Tim Williams
SC Playbook founder, 2nd NRL overall 2020
Final Word: Trades, tactics, weather, RD 10
We have the final say on the major Round 10 plays, including weather reports, super PODs, trades and more.
Final Word
January 15, 2021
- POD HUNTERS: Unique players to find an edge over rivals
- GUN SHOW: Last year’s champion on players to target and avoid
It’s been a rollercoaster few rounds with a host of popular players scorching and plenty of others hitting the skids.
It led to a broad range of scoring in Round 9, and unfortunately the Cooma Stallions were on the tail end of the scale.
It was a round that just 382 points were scored which was pretty brutal, seeing a drop from 1,400 overall to 3,000, savage…
Injuries to the likes of Daniel Sams, Colin Munro and Mitch Marsh haven’t helped the cause, however I wasn’t one of the unlucky ones to skipper Marsh so I better keep quiet and quit the whinging!
Embed from Getty ImagesBad luck comes and goes as quick as good luck, so you’ve got to ride the wave of SuperCoach and enjoy the ups when they come around.
Fortunately with the swing of SuperCoach BBL you can jump just as quick as you drop, so things can turnaround rapidly.
Let’s see if we can rectify the drop nice and quick, and with a pretty solid set up of double game week players leading into the round I’m hopeful.
Here’s the Final Word ahead of Round 10, starting at 7.15pm on Friday in Melbourne.
Embed from Getty ImagesWEATHER WATCH
All weather is courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology as of Friday, 1pm. All times are in AEDT. Forecasts are subject to change.
FRIDAY
7:15PM: Stars v Strikers, MCG, Melbourne
Forecast: Showers increasing, 20 degrees, 80% chance of 2-6mm of rain, most likely this afternoon and evening.
SATURDAY
6:40PM: Sixers v Scorchers, Manuka Oval, Canberra
Forecast: Sunny, 25 degrees, 0% chance of rain.
SUNDAY
7:15PM: Stars v Renegades, MCG, Melbourne
Forecast: Partly cloudy, 22 degrees, 10% chance of rain.
MONDAY
7:15PM: Thunder v Hurricanes, Manuka Oval, Canberra
Forecast: Sunny, 31 degrees, 10% chance of rain.
TUESDAY
7:15PM: Scorchers v Heat, Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
Forecast: Cloudy, 20 degrees, 20% chance of rain.
LOOKING AHEAD
Round 10 sees the final of our double rounds for the entire competition!
Furthermore, the byes are well behind us, so planning becomes far easier moving forward.
Things simplify from here as we target the game’s best players, and while we still have to have a bit of an eye to making money, it’s all about the points.
From Round 11 onwards it’s also a very viable time to think about ‘nuffing’ players.
This means trading players on your bench to non-playing players at $42k (or as cheap as possible) to free up stacks of cash to be spent on your starting side who actually score points towards your overall score.
It’ll also give you more opportunity to use the vice-captain loophole and auto-emergency loophole.
Be wary though, this option is higher-risk this season due to changing border restrictions which can impact player availability at times, so having depth on your bench is more important than ever.
Embed from Getty ImagesSUPER PODS
Each week one of our contributors will provide a full analysis on the point of difference (POD) players to consider.
In the Final Word, we’ll look at the super POD options, the players at under 5% ownership (or around about) that could send you soaring (or falling) up the overall ranks.
They come with big risk, but the reward is immense if it comes off.
In last round’s article, Jackson Bird was okay with 43 points, while the sneaky play to get Haris Rauf a round earlier than the double game week would have backfired with just 23 points.
Scorchers opener Jason Roy was in this article the round prior, he came good with a monster 99 point score in Round 9!
Wes Agar
While I’m guilty of overlooking him too, I can’t believe Wes Agar is in just 4.4% of teams!
Furthermore, the Strikers had the double game in Rounds 2 and 3, so you’d think there’s a decent amount of sleepers in that percentage.
Another 86 point performance this round took his SuperCoach average to 52.5 this season.
He has six scores over 50 in his eight games, including a 119 point effort.
He’s the second top wicket-taker with 17 scalps at a strike-rate of 13.3 and a decent economy of 7.58.
While you’d argue his ceiling isn’t as high as some of his counterparts, he’s scoring extremely consistently week in, week out and must surely looms as a trade in option.
Phil Salt
I’m going to double down on Strikers players, with Salt looking dangerous of late.
He had a slow start to the tournament, found form, hit the skids, and has now produced 31 and 59 in his past two knocks.
