To those that have done well in supercoach in the past.

[starz]

I was wondering if you started with the all the top premiums in the mids from the year before (ie. say Gaz swan and pendlebury last year) or did you start mods that you thought would break out ie( cotch and Kennedy from last year)?

[mpollock]

Good question ... my best from memory was just inside the top 1000 so there are others better qualified.

But what i did notice at the start of last season was that all the top ranked guys had 4 real premium backs ...

They all had Goddard, Shaw, Scotland and Birchall for example despite any clash with the bye rounds.  Perhaps a sign that the bye is not the be all and end all ... this would be even more true this year given the top 18 rule ...

They didn't however all have Ablett to start with but if they didn't they all locked in Swan/Pendlebury as an alternative or has 2/3 or even all 3 ...

Just my observations ...

[kilbluff1985]

finished 1,769th overall never really finished very high at all on weekly rank but i was very consistent

i actually started with 5 gun premo mids last year

GAJ, Pendles, Thommo, Murphy, Watson

i guess Watson had a breakout year a bit went well anyway

i did not have Scotland or Shaw all year i considered Scotland to old and Shaw is on my blacklist after burning me the year before when got suspended for being an idiot are these the best decisions? probably not lol

also made a fairly big mistake reasonable early on i was deciding between Suckling or Birchall, Suckling was 20k cheaper at that stage so i chose him lol what shower decision that was ::)

but i did get Boomer for 398k after round 11 then he went good so think that was my best trade along with getting Priddis cheap but so did everyone

hoped this helped a bit 

[nichsa673]

Tricky question mate,
Last year I finished 41st and I attribute that to paying attention to rookies, not which ones in particular, but where to get more or gett less. For example, this year the midfield is stacked with many options for rookies, and for that reason, even though mids do score the highest, i will have around 3-4 rookies starting in the mids. It then allows me to get more premiums in the defence and forward line, and then just focus on upgrades in the midfield.
It's tricky cause it changes every year, but hopefully that helps a bit

[starz]

Nicha I totally agree with that. It's taken a couple of years to realise but I think that is actually the key. It's hard this yet though because there are some many premium mids that I want to pick yet there are so many good rookies. I think the back rookies are actually quite good as well. The fwd rookies are where it looks to be light on. Therefore I have loaded up on the fwd line with varcoe at f5 and I think I might start three rookies in the back and 2 maybe 3 in the mids.
However do you think it would be better trying to pick say the cotchin of last year, let's just say for example shuey this year or just loading up on Swan.

And I may as well ask as well. Did you leave yourself any spare cash at the start?

[bottlemart]

I did pretty well last year, but 2011 was my best year.  Got as high as 7th overall mid season, before being overtaken late in the year to eventually finish 181 overall.

The first thing i want to say is ignore the byes.  Forget about trying to decide who is playing who, on what week and who has the bye and which player might be rested.  Its all speculation.

Just pick the best players and the best value for money players with the highest breakout potential. 

My stategy is always pretty simple.  Get the best possible team as quickly as possible.  That for me is locking in GAJ and maybe one or 2 other premiums, then i'm looking for the next breakout premiums, and best rookies.  If you get one wrong and he doesnt perform as well as you think he may have, don't trade him out.  Keep him as bench cover.  He will make a good M9 or M10, so trade the other rookies to fill the on ground spots.

I always aim to have 7 premium mids, but in this years case, it will be 9 premium mids, 8 on field with one as bench cover, and a very good rookie as M10.  as we know one premium will often be injured, or have general soreness or something.

Same goes with other lines.  as quickly as possible I want to have 7 gun forwards and backs, and 3 gun rucks.

We have 30 trades this year.  Dont be afraid to use them, but use them wisely, and don't make a trade for the sake of covering and injury or suspension for just one or 2 weeks, and before every trade, ask yourself one question.

Will this trade make my team better in the long term.  If yes, then pull the trigger. 

[ronl]

I think that's very sound advice, bottlemart, and I'll second just about everything you said, even though my best finish was in the high 900's. My most positive move last year was, as you said, to ignore the byes and simply deal with bye situations as they arose.
With the extra trades this year, it will be a bit easier to do that, as long as you don't waste trades early. EARLY trades should be tightly restricted to rookie upgrades and dealing with long-term injuries or suspensions to prems.

[SydneyRox]

Bottlemart seems to have it really well covered.

Mids rookies make more money, so getting in here will help get your team developed faster.

IMO GAJ and Swan are must haves at the start. I have wasted trades in previous years not starting with them

I would also recommend reading as much as you can. Get on the websites of all the teams. They all have stuff on them that doesnt make it to the more common websites.

