Ultimate SuperCoach AFL 2024 bye trade planner
Adding stars to your team is fun, but deciding which rookies to cash in and when is crucial to SuperCoach fortunes over the byes. See full expert ratings on who to sell, and who to hold.
SuperCoach
Don't miss out on the headlines from SuperCoach. Followed categories will be added to My News.
During the byes, timing is everything in SuperCoach.
One week into the mid-season bye period is our first chance to snap up stars fresh off their bye and ready to pump out big scores for our teams for the last 12 rounds.
Funding those moves means finding rookies to buy – and cash cows to sell.
The theory is simple – trade out rookies as they hit their bye and replace them with big guns who have just had a week off.
In practice it’s a little more complicated.
Scroll down to see who to trade in and out each bye week
In round 13 only Port Adelaide and Fremantle are on the bye, and there aren’t many cash cows to bail on from those teams, unless you still have Power ruckman Jordon Sweet or Dockers wingman Jeremy Sharp.
It’s a different story for teams on the bye in rounds 14 and 15.
That means keeping some as bench back-up for the run home, or pulling the pin early and trading this week.
See our expert verdict on the most popular cheapies below, plus the complete and updated bye trade planner.
THIS WEEK
WHO TO TRADE OUT
Sweet and Sharp are both ripe for trading.
Jordon Sweet has lost his spot in Port Adelaide’s best 23 to Ivan Soldo and has the bye this week regardless. A $150k profit is less than we hoped for, but still enough to bring in a premo when paired with someone like Jeremy Sharp, who has added $280k to his starting price and has a Break Even of 79 (three above his season average) when he next plays.
That about exhausts the cash cows who have a bye this week.
The next candidates are Harley Reid and Sam Darcy, who are both – at time of writing – suspended for the next two matches. Two very successful rookies won’t be available for three matches each if you include their byes (round 14 for Reid and round 15 for Darcy), so better to get in a player who can add points to your weekly tallies.
There is a case for holding one or both of them, however.
You are unlikely to need them, or the rookie you replace them with, in your best 18 score for round 13. And they aren’t losing any money if they aren’t playing. So it could make sense to cut ties with another round 14 or 15 cash cow before their price dives – then trade Reid or Darcy next week.
Two popular cash cows fit this description. Sam Clohesy has a Break Even of 70 this week after managing 48 points last round and losing $12.9k in value. SuperCoach Plus projects a score of 63 against St Kilda and a small price drop of around $4000, so he’s not make or break – but that $325k could open up some big trade moves.
You could do even more with Darcy Wilson’s $404,000, but he’s a trickier proposition. The Saints young gun had a tough day out west, scoring just 54 points, and his Break Even this week is 98.
He is projected to lose more money on top of his $14k drop this week, but the price change could be minimal – he has scored 80 or more points in four of his past six games. And he’s back at Marvel Stadium, where his past two scores are 75 and 126. And, unlike Clohesy, who will be missing in round 14, Wilson can play in that tricky bye round before the Saints have a week off in round 15.
Map out your plans for the next three rounds and see what your numbers look like in those last two bye rounds. Many coaches will be scrambling to get 18 on field in round 14, which makes holding Wilson for two more weeks a lot more viable, even if you have to cop a small price drop in the process.
Other round 14 rookies you could consider chopping a week early include Jhye Clark, Jake Rogers, Caleb Windsor and Blake Howes.
Will Graham returned to the Suns line-up last round and attended a promising 60 per cent of centre bounces, but he is no guarantee to hit his 64 Break Even if he’s selected again.
Hold Cat Ollie Dempsey for at least one more week. After a career-high 122 points against Richmond his Break Even has dropped to 41 and he’s projected to make another $13k before you can sell him at his bye for a profit of close to $200k.
That’s good trading.
WHO TO TRADE IN
A rookie – Kangaroo Wil Dawson ($117,300 DEF/FWD) will be on the bubble if he’s named and Giant Toby McMullin ($123,900 FWD) should get a third game after a promising performance in round 11. GWS defender Leek Aleer ($190,500 DEF) and Bulldogs mature-ager Lachie McNeil ($159,100 FWD) are other slightly more expensive cheapies you could consider. And we could get lucky with a $102k debutant fresh from the mid-season draft.
Now for the fun part. Trading Sweet or Clohesy to Dawson would free up over $200,000, which you can use to turn another rookie (or two) into premiums fresh off the round 12 bye.
