How to manage the bye rounds when picking your starting SuperCoach squad
THE bye rounds are lurking ready to derail your best-laid SuperCoach plans. But if you play it smart, they can help you get a jump on the pack. What does it mean for your starting team?
Supercoach
Don't miss out on the headlines from Supercoach. Followed categories will be added to My News.
JUST like a shark lurking unseen in the shallows, its presence only announced by the increased volume of the Jaws theme, the bye rounds could creep up and dismember your SuperCoach season if you are not prepared.
But the byes shouldn’t be feared.
The multi-bye rounds can actually be used to your advantage if you play it smart. Read on and we’ll have a look at this year’s byes together.
KEY PLAYS: FIVE STARTING SUPERCOACH STRATEGIES
HOW TO WIN: THE SUPERCOACH 10 COMMANDMENTS
ADAM COONEY: DON’T REPEAT MY SUPERCOACH MISTAKES
Once again this season, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast play a game in China and both have a bye in Round 10. The bye rounds for the other 16 teams commence in Round 12 with four teams on the bye that week: Carlton, Hawthorn, West Coast and the Western Bulldogs.
There are then six teams off on the bye in each of the next two rounds: Brisbane, Collingwood, Essendon, GWS, Melbourne and North Melbourne in Round 13; and Adelaide, Fremantle, Geelong, Richmond, St Kilda and Sydney in Round 14.
These six-team bye rounds could make a big dent in your plans if you happen to have most of your premium players from teams scheduled to be on a bye in the same week.
Looking at SuperCoach relevant players, Round 14 looks particularly scary with popular midfielders Patrick Dangerfield, Dustin Martin, Matt Crouch, Rory Sloane, Nat Fyfe and Josh P Kennedy all on a bye that week. Many SuperCoaches would be looking at starting with at least three of that group — and that’s just the midfield.
The same week, popular forwards Sam Menegola, Buddy Franklin, David Mundy and Isaac Heeney are all out and in defence, Rory Laird, Brandon Ellis, Zach Tuohy and Jake Lloyd are all out. That is a lot to think about and it’s just for Round 14! How many of those players can you start with? We’ll get to that later.
If you are aiming for a league win, you have a few options: perhaps don’t worry about the byes at all and just aim to make the finals and finish strong, or some people pick one bye week to effectively forfeit and make sure most of their players have a bye that week, aiming to lose that week and be likely to win the other two weeks when opponents are hurt by the byes.
Both of these are valid options when aiming for league success, but the third option for league players is to treat them equally, just the same as you would if aiming for your best overall finish.
When aiming for best overall rank, you need to consider the byes and have a plan.
The first consideration when selecting your starting team is that there is no need to worry about the byes for rookie-priced players.
LEGEND: FEV REVEALS HIS SUPERCOACH TEAM
WARNING: ALARM BELLS ON SUPERCOACH ROOKIES
THE PHANTOM: BUDDY BIG REMINDER FROM STAR
If you have picked the right rookies who will be playing games early in the season, most of them will be traded out of your team before the byes, having already maxed-out their earning potential.
You should pick the best rookies regardless of when their team has a bye.
The second consideration is that there are only two teams on a bye in Round 10 and the scoring is the same as other regular rounds — you still need 22 scoring players. If you pick a premium player from either Port Adelaide or Gold Coast, you already know that they are going to play one fewer game than players from other teams and when they’re on your bench in Round 10, you’ll likely only have rookies to cover for them, so unless there is someone simply too hard to refuse (Tom Rockliff, I’m looking at you!), it’s best to avoid starting with players from these two teams and look to trade them in after their bye.
If you trade them in after Round 10, then you will have them available right throughout the multi-bye rounds, which can be a huge advantage if you pick the right player.
Remember though that you will likely need to keep them for the remainder of the season, so choose wisely.
During the multi-bye rounds, your weekly score is made up from your best 18 players’ scores, regardless of position as long as they are on-field. Therefore, when considering byes, positions don’t matter too much, except that you don’t want playing players on your interchange, so it’s best to spread the bye players out across the lines a little. You’re better off having someone on a bye on your bench because then they’ll be a chance to score for you on the other weeks. It’s fine to have more out on a bye than there are bench spots — it’s almost inevitable, and is no problem.
The main bye round to consider when preparing your starting team is the first multi-bye round (Round 12). It’s best not to have too many players in your starting team with byes this round. Therefore, some popular players to consider avoiding could be midfielders Tom Mitchell, Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore, defenders Elliot Yeo, Jason Johannisen, Grant Birchall and forward Cyril Rioli, however it’s fine to start with some of them.
It’s really important to be set up well for the first multi-bye round to give you some flexibility leading up to it, but especially because after that round there are so many players available who are bye-free for the remainder of the season, so trading becomes easier.
As soon as the first multi-bye round is finished you can bring in players who have already had their bye and are available through the other two rounds — players such as those mentioned above. After the second multi-bye round you can choose from even more bye-free players. Considering this, the third multi-bye round isn’t looking too daunting after all!
To navigate the dangers of inactive players in the bye rounds, trading becomes really important throughout the first part of the season and leading up to the byes. Ask questions on sites like TooSerious.net for advice on trading throughout the season. You ultimately need to ensure you will have 18 players playing each week through the three rounds, so you should be aiming for at least a couple more than that in your plans because there will likely be players not on a bye, but when you need them most, they’re out for that week due to injury or another reason.
One of the best things about byes is you get three trades per week compared to your usual two per week. Added to this, your rookies should have all peaked in price and you should be making the final upgrades of your team.
If you play your cards right, you can easily achieve a fully upgraded team by the end of the byes.
Don’t be afraid to use your trades and make it happen quickly. Another good thing about byes is that bye players are not locked until the final game of the round so they can be used on-field as a captain if your vice-captain has scored well.
STRATEGY: HOW MANY IS TOO MANY
DR SUPERCOACH: JLT SCOUTING REPORT
OLD SCHOOL: HOW TO PLAY SC WITHOUT INTERNET
So how many of those premium players with byes in Round 14 can we start with? Go for your life! As it’s the last of the multi-bye rounds, at least three midfielders, two forwards and two defenders is totally fine, and even more should be OK.
Yes, you can select all of Fyfe, Dangerfield and Dusty Martin. Your trades leading up to that round will determine how you go with it. Look forward to the byes, it’s one of the most fun times during the SuperCoach season! Ignore the Jaws music, have your plan set out and go for it. Good luck.
Get more SuperCoach tips from Anthony Hack on Twitter at @ant_hak
Bargain watch: AFL Trade period SuperCoach specials
It’s never too early to start planning 2025 SuperCoach success, and the trade period has delivered some potential steals. Here are the names and numbers you need to know.
AFL obsession to NBL addiction: How SuperCoach hooked me on hoops
I hadn’t watch the NBL since the Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal days. Now I’m taking my son to United games and watching Phoenix on Kayo because of one reason.