SuperCoach NRL Draft rankings 2022: Best fantasy players at every position, top picks

While SuperCoach Classic players worry about their salary cap, Draft players just want to know who to take with their first pick! We rank every position.

The NRL pre-season trials are done and the season launch is almost upon us... which can mean only one thing. It’s time to DRAFT!

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, and where to look for value late in the draft.

While Classic SuperCoach is all about making cash, getting guns and value mid-priced players, in Draft you’ll just want to assemble the best team possible and snatch those valuable mid and late round picks!

And unlike Classic, every Draft team will look radically different since every player can only be on one team, and not everyone has the option for a guaranteed Nathan Cleary or Tom Trbojevic.

There are some positions with just a few standout guns and a massive drop off between the best and the rest, so while you want to draft the best players you can it’s still important to keep depth in mind. So let’s take a look at the best Draft players at every position!

Keep your eye on this page, as rankings may update as the pre-season goes on, trial matches play out and injury/suspension strikes.

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Check out our KFC SuperCoach NRL 2022 draft rankings below!

HOOKER

For our rankings, we’ll start at the spine positions since they have the least amount of depth and the biggest/quickest drop off between the best and worst options. If you don’t fill your spine positions up quickly you could be forced to draft some mediocre players!

Hooker is an interesting position as more guns have appeared in recent years, but the number of hookers still playing 80 minutes and producing big scores is dropping.

FIVE-EIGHTH

Five-eighth is probably the most dire position in terms of depth, with just two standout premium guns in Cody Walker and Cameron Munster and a massive drop in SuperCoach scoring potential after that... unless you know where to find value that is! Walker and Munster will likely go very early in drafts so unless you want to take a punt on one of them, you may need to wait on drafting a five-eighth until later in your draft.

HALFBACK

While normally one of the most important positions to fill early, halfback depth is actually at some of its best levels of depth in the past few draft seasons. There are very few fallen guns here, while a host of young stars are coming through with a tonne of KFC SuperCoach potential.

FULLBACK

While halfback depth has come a long way, fullback depth has gone to another level! By my draft rankings there are more than 11 fullbacks I’d be confident having as my starter, so in a 10-person draft league there are more than enough talented options to go around. While I normally encourage KFC SuperCoaches to go after a gun fullback early, I feel confident in telling you that it’s not as big a priority anymore. Obviously if you can lock in someone like Tom Trbojevic, James Tedesco or Ryan Papenhuyzen then go for it! But you can get someone like Reece Walsh or Will Kennedy much later and still be pretty set at fullback.

FRONT ROW

Now we move on from the low depth positions to the engine room of your SuperCoach Draft team. While your spine stars are important and have some of the highest ceilings, your forward pack is where you’ll find your base stat machines who are the most reliable players in the game.

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 FRFs.

Just 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. That being said front row depth is pretty solid this year, with fewer guns but a massive pool of reliable mid-tier options.

SECOND ROW

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 or three elite options), so if you can stack a gun 2RF with some midrangers, your team should be pretty well balanced.

CTW

Moving on from your engine room to the craziest and most unpredictable position in KFC SuperCoach draft... your CTWs. While there are a few very reliable options who will score well even without any tries, most CTWs are extremely hard to rank given the inconsistency of the position and most leagues requiring you to have FOUR of these guys.

Considering most CTWs 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. But if you can nab a gun after that then go for it! 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 2022 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 2022: Best fantasy players at every position, top picks