Discussion NRL SuperCoach Discussion

[Pookus McFly]

Salmon got three starts in the halves last year for scores of 36, 23, 22.

Not a world beater but worth a crack at basement price. You would want to hope he errs more to the 36 than the 22 though

 

[Herbie66]

Salmon was tipped to partner Moses in the halves all pre-season, but recently rumours say it will be Brown instead with Salmon training at centre and possibly jagging a spot there. Any or either of them would be a worthwhile cow if they make the starting 13.

Neither will score amazingly IMO, but even if they find 20-35 points they should still increase in value

I might try some of my NBA RDT tactics and try and field a very cheap starting rookie onfield so I can keep my premium bookends.

I must have last played in 2012 , looks like everyone has retired since then , struggling to recognise any more than half a dozen players at best.

Come Round 1 I may just do a auto-select team or copy your team hahaha.

I know you said you play the other format , how has your ranking been in that the last few years.

Has Sterling retired from the Eels could not find him or Eric Grothe either.

 

[Herbie66]

Salmon got three starts in the halves last year for scores of 36, 23, 22.

Not a world beater but worth a crack at basement price. You would want to hope he errs more to the 36 than the 22 though

True but my super premiums in the other positions will go gang busters.

 

[Connoisseur]

Yeah this is definitely looking better now in my opinion. Kikau and Surgess are both low floor and high ceiling players, but certainly nothing wrong with them as choices in the second row. Kikau was a rookie last year which a lot rode into genuine gun-status so I think he might be a bit of a POD this year as a lot of people like myself feel strange paying megabucks for a player we had on the cheap (we shouldn't though, Kikau is a absolute beast on the Panthers edge). Surgess could be value IF he is still playing lock. If young gun Murray takes his position and he moves out to the edge I do not think he will be worthwhile. Everyone else looks solid enough too. Nice looking team.



So to reiterate my positional writeups, my team has changed slightly overnight due to an injury to Greg Inglis, but I ensured not to change the Hookers and FRF I have already written about (besides which I am quite happy with).

Cook (Radley*)
Tolman Tevita-Pangai (R. Sutton Haas)
Arrow Matterson Murray (Stimson* Afoa* Carrigan)
Morgan (Harris-Tavita)
Widdop (Salmon)
Mitchell J.Bateman Capewell Lomax (Abbey Allen Bird)
Tedesco (Tuivasa-Sheck*)

Second Row Forwards:
So to the NRL-shy, the second row is a distinct group of forwards very different from the props in the front row, and surprisingly few players actually play both positions, even if they have dual-positions in a fantasy game. You can split the Second row into two distinct categories- the lock forward (Jersey 13) and the edge forwards (Jerseys 11 and 12). The lock forward is probably more akin to the props in the front row- usually a hulking behemoth tackling machine, and in the modern game he also needs to excel in attack as well as defense- whether he breaks tackles or has an adept offload game, or both. They will rarely play the full 80 minutes (with the exception of Jake Trbojevic and sometimes Nathan Brown, both weapons of mass destruction) but being in the middle of the park they definitely see the most action (because the play moves from side to side and always passes through the middle). The best amongst them should play for a good 60-70 minutes and play aggressively in that time. The edge forwards are a different breed again- Occasionally we will see an edge forward who looks more like a lock/front rower (TPJ, Kikau) but usually they are less bulky and more athletic since most of them are required to play for the full 80 minutes. They usually find less tackles than locks forwards but are more likely to make tacklebreaks and score tries since they frequently come up against the smaller outside backs of opposition teams (though this is not a hard and fast rule). A good point to note is that if you have chosen an edge rower as your gun and he is not getting 80 minutes, he is useless to your fantasy team, they really need the full 80 in this position, only a lock can get his work-rate up enough to score well in ~60 minutes when it comes to second rowers.