[starz]

Thanks for the replies.
My mids at the moment are:
Gaz pendlebury swan cotch mundy Stevens rookie rookie

For some reason it just doesn't feel right starting all three of Swan gaz and pendles. I feel like I should go swan to shuey or someone that is going to increase. However in my mind it's pretty much a given that Swan will be top 3 mids at the end of the year but for some reason I just don't want to start him.
I'm confusing myself. Could someone please give me there thoughts.
Cheers.

[Ringo]

Thanks for the replies.
My mids at the moment are:
Gaz pendlebury swan cotch mundy Stevens rookie rookie

For some reason it just doesn't feel right starting all three of Swan gaz and pendles. I feel like I should go swan to shuey or someone that is going to increase. However in my mind it's pretty much a given that Swan will be top 3 mids at the end of the year but for some reason I just don't want to start him.
I'm confusing myself. Could someone please give me there thoughts.
Cheers.

Only issue I see is that Gazz, Pendles and Swan all share the same bye.  If it was me I would look at replacing one of Pendles or Swan with JP Kennedy or Joel Selwood but go with gut feel as it is usually correct.

[bottlemart]

Thanks ronl and Sydney Rox.

ronl, a score in the 900's is still an excellent season, when you look at about 400 000 teams.  Well done.

I'm normally in the 2000 to 3000 mark, but in 2011, I just had one of those freak seasons where everyithing went right.  All of a sudden I was in the top 50, so I kept trading in an attempt to stay up there, and when I got as high as 7, I felt the pressure.  Every team up there in front or behind is just a gun team and I recall having a couple of average weeks, and all of a sudden i felt like the front runner in the melbourne cup with everyone going past me.  Within no time I was back in the 100's, and out of the running for the big priize.

It's very tough to go for overall, so i just focus on my league, but if you are up there in the top bracket, then It's worth having a crack at the overall.

Ringo, I'm certainly not saying that you are wrong to consider the byes.  I've seen many posts where the byes are a huge consideration.  My own personal view though, and It's just my view, is to ignore them. 

The reason i say this, is that in 2011, when I saw all these posts about how to survive the byes, I just paid it no attention and picked the best team possible.

My mids from R1 was GAJ, Pendles, Swan, and I had Moloney and Cotchin who were mid priced and went up in value and performed.  Having said that, the players you have mentioned as alternatives are JPK and selwood, and both very good picks.

I'm just not someone who pays attention to the byes.  Not saying my theory is right or wrong, but just my personal view.

Cheers guys, and all good theories.  It's good to get opinions from everyone, and I'm still keen to learn from you guys aswell.   

[Ringo]

No worries bottlemart and I respect your opinion as well, With byes this year you need to ensure you have 18 players scoring across all lines if going for overall and coupled with 30 trades maybe needs a different strategy to previous years. I think scoring in the bye rounds this year will go a long way to deciding overall.

[bottlemart]

Cheers Ringo. 

Likewise, I have a lot of respect for your opinion, and you've written a lot of very good posts in the past.

What you've written here still makes very good sense.  You do make a very good point when going for overall, and that being that one bad round can be very costly.

It won't be long before my first of what will probably be many supercoach dilemma's, so I look forward to running a few decisions past you, and all of the other guys throughout the season.

Cant wait for the season to start.

[Samm79]

Hard to fault the above opinions. My two cents worth are:

- I don't think enough emphasis is placed on players who have a history of playing all games in last seasons. In my first year of SC when I had little idea and was learning fast this is one stat that I weighed relatively heavily and it was my best year finishing about 2Kth.

The rational behind this is lets say you have Joel Selwood and he averages 120 for the year, and he misses two games. You play a rookie in his place and he scores 60 each time Joel's effective average is 114.5, assuming 22 regular rounds. It would have been better for me to pick someone who averaged 5 points less than Joel who played all games, and don't forget there are worse scenarios for this equation, you could cop a donut or be forced to waste a trade if its finals time or a must win game.

- have the byes in mind but don't choose specifically for the byes. Last year I managed to rise in ranking each bye round by ensuring a relatively even spread of players across each bye round. There will be injuries and rookies to up/downgrade before the byes but if you at least have a relatively even spread at bye time you should do well. With 18 scoring players each bye round this year most should be able to field a full team each week. If you cannot field a full team for one week, you will most likely be worse off come round 14 than you were heading into the byes.

[bottlemart]

Excellent point Samm79

Durable players who can play 22 quality games a year are worth their weight in gold.