NRL 2021: KFC SuperCoach head-to-head sudden death finals guide
It’s been a long year, but KFC SuperCoach NRL finals are here! Follow these tips to come out on top in your head-to-head preliminary finals.
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It’s finally here...after 23 weeks of injury carnage, suspension, players breaking KFC SuperCoach records and even the threat of another Covid shutdown, it’s elimination preliminary finals time for your head-to-head leagues.
Maybe you won’t be the number one ranked team in the game, but you still have a chance to stick it to your league mates and have bragging rights.
But there’s still a lot that could go wrong in the meantime. Trades are at an all-time premium, star players are falling left and right, and some teams can’t even string a full starting team together.
If you’ve somehow managed to make it this far with plenty of trades and cash still up your sleeve then you have a massive advantage. For everyone else, here are some tips and tricks that may just help you win your preliminary-finals match-ups in Round 24.
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GOLDEN RULES
The most important thing to do in your finals match-ups is to make sure you can get a full 17-player team on the field.
Even if you have 12 players, four reserves and another player via auto-emergency, just get a team on the field. But beware of any AE nightmare players like lowscoring bench players or bench utilities.
With the number of injuries and suspensions late in the season there is a good chance your opponent may not be able to get a full team together, so if you can do that you’ll have a massive headstart even before the round starts.
The next most important thing is to make sure you win and progress to the Grand Final matchup. There’s no use worrying about next week until you actually make it there!
If you’re running low on trades, you may need to burn them to ensure you have a full team going... even if it puts you at further risk of further injuries/suspensions. HOWEVER...
CONSERVING A TRADE
...in saying all that, if you can still get 17 on the park without using up all your trades that would be preferable. At the rate players are going down injured you may need to have at least one trade left to spare for your Grand Final so that you can always try to get a full team on the park. For example if you still own Angus Crichton and can still get a decent team on the park without trading him out that would be the way to go considering he will return from suspension for your Grand Final in Round 25.
SPARE TRADES?
Now while I did just finish talking about saving at least one trade for Grand Final week, there are only two weeks to go for the KFC SuperCoach season and it’s all must win from here so if you have 3+ trades and a tonne of cash left it’s time to use them! While most teams are running low or out of trades altogether, if you do have more than 2 left in Round 25 you won’t be able to use all of them, so make sure you don’t waste any!
RISK VS REWARD
When making your trades or deciding who to sit/start and who to reserve be sure to remember the risk vs. reward factor. Obviously you want to pick your best possible line-up, but if you have great depth in certain positions it can be tough to know who to start, especially in your CTWs. When it comes to your finals match-ups if you just want to put your best team on the park and play it safe then it’s best to stick with your highest averaging forwards, and your most reliable base scoring CTWs.
But if you’re at a serious disadvantage sometimes the best thing to do is throw all caution to risk and play the guys with the biggest upside. Prioritise starting players who have great match-ups and attacking upside. For example, someone like Jason Saab isn’t extremely reliable, but has a lot of upside when Tommy Turbo is firing, or David Fifita, who has been benched again in Round 24, but is an extremely high upside player.
It all comes down to whether you need to play it safe or chase points.
CAPTAINS & VC LOOPHOLE
The VC loophole is arguably never more important than during your H2H finals weeks, since it can be the difference between winning and losing if you can pull it off. If Tommy is fit he is undoubtedly the best choice for captaincy, but is returning from injury and playing late in the round. So if you are planning on captaining him make sure you use your VC wisely or have another C option on the odd chance he is once again a late withdrawal.
When choosing your VC you are better off going with someone who either plays early in the round or someone who plays before the majority of your other players. You also want the player you chose to be a proven gun, or someone with a great matchup and extremely high upside. Some good choices in Round 24 would be players like James Tedesco, Cody Walker, Sam Walker, Joshua Curran, Damien Cook, Alex Johnston, Connor Watson, Mitch Barnett, Cameron Murray, Latrell Mitchell, Euan Aitken, Matt Lodge, Daniel Tupou, Kalyn Ponga or if you really want to risk it, David Fifita.
The general rule of the VC loophole is if you think your vice captains score doubled, plus whatever auto-emergency player’s points you’d get, will net you more points than your vc’s score + your captains score then you should do it. For example, if you VC Cody Walker and he scores 180 points and your lowest scoring non-playing reserve scores 40, then by doing the loophole you would net 400 points from this transaction, whereas if you captain scores 160 with the double you would only get 340. My general rule is to not even consider the loophole unless your VC scores minimum 120 points.
