SuperCoach Fan Focus: Wilfred Zee

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Each week across the course of the year we’ll track down the biggest names in SuperCoach to get their views on the game.

In this week’s SuperCoach Fan Focus, 2016 champion Wilfred Zee steps up to the plate to chat about his passion for the game, including his highs, lows, predictions for 2020 and everything in between.

1) What do you enjoy about SuperCoach?

I’m a rugby league fan first and foremost but SuperCoach has managed to enhance my enjoyment of the game.

It’s the opportunity for engagement with other footy fans, the test of your analysis and judgment of players – on and off the field – and also the uniquely-satisfying feeling of nailing your captain for the week, or seeing your trade pay off big time, or even just picking the right reserves.

All those factors combine for a fun experience, for the most part!

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2) Who is your favourite SuperCoach player of all-time and why?

I’ve been playing for long enough to say Corey Parker. How good he was for such an extended period of time, both for my beloved Broncos and also as my often-selected captain for SuperCoach.

The new breed of premium SuperCoach studs – your Tedesco, Trbojevic, Taumalolo and Cook – are exciting and flashy but even they weren’t on the level of Corey Parker in his prime.

3) What was your best SuperCoach moment of all-time?

I was originally going to give the cliché answer and say, ‘the moment I realised that I had held off my chasers in 2016 to lock up the title’.

But I think my best SuperCoach moment was actually Round 7 of 2016, where I literally played the perfect round of SuperCoach.

My trade-ins that week scored 141 and 81, my captain scored 153×2 and I picked the highest possible scoring player in every single position and reserve option in my team.

I was about 500th for that week’s round score and it launched me to #2 overall and perfectly placed for a strong run up the top that year.

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4) And the worst moment?

Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever had any single moment that has been so bad that it’s a standout “worst moment” – probably the five or six times that my captain for that week got injured while on a single digit score or even a sub-20 score.

It’s a pretty sickening feeling in the stomach, especially if another popular captain goes 150+ in that same week.

5) What was the best trade you’ve ever made?

Not by coincidence, most of my best trades happened in my best year, 2016.

But I bought Cam Munster in Round 3, the second week after Billy Slater was ruled out for the season, and got to enjoy a 70+ average gun at less than 4% ownership for over half the season, including a massive 150+ score around mid-season too.

6) And the worst trade?

Really it only counts as my worst trade because I ran out of trades – in 2018 I went Teddy to RTS just before the second big bye round.

RTS outscored Teddy over the next 6 weeks in overall points, but then Teddy finished the year with an average of over 100 a round, while RTS flailed with a 60-65 average.

It would have been the perfect move if I just had one more trade to go RTS back to Teddy for the run home.

I dropped from about 500th to 5000th over the last six or seven weeks of the year!

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7) Is there any player on your ‘never again’ purchase list?

I don’t have a “never again” purchase list, but I do have a “you’ll have to REALLY convince me” list of players.

I think every player in the right circumstance can warrant consideration. I mean, I’ve managed to take punts on the likes of Jordan Kahu, Dale Copley and Bryce Cartwright with varying degrees of success – but every time I’ve still made cash and gotten some important points at key stages of the season.

8) Who’s the player you keep going back to that burns you every time?

Anthony Milford – although having owned him for almost the entirety of his 65/67/70 average years, I’m pretty forgiving of his 55/51 average years in 2018 and 2019 so far!

9) Any decent SuperCoach advice you’ve picked up over time?

Own your decisions and back your gut. Look up the stats, read articles, listen to podcasts, ask for advice, but at the end, ALWAYS back your gut on your final decision that YOU make for your team.

There’s nothing worse than going against your own gut instinct and having it backfire on you.

10) After a particularly satisfying head-to-head win over a mate, are you humble or do you rub it in?

I like to think I’m humble, I generally don’t rub it in but if someone runs at me, I’m always going to clap back and have a bit of fun while doing it!

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THE 2020 SEASON

11) Your first player picked and why?

Payne Haas – he’s safe as houses with a high floor, yet still with a high ceiling due to his attacking potential.

12) Your best smokey buy and why?

Anthony Milford – I’m not just a fanboy, I genuinely believe 2020 is the year he goes back to his 2015-2017 levels of SuperCoach relevance.

13) Who will be the biggest flop?

I’ll throw a controversial one here – Mitch Moses. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll potentially own him over the bye period, but by flop, I’m going to say that he doesn’t match his season average from 2019 and will be at least $100k cheaper than his starting price at some point this year.

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14) Who will be the top averaging player?

Tom Trbojevic – I believe his game suits SuperCoach perfectly and if he can stay healthy he will be the highest overall points scorer and highest average for the year.

15) Who will be the premiers?

The mighty, mighty Broncos of course! Haha. More seriously, if the Rabbitohs pack develops in the way I think it does this year, and the backline lives up to its name value potential, then they will be a serious challenger for the competition. All comes down to that forward pack though!