AFL SuperCoach: When should you use the vice-captain loophole to score double?

The vice-captain loophole can be a double-edged sword. This season, 32 players have already outscored the popular vice-captain options in the opening three rounds.

Lachie Neale has dominated his opening three games for Brisbane Lions. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Media).

The vice-captain loophole can be a double-edged sword.

While it all but guarantees two shots at a captain score, it often means missing out on valuable points if you bank a score from one of the early games of the round.

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Tom Mitchell set the bar so high last season, with an average of 129.1, those who chose to take scores from Thursday or Friday matches often threw away one of the top scores of the round.

The common school of thought was without Mitchell pumping out monster scores each week, SuperCoaches could safely double an early score and dodge the threat of other popular captain picks dominating later in the round.

Supercoach loophole

Round	Popular vice-captain	Players who outscored VC
1	Patrick Cripps (126)	13 - Justin Westhoff (149), Christian Salem (139), Rory Sloane (155), Matt Crouch (138), Marcus Bontempelli (158), Jack Macrae (132), Jake Lloyd (131), Lachie Neale (127), Dom Sheed (144), Stephen Coniglio (154), Jacob Hopper (129), Nathan Fyfe (147).
2	Brodie Grundy (137)	7- Scott Lycett (167), Patrick Dangerfield (154), Clayton Oliver (141), Tom Hickey (139), Ben Cunnington (159), Lachie Neale (140), David Swallow (140).
3	Patrick Dangerfield (128)	12- David Zaharakis (135), Patrick Cripps (157), Isaac Heeney (137), Jake Lloyd (130), Jeremy Cameron (163), Lachie Whitfield (152), Kane Lambert (140), Lachie Neale (177), Mitch Robinson (131), Travis Boak (136), Steele Sidebottom (132), Brodie Grundy (132)

The opening three weeks of 2019 have proved it sometimes pays to take a risk.

If you took Patrick Cripps’ 126 against Richmond in Round 1, you missed out on the chance to captain 13 players who scored higher than the Carlton co-captain.

Admittedly, some of those have low SuperCoach ownership, such as GWS midfielder Jacob Hopper and Melbourne half-back flanker Christian Salem.

But others such as Jack Macrae, Lachie Neale and Stephen Coniglio are popular choices who could have boosted your score if you chose to ignore the vice-captain loophole.

Patrick Dangerfield was a popular vice-captain pick in Round 3. Picture: Alison Wynd

But Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps scored 29 more points than the Geelong star on Saturday. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images.

Conventional wisdom says not to be greedy and take any score above 125 by putting a non-scoring player on field and thowing the C on them.

League games started this weekend and coaches will quickly learn that every point counts.

Last weekend, there was one point between the coaches who finished top of the rankings and the smallest of margins decided the cash price.

The vice-captain loophole should only be used as an insurance policy.

As we get more evidence, players such as Cripps, Macrae and Neale will only become more tempting to risk later in the round.

For instance, you would be kicking yourself at the end of Round 3 if you missed out on 49 points by going with Patrick Dangerfield (128) as skipper instead of Neale (177) or Cripps (157).

SuperCoach is one of the ultimate risk-reward games.

If your gut tells you a gun is going to outscore your vice-captain later in the round, listen to it.

That might just be what sets you apart from those who play it safe.