KFC SuperCoach NRL: The how and who of using the VC loophole

With at least one team out on a bye each week 2023 promises to be KFC SuperCoach NRL’s Year of the VC Loophole. Ian Maybanks explains how to make the most of the tactic.

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KFC NRL SuperCoach seasons are always a wild roller coaster ride and 2023 shapes to have more loops than all the Gold Coast theme parks put together – vice-captain loops that is.

Yes, I know the VC loophole is probably the most talked about and seldom used aspect of KFC NRL SuperCoach.

But I think things change this season and it’s a genuinely viable tactic to consider each round not just the big bye rounds because we have a team on the bye each week that won’t lock out until the final game.

I’ll assume if you’re here reading this you’re across how using a VC loophole works but for those who aren’t scroll on down for a more detailed explanation from Rob Sutherland’s SuperCoach 101.

Latrell Mitchell of the Rabbitohs was ‘fixture proof’ over the latter part of 2022. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

The importance of nailing your captain picks can’t be understated. Plenty of good squads are let down by poor captains and scratchy looking squads can surge up the rankings and win head-to-head battles when the C sits on that one monster score of the week.

I won’t argue with anyone who wants to pick and stick with proven gun captains Nathan Cleary, Nicho Hynes, Latrell Mitchell or James Tedesco every week. They are relatively fixture proof players and you can play it pretty safe this way.

But you’ve got a chance this season to have a real swing at the VC like never before and I think it’s worth setting your squad up for a crack at it. Here’s how I’m approaching it.

I’ve run out the fixtures over the first 10 rounds to identify who I think are the best VC and C options each round.

I think it’s a good way of mapping out where you want to spend your money (be that teams or individuals), when you might trade from one captaincy gun to another and how to structure a team to give an easy shot at the VC loophole with a player on the bye to activate it for you.

ANALYSIS

After tallying the options I’ve got these teams as the ones I want captains or vice-captains from the most often: Panthers (Cleary) 6/10, Storm (Munster/Grant) 6/10, Rabbitohs (Mitchell) 5/10, Sea Eagles (Trbojevic) 5/10, Roosters (Tedesco) 4/10, Sharks (Hynes) 4/10, Cowboys (Holmes/Drinkwater) 4/10.

At halfback, I think I’ll start Nicho Hynes and look for some huge captaincy hauls in Rounds 4 and 5. When Hynes has the bye in Round 6 it might be time to switch to Nathan Cleary who has great fixtures from Rounds 6-10. But I’m definitely dreading what Cleary might do to the Broncos in Round 1.

Tom Trbojevic will be a popular VC/C pick IF he can stay healthy.

At fullback Latrell Mitchell and Tom Trbojevic dovetail very nicely with only one overlapping round when I’d consider them both strong captaincy options. So I’m pairing them together and overlooking the more popular James Tedesco who has great fixtures in Rounds 1 and 2, but then hits a bye and I wouldn’t want him above other options as a captain aside from Round 8.

I think you want a Storm gun with strong early round fixtures coming in six of eight games before they hit the bye in Round 9. I’m leaning towards Grant over Munster at a slightly cheaper price, though both hooker and five-eighth are tricky positions to load guns in while there are other great value buys.

The Cowboys have great home fixtures in Rounds 3, 4, 6 and 8 but I feel like Holmes and Drinkwater are more VC than C shouts. They are nice to have as an option if you can work into your squad but neither are essential for me.

With my squad as it stands now my VC and C options over the first 10 weeks would roll out like this with a bye player in my squad to activate the VC in all rounds except Round 8 (Raiders).

SUPERCOACH 101: VICE CAPTAINCY LOOPHOLE

SuperCoaches have to pick a captain and a vice-captain each week.

The captain’s score is doubled.

Should the captain not play (or score less than zero if he does play) then the vice-captain’s score is doubled.

Your captain should have a high floor, a player who accumulates lots of points through base stats.

Your vice-captain is where you can take a risk and if it comes off use the loophole.

The loophole is complicated but very useful as it essentially gives two bites at the captaincy cherry:

— Pick a vice-captain who plays BEFORE your captain.

— Pick a vice-captain with a very high ceiling (a half known for scoring big points playing a bad team for example).

— If vice-captain scores poorly, do nothing and take the score of your captain.

— If vice-captain scores well, replace the player you believe to be your worst remaining player with a non-player (a player who has the bye) and give them the captaincy.

— Because your captain is a non-player, the captaincy reverts to the high-scoring vice-captain (boom!). The score of the non-player is replaced by an auto-emergency (your lowest scoring player not in your 17 that week).