KFC SuperCoach 2022: Step-by-step guide to picking a winning team

Picking a KFC SuperCoach team for the first time, need a refresher or some pointers to improve your scores? Follow this step by step guide and you’ll be on your way to glory.

So you’ve signed up for KFC SuperCoach, come up with a brilliant team name and a killer guernsey. Now what?

Picking a team in KFC SuperCoach can take as little as five minutes, but putting more time into the selection process will give you much better results when games begin – and is a lot more fun!

If you haven’t selected a team before or need a refresher, you’ve come to the right place.

Let’s start with the basics. You have 30 players to pick and a $10 million salary cap. That sounds like a lot, but it will disappear quickly if you try to pick the most expensive players in every position, so your squad needs to be a mix of high-priced guns, mid-priced bargains and bottom-priced cheapies.

If you’re pushed for time, the intelligent auto-fill feature will select a squad for you. Just enter your favourite team and any players you know you want, then hit ‘select my team’ and we’ll do the rest.

Use Intelligent Auto Fill to to pick a KFC SuperCoach AFL team in just a few minutes.

If you want to take a more active role in team selection, here’s a step-by-step guide to picking a squad that can take out your league premiership.

Start by picking eight dirt cheap players – valued at $140,000 or lower – to fill your bench (players are listed from most to least expensive – you can adjust this filter or just scroll to the bottom of the player list for each position). You’ll need two defenders, three midfielders, one ruckman and two forwards. Look for should be draftees who will play games and increase in value during the season – the Rookie Bible is a great guide to the names to watch.

To fit your team under the salary cap, you’ll need to start a few cheapies on the field, too. Select another rookie in defence, three in the midfield (this is where the best rookies are usually found) and one up forward. You can spend a little more on these guys, and there are some great options this year up to around $250,000 who should score well.

We’ll get a much better idea of which rookies to select as we approach Round 1 and it’s OK to pick players in these slots as placeholders for now, but make sure you revisit these positions before the season starts – lots of SuperCoach teams have been derailed by selecting a large number of cheapies who aren’t getting AFL games.

There are lots of great rookies in the midfield and don’t worry, the big-name stars are coming next!

Next, pick some premiums. This term covers players who you can rely on to produce big scores almost every week – and they are priced accordingly.

Select two premiums in defence, three in the midfield, two in the ruck and two up forward. You can really go to town and select the best players in the game, but it’s a good idea to look for some value so you don’t burn up all your salary cap. Players like Lachie Neale and James Sicily are priced below their potential scoring output due to recent injuries.

Another expert tip here is to select dual-position premiums in your forward line, they usually get more of the ball and can also be moved across positions during the season, giving you added flexibility.

Brodie Grundy has been one of the top-scoring ruckmen for years and you can bank on him being a fantastic selection again in 2022. Picture: Mike Owen/Getty Images

With the cash you have left, you need to fill the gaps in your team with some mid-priced bargains. This is the most fun and most dangerous part of selecting a team – the phrase “mid-pricer” sends shudders down the spine of some seasoned fantasy players who have been burnt by players who looked ready to explode only to fizzle when the season started.

But mid-pricers can be huge success stories – in 2021 Jack Ziebell started the year priced at just $257,000 and finished as one of the top-scoring players in his position.

Who could be the Ziebell of 2022? Look for players who are ready to jump to the next level after a few years in the system (Will Day or Caleb Serong are strong candidates) or proven performers who have received a huge price discount due to injury. Stephen Coniglio was a regular 100-points a week player in KFC SuperCoach not that long ago but last year his body let him down and his price has tumbled all the way to $261,300. If he shows signs in the pre-season he’s over his injury worries, he’s a huge steal.

Lachie Neale’s price in KFC SuperCoach could prove an absolute steal if he returns to his Brownlow form. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Other names you could consider around a similar price include Charlie Curnow (FWD), Will Brodie (MID/FWD), Jarrod Berry (MID), Matt Rowell (MID) and Jade Gresham (FWD). They probably won’t all become year-long keepers like Ziebell did, but if you get a couple right it can set up your whole season.

You might need to do a bit of juggling to fit your squad under the salary cap – perhaps replacing a super expensive defender with someone a bit more affordable like Lachie Whitfield, or swapping out one of those risky mid-pricers for an extra rookie. Once you have a 30-man squad, hit SAVE!

A finished team might look something like this – subject to changes before Round 1!

Once your team is set use the substitute button (“S”) to make sure your most expensive (and likely top-scoring) players are on the field and the cheapies are on the bench.

You can make as many trades as you like over the pre-season, and you can save a partial squad, but you need a full 30-man team locked in before Round 1 to be part of the action.

The next step is to join a league to play against your mates, or create one and invite everyone you want to compete against for your own fantasy premiership.

And the player with the most points at the end of the season wins $50,000 cash and the Holy Grail of KFC SuperCoach – the best trophy ever seen in fantasy footy.

What are you waiting for? Head to supercoach.com.au and start picking your matchwinning team.

Welcome to KFC SuperCoach!

Originally published as KFC SuperCoach 2022: Step-by-step guide to picking a winning team