SuperCoach AFL 2024: SCodfather Abdul reveals his team and strategy for this season

Picking one left-field star is central to the strategy of one of SuperCoach’s most successful players. It has landed one Top 10 finish. He reveals his plan for 2024.

Helloooooo everybody,

Firstly, I would like to thank the Herald Sun for giving me this opportunity to present my team.

Secondly, I would like to thank you, the readers, for actually reading the mumble jumble that im about to present to you.

Just Calm Down.

I will begin with the most important part of building my team, which is “The Plan”.

The following are all factored in my plan:

1. Value

2. Bye rounds

3. Best 22

4. Defining the word “premo” and working out how many I need to start with

5. What is my goal? Am I playing for leagues or overall?

6. PODs (players of difference) – how many do I need, if any at all?

7. Structure

With all these factors to consider, here is my plan for the 2024 AFL season.

1. VALUE
I am looking for players of value, especially with my premos and mid-priced players.

For me a player of value is defined as the following:

A PREMO must hold or increase in value and of course, score lots of points. It would be a huge disadvantage for me if my opponents were able to bring the player I started with

at a much cheaper price.

MID-PRICERS I bring in have to achieve the following criteria — if they don’t then for me it’s a fail:

$250k-$300k players must go at or over an average of 85

$300k-$400k players must go at or over an average of 90

$400k-$450k players must go at or over an average of 100

$500k-plus players must either end up being keepers in my team or place holders and go at a 110 average

Matt Rowell is a key to Abdul’s SuperCoach plans in 2024. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Dustin Martin is set for a return to Richmond’s midfield this year. Picture: Michael Klein

2. BYE ROUNDS

As you all know we have four bye rounds up until round 6. For each of these bye rounds I want 19 players who can go at 85-plus, with at least 12 scoring at premo level.

My aim is to have one player of those 19 missing in round 2 and one player missing in round This enables me to have 18 decent scores in rounds 2 and 3.

Round 5 and 6 are a little different, as we would have added extra premos into our teams, so im happy to select 2-3 players who will miss those bye rounds.

3. BEST 22

For rounds 1 and 4 I want to have as few low scoring players as I possibly can, and I “tink” with the team I have selected F6 (my last on-field forward) could be my weakest position.

4. WHAT IS A PREMO?

The word “premo” for me has a different meaning in round 1 than it does in round 15.

In round 1 a premo for me is a player that can go 110 on any given day. Some of these players might not be season-long keepers. I have labelled these “position holders”, for example Matt Crouch and Elliot Yeo.

In round 15 a premo for me is viewed as a player that is “the best of the best” in his position, so with this in mind my aim is to upgrade the players that I call “position holders” into genuine premos during the season.

5. LEAGUES OR OVERALL?

My goal in 2024 is to finish in the top 10 overall. Finishing anything under that is a fail for me, so I’m willing to finish as low as 10,000th to get to my goal – my motto is “go hard or go home”.

I don’t play SuperCoach any other way. It’s also why I play a very unorthodox style of game. Having a team similar to 50,000 people will make my odds of achieving my goals near impossible, so to reduce the odds I either “bust” (which is what I normally do) or I finish Top 10.

Just Calm a Down!

6. PODS

PODs can be viewed in different ways.

Sometimes your entire structure becomes the POD (point of difference), but I like having what I call “the weapon” (a player in less than 5 per cent of teams). Every year I select and announce this weapon. My previous weapons have been Reilly O’Brien (2019), Jordan Ridley (2020), Touk Miller (2021), Jarrod Witts (2022), Tom Liberatore (2023).

This year I made an announcement on Twitter that the official weapon for 2024 at absmagic will be Matt Rowell, who is currently owned by 3 per cent of teams.

absmagic public announcement

due to a disagreement with the leadership group at absroad oval this morning
Parish is no Longer our "Weapon"
his contract has been terminated
Rowell is the new "Weapon"
and only 3% owned
we expect him to rise to new heights this year pic.twitter.com/b3lNDDtaUF

— The SCodfather (@magicmoments000) February 25, 2024

7. STRUCTURE

Structure is vital, it is the engine room of how your team scores.

To achieve the correct structure you need to identify weaknesses, strengths and value across all the lines.

This year I noticed that rookie defenders may not score very high (especially the cheap ones),

so I’ve gone for a “no rookie on field” policy in defence.

In the midfield I noticed that there are lots of discounted “premos”. Having too many of these could backfire, so I’m going to start with two, maybe three maximum.

I’ve also noticed that there are some expensive rookies that are very popular in most teams, however I am uncertain about their roles, so I’m going to limit them to two and keep a cheap bench.

It is, however, vital that the players on your bench have job security, as we want them to make as much cash as possible, so I’ll keep watching more games until I finalise my bench.

In the rucks we are blessed with value this year, and the forward line is where are all the bargains are. For me its like shopping at the Victoria Market, so I’m going to pick up as many bargains as I can.

This is how my team after the first set of practice games.

Abdul's team for SuperCoach 2024.

Defence: I’m passing on some big names in Sicily and Daicos and I’m hoping to get them in as soon as I can, hopefully at a cheaper price.

Midfield: I’m starting with only three guns (including my weapon) and a mixture of value premos, mid-pricers and rookies. The Bont, Laird, Oliver and Co will all be upgrade targets.

Rucks: Gawn and Grundy, or should I say Gawndy.

Just Calm a Down

Forwards: Dusty is my big must-have plus I’ll be watching Taylor Adams very close in the Swans’ next two games. The rest of the forward line consists of value and rookies.

Originally published as SuperCoach AFL 2024: SCodfather Abdul reveals his team and strategy for this season