Build around Rookies Strategy

Locinator · December 21, 2014, 09:47:06 PM

Alright, this may seem like a weird strategy but hear me out. Apologies if this is something I am just slow to catching on and this is already a viable strategy but this came across my mind today.

The central goal of supercoach is to accumulate the most points for your team on a week to week scale. To do so we all know that premiums is the way to go. To get our hands on more premiums throughout the season we have to have cash cows either in the form of rookies or mid pricers to gain value before trading down to a cheaper player to have money in our salary caps.

In the intial stages of planning, we are often focused on locking down the most reliable premiums before we lock down the cash cows with the most potential. In doing so we are building our team around the premiums we see as the most reliable players and rookies based on position rather than potential

What this strategy's purpose is about locking down rookies BEFORE premiums and mid pricers. Now again this may seem strange but think about it.

As established above, cash generation is key to league or overall rank success. Having a one more premium quicker due to quick cash generating team could create a 30-50 point difference to a slower cash generating team. This could be the edge between that vital league win or moving up those few ranks overall.

This is why my team this year will be built on the back of the highest potential cash generators rather than the most reliable premiums and here is how I am going to do it.

Before I play around with my team after the NAB cup, I will list the 20 best potential cash cows this year based on scoring capability, job security, availability at round 1 and notable factors that could influence scoring and generation capacity. After I establish and rank the 20 best I will put them all in my team. After doing so, I will insert my premiums and any notable mid pricers around the rookies. If I still have cap leftover doing so (which I predict I will with only 10 premiums), I will take out the lowest ranked rookie and replace him with a premium. This process will continue until I run out of salary. This means if 10 of the 20 best are midfielders, I will start with an all rookie midfield. This applies for all positions.

Alright so that is the theory. More than anything I would appreciate comments with support, critsism or tell me that I am totally mad.

Money Shot · December 21, 2014, 10:44:10 PM

I like this in theory and I did this last year but then again there is always a few great basement priced picks and you can never really tell who is going to do better than others when it comes to a lot of rookies.
Although I do see where you are coming from I think you need at least 3 premium midfielders just to get those points early on as midfielders average that extra 10-20 pg which you can't afford to miss out on.
I don't mind the strategy just think it needs some improvement to make it more practical.

GoLions · December 21, 2014, 11:13:56 PM

Yeah I think the main idea behind your strategy is fairly popular, as in most coaches will have their on-field rookies being the best available, then maybe the first bench option being a decent rookie and the 2nd bench option being whoever is playing really. Usually I just try to find as many rookies as I can that actually are going to get games in the first few rounds, and then adjust my speculative premium (or mid-priced) picks accordingly. Some premiums though you have to lock in before rookies though (this year probably Gaz, Hibberd, Lids, Swan).

Great post though :)

Grazz · December 22, 2014, 12:13:02 AM

Guns and Rookies sounds like and many go this way and it can work i also have done it but there needs a balance otherwise with to many rookies at the start you are only in with a shot at winning your league as your rank will suffer. 20 decent rookies can be hard to find some years that start round 1 and have good to fair JS. 20 rookies is 12 on the ground minimum thats a lot. A bit smaller number is more manageable like 15-17, i pick that number because i like only needing 9-10 trades to be full . Its your cake and eat it to approach in that if you get it right you can rank ok and get wins under your belt in the leagues. Any approach can work if it's the right year to do it. A lot of coaches will let the circumstances of the coming season dictate how they will go about it ie rookies available rnd 1 and JS, value picks/risk reward, ruck strategy etc then decide what approach to take that fits their objective for rank league or both.

kilbluff1985 · December 22, 2014, 12:15:45 AM

the way i do it is

first i select the must have rookies or the ones i really like then build around that like if there a 6 midfield rookies i really want i get them wall then stack a line that lacks good rookies

shaker · December 22, 2014, 11:20:07 AM

It all sounds good but don't think there will be that many rookies that get in and stay in teams , the backline and rucks are looking thin as for an all rookie midfield don't think that you would go with that even if it was possible it would be SC suicide you would be that far behind in a short time that you may as well throw in the towel .

