Champion’s advice: How to select your PODs

• GOAL-KICKING ANALYSIS: Who takes the tee at every club?
• SYDNEY ROOSTERS: Squad analysis + starting 17

Before naming a few of my POD choices for the upcoming season I thought it would be best to take a look back at which PODs I decided to start with last year and reflect on why they were so successful.

The aim is to provide some insights and methodology to follow when choosing your own PODs for the season ahead.

In the next article I’ll be taking the methodology a step further and putting it into practice to see which players fit the criteria to begin 2020.

The three main POD players I started with last season were Mitchell Moses, Clint Gutherson and Daly Cherry-Evans.

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A Mitchell Moses piece of magic earns the @TheParraEels star our SuperCoach Play of the Week for Round 12 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Lkfs58olQK

— SuperCoach NRL (@SuperCoachNRL) June 4, 2019

It’s no secret the eels had hit rock bottom in 2018, so there was only one direction I could see them going in 2019.

Moses and Gutherson were both dual position players with glimpses of SuperCoach calibre throughout their careers (i.e. SuperCoach scores of 100+).

Any player with a ceiling over 100 should be in contention for POD status, anything under 100 I would recommend steering clear.

The departure of Corey Norman was enormous for Moses who was able to take the reins and guide his pack around the park.

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Cherry-Evans was in my team for no other reason than the fact that I didn’t want the highly owned Nathan Cleary, hence it was somewhat of an AntiPOD manoeuvre – a term I’ll talk about at some length throughout the year.

In 2020 you’ll find yourself looking for these sort of under-owned gems before the season starts.

Though beware, positional changes, new signings, new coaches and perhaps even whether they play the first bye round should all be taken into account before deciding.

Whilst it’s important to get a jump on the competition you don’t want to get too outrageous with your PODs.

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Consistency across the board is essential so I would only advise grabbing two or three real heavy hitting PODs for your starting squad.

Teams to look at are the Titans, Cowboys, Bulldogs, Warriors and Dragons (the bottom 5 teams from 2019).

METHOD

• 1. Does the player have a ceiling over 100?
• 2. Is the player in a team that can only get better this year?
• 3. Does the player play in the first bye round?
• 4. Lastly, can you afford the player? – they should be the last players picked in your squad

SUPERCOACH TERMINOLOGY KEY

MPG = Minutes per game

PPG = Points per game

PPM= Points per minute

BPG = Base per game (point accrued in tackles + runs + missed tackles)

POD = Point of difference