SuperCoach NRL 2018 will see less trades and bye schedule changes
THE NRL has shaken up its draw for 2018 so SuperCoach NRL has responded. You’ll have less trades, a revamped bye schedule to wrap your head around as well as a new feature.
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YES, yes I know it’s summer and the Ashes are on but it’s never too early to talk SuperCoach, especially when there’s some new rules to work through.
Today we’ll take a look at the new trade regime with 2018 ushering in a reduced number of trades, a change to trades permitted in bye rounds and an exciting new innovation: the SuperCoach SuperTrade week.
TRADE NUMBERS:
Last year thanks to some poor luck, poor self control and Jarryd Hayne — I started with him, traded him out, then in, then out again all for SFA points — I managed to run out of trades with three rounds left in the season.
The pointy heads (aka Dave Campbell) argued that the fact that there is one less round of NRL this year (teams still play 24 games but over 25 rounds in 2018 not the 26 of 2017) necessitates a reduction in trades for SC.
I campaigned for the status quo — not THE Status Quo as I’m not a huge fan of boogie rock though I will tap my toe to Rockin’ All Over The World.
I lost.
So last year we had 40 trades but we will start 2018 with 37.
Now Dave would like me to point out that due to reduction of rounds played our 37 trades equates to 1.52 trades per round, which compares rather favourably to the 1.6 opportunities to sate our rage per round last year.
So we have less trades but pretty much the same ratio of trades per round.
Alles klar? Gut!
BYE ROUNDS:
Now here’s a change that will have a material impact on how you play the game.
As revealed earlier this year by the REAL SuperCoach guru bye planning is going to be a whole lot easier in 2018 as there are just two bye rounds, each team has just one bye and Origin players do not miss as many club games.
With the bye schedule simplified, so is the allocation of trades per round. You can use just a maximum of two trades per round, every round, bye round or not.
Except for this week ...
WATCH: TOM SANGSTER AND ROB SUTHERLAND DISCUSS SUPERCOACH 2018!!!
SAY HELLO TO SUPERTRADE WEEK
On June 24 the NRL pauses for a stand-alone Origin bye round — that’s between rounds 15 and 16.
But SuperCoach never sleeps and we all get a whopping five trades to burn here.
The timing of the SuperTrade Week is crucial, as the second round of byes occurs in round 17. This is the chance to cast off those players who got you through the first round of byes and set yourself up for the second.
The odd number will reward those who do some planning too. Want to ditch two cash cows and pick up three guns? You better have a nice fat bank balance before getting to the trade week because how fun is it to be $100 short of the ‘perfect’ set of trades?
THAT’S A WRAP
So in summary guys, our total trades is down, but so is the number of rounds we will play. The four-trade bye bumpers are goneski because bye trading and planning is so much simpler this year. But we say hello to SuperTrade Week, a one off opportunity to make not four but five trades and set your team up to dominate the back third of the season.
Look forward to all the preseason banter and conjecture in the lead up to 2018. Bugger Christmas it’s SuperCoach season already!