KFC SuperCoach 2022: The Phantom’s Round 6 trade advice and burning questions

Is it time to start upgrading? Can we trade Horne-Francis? What about Matt Rowell? Who is Malcolm Rosas? The Phantom answers the big KFC SuperCoach questions.

Five rounds down, and 30 trades left.

That’s what my KFC SuperCoach dashboard tells me and, well, it’s, let’s say, interesting.

Last year, 30 trades is what you had pre-Round 1 lockout and, for most of us, it didn’t say 30 for much longer.

It wasn’t the only thing that was different when the game opened up following the James Sicily show on Easter Monday.

Nick Daicos is now a defender and 48 others are now dual-position players.

Fair to say there are a number of big questions this week.

Is it upgrade season now?

In the traditional sense, no. The best early-season cash cows have only had three prices rises – some even less.

And most still have low breakevens, not even close to their season average, which is usually where KFC SuperCoaches draw the line.

Is $100k enough to cut a run? Normall it’s $150k, but some aren’t even at the first figure.

Some won’t get there and there are times where you just to take what you can and trade – someone like Jackson Mead potentially.

Stream every match of every round of the 2022 Toyota AFL Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

Jason Horne-Francis scored 39 KFC SuperCoach points. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

But what about Jason Horne-Francis, who has made $109k so far?

The No. 1 draft pick averaged 83 points in the first four games of his career, posting scores of 98 and 93.

But an error-riddled 39-point performance against the Bulldogs has resulted in a breakeven of 51 and made KFC SuperCoaches worry about his on-field scoring.

I’m not worried about that. The 18-year-old still had 18 disposals and an equal-team-high 12 contested possessions on Good Friday – but nine clangers, a number of them early in the game, hurt his score.

In contrast, he had just 12 clangers combined in those first four matches.

BUT.

If you can get a top-line premium into your side by trading Horne-Francis – a player who you likely don’t want in your final team – then why not?

Sure, he might bounce back with a score of 80 or more this week and kick start cash his generation again. Horne-Francis may still get to $400k yet, but the Round 6 score means it won’t happen as fast as many were hoping.

So if you’ve got the money to upgrade him, there’s a strong argument to forget the potential cash you’ll miss out on and pull the trigger.

We play for overall points, not overall cash, yeah?

DPP CHANGES: EVERY PLAYER WITH A NEW POSITION AND WHAT IT MEANS

Touk Miller is available for $80k less than his starting price. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Touk Miller, for example, who is available for $80k less than his starting price, is going to outscore Horne-Francis by a lot from here.

A premium keeper is a premium keeper, regardless of what round it is.

Last year, you might have said that extra cash could save you a trade on an upgrade down the track.

But we’re almost a quarter of the way through the KFC SuperCoach season, with roughly the same amount of trades we started with in previous years.

So, can we use them differently?

That was more rhetorical than burning.

I ran on a poll on Twitter on Tuesday and, at the time of writing, more than 70 per cent of the 700+ voters said they will be upgrading this week.

So, don’t say I am the cause of this.

We all get KFC SuperCoach FOMO, and once you see someone else bringing another big scorer into their team, it’s easy to worry that you’ll fall behind.

But, although I am all for upgrading early if you can afford it, don’t break your team, or trade away multiple solid on-field scoring rookies, just to do it this week.

It is, as they say in the classics, a long season.

Just start planning to strengthen your team before the byes this year.

For burning questions purposes...

Are you upgrading in KFC #SuperCoach this week?

— The Phantom (@ThePhantomSC) April 19, 2022

What if I need to trade Matt Rowell, too?

I am considering similar.

It’s not your typical one up, one down rookie upgrade, but, on current form, Rowell isn’t a keeper.

So, again, if you have the money, why not?

He’s made $60k as an underwhelming mid-price stepping stone, but, if you can get to a premium, you can argue he’s done his job.

We all wanted him to be a keeper, and had high hopes after the 151-point performance in Round 1, but at $350k, it wasn’t a disaster of a starting selection.

Back to the why not.

If Suns coach Stuart Dew unleashes the No. 1 pick from the 2019 draft to hunt the ball again, he could go bang with another 150.

But will that happen?

