SuperCoach NRL Draft rankings 2021: Best players at every position

While some SuperCoaches worry about their salary cap, Draft players just want to know who to take with their first picks! Here are the best at every position.

While some SuperCoaches are busy stressing over their salary cap and which cheapies to start with, us draft players just want to know who to choose with their first picks!

Instead of worrying about players making cash and balancing guns and mid-rangers, in draft you’ll just want to assemble the best team possible and snatch those valuable mid and late round picks!

One thing you will want to worry about is what positions you are prioritising you your draft, since not everyone has the flexibility of a guaranteed Nathan Cleary or Damien Cook.

There are some positions with realistically only a couple of guns, so while you want to grab the best of the best, its important to keep position depth in mind. So let’s take a look at the best draft players at every position!

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KFC SuperCoach NRL 2021 Draft rankings

HOOKER

We’ll be starting off with the spine positions in these rankings, because in SuperCoach draft they are arguably the most important positions, given the lack of quality options at some positions. Hooker is one of those positions that it’s important to fill early, given there are realistically only a few actual hookers who play 80 minutes, with some real life NRL teams carrying a bench hooker, while some players have a HOK dual position but don’t actually play hooker.

While everyone can get Damien Cook in Classic, only ONE person can get grab them in Draft and so we can expect these guys to go very early in the draft.

*And just as a reminder, Cameron Smith and Cameron McInnes should be avoided, with Smith currently without a club and McInnes suffering an ACL injury.

HALFBACK

Hooker is light-on for premium Draft options, but the position with the least amount of genuine Guns is halfback. Again, while everyone can have Nathan Cleary in Classic, only one person can have them in Draft. As I point out in my 11 tips to help win your league, you want to try and fill your low-depth spine positions quickly, so if you can nab a gun hooker or halfback in your first few rounds go for it... just don’t take a player over other available GUNS.

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FIVE-EIGHTH

While 5/8 isn’t quite as dire in terms of depth as HFB or HOK, it is still one of those low depth positions and should be a priority. However, after the two best five-eighths are gone there is a massive drop off in talent, so if there are better players at other positions available, they should be the priority.

FULLBACK

This has been a low depth position in the past, but there are actually more and more genuine fullback options coming through, and fullback doesn’t need to be as big a priority as it was in the past. By my count there are more than 13 fullbacks who I would be happy to have as my starter in a Draft league this year. So in a 10-12 man league I’d say you’re almost guaranteed to get someone serviceable. That all being said, if you have the first pick of the draft I’d still probably take James Tedesco, despite knowing I could get a playable fullback later on in the draft.

FRONT ROW FORWARD

Now we move on from the truly low-depth positions, to the spots where there are more players but also (depending on your league settings) more spots to fill in your team. While there are many front rowers that you can rely on for base stats every week, keep in mind that you’ll likely need two of them in your side, and so if possible you want at least one of the gun FRF’s. Your forward pack is the engine room of your team, so don’t sleep on your props too long, as you could end up with two blokes who, while solid, won’t provide you the necessary base stats to get you those head-to-head wins.

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SECOND ROW FORWARD

Like the props, you’ll want at least one gun 2RF in your side, however unlike FRF, most leagues will require you to have three backrowers, so while it becomes even more important to shore up your base, you can also afford to wait a bit longer to fill this position given the plethora of quality options. 2RF also boasts many of the highest averaging players in the game of any position (compared to FRF which really only has two elite options), so if you can stack a gun 2RF with some midrangers, your team should be fairly well balanced.

CENTRE/WING

Here we get into the craziest position of the draft, with outside backs easily the hardest position to rank, purely because of how many options there are, most team needing to have at least four and the inconsistency of the CTW position.

Considering most CTW’s have mediocre base stats and many are dependant on scoring tries to produce standout scores, I would recommend not taking one at all in the first three rounds of your draft. After that, if someone like David Nofoaluma is still on the board, grab him! Any earlier and your probably passing over a borderline gun, for a CTW. Even if Nofoaluma or Lomax are the best players at the position, CTW’s still typically have lower floors than guns at other positions. But like 2RF, there are some great mid-range options who you can wait a bit on, just don’t wait too long, or you could end up with a pretty mediocre backline.

Good luck with your drafts in 2021 SuperCoaches. Remember not to do them too early, but also don’t leave it too late! Sometime after trials, but before the season launch would be ideal.

Originally published as SuperCoach NRL Draft rankings 2021: Best players at every position