NRL SuperCoach ultimate bye planner 2025: How to boss NRL schedule

Knowing the NRL schedule is crucial for SuperCoach glory given every round has at least one bye and some as many as seven. Here’s your definitive guide.

The start of every SuperCoach season isn’t just about creating a balanced team that can deliver big points and big money – you also need to plan for the future.

And the biggest part of that planning must come in the form of bye preparation.

SEE FULL BYE PLANNER BELOW!

There is no point having a killer team to start 2025 only to realise half your squad has been selected for Origin and aren’t available to you.

Worse still? You loaded up on players from some gun SuperCoach clubs and in round 11 you realise all those teams have the big round 12 bye off together and you’ll be fielding a squad of just five players.

Planning to avoid some of these issues from the outset can set you up for the long game.

James Tedesco has one of the best bye schedules in the competition if he misses Origin.

The bye rounds are historically big moving rounds in terms of rankings. People who went hard early but failed to plan ahead fall off. Players who chugged along at a steady pace but did plan for the byes suddenly rocket up the ladder.

Check out our bye planner below to see how every bye falls for every club and read on below to see which clubs are the best targets to set you up for bye round success.

BEST BYE TEAM

Hands down the Roosters. Not only is their bye schedule complete by round 17, making them perfect for the run home, but they miss every big bye and mini bye before and after Origin.

That means they are wrapped up before Origin finishes with only standalone bye rounds that make them the only club unavailable.

If you load up on Roosters you shouldn’t be hurt too much because the prospect of them sharing bye rounds with other clubs is non-existent.

The likes of James Tedesco will be gold through that Origin period. Guys like Angus Crichton, who you would sell anyway during Origin, will pick up most of the Rooster byes while he’s out of your team.

That doesn’t mean all Roosters are gold, though. Which leads us to...

ORIGIN POISON

It’s basically any Rooster playing for NSW or QLD which means any representative Tricolours absolutely must be out of your team by round 10 when the club takes its first bye.

The three Roosters byes falling entirely during the Origin period means someone like Crichton would miss six rounds out of nine (three Rooster byes, and three big Origin byes).

And that is a best case scenario. It could be worse.

If Trent Robinson is looking to manage the workload of any of his Origin stars he could opt to rest them following one or more Origin matches.

If that happens, that six out of nine rounds missed could quickly become seven out of nine... or more.

The Bulldogs and Sea Eagles are almost as bad as the Roosters.

They both pick up two of the mini byes each, which means their Origin players miss all three big byes as well as two mini byes. That’s five rounds missed out of eight at a minimum.

BEST TEAMS TO START WITH

If you are looking to start the season without too much bye disruption and conserve some trades then there are a few teams that don’t experience any time off until mid-season.

How SuperCoach relevant some of these clubs are is up for a debate that likely won’t be resolved until season 2025 begins and we see them in action.

If you can find value in the Raiders they don’t have their first bye until the second big bye round in round 15. That’s 14 glorious rounds of seamless action barring injuries.

The Sharks, where we know there is big value around the likes of Nicho Hynes, Briton Nikora, a newly-arrived Addin Fonua-Blake and others, don’t have their initial bye until the first mini bye round in round 13 along with the Dolphins.

The Rabbitohs and Tigers are also options if you can stomach it and don’t have a bye until the first big bye round in round 12. I’m more than willing to put a line through the Tigers right now given the cesspool of performance they sunk to in previous seasons but the Bunnies could be an interesting prospect with Wayne Bennett retuning to the helm.

How will Bennett develop Keaon Koloamatangi, utilise injury-free Campbell Graham and Cameron Murray, inspire Lattrell Mitchell? These are all tantalising prospects for a team without a bye for 11 rounds.

Dave Campbell's SuperCoach bye planner for 2025.

BEST TEAMS FOR THE RUN HOME

Once we clear the big byes you need a plan for the run home.

SuperCoaches are traditionally running low on trades. Your boosts are but a distant memory. Unless you are serial trade hoarder like Tim Williams, that is.

When the trade tank is low you want to be able to target players from clubs that have clear air at the back end of the season.

These teams have completed all their byes by the end of the final major bye in round 18 and are ranked in order from earliest completion of byes to latest:

- Storm (round 15 last bye)

- Bulldogs (round 16 last bye)

- Dragons (round 16 last bye)

- Roosters (round 17 last bye)

- Panthers (round 18 last bye)

- Warriors (round 18 last bye)

- Titans (round 18 last bye)

- Eels (round 18 last bye)

I’m happy to put lines through the Dragons, Warriors and even the Titans in terms of run home players unless anyone makes themselves known over the next six months.

But the Storm, Roosters and Panthers are all proven SuperCoach points juggernauts.

The Eels and Bulldogs have some gun SuperCoach players among their ranks as well although not to the same degree as the aforementioned big three.

Being able to safely load up on players from those clubs knowing Origin is behind us and their byes are done and dusted is huge.

Manage your money and your trades wisely and you could be finishing the two months of the season with the likes of James Tedesco, Dylan Edwards, Nathan Cleary, Jahrome Hughes, Zac Lomax, Angus Crichton, Isaah Yeo and Eliesa Katoa – all names who play for these clubs and all names lifted straight from the top 20 highest averaging players from 2024.

The first big bye round of the year might be four months away but ignoring it now will destroy your 2025 SuperCoach chances.

Originally published as NRL SuperCoach ultimate bye planner 2025: How to boss NRL schedule