I have a predilection for the bankable tackle points of lock forwards rather than the more volatile attacking stats of edge forwards, but this year I might be breaking that trend by picking a few who play out wider. Jai Arrow was a rock in the 13 jersey for the Titans for the first half of last season and he looked like he was going to be the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to fantasy, making huge amounts of tackles and also beaking tackles for fun. He played so well he was brought into the QLD origin team, but came back a little underdone and injured, his fantasy scores falling off a cliff. As expensive as he is, he might actually be at a discount because of his poor backhalf of the season. I am hoping with an off season to recover he returns to that original form, but with a couple of new recruits to the forward pack at the Titans this year, this pick is not without its risk. Ryan Matterson was another rookie-turned-gun last year, a right edge forward who went looking for work (he made 65 tackles in one game!) and also finds his way to the tryline now and then. He suffered some serious concussion symptoms and sat 8 games or so out, but just wasn't quite the same player when he returned (but I suspect he was being managed quite carefully). He has now changed clubs and rumour says he might even play as their lock this year, which should be good for a tacklebot like him, as long as he really is over his health problems. He could be a good selection even if he plays on an edge, but definitely not as much of a lock in my team as Jai Arrow or Cam Murray. Speaking of Cam Murray, he is fantasy gold- tackles anything with a pulse, breaks tackles and has a good offload game to boot. The only thing that stopped him from being a gun last year was that he played mostly from the bench (the 7 or 8 times he started and found 50+ minutes he made gun-like scores). Angus Crichton has left the bunnies this year and Murray will either play on his vacant right edge, or (preferably for Fantasy purposes) oust Sam Burgess from the lock position, moving him to the right instead. Either way I think this kid will be in my (and everyones) team. Stimson and Afoa are in similar positions, in that they are both bench players who have shown promise in the past who *might* be looking at starting positions. Stimson is probably the better prospect of those two (ie. more likely to start) and tipped to sew up an edge spot for the Storm, he will be in a lot of teams. Afoa plays agressive football and has fantastic hair for someone who runs hard- truly a glorious sight. He is something of a POD for me at the moment, but if he finds a starting position people will jump on. If either of these guys are still playing from the bench, avoid them in your teams. Carrigan is a nobody, he probably wont even make the Broncos team in round 1, but is a placeholder while I figure things out, like with any forward position (HK, FRF,2RF) basement priced cash cows are virtually non existent.

Alternative guns: Trbojevic, Taumalolo Crichton, Papilii, Brown, Kikau, Gallen
Value buys: Matt Gillet, Victor Radley, Kurt Capewell, Kelepi Tanginoa

Thankyou for the feedback.

Is there a site where minutes played and scores from last season can be found.

 

[Melmo]

Thankyou for the feedback.

Is there a site where minutes played and scores from last season can be found.

https://www.nrlsupercoachstats.com/2018minutes.php

these guys provide a supercoach stat website so have a look around. Found them to be very helpful last season.

 

[Pookus McFly]

I might try some of my NBA RDT tactics and try and field a very cheap starting rookie onfield so I can keep my premium bookends.

I must have last played in 2012 , looks like everyone has retired since then , struggling to recognise any more than half a dozen players at best.

Come Round 1 I may just do a auto-select team or copy your team hahaha.

I know you said you play the other format , how has your ranking been in that the last few years.

Has Sterling retired from the Eels could not find him or Eric Grothe either.

Haha now THAT is oldschool. Possibly so oldschool it's oldskool.

Nothing wrong with a cow in the 17. I am seriously considering running Harris-Tavita as my starting half in NRLF, though probably less risky there because he will get points for kick metres. Most people play cows in the CWB and FLB positions because anybody can jag a sneaky try and have a huge score for the round. I will field Lomax if he gets the centre gig.

Last season was my first in Supercoach, I was actually doing okay and ranked 900 with 5 rounds to go (not that 900 would be a rank to brag about) but ran out of trades and finished 2 or 3k. Running out of trades is instant death in this game. I didn't care about the poor ranking because I was in no leagues and really just duplicating the same team and trades as my hours of research in NRL Fantasy in an experiment to see how it would do in the cross platform. I will probably invest some time in both games as their own entities this year. I usually do alright in NRLF (though embarrassingly finished outside the top 1000 for the first time last season ), though in no way am i any kind of guru- I only finished 33rd in my best season. But I am confident my skills (/ well informed luck) should cross over into SuperCoach if I am willing to put some time into it

tl;dr- feel free to ignore my big long ranting posts, this will pretty much be my first proper rookie year in SC too!