Holz · December 22, 2014, 11:27:27 AM

most people I would say work the other way picking the expensive players they must have than fill in the rookies around them. that's why when all these midfielders started getting forward status I wasn't too excited. I like the cheap forward options this year and wont be loading up on premo forwards just because there are plenty of options.

the premo forwards are great no doubt but im seeing a big lack in back rookies and quite a few good cheap forwards. So I might be loading up on back premos even though they are pretty average.

you need a combination of picking the must have rookies and premos. So the way I go about it is what rookies cant I live without usually max 1-3 per line than what premos cant I live without usually 1-3 per line than fill in the rest looking at rookies first.

so for example in the forward line

Buddy Goddard must have. Hogan, Clark must have

than Martin Gray Lids premos I want
Bellchambers Petrecca Rookie Rookie etc..

look at the cheapies I want first than go from there than fill out the martin gray lids as they fit.

Money Shot · December 22, 2014, 11:47:41 AM

Quote from: Holz on December 22, 2014, 11:27:27 AM
most people I would say work the other way picking the expensive players they must have than fill in the rookies around them. that's why when all these midfielders started getting forward status I wasn't too excited. I like the cheap forward options this year and wont be loading up on premo forwards just because there are plenty of options.

the premo forwards are great no doubt but im seeing a big lack in back rookies and quite a few good cheap forwards. So I might be loading up on back premos even though they are pretty average.

you need a combination of picking the must have rookies and premos. So the way I go about it is what rookies cant I live without usually max 1-3 per line than what premos cant I live without usually 1-3 per line than fill in the rest looking at rookies first.

so for example in the forward line

Buddy Goddard must have. Hogan, Clark must have

than Martin Gray Lids premos I want
Bellchambers Petrecca Rookie Rookie etc..

look at the cheapies I want first than go from there than fill out the martin gray lids as they fit.

This.

Capper · December 22, 2014, 12:14:09 PM

Its a great idea but i got spooked this year when Hanley went down with lower back and hammy problems. 2 weeks later he was back and firing and i got him back in. Waste of trades.

You either have to bite the bullet when prems go down and hope they come back or trade them out and hope you dont need to trade them back in

New Skinn · February 24, 2015, 12:28:57 AM

I basically do this every year. With the exception of I fill my team up with the best cash cows, and I work out how many premiums I have per line by the number of spots left. But I stay away from mid pricers apart from maybe 1. That way, you get the best of both world's with the best prems and the best rookies, and you eliminate risk with getting hardly any mid pricers.
For eg. my D5 this year is Newnes, My F4 is Salem. If I work out that there is going to be another good rookie option down back that I think is better than my rookie in my forward line, I basically swap Newnes with new rookie, and Salem to Tom Mitchell. As I don't see much difference from Newnes and Mitchell, the better rookie could earn you abit more cash. So yeh, I think your strategy works.

DPC · February 24, 2015, 12:47:16 PM

My way is to pick my C/VC (+ one super prem mid back up), decide on my RUC strategy (set & forget or whatever) and then the best rookies no matter what the line.

I don't quite get the need to have a certain number of mid premiums (more than 3) as, if you are looking to maximise value with your premiums, it shouldn't matter what line they're on - no criticism intended of those that do but I've never fully understood it :-[

New Skinn · February 24, 2015, 01:10:41 PM

Agreed mate. A lot of people say, that's where most your points get won, but your paying for those points, and in the meantime, losing points in your other lines because your paying for lesser players. Others say, its harder to get a 600k player in. I say not really. The best rookies go around the 350k mark. Times that by 2, and you have 700k to upgrade. But in saying that, you do need a balance of everything. One year I went full on and went 2 prems/6 rookies. Still finished in top 1000. Those days are gone though, as I did it when Gold Coast came in the league.