches agree to a trade.
That means if Coach 10 (as above) is desperate to get Max Gawn, he’ll likely have to put a big offer on the table to get Coach 1 to agree.
If Coach 1 finds she’s lacking depth in defenders and forwards, she may ask for Heeney (FWD) and Whitfield (DEF) in exchange for Gawn (RUC).
If both coaches agree this is fair, a trade is processed through the app and the players swap teams.
KFC SuperCoach Draft is your chance to be a list manager.
SOUND GOOD? SIGN UP FOR KFC SUPERCOACH DRAFT FOR FREE HERE
HOW WAIVERS AND FREE AGENTS WORK
Outside of trading, there are other ways to add players to your team.
First of all, there are free agents.
Should one of your players do an ACL between your draft and Round 1, you can delist him and pick up a free agent - any player who isn’t currently on another team’s list.
First in, best dressed. Pretty simple.
Then there are waivers.
These are slightly more complicated to explain, but the good news is you probably won’t need to worry about them until Round 2, so feel free to skip this section and check back later if you just want to know the basics for now.
At the conclusion of each round, all players who aren’t on a team are automatically placed on the waiver wire.
Let’s say that North Melbourne youngster Will Phillips goes undrafted, but scores 130 on debut in Round 1.
It’s likely multiple coaches will want to bring him into their team prior to Round 2.
The waiver wire is designed to prevent the early bird from always getting the worm (in this case Phillips), and to ensure that the best free agents are distributed evenly.
Those who are keen on Phillips can submit a waiver request, saying they want to bring in Phillips in exchange for one of their other players, who’ll in turn become available for other teams to pick up later.
To start the season, the waiver order is the reverse order of the draft. To continue with the earlier example, Coach 10 would be #1 on the waiver order, Coach 9 would be #2, etc.
The waiver system keeps track of which coaches have selected players via the waivers, and updates the waiver order accordingly.
Let’s say Coach 1 and Coach 2 are the only coaches to submit waiver requests for Phillips by the allotted deadline (normally a couple of days after the round ends).
Coach 2 will get Phillip and Coach 1 will miss out, but will move up the waiver order so that he gets to choose before Coach 1 next round.
The rules might sound complicated, but like any game, it’s pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it.
Great night again at @TheTiserSport KFC #SuperCoach Draft. The chicken was good but I was pretty happy with my final side, too. Treloar, Weller, Gresham, Steele and Walsh in particular. We all kept 3 from 2019. Full report online tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/LTurVeeEuA
— The Phantom (@ThePhantomSC) March 12, 2020
HEAD TO HEAD MATCHES
Just like in SuperCoach classic leagues, your team will come up against another coach’s team each week.
Whoever gets the highest score wins. The teams with the most wins make the finals, then play off until one team wins the Grand Final. Simple.
As previously mentioned, there are no overall rankings for Draft, so there’s no grand prize of $50,000.
Having said that, most Draft coaches feel the thrill of winning their league provides sufficient satisfaction - and if your league has organised a trophy or prize-money prior to the season, all the better.
BEST PICKS: EVERY CLUB’S PREDICTED TOP 3 SCORERS
NO-GO ZONE: THE PLAYERS TO AVOID IN KFC SUPERCOACH
FOUR REASONS WHY DRAFT IS THE BEST FORMAT
You don’t need to be a mathematician to play.
Unlike SuperCoach Classic, player prices are irrelevant.
That means you won’t have to worry about managing a salary cap, figuring out breakevens, or assessing how much money a player stands to lose you if he gets injured.
It also means the fate of your team won’t rest largely on 18-year-old kids who may or may not be up to AFL standard in their first year.
If you know your footy, you’re a good chance to pick a good team.
Freedom to pick the players you like.
Let’s say you’re a Bulldogs fan, and Tom Liberatore is your favourite player. Are there better midfield options in SuperCoach? Yes. Can you justify picking him in your SuperCoach classic team? Not really, if you’re taking it seriously.
Draft is a different story altogether. You can’t have all the best players to yourself, so once Lachie Neale, Jackson Macrae and Jack Steele have been picked by other coaches in your league, you can’t pick them even if you want to.
After the first 25 midfielders have been picked, can you justify picking Libba then? Absolutely.
The players in your team are yours and yours alone.
Let’s continue with the Libba example.
Once Libba’s in your team, he belongs to you (unless you decide to trade him or delist him). Nobody else will benefit when he lays 10 tackles and scores 130 points.
Anyone who’s played SuperCoach Classic knows the joy of having a POD (point of difference) smash out a big score while your opponent misses out on his points.
The beauty of Draft is every player is a POD.
This also means matches are highly unpredictable, and any team can win.
Your team will need less maintenance.
Let’s say one of your best players pulls a hamstring and is set to miss the next four weeks.
In SuperCoach Classic, you’d have to weigh up the cost of using a trade to get rid of him versus the amount of points you’d sacrifice by not having him there, whether you have a rookie who’s getting a game and can fill the spot, how his price will change in his first two games back, how the price of the player you want to trade in could go up in the next few weeks … the list goes on.
In Draft, you offer him a seat on your bench, pop one of your bench players on the field in his place and wait for him to recover. Simple.
No spreadsheets, no mathematical equations.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? START YOUR DRAFT LEAGUE NOW
Originally published as Beginner’s guide to KFC SuperCoach Draft 2021
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