In terms of captains, again Tom Trbojevic coming up against the Bulldogs is the best choice, while some other good picks include Nathan Cleary, James Tedesco, Payne Haas, Daly Cherry-Evans, Reuben Garrick and Ryan Papenhuyzen.
PODS
Speaking of PODs, one way you could get a leg up on your opponent is by taking a punt on a lesser owned player with a tonne of upside. Towards the end of the year many teams in finals are looking very similar, with almost 50% of teams owning Tom Trbojevic, Isaiah Papali’i, Cody Walker AND David Fifita. So if your H2H opponent has many of the same players as you, it could come down to the PODs. While many players own HFB’s like Nathan Cleary and Jahrome Hughes, Daly Cherry-Evans is a popular POD at just 10.4% ownership, with a five round average of 92.4 and a fantastic draw against the Bulldogs and Cowboys.
Cameron Murray is one of the standout POD forwards, with a season average of 70.1 at just 14.5% ownership, while Joshua Curran has been extremely consistent the last few weeks, with a three round average of 106.7 and is in just over 12% of teams. Even Harry Grant is a POD at just 12.8% ownership and a five round average of 73.8.
If you have trades and cash up your sleeve and want to give your team a point of difference it could go a long way to winning your H2H finals.
BEST BUYS
We’ve already covered some of the best POD buys above, but if you just want the best and safest pick-ups for you H2H match-ups there are still some great buys. Obviously this is dependant on you still having cash and trades up your sleeve, but there are still some decent budget options if you’re desperate.
If you don’t have Tom Trbojevic in your team and have the trades/cash to get him then you simply must do it! He’s the best player in KFC SuperCoach right now and plays the Bulldogs this week.
If you need some guaranteed base in your forward pack then Payne Haas is the best pick-up, with a season average of 69 and just one scored below 52 for the year. If you’re one of the many teams dealing with the injuries/ suspensions to popular forwards (Ryan Matterson, Angus Crichton, Victor Radley, Corey Harawira-Naera, Luke Thompson, etc), there are still good options available. As mentioned in the PODs, Cameron Murray and Josh Curran are great pick-ups this week, while Mitchell Barnett is attracting plenty of interest after moving back to an edge for Newcastle.
For teams scrambling to find a halfback, Nathan Cleary is the best option but admittedly very expensive, while Daly Cherry-Evans is probably the next best option at $704k.. If your dual-position flexibility allows and you don’t already own Cody Walker then get him into your team.
As I said before Tommy Turbo is a must have, but if you’re desperate for a cheaper fullback to win your H2H match-ups it’s hard to go past James Tedesco, who is coming good again at the back-end of the year with a five round average of 90. Kalyn Ponga has a good upcoming schedule, and if you really want to take a risk Ryan Papenhuyzen is back at fullback and looking good.
At CTW, the standout is Reuben Garrick with his five round average of 107.6, but again he depends on Tom Trbojevic for his high upside. Brian To’o is back from injury earlier than expected and has a great matchup against the Tigers. Euan Aitken looks to be one of the few consistent options at CTW after his move to the backrow, with a five round average of 77.4.
BARGAIN BUYS
If you’re desperate for a starter but have hardly any cash there are still some players you can pick up cheap that could help you get your team across the line. Halves depth is pretty light in 2021, but if you’re desperate for a cheap buy, Sam Walker ($475k) or Josh Schuster ($471k) could be pick-ups.
Connor Watson ($419k) is an affordable option to cover both HOK and 5/8 and is set to play big minutes at lock for Newcastle with a number of forwards suspended or injured.
For your forwards there aren’t too many quality budget options, but if you are desperate you could look to some guys under $500k like Siosiua Taukeiaho, Alex Twal, Isaac Liu, Josh McGuire, Stefano Utoikamanu, Martin Taupau or James Fisher Harris in the front row. In the backrow look for someone like Hudson Young, Isaah Yeo, Joseph Tapine or Jai Arrow.
At CTW there are a number of cheap options under $500k, but the standouts would be Ken Maumalo, Daniel Tupou, Bradman Best, Josh Addo-Carr, Bailey Simonsson and Sione Katoa.
For a fullback bargain look no further than Ryan Papenhuyzen, who comes in at $426k and looks back to his best as Melbourne’s starting fullback.
CHECK LATE MAIL
But possibly the most important thing you can do is to keep your eye on late mail!
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