 

[Pookus McFly]

https://www.nrlsupercoachstats.com/2018minutes.php

these guys provide a supercoach stat website so have a look around. Found them to be very helpful last season.

Another really helpful site is the fan-made www.nrlfantasy.com.au
It is technically for NRLF rather than NRLSC, but it is really easy to use and can find individual players minutes, tackles, tacklebreaks, everything. And those kinds of stats are irrelevant to whatever fantasy platform you are playing.
The important columns here are the "bread and butter" points of tackles (TCK) and metres gained (MG), as well as the extra attacking stats of tacklebreaks (TB) and offloads (OF); but still keep an eye on the negatives such as missed tackles (MT) and errors (ER) because some forwards just shoot out like cannonballs to put pressure on other teams attack, and there is no point picking a player who makes 30 tackles but misses 6 every week. My example would be to look up Keegan Hipgrave for the Titans- now there is a BAD player for fantasy.

 

[Connoisseur]

https://www.nrlsupercoachstats.com/2018minutes.php

these guys provide a supercoach stat website so have a look around. Found them to be very helpful last season.

Another really helpful site is the fan-made www.nrlfantasy.com.au
It is actually for NRLF rather than NRLSC, but it is really easy to use and can find individual players minutes, tackles, tacklebreaks, everything. And those kinds of stats are irrelevant to whatever fantasy platform you are playing

Thanks. Great that PPM, points from each game and seasonal averages are covered. Had a quick browse through a couple of teams/players and stats and now really enticed by J Arrow due to his superb PPM and potential minutes improvement.

Also thoughts on S Lane. Averaged 54 from 54 minutes with a 67.7 avg from 10 matches when he played more than 60 minutes and an average of 31 when he played less than 35 minutes. With the move from Manly to the Eels is this beneficial for him regarding minutes and is he a good alternative to S Burgess.

 

[Melmo]

Thanks. Great that PPM, points from each game and seasonal averages are covered. Had a quick browse through a couple of teams/players and stats and now really enticed by J Arrow due to his superb PPM and potential minutes improvement.

Also thoughts on S Lane. Averaged 54 from 54 minutes with a 67.7 avg from 10 matches when he played more than 60 minutes and an average of 31 when he played less than 35 minutes. With the move from Manly to the Eels is this beneficial for him regarding minutes and is he a good alternative to S Burgess.

He is one that I will be keeping an eye on for sure, I would say if he gets more minutes he would outscore Burgess. I was also reading somewhere that having Bennett as the new Bunnies coach that may hurt Burgess because he likes to share the work with the forwards a lot more which is probably good coaching but not as good for us fantasy players.

 

[Young gun]

Okay, so here is my team I just whipped up to give you an example of what I think a good team looks like. I will no doubt change this a thousand ties before kickoff. There are plenty of ways to structure your team, this is just one example. I have gone lighter on the front row forwards than I could have (the reason why is my completely unfounded theory that the big props take a few games to get proper match fitness), and bulked my 2RF out more. I could have easily gone lighter in the second row and stacked my front row with Fifita and Taupau types. A lot of coaches like to go light on forwards entirely and stack the backs with guns (which isn't a bad theory because the backs seems to have far higher ceilings in supercoach and the game tends to balance toward them more IMO). On the other side of that, a rookie basement price CTW or FLB is far more capable of jagging a decent score with a try than a rookie FRF/2RF who is probably only on the park for 10-15 minutes of tackling. Anyhow, here is my quick knock up:

Cook (Radley*)
Tolman Tevita-Pangai (R. Sutton Haas)
Arrow Matterson Murray (Stimson* Afoa* Carrigan)
Morgan (Harris-Tavita)
Widdop (Salmon)
Inglis J.Bateman Capewell Lomax (Abbey Allen Garrick)
Tedesco (Tuivasa-Sheck*)

I will now give you an example of my thinking and why I have picked this team. I give a few alternative to other decent shouts, the ones I really like for this season I put in bold. I could talk about this **** all day, so feel free to ask me why I liked any particular player.