Non Tom Green owners, this is your time. His price has dropped to $490,000, cheap enough to dispel any concerns about his recent form. Hopefully he’s fresh and firing after a week off.
However, if you have made it this far without Isaac Heeney, there’s no need to jump on now. His five-round average of 112 isn’t as team-destroying as his early-season form, and there are plenty of other great options who offer better bang for your buck – and can give your team a big point of difference.
Lachie Neale ($614k) and Josh Dunkley ($601k) have five-round averages of 118 and 117 respectively, and criminally low ownership of 5 per cent each.
Luke Davies-Uniacke ($576k) has hit form after a slow start to the year. He has a three-round average of 126 and is ready to fly home like he did last year, when he reeled off these scores after his bye: 134, 129, 133, 127, 106, 125.
Errol Gulden could be even better value at $535,100, almost $90k below his round 1 price. Gulden’s talent is undoubted and he sent a reminder of how that can translate to SuperCoach with a 131-point game against the Bulldogs last weekend.
If you need a defender Nick Blakey ($513k) is averaging 101 this season, while Zac Fisher ($493k) can be used in defence or the forward line.
ROUND 14
TRADE OUT
Any cash cows with a bye in round 14 that you didn’t go early on last week – plus Reid and Darcy if they are still around.
Gold Coast’s Sam Clohesy, Jake Rogers, Tom Berry and WillGraham can all go, but Alex Sexton is a tougher call if he’s still part of Damien Hardwick’s best 22 – he could be great bench cover for the rest of the year with DEF/FWD DPP.
Cats Jhye Clark and Ollie Dempsey, Demons Blake Howes and Caleb Windsor, and Carlton’s Jack Carroll won’t help us this round and are all ripe for trading.
TRADE IN
Any new rookies that have arrived on the scene plus the Port Adelaide and Fremantle guns mentioned above – Luke Ryan, Zak Butters and Co – and any of the round 12 bye premos you didn’t grab last week.
ROUND 15
TRADE OUT
Line up the Bulldogs and Collingwood cheapies and show them the door. Lachie Sullivan should be $300k by this point and Joel Freijah around $250k. Unfortunately, Joe Richards won’t make any more money by this point but Darcy Wilson can add a pile of cash to the trade pool (about $440k), while Tiger Kane McAuliffe (projected price $250k) is also about to have a bye.
Massimo D’Ambrosio has done his job despite a recent form revival, and unless Jack Macrae stages a remarkable turnaround, try to turn him into a real premo this round.
TRADE IN
Any rookies we can find (some coaches will even trade in a bottom-priced player who isn’t playing at this point) to access the long list of guns coming off the round 14 bye.
If for some reason Max Gawn isn’t in your team, find the cash to fix that error.
Sam Flanders is a lock for a top-three forward, and there is an array of possibilities to finish your midfield, from Zach Merrett to discounted guns Matt Rowell, Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver.
Many coaches will finally have to commit to a premium forward at this point. Charlie Curnow could be a smart pick-up before a tantalising fixture run – he plays Richmond in round 16 and finishes the season against Hawthorn, West Coast and St Kilda.
Jordan Ridley could be a great option down back if he maintains the form he showed against Richmond in his return from a 10-week layoff, while Jeremy McGovern is in just 6 per cent of teams despite averaging 108.5 for the season.
We’ll get a better picture of the best options as the byes unfold and prices firm – stay tuned as this guide is updated across the next four weeks.
ROUND 16
A final note. Most coaches will aim to complete their teams before this point, but aims and reality don’t always align.
If you still have an upgrade or two to go at this point that’s OK, you can pick off a star with a round 15 bye like Izak Rankine or mid-season revelation Ed Richards.
If you’re absolutely flying you could look to add a player like that this round to finish the year with 23 or even 24 premiums – than hang on with limited trades to the finish line.
More Coverage
Originally published as Ultimate SuperCoach AFL 2024 bye trade planner
Join the conversation
The AFL trades set to deliver big SuperCoach bargains
Bailey Smith and Clayton Oliver could be huge SuperCoach steals at a new club in 2025. Which other names should be on the watch list? Here are the moves to watch.
Read more
AFL obsession to NBL addiction: How SuperCoach hooked me on hoops
I hadn’t watch the NBL since the Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal days. Now I’m taking my son to United games and watching Phoenix on Kayo because of one reason.
Read more