TRADE GUIDE: SIX WAYS TO GET SUPERCOACH BUY OF THE WEEK

Is it time to trade Matt Rowell in KFC SuperCoach? Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

“When you watch him closely, he’s working very hard. Teams put more time into him but, gee, I think we have to remember this lad’s played 20 games,” Dew said post-match on Saturday.

Sure Dew is right to question why Rowell gets a different level of scrutiny to others who have played a similar amount of games, but I am also right to question WHY IS HE JUST PLAYING ROLE.

“He’s going to play his role in that midfield, sometimes he will get three Brownlow votes, other times he will just play his role and hopefully we’ll get the win,” Dew said.

Dew hasn’t said anything about Rowell’s role change, but Champion Data numbers show he’s spent time on the opposition’s best midfielders since Round 1.

He still had an equal-team-high five clearances against the Saints, but he hasn’t had more than 19 disposals in his past four matches, after having 33 in the opening round.

Given he scored 103 in Round 4, he’s still a better on-field option that some of the rookies but not many of them are within arm’s reach of a premium at $400k.

So, what is your plan, Phantom?

Horne-Francis to Malcolm Rosas (via DPP swing), and Rowell to Miller gives me another top-liner scorer.

It will mean Saint Jack Hayes, who scored another KFC SuperCoach ton in Round 6, will start on-field – unless Josh Rachele goes big in Saturday’s early game – along with Nic Martin and Tristan Xerri.

Take advantage of the new DPP changes, and get all the top-scoring forward value options on the field.

Who is Malcom Rosas?

He’s the skilful Gold Coast small who booted three goals in Round 4 before laying an equal-game-high seven tackles against the Saints on Saturday. After KFC SuperCoach scores of 73 and 74, the 20-year-old has a breakeven of -71 – the second-lowest in the competition – and is performing better than the Suns’ other small-forwards.

Are you concerned about Miller recording 0 tackles in the past two weeks?

Given Miller had 71 tackles in the previous 10 games, and had made at least one tackle in every game of his career until Round 4, yes, it’s a worry.

The fact he only made four tackle attempts in the past two rounds, after making 19 in the first three, is a bigger worry.

But he still had 32 disposals and 16 contested possessions – both game highs – and didn’t look visibly troubled by injury.

With a breakeven of 132, there’s a chance he falls again, but I’m happy to make the jump at $590k.

An astounding defensive drop-off from Touk Miller:

Rnds 1-3
19 tackles attempts = 15 effective tackles

Rnds 4-5
4 tackle attempts = 0 effective tackles#SuperCoach#AFLFantasy

— Fantasy Freako (@FantasyFreako) April 16, 2022

Christian Petracca is great buying ahead of Round 6. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos

I already have Miller, which other premiums should I consider?

He wasn’t tagged by Lachie Ash and Matt de Boer but Clayton Oliver lost another $17k off his price tag and faces another big breakeven of 174 in Round 6 – so hold off until at least next week.

But Jack Steele has hit his straps, posting scores of 121, 125 and 131 in the past three rounds, and isn’t likely to get too much cheaper.

Oliver’s teammate Christian Petracca is cheaper at $575k and the Demons play Richmond, Hawthorn, St Kilda and North Melbourne in the next four.

At $576k, Swan Callum Mills also appears ripe for the picking with his 70-point score in Round 3 about to drop out of his rolling average. And his three other scores in the past month are 147, 130 and 117.

Also, my man Tom Green is still cheap and should’ve scored another 150 against the Dees, but he kicked 0.3. He had a game-high 16 contested possessions and an equal-game-high 34 disposals.

If you’re upgrading this week, I’d stick with the absolute top-liners.

We can look at the real fallen premiums once some of the other cash cows have fattened a little more.

Braydon Preuss has a breakeven of -91 in KFC SuperCoach. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Speaking of cash cows, is Braydon Preuss a must this week?

He’s close – get him in if you can.

Al Paton has looked at six ways to do just that here.

For Brodie Grundy?

No. He averaged 110 in the opening four rounds and has scored 150 or more in two of his past three games against the Bombers. He’s already lost more than $70k off his price tag, too, so the case for jumping off now isn’t overly solid.

I get the want to free up cash, but I’m not sure it is the best way.

But…

Goodbye.

Originally published as KFC SuperCoach 2022: The Phantom’s Round 6 trade advice and burning questions