Hookers:
Mainly with hookers you want someone who plays for 80 minutes rather than choosing one who gets subbed for 20 minutes during the game. Usually they are just scoring off bulk tackles so they need as many minutes as possible to do so. I have gone with Cook, who was head and shoulders above every player in the NRL in terms of fantasy last year Because he gets the usual meat and potatoes of tackles as well as a barrage of tacklebreaks and linebreaks, the extra attacking stats making him the most expensive player in the game for a reason. You want someone like him as your captain. Unlike NRL fantasy, in Supercoach players do not get points for kick metres, so Cameron Smith is not quite as much a god, but still a great option. I have gone with Radley in reserves (who isn't even a hooker at all!) and would probably play him in my 17, but this is contingent on him starting in the 13 jersey (lock forward) this year, which I think he will. He will get plenty of negative stats, but the main reason is that I have a man-crush on him and sometimes you gotta pick a player thats exciting to ride! He might not be a gun (though still possible with enough minutes), but I think he will increase in value at very least.

Alternative guns: Hodgson, McInnes, McCullough, Friend, Korosau (if no Fainu on Manlys bench);
Cash cows/middies who could increase in value: slim pickings!: Mahoney if he gets the Eels gig; Wayde Egan if selected over Katoa at Panthers; Kurt Mann if selected over Levi at the Knights; Josh Reynolds if he plays 5/8th at Tigers? Ehhh, I selected Radley because he's much cheaper than running two guns, but I would consider running double guns here if I didn't pick him

Front Row Forwards:
Props are arguably the most minute-dependent players on the field, but because they take up the bulk of the tackling and hitup workload so very few of them play huge minutes (60+). The premium players in this category just swat players away like flies and rack up the tacklebreak points. I swear I once saw Fifita eat a grown ass man on the football field, just gobbled him up mid-hit up!). I have selected two cheaper options who have had changing conditions in their teams, but nothing wrong with splashing cash here. Tolman is a workhorse who will do very little but make tackles, but the Bulldogs have lost their best prop Klemmer to the Knights, and their replacement Napa has not got a big motor (if he plays at all with his big papi sex scandal), he could be decent purely because he should see a lot of minutes in a Doggies pack bereft of other options. My other FRF at the moment if TPJ, who is a tacklebreak machine and will probably bust over for a few tries by trampling over lazy defenders from one metre out. He was playing 80 minutes on the edge for a lot of last year (though a couple injury affected games did keep his score down a little), so he will probably see less minutes playing in the middle of the park, but see more action there. He goes looking for tackles so this role could suit him, but I could see an argument for his fantasy scores either dropping or increasing in this new role. I still havnt decided if I will take the gamble, but there is nothing wrong with playing it safe by leaving him out because we will probably know in the first round or two and he shouldn't rise too much in price for a trade in. I have Sutton on the bench because I suspect he will have a big role for the Raiders (he will be a huge lock for my team if he is a starting prop in round 1), he is coming from England so yet to play NRL but his price is only low because he is an unknown, in NRLF he is actually much more expensive so worth the risk IMO; Haas is more of a placeholder for me at the moment, he has huge wraps on him but I still think he will be a victim of poor minutes and his SC scores will suffer. I would play neither of those two in my 17 to start with.

Alternative guns: Fifita, Taupau, Papalii, James, Alvaro, Vaughan
Cash cows/middies who could increase in value: Once again, few and far in between because unlike outside backs and halves, it is very rare for a young forward to start getting big minutes. They are eased in off the bench and there is a true pecking order to the big boppers.
Christian Welch; Ryan Sutton; Kelepi Tanginoa, Dylan Napa (if he plays), Jack Hetherington




Wow, this is actually taking longer than I thought. I waffle on far too much.
I am going to take a break from here, and maybe post another couple positions later tonight or tomorrow.
Feel free to ask any questions.

