SC Spy
SuperCoach expert
Meticulous with his planning, the SC Spy shares his approach to tackling this year's dreaded bye and Origin period.
NRLHey Everyone,
It’s time for some bye-planning, following on from this week’s discussion on the SC Playbook podcast.
To make it as simple as possible, I’ve broken down the best options for Round 13 and also Round 17.
As a note, anyone in my team already is in bold and players in yellow are who I have decided to target with my trades.
You will note that I much prefer Round 17 players. I also am trying to generally bring in players who could be part of my team for the season.
This is more important for round 17 as you then don’t need to use any trades to move them on. Round 13 can really be anyone!
The key thing to note is that if you do have a decent crack at bye coverage then trades can run low post Origin if you try to then bring Origin Stars in for the run home. So only make trades if they are really worth it.
This is why I’m generally avoiding cheapies outside of some guys I think are value as we still need to free up cash somewhere.
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Embed from Getty ImagesBold indicates I already own / Names with an asterisk* are trade targets
Titans – No one
Cowboys – Taumalolo, Drinky (Minutes/role with Hammer also there?), Deardon (small base), Cotter (Origin?), Robson (Huge recently with big minutes).
Penrith – May, Tago, Kikau, Edwards, Crichton (if no Origin), O’Sullivan, Fish
Dogs – Pangai, Kiraz (if named), Hold Max King, Burto
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Manly – Garrick*, Olakau’atu, Ben T* (Will he start in round 13?), Schuster*, Tuipulotu, Koula
Warriors – Aitken, Curran, Walsh, Tohu – Vailea (Only because I own already)
Canberra – Tapine, Starling Hold, Schneider Hold, Elliott
Roosters – Manu, Nat Butcher/Tupouniuas (value if continue to start), Tupou, Crichton, Suaalii, Sammy Walker. I think is a definite avoid – Horror run for the Chooks so I will likely steer quite clear. Crichton interests me hugely back on the left edge even though he will likely play Origin also.
Players for first bye – 11 at this stage. If I like anyone leading in I can of course jump on.
Embed from Getty ImagesCoates – I.Papali’i
Tuilagi – Ben Turbo
Arrow – Garrick
Papi – Schuster/Drinkwater.
Note there’s a small chance I hold Papi if no one is screaming out at me and I can get my bye targets another way.
21 trades left
($450-560k spare approx. after trades)
Embed from Getty ImagesI’ll be going going Taaffe to Papi as soon as he returns!
Melbourne – Papenhuyzen* (Origin?), Hughes, Meaney, Brandon Smith
Sharks – Hynes, Talakai, Mulitalo (Pending price tag and Sharks form), Ramien, Kennedy, Katoa, McInnes*
Newcastle – Klemmer, Randall (I’m holding for now to save trades)
Souths – Koloamatangi*, Campbell Graham*, AJ, Tass, Cody, Taaffe, Ilias (May hold until round 18 but happy to move on – trades and options the factor here)
Tigers – Nofo, Hastings, Twal, To’a (if FB), Stefano* (CHEAP – Back up front rower run home), Doueihi
Eels – Papali’i, Brown*, Moses, Gutho, Reed, Russell* (Hoping he is named), Penisini
Broncos – Carrigan* (Huge watch!), Staggs
St George – Lomax, Bird, Ravalawa (Cheap)
Players – 15/16
= 26/27 Total across both byes
This is all of course speculative with injuries, Origin call ups, dollars in the bank and the like, but it’s a decent rough plan of attack for me to keep as a point of reference. I can then adapt on the run.
Looking at that all going to plan I would have 13 trades remaining with a view to then grab some guns post Origin for the run home.
I’d allow 1-2 trades for downgrades to free up cash.. Then:
Embed from Getty ImagesTurbo
To’o
Cam Murray
Fifita
Coates
I’ll have 6-10 trades left after this, which doesn’t factor injuries across that time.
As you can see it could get hairy if that eight number is instead three or four.
I see this happening if you overcommit to bye round number one and still want to prepare for bye number two.
This is all future stuff so I won’t worry about it now, but it does mean I want to ONLY trade for proper value, whether that be keepers, points over the bye period and freeing up cash to get a star.
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I hope this insight into how I am planning things helps.
I am happy to update this if as we edge closer to the bye period because as we know things change quickly!
For now I need to decide on Burbo, Staggs, what to do with Papi and when to grab Garrick?
Cheers all!
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Who partners with Sullivan for the park there in round 13?