Five easy tricks and tactics to boost your SuperCoach score

How does the captaincy loophole work? How do we exploit the rolling lockout? What is a floating donut? We explain some key tricks and tips for SuperCoach success.

Selecting your squad is just the first step in a season long-game of SuperCoach tactics.

How does the captaincy loophole work? How do we exploit the rolling lockout? What is a floating donut?

Here are just a few tricks that can help you maximise your score each week.

UNIQUE: BIG RISK, MASSIVE SUPERCOACH REWARD?

PRE-SEASON: ULTIMATE SUPERCOACH STUDY GUIDE

FREAKO: THE NEXT SUPERCOACH BREAKOUT STAR

ROLLING LOCKOUTS

The first thing that new players need to understand is that SuperCoach employs what is known as a rolling lockout.

Your players are only locked into position once their game starts, which means you are able to move players around and make trades right up until the start of the last game of the round.

This is a crucial tool that you can exploit each week. Below we will look at a couple of ways you can do this and a few other tips, too.

Patrick Dangerfield is often referred to as a perma-captain. Picture: Mike Dugdale

DOUBLE CHANCE CAPTAIN

Each week you need to select a captain (C) who will score you double points. But there are ways that you can exploit the system to give yourself a second chance at a captain score. The way we can do it is by using the rolling lockout to our advantage.

To get a second chance at the captain score you first need to study the fixture and have a non-scoring player on your squad. Then select a vice-captain (VC) who plays early in the round, someone that you want to take a chance on as your captain.

This will generally be a player who can produce big scores and has an advantageous match-up that week.

Once you have selected your VC, make sure you have a safe/alternative captain who plays late in the weekend and that non-playing player must play after your VC. For the ‘loophole’ to work, both of these players must play after your vice-captain.

After your VC has played, assess his score, and if it isn’t captain-worthy, just select your captain as per normal, no harm done. If your VC has a great score (generally 120-plus) then you will want to use that as your score to be doubled.

What you need to do now is bring your non-playing player on to the field and make him your captain, this ensures you get your VC as your doubled score because your actual captain will score zero.

Another crucial step … ensure you have the player you have put on the bench selected as an emergency so their score counts when your captain doesn’t play. The ruck line is usually a safe spot to select a non-playing player as you are less likely to have a late out in that line given there are only two on field.

This can take some practice to get right, you need to be on the ball and have a solid plan in place. But it can rep big rewards.

Sam Walsh looms as a key cash cow.

Ben Cavarra is a popular rookie. Picture: Michael Klein

HAVING A DOUBLE GO AT ROOKIES

Using the rolling lockout to enhance your captain score has become a commonly used SuperCoach tactic, but you can use the same trick with your emergency players (on a different line to your captain emergency of course).

If you can’t decide which of two rookies to start on the field, this is a way to hedge your bets.

You need a non-playing player in the relevant position, and they need to play after the first rookie’s game is completed. the later in the round the better. Put the first of your two scoring rookies on the bench and select them as an emergency. If they fail then just leave them there and start your alternate player on the field.

If your first choice has a great game, then put the non-playing player on the field and you will get the first guy as your emergency score.

FLOATING DONUTS

This is a term used to describe the players that you use for the above two scenarios (a zero in SuperCoach is often referred to as a donut).

If you can use a dual-position player for this role it gives you a lot more flexibility to be able to pull off these moves. Having a player from a team that usually plays late in the round is also a big help. Look for teams that play a lot of Sunday afternoon and Saturday night games and try and pick a player from that team.

It’s also important to pick someone who you are confident won’t get a game.

Starting with a player like this is usually not a smart move because you want all your rookies to be playing and increasing in value, generating cash for your important trade moves during the season.

However, experienced SuperCoach players will often select a non-playing bench ruckman (the cheaper the better) for the captain loophole since your bench ruck is unlikely to be called on. If possible they will select a ruck-forward dual-position player and have a corresponding DPP in the forward line who they can swing into the ruck if they need to in an emergency.

Nat Fyfe is a popular SuperCoach pick but can miss games.

DON’T TRADE UNTIL YOU HAVE TO

As we all know, things change as a round unfolds. Thanks to the rolling lockout you can keep your trades up your sleeve until you need to use them.

Ideally, you want to hold off on making your trades until the last minute. Trading a player on a Friday only to have them pull out as a late withdrawal, or get hurt in the warm-up, is what SuperCoach nightmares are made of.

You can also keep an eye on your private league scores and make a decision on whether you need to pull the trigger and use a trade or not. It’s also a fun way to catch your opponent unaware because they won’t see the trade until the round has finished.

The key to this tactic is making sure that you know exactly what trades you want to make. Then plan when you need to make them as the round progresses. Remember that once a player’s game starts, they are locked and can’t be traded and that applies to players you want to get rid of to trade in as well as the ones you want to trade in.

Also remember that once the first game of the weekend has started (usually the Friday night), trades are no longer reversible.

THE LAST WORD

These moves aren’t for the faint-hearted and do come with an element of risk, but if executed well they can certainly add to your points tally each week.

If you are a rookie SuperCoach player they can help you dominate your league, just make sure you fully understand what you are doing before you try and pull these moves off.

Originally published as Five easy tricks and tactics to boost your SuperCoach score