For those that didn't figure it out, Verbal is also a bit of an NRL Fantasy Sports gun and he can probably sort out any queries you have also

Lovely work Pookus. Great analysis and beautiful advice to fellow supercoaches. I like your team too except for your 2 Warriors selections for different reasons. I don't know the exact stats but whenever RTS and SJ played together RTS would continually go massive with their great combination. However, when SJ missed games early in the season with an ankle injury RTS scored 34, 44, 59, 37 and 38. Therefore I think he's a trap. Also, with Afoa I think he's a gun hole runner but I think Ipap will slot into Mannerings vacant position and Afoa will stay on the bench.

 

[Pookus McFly]

Lovely work Pookus. Great analysis and beautiful advice to fellow supercoaches. I like your team too except for your 2 Warriors selections for different reasons. I don't know the exact stats but whenever RTS and SJ played together RTS would continually go massive with their great combination. However, when SJ missed games early in the season with an ankle injury RTS scored 34, 44, 59, 37 and 38. Therefore I think he's a trap. Also, with Afoa I think he's a gun hole runner but I think Ipap will slot into Mannerings vacant position and Afoa will stay on the bench.

yeah I agree that Papalii will take the edge, He actually held that position last year even with Mannering available, who came off the bench for most of the season. I am banking on Afoa finding a starting spot in the front row. I think Ah Mau will take one position (and I will strongly consider him if he does) and Afoa will be fighting it out with Ignatious Paasi for the other spot. If Afoa gets the gig he will be gold, always goes above 1PPM but if he plays from the bench he definitely won't be in my team.

RTS is probably more contentious, and may well be a trap. I guess I am banking on him taking more of the responsibility as Captain with no Johnson and a rookie halfback (and Green is rarely the man to pull the strings). Nothing in my team is set in stone though, he could easily become Edwards or Watson before kickoff.

Thanks. Great that PPM, points from each game and seasonal averages are covered. Had a quick browse through a couple of teams/players and stats and now really enticed by J Arrow due to his superb PPM and potential minutes improvement.

Also thoughts on S Lane. Averaged 54 from 54 minutes with a 67.7 avg from 10 matches when he played more than 60 minutes and an average of 31 when he played less than 35 minutes. With the move from Manly to the Eels is this beneficial for him regarding minutes and is he a good alternative to S Burgess.

Lane had a knack for scoring tries, which would have padded his average out a lot. That said, if he finds 80 minutes on the edge for the Eels then he will be a serious contender for a spot as this will be a big bump in minutes (and no reason to think he won't keep finding his way over the line, really)

 

[Diabolical]

I am almost there with a first draft team - thanks to @Pookus McFly and others sharing on here, a bit of internet searching tonight and my own unsubstantiated strategic thoughts! I am probably still heading west when I should be heading east though!

Just wondering if a deliberate donut is a way to go in this? Are we able to loop C & VC and use the bench scores from early games in the round to our advantage?

P.S. I like the Reserve feature. I think I would like it if AFL SC let us set an 18 by position plus 4 bench players from any position ... but maybe I don’t fully understand that yet and need to see it in action!

 

[Herbie66]

Haha now THAT is oldschool. Possibly so oldschool it's oldskool.

Nothing wrong with a cow in the 17. I am seriously considering running Harris-Tavita as my starting half in NRLF, though probably less risky there because he will get points for kick metres. Most people play cows in the CWB and FLB positions because anybody can jag a sneaky try and have a huge score for the round. I will field Lomax if he gets the centre gig.

Last season was my first in Supercoach, I was actually doing okay and ranked 900 with 5 rounds to go (not that 900 would be a rank to brag about) but ran out of trades and finished 2 or 3k. Running out of trades is instant death in this game. I didn't care about the poor ranking because I was in no leagues and really just duplicating the same team and trades as my hours of research in NRL Fantasy in an experiment to see how it would do in the cross platform. I will probably invest some time in both games as their own entities this year. I usually do alright in NRLF (though embarrassingly finished outside the top 1000 for the first time last season ), though in no way am i any kind of guru- I only finished 33rd in my best season. But I am confident my skills (/ well informed luck) should cross over into SuperCoach if I am willing to put some time into it

tl;dr- feel free to ignore my big long ranting posts, this will pretty much be my first proper rookie year in SC too!

way to scientific and advanced for my shrinking brain ? but fantastic insight.

