2024 SuperCoach AFL champion Joven May’s advice to revive 2025 season
SuperCoach season not off to the start you were hoping for? Don’t panic. Joven May, who won the $50,000 prize last year, has a blueprint to fight your way to the top – if you play it smart.
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My season is off to a decent start, I feel like I got a lot right with my structure and nailing the must-have players, although starting and then holding Tom Stewart has burnt me – I was essentially one premium down for three of the first five rounds.
There’s a long way to go but the side looks to be in pretty good shape, not many rookies on field and still generating cash.
But things can change quickly. The competition is condensed due to the early byes, so you can fly up the ranks in a flash. My mate Ryan jumped 10k spots last week alone! Don’t expect these sorts of jumps, they will naturally occur if you are putting your team in a good spot and get a bit of luck.
Play the long game, but you certainly can move very quickly, particularly during the mid-season byes, if you set yourself up for success.
Here are five tips to help get your season back on track.
1. DON’T PANIC
If you find yourself down the ranks at the moment, I wouldn’t be too worried. Due to the early byes, teams don’t have that many points separating one another – teams ranked outside the top 40,000 are only a few hundred points from the top 10k.
My strategy would be to set yourself a goal to climb inside the top 10k by the end of the mid-season byes – aiming to move up 5k spots each week (this is if you’re playing for overall rank). Many teams will have points chased and sacrificed cash generation early on, continue to be patient and you will overtake these teams round by round.
2. UPGRADE YOUR ROOKIES ASAP
No matter how good you think a rookie may be, they are still rookies. Every year, rookies show they are prone to fatigue, rests and sub vests as the mental and physical demands of senior football wear them down.
Guys like Levi Ashcroft and Riley Bice look to be exceptions that you can hold for a while, but I would be aiming to get rid of Levi in the coming weeks anyway. The points differential you can gain every week by upgrading a 50-70 point scoring rookie to a 95-115 point scoring premium is the worth around 50 points and thousands of ranks each week.
Get the rookies off the field before they burn you!
3. DON’T WASTE TRADES ON OUT OF FORM STARS
It is certainly difficult, but I try to have some faith and patience with these players until the mid-season byes. Trading out guys who could turn it around feels tough if you’ve still got rookies or speculative mid-pricers on field. Look to move on these guys at their mid-season byes if they continue to underperform.
4. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO MAKE CASH
If you missed the first price increase for a rookie or cash cow, you can still trade them in. Generating cash is so important for your trades. Consider Riley Bice as an example. Although you would feel dirty having missed his first one or two price rises, he still presented value. From that point he has continued to score well and has made a bucketload of cash.
5. PODS AREN’T THE ANSWER
Searching for a player with low ownership to give you an edge over other teams is tempting, but I don’t usually factor in ownership too much into my trade plans. I think it’s more important to focus on your own team, make the moves each week that are going to improve your team the most over the rest of the season. Make moves based on value rather than competing/matching other teams around you, and it will work out in the end.
6. WAIT FOR BONT, BUTTERS
The Bont and Butters are not in my trade plans in the coming weeks. I think they are fully priced and I would have to make moves I’m not a fan of to bring them in. I would love to own both eventually, hopefully I can get them at some sort of discount later in the year, or find a way to get them during luxury trade season.
REMEMBER...
DO ... remember it’s just a game. Try to enjoy watching your players play, don’t beat yourself up over incorrect decisions and remember that luck plays a major factor in SuperCoach.
DON’T... chase points. Play the value game, maximise your points by utilising the value on offer.
AND MY PLANS FOR FLEX
As the season has progressed my plans for Flex have become clearer – find a way to get three premium rucks. After a slow start, the big boys are firing and the difference between the third best ruck and the ninth best mid or seventh best fwd/def is way too large to not target a third ruckman if you can.
Joven’s verdict on ...
TRADE-OUT OPTIONS
Tom Stewart: Trade soon. I started and have held him so far (not ideal) so I think I will hold in the short term, look to move on soon if he doesn’t start showing something
Jayden Short: Trade soon. Richmond is struggling and Short doesn’t have a monopoly on the kick-ins.
Matt Roberts: Hold. Unless his role changes he is close enough to top 10 defender that you don’t worry about him.
Bailey Dale: Trade soon. This is what Bailey Dale is, inconsistent but still capable of popping a big score, look to move on soon.
Jordan Dawson: HOLD! Dawson over Brayshaw at the start of the season has cost me 30 points per week, but I just can’t see a player of his calibre continuing this form slump.
Clayton Oliver. Trade soon. A risky move but one that could put you ahead of the pack, still has a nice run over the next few but isn’t the player we once knew.
Adam Cerra: Hold. Nothing wrong with what Cerra is dishing out, hold at least until mid-season byes.
Caleb Daniel:. Hold. He is the fifth-highest scoring forward for the season, unless he is dropped (a possibility given his underwhelming form) you hold.
Ryan Maric: Trade soon. Close to reaching his peak, not going to be top-six forward so you can move him when you get a chance.
Matt Flynn: Trade soon. Let the big fella make some cash then jump on a Marshall//X/Gawn. A ticking time bomb for an injury/omission.
Riley Bice: Hold/Trade soon. Bice should be your last “upgrade”, he is within 15-20 points of whoever you will trade him to so he’s fine to ride until he falters.
Levi Ashcroft: Trade now/soon. He has done his job in scoring well for our fields and making a bucketload of cash, if you can take him to a top-liner, move him on, rookies hit the wall at some point.
Zach Reid: Trade soon/now. Still scoring well but getting closer to topping out, similar to Levi, if he’s your avenue to a premium, let him go. Scored 30 not long ago.
TRADE-IN TARGETS
Max Holmes: Look to target when he comes into a good run with no tags. Being the No.1 tag target means his floor is common and low.
Christian Petracca: Gun, get him if you can.
Chad Warner: Run opens up after the GWS game, very good option to bring in, CBA spike looks promising.
Jack Sinclair: Keep an eye of Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s midfield splits. If Nas goes midfield Sinclair could take the market share of St Kilda half-back points. Very enticing.
Lachie Whitfield: Does the GWS ultra-possessive game style change due to recent results? A shift could affect his ceiling a little but will nearly certainly be top-three defender. Safe pick.
Dayne Zorko: I like Zorks a lot. Cheaper than what he can go at, how much does Coleman affect him? Time will tell.
Zach Merrett: Lowest CBA percentage since 2020, still getting it done but probably not one I’d look to unless a run opens up.
Josh Dunkley: Good bye, fairly cheap, great option.
Mattaes Phillipou: So cheap that you can have a look first. It’s hard coming back mid-season but the kid is a jet.
Callum Mills: Won’t need much cash to upgrade a fattened rookie to him. Sydney looks to have missed his work at stoppage, should be straight in there and a good value option soon.
Sam Flanders: Role is yuck at the moment, avoid unless he gets over 50 per cent CBAs (would require an injury, I think).
Andrew Brayshaw: He is destroying many non-owners (myself included) but I think you just have to let him regress to the mean, don’t target at full price.
Nick Daicos: Might be the last week to jump on him but a part of me thinks you missed the boat and should just wait to see if he comes down. If he has truly figured out how to deal with tags he will be hard to Anti-POD, though.
Marcus Bontempelli: Gun, it’s going to be hard to get him in at any point but still too expensive for me.
Zak Butters: So good to watch but won’t average 140 ... wait on him.
Originally published as 2024 SuperCoach AFL champion Joven May’s advice to revive 2025 season
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