SuperCoach Investor: Who will be the finals MVP?
Captain choice, game-day tactics and mind games will all play a part in SuperCoach results this week, but if you’ve got an August hero you’ve got one foot in the fantasy grand final.
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We’re approaching the most pivotal time of the SuperCoach season with coaches across the land carefully plotting the downfall of this week’s opposition.
There will be meticulous opposition analysis. There will be spying and there will be mind games galore.
It’s also imperative that you pay heed to the SuperCoach Finals “MVP” leaders, as they will hold the keys to your premiership aspirations.
They are the players those who rise above all when it matters most.
The SuperCoach Investor, Daniel Begala, reveals his time-and-tested finals strategies for usurping all comers on the road to the SuperCoach Holy Grail.
THE FINALS MVP
The most valuable player (“MVP”) is a badge of honour reserved for only the creme de la creme of sporting heroes.
Disregard the Brownlow. Forget the AFL Coaches Association Award. There’s only one accolade that modern AFL players are striving to achieve.
It’s the SuperCoach Finals MVP.
We’re only halfway into the Final Series, but some absolute standouts have arisen in the MVP ranks.
Leading all comers is Magpie juggernaut Adam Treloar ($633K, MID), who has one hand on the MVP trophy and looms as the gamebreaker for preliminary final weekend with relatively humble ownership (20.6 per cent) and a thirst for possessions.
It’s no surprise that the remaining mix of MVP candidates is composed of midfield maestros whose bread-and-butter is to collect disposals at will.
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The big surprise, however, is the absence of our tall talisman – Max Gawn ($621K, RUC) and Brodie Grundy ($646K, RUC) – who currently sit adrift of the MVP leaderboard despite impeccable “home-and-away” seasons.
Write them both off at your own peril, as I suspect they will both roar into MVP calculations following their upcoming fixtures.
Grundy – as mentioned last week – is the SuperCoach Investor’s red-hot favourite for Norm Smith honours in Round 23 (Grand Final week in SuperCoach) with a match-up against Essendon’s Zac Clarke.
If you’re one of the very few coaches that boast trade ammunition, it’s time to embed these
MVP candidates into your side and supercharge yourself for premiership glory.
On the surface it seems as though you’re chasing points, but these are the most in-form players in the competition who will improve your side’s likelihood of progressing to a Grand Final at the spiritual home of football: “The internet”.
GAME DAY TACTICS
Clear the diary. Cancel your weekend plans. It’s SuperCoach finals time.
You’ll need to scrupulously critique your opposition’s line-up to identify any weaknesses that you can seek to exploit for your own advantage.
Track their potential loopholes. Keep a bedside vigil on the captain and vice-captaincy movements across the round. Stay sharp.
Every SuperCoach (and his dog) will vice-captain Max Gawn on Friday evening with the Melbourne scoring machine scheduled to meet Sydney’s stand-in ruckman, Hayden McLean.
Gawn’s score is conservatively forecasted at 113 points, but I suspect he’ll register a score north of 130 points against the Swans’ minnow.
If this is the case, it’s going to be difficult to differentiate your side in a do-or-die preliminary final fixture if you’ve both appointed Gawn for say, 135 points.
That leaves the job in the hand of your 21 remaining players, so any uptick on your opponent – even marginal – is worth its weight in gold.
Should the tie pivot in your opposition’s favour throughout the weekend and you’re staring down the barrel of a likely defeat, don’t resist the urge to throw caution to the wind and place the captaincy armband on one of the above-mentioned MVP candidates.
It’s the “break glass in case of emergency” scenario that should only be used if you need a Hail Mary to pull off the unlikeliest of comebacks.
There’s no time for arbitrage or liquidity this week, it’s all about notching up the win and progressing as best unscathed into the SuperCoach grand final week.
May the SuperCoach gods be merciful to all preliminary finals candidates.
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