I might just wing my way through it and just try to have the majority of my bench playing Round 1 and hope they score enough points to make some $$$.

Given the cash prizes on offer people like yourself with understanding and nous should be doing everything you can to rank as high as you can.

Cheers

 

[Diabolical]

First ever team draft completed! and open for feedback. (Definitely needed)

It sounds like taking more risk by spending less in CTW could be a way to go, but I may have taken this too far?!

Hodgson (Radley*)
A Fifita, Taupau (Paseka, Haas)
A Crichton, Arrow, Pangai (Stimson*, Afoa*, Nikora)
Cleary (Harris-Tavita)
Moylan (D Brown)
Capewell, Mann, Abbey, Lomax (A Hopoate, Xerri, C Allan)
Trbojevic (Tedesco*)

 

[Herbie66]

First ever team draft completed! and open for feedback. (Definitely needed)

It sounds like taking more risk by spending less in CTW could be a way to go, but I may have taken this too far?!

Hodgson (Radley*)
A Fifita, Taupau (Paseka, Haas)
A Crichton, Arrow, Pangai (Stimson*, Afoa*, Nikora)
Cleary (Harris-Tavita)
Moylan (D Brown)
Capewell, Mann, Abbey, Lomax (A Hopoate, Xerri, C Allan)
Trbojevic (Tedesco*)

Good to see you playing , I have no idea about your team except we have 16 players the same ?

 

[Diabolical]

Good to see you playing , I have no idea about your team except we have 16 players the same ?

Definitely flying blind here. I wonder if those 16 are the ones everyone has or if we may be unknowingly onto something?

 

[Herbie66]

Definitely flying blind here. I wonder if those 16 are the ones everyone has or if we may be unknowingly onto something?

I think all the great coaches like us (hahaha) will start Trobjebic & Tredesco.

Fifita & Taupa seem logical as well.

As for the rest I have NFI ?

Afoa , Mann , Moylan , Radley & Stimson all sound positive.

And the other 7 are the best rookies who will score points and make lots of $$$ and then the real fun begins.

 

[Connoisseur]

First ever team draft completed! and open for feedback. (Definitely needed)

It sounds like taking more risk by spending less in CTW could be a way to go, but I may have taken this too far?!

Hodgson (Radley*)
A Fifita, Taupau (Paseka, Haas)
A Crichton, Arrow, Pangai (Stimson*, Afoa*, Nikora)
Cleary (Harris-Tavita)
Moylan (D Brown)
Capewell, Mann, Abbey, Lomax (A Hopoate, Xerri, C Allan)
Trbojevic (Tedesco*)

Take my feedback with a grain of salt as I wouldn't have a clue as I'm just basing my selections off ownership percentages, what Pookus said and the stats found from NRL Supercoach Stats website mentioned in an earlier post.

An option could be Crichton to C Murray freeing up approximately 200,000 allowing K Mann to be traded to J Bateman/C Gutherson thus strengthening your CTW. Apart from that I like most of your selections.

 

[Herbie66]

This is my last side (did some research today)

Smith (Mann)

Fifita , Taupau (Sutton , Haas)

Murray , Radley , Bateman (Stimson , Afoa , Carrigan)

Morgan (Harris-Tawita)

Moylen (Brown)

Mitchell , Ma'u , Salmon , Abbey (Lomax , Allan , Hopoate)

Trobjebic (Tredesco)

EDIT

$ 137,700.00 in the Bank.

 

[Diabolical]

Take my feedback with a grain of salt as I wouldn't have a clue as I'm just basing my selections off ownership percentages, what Pookus said and the stats found from NRL Supercoach Stats website mentioned in an earlier post.

An option could be Crichton to C Murray freeing up approximately 200,000 allowing K Mann to be traded to J Bateman/C Gutherson thus strengthening your CTW. Apart from that I like most of your selections.

Thanks Connoisseur, I’ll have a look at your suggestions. (My lack of NRL instinct means going away and researching those players!) I have $97k in the bank so strengthening CTW should be very doable.