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How to play KFC SuperCoach like an expert

Want two shots at your captain’s score in KFC SuperCoach? The top players have figured out a loophole — here’s how it works.

Dan Batten's KFC SuperCoach AFL team

It doesn’t matter whether you have been playing KFC SuperCoach for years or this is your first season. You can still play like a seasoned expert with a few hints and tips.

Follow these secrets and you can pass for a pro, and surprise your mates in the race for your SuperCoach league trophy.

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Who should you select?

We all want to have the very best players in our sides, but unfortunately the salary cap means that this is impossible at the start of the game. What the more astute SuperCoach players will do is look for players that present value. That is, they look for players that underperformed in the previous year and hence are priced at less than what we think they can average.

This often comes about when they have had a role change that will see them get more of the footy, or have had their circumstances change due to moving clubs or having another player leave their club. This allows you to get more bang for your buck in your starting squad.

Players can also be underpriced because they were carrying injuries or missed a number of games last year. If a player missed a significant portion of the season they may be eligible for a discount from the KFC SuperCoach bankers.

CHEAT SHEET: PICK A SUPERCOACH TEAM IN 10 MINUTES

Ben Cunnington could be a bargain selection in KFC SuperCoach this year.
Ben Cunnington could be a bargain selection in KFC SuperCoach this year.

Players who played in fewer than 10 games are the ones that you could target as they get the biggest discounts. For example, North Melbourne’s Ben Cunnington is priced at $439,800 — more than $100,000 cheaper than the start of last year — because he was restricted to only three games in 2020 by a back injury, even though he scored 185 in one of them!

Unique Players

You will hear many people talk about finding a unique or POD (“point of difference”) to put into team. Part of the fun of selecting a starting squad is trying to find that one player that you have that not many other teams have.

If you pick the right guy this can give you an edge on the rest of the competition. However, just like a unique can make your team, select badly and it can leave you lagging behind the competition too, so you need to be very careful when selecting a unique player.

It isn’t always about who you select, sometimes you can break from the pack by not selecting a player everyone else is keen on. Last season we saw Stephen Coniglio go down in the opening minutes of a game on 0 points. He was heavily owned but those that didn’t have him got a big advantage on the rest of the competition.

This season almost half of all coaches have selected Carlton recruit Zac Williams who is well priced but has a history of soft-tissue injuries. If he is hurt again, coaches who stayed away from him could benefit.

We are also seeing many people stay away from Max Gawn because of his huge price tag. But if you were to pick him it may just give you the leg up on the competition.

Max Gawn delivers huge KFC SuperCoach scores — at a big price. Picture: Michael Klein
Max Gawn delivers huge KFC SuperCoach scores — at a big price. Picture: Michael Klein

Mastering the rolling lockout

Each week we know there are late outs and late changes to teams. Well, the KFC SuperCoach rule makers have got us covered. Each player isn’t locked out until their game starts. What this means is that you can delay your trades and moves until the last minute. A word of warning though, once the round starts, you can’t reverse your trades (even if those players haven’t played yet).

Experienced coaches will have their trades planned out before the round starts (with a couple of contingency plans) and then just wait and see if there are any late changes before they pull the trigger. This means that they will be able to take advantage of a late change where other coaches may have their trades locked in and have to utilize their emergency or even worse, cop a doughnut. So if you have a star player that is under an injury cloud you may just want to hold a trade up your sleeve to make sure you can react to a late out.

KFC SuperCoach promo for 2021

How to use the R3 spot

Our bench players are there to cover for the guys on field when they are a late out or miss a game. However, experienced KFC SuperCoaches will often select a player on the ruck bench who won’t actually ever play for their side.

Why would they do this you ask? With only two on-field rucks, you are generally fairly safe that they will get a game each week unless the player is injured or suspended, and you often know this well in advance of the round. This allows you to select a player that is the cheapest of the cheap in that position and then use that money elsewhere.

But what if one of my rucks are going to miss one game? Well, the seasoned KFC SuperCoaches will make this cheap player a dual-position player (generally a ruck/forward) and they will have another ruck/forward in their forward line, someone like a Rowan Marshall or Rory Lobb. If the need arises they can swap the two and hence they have some cover in the ruck line when needed.

Fremantle’s Josh Treacy is the ideal candidate for this strategy this year at just $102,400.

How to play KFC SuperCoach AFL | 2021 update

The vice-captain loophole

Each week we need to select a captain and a vice-captain. Seems easy right? But what if I told you that you can have two cracks at a captain score.

By picking a vice-captain that plays early in the round (the earlier the better) you can have the opportunity to take their score if it is great, or just select a captain if the VC doesn’t get enough points.

To take the VC score, you need a non playing player (does that R3 sound like a good fit for this?). Put the non playing player on the field, make them your captain and make sure that the player you moved off-field is selected as an emergency. Seems simple, right? Just make sure you have thought through every permutation on this one as it can be a tricky move to master.

Dustin Martin plays on the Thursday night in Round 1, making him an ideal vice-captain loophole candidate.
Dustin Martin plays on the Thursday night in Round 1, making him an ideal vice-captain loophole candidate.

Getting rookies right

Our salary cap means that we can’t afford to have only premium players. So we have to have some cheaper rookies in our side. It is these players that help us get to a full premium team. The rookies we need to select are those that are going to make us money by playing a number of games in quick succession. When they do this they rise in value quickly (hopefully) and we can then trade them out and up to premium scoring players.

This means that you need to make sure you are selecting guys that are going to get games regularly so that they can appreciate in value quickly!

Check out the Rookie Bible for the latest info on who is likely to play in Round 1.

Summary

There are a lot of ways that you can get an edge on your competition in KFC SuperCoach. Hopefully these tips will help you beat your mates and push you all the way to No.1.

Originally published as How to play KFC SuperCoach like an expert

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Original URL: https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/sport/afl/supercoach-news/how-to-play-kfc-supercoach-like-an-expert/news-story/0afb819fc13da897f194d7c6167669e5