Spy Talk: Methodology to picking your Round 1 team

G’day all,

I’ll tell you what, it’s amazing to be back punching out Supercoach articles of a night time.

Pre-season has essentially passed, and it’s almost go-time for round 1.

Footy season seems like a year ago. I’m recharged and ready to rumble.

In a couple of days thankfully we can start getting the sh*ts again about a batsmen playing a loose shot early, a bowler starting well then getting hit for 18 off their 4th over to ruin their economy bonus.

SUBSCRIBE! Gain access to stacks of additional premium articles each week, major unlimited group prize money, our Whatsapp community featuring QnAs with our team of contributors, late mail, and plenty of other bonus features. SUBSCRIBE HERE!

Embed from Getty Images

Let’s try not to think about the countless times one of your studs starts hot before rain sets in and ruins any chance of the magic that was set to follow! Ahhhh yep, Supercoach, that’s the stuff!

The good news is there is a flipside to that. Sometimes your best batsmen gets dropped on 1 and scores a ton or a bowler gets belted all day and then takes three wicket in the last four balls of the first innings.

Best yet, the rain stays away to let your guys do the job in the first innings before settling in and ruining the scores of the blokes not in your side.

That’s Supercoach and my best advice is to simply strap in, ride out the lows and celebrate the highs.

Cricket especially is as a bigger rollercoaster as it unfolds.

For my last article heading into the season kick-off (first ball), I am going to go step-by-step into how I will finalise my squad.

Truthfully, I’ve had a side for some time now that may well be close to the mark , but I’m someone who loves the time pressure to really make me knuckle down and make the big decisions and that time is now.

Embed from Getty Images

So, without further ado let’s hook right in and to set the scene I’ve opened up the laptop, jumped onto the website and now it’s go time.

1. The first thing I will do is to screenshot my current side so that is safe in the archives.
2. I will now wipe my side completely so that I can have an unclouded approach, bearing in mind I have my pre-season side saved so that I can go straight back to it if I think it’s the best option.
3. Now is the big one and it’s straight from the Andrew Langley Playbook of excellence in the art of winning Supercoach, then winning again and maaaaybe winning again (if I can’t jump him!)

Specifically, and I stress this is not for everyone as it’s a lot of effort, but I am now going to sit down with the draw and pre-plan my trades for the season to ensure I have the maximum amount of games possible for players and that I don’t get caught short with too many bye players or single game players.

It may seem a bit technical, but hopefully you can gauge the general idea to get you thinking a little deeper about how you pick your team.

If you have any questions you can always message me on Twitter via @scspy1.

Basically I want to maximise high quality players on their doubles throughout the season.

I’ll be pre-planning my season trades, by which I mean planning how many I want from each team on the double per round, not specific players themselves.

I am going to forget boosts for now and just look ahead to three trades per round which will help me determine how many to start with from each side.

Hint, don’t overcook teams with impending byes or single games and target guys who are flush with multiple game weeks coming up.

Embed from Getty Images

Initially that’s the Brisbane Heat who can then be turned into Adelaide Strikers in round 2, Melbourne Stars with three doubles in the opening five rounds (but a bye in round 2 so maybe two to start is enough or three max), Melbourne Renegades who go double, single, double are handy and I’ll start with 3 or 4 here.

Other sides with lots of singles early I won’t target but can still pick the odd player of value who can contribute big points and build bank.

Ok, I’m going to now spend half an hour checking my plan of attack. Back soon…

….

As per the image below I have set out the number of players I want from each side to begin with.

I can then work forward each round and alter the number of starting players from any of the teams for round 1 if I need to rebalance the team to maximise players in rounds 2, 3 and then the rest of season.  

For example, I might take out the starting Hobart player as they only have single game weeks for a long while and swap them for a Striker to maximise round 2. Just an example.

I’m not giving you all my work for each round through till the end of season because it’s going to be hard enough to win it as is 😉

But that’s the framework there for the first three rounds showing that my first trades will be Brisbane to Strikers, then Strikers to the Melbourne teams.

The only deviation might be keeping two Brisbane players, trading the other two and trading Jhye Richardson straight to Matt Short of Adelaide as they are the same price and I don’t want to tie up $240k on a bloke with single games on the horizon.

There will be different ways to do itbut this will help you ensure you don’t run into any unforeseen issues down the line. Rounds 5-7 might get tricky.

4. Now that I have done that for every round, I have any idea of how I can maximise the double game weeks and utilise the byes as loopholes.

5. This means it’s really just about getting my round 1 side in order so that I’m going to pick players from each team based on the corresponding number in the table above. If I then prefer one player over another from a different team I’ll double check that it works okay moving forward and lock them in or if it throws out the above plan too much I’ll forego him.

6. Once the team is picked I’ll now make a decision on my VC and Captain and determine if I want to use any loopholes. In this case I think I’ll put 1 Brisbane Heat player on my bench and if he scores poorly in the first two games I can play Sam Whiteman from Perth and if they go well then I’ll bring in someone who is a non-player and then his points. Note that I will ponder this and may simply opt for no loop to maximise players who will play and hopefully make cash. No round 1 loop may well be feasible given the huge amount of double and triple game week options and that will provide extra numbers for the rounds ahead.

7. I should stress that there will still be some flexibility and if there is a super low breakeven option then it may be that they get the nod over one of the double round players. Best to stay fluid, but it is helpful here to already have decent enough numbers ready to go if you forego one.

Managing debt can feel like facing Binga Lee without a helmet a times. Get some advice to consolidate your debts, and take away the stress, by contacting Pat and George from Mortgage Choice SCW to get you on the right track. Save $129 by mentioning SC Playbook for a FREE CONSULT!

Caveat:

With all that said you can always just throw together a side for round 1 with a heap of guys on the double/triple and then wing it from there. You don’t need to be as hardcore as some of us if you just want to have a crack and enjoy.

You can do go well, get some luck fall your way and not run into any trouble at all by going round to round.

You can win Supercoach or finish high on the overall rankings with less planning, but it all helps.

Personally I felt pretty good about what I had achieved in this article until I spoke to Andrew Langley not long ago who suggested I could have even more double game week players in the rounds ahead.

As a result it was back to the drawing board for the last hour or so having a tinker!

Now I’ve saved a few variations and will take some time before Thursday to nut out the final squad.

It’s close though and as always it’ll be good to put the feet up and enjoy the actually cricket come Thursday night!

Remember, any questions on the above, just flick me a message on Twitter via @scspy1.

Bring it on,

Spy