I think he’s on the verge of a big knock, and at his monster strike-rate it’ll equate to big SuperCoach scoring.
He might not be an out-and-out gun, but at 3.7% ownership at around $100k he worth consideration if you’re maybe trying to find a bit of a bargain to free up cash elsewhere.
Embed from Getty ImagesTRADES/SKIPPERS
I’m fairly happy with where I’m sitting in regards to double game week players leading into Round 10 with seven already picked in my squad.
With the likes of Stoinis and Maxwell there are plenty of options who are genuine season-long keepers, so you can plan for this round with an eye to the future in locking in guns such as these.
Liam Livingstone has found some form, is affordable, and may pick up a couple of overs with Mitch Marsh now unavailable to bowl.
Despite the high breakeven, I’m tempted to hold Marsh provided he is named to play the first game of the double for the Scorchers.
I’ll be keeping a trade handy just in case he isn’t named to play.
I wouldn’t begrudge anyone trading him at all as it’s a pretty big risk while batting at five, I’m a little on the fence as a result.
However, I do think he is an immediate trade next week while he isn’t bowling, but I’m willing to roll the dice this week in the hope of a decent score before an inevitable price drop.
Adam Zampa will also come into my side and boy am I excited. I genuinely think he is a class above the rest of the competition and I’d be extremely worried if I didn’t own.
I won’t skipper him, but he’s a massive play at just 16% ownership (at the time of writing).
I already own Aaron Hardie, but at just $89k I think he’s a massive play with Marsh not bowling. Likewise, Jason Behrendorff looks a great value pick up.
He should hopefully lock in close to three or four overs with Marsh not bowling.
My other trade is up in the air at this stage, but with a stack of double game week players I’m eyeing off someone such as Daniel Sams.
If you are in need of a dual BWL/BAT option, I think Cam Green is a great option.
He adds flexibility to squads, adding great opportunity for loops, frees up stacks of cash, and is likely to be great buy on return from Test duty.
Worst case scenario he doesn’t play, you still have the added cap space and a great dual to rotate around for the final weeks.
My vice-captain will be Maxwell, if he goes 50+ in the opening game of the round I’ll use the loophole and lock him in.
Stoinis is super tempting with the likelihood of a few overs, I think it’s very fair to choose either of the two.
I’m a non Jhye Richardson owner, I can’t justify him at $257k, it’s a mammoth amount of money for a guy who is unlikely to bat, but it’ll be a hard watch with the form he’s in.
He is the obvious captaincy choice for owners, while there aren’t too many Scorchers players who loom as safe options, so I’ll be very much hoping to loop Maxxy.
If Colin Munro brushes aside injury concerns and is named for the opener I may just go him, but it’ll be a tough watch early on.
I have around 50k still in the bank and am unsure whther to stay with behrendorf or upgrade to a player like Munro, Livingstone or even Roy. Could you please tell me the best pick out of the 4. Any response would be greatly appreciated
Hey Ryan,
Honestly they’re all decent options. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with Behrendorff and I think it’s a wasted trade, I’d hold him and play for sure. There are no guarantees, but with two games he only needs a couple of wickets to score well enough. I’d maybe look to use your final trade on a bench player that you may want for the run home, and who you can potentially auto-emergency loophole this week if they score well (if they were to play early in the round). Basically saves you a trade you’d be using next week anyway.
However, if you do want to trade, I’m leaning towards Livingstone because he may get a few overs with Marsh not bowling, the coaching staff recently hinted at it. I wouldn’t bank on it, but regardless he has an achievable breakeven of 35, is affordable and will open the bat. Munro is another good option and is expected to play, but there is some concern he may not due to his injury so perhaps better playing it safe unless you can wait until Saturday to make your trade.
– TW
Given the DGW week, wouldn’t be trading out any Scorchers this week! Maybe look to upgrade someone like Wildermuth from the Heat (37% ownership, so assuming you might have him) to a Scorcher. Wildermuth has dropped all the way down to 8/9 in the batting order and so is definitely trending down.
I think Roy is looking like a keeper with an average of 60+ currently, I would have loved to bring him in this round but couldn’t make the cash work, had to go with one of the Scorcher’s mid-priced guys instead.
Hi guys – Tim the Spiceman repaid ur faith already after game 1! My son quickly bought him in 5mins before start of game but didn’t realise his team duals/nuffs and now has him sitting on his bench haha – ruined his weekend already. (He needs either Lynn, Khawaja, Roy or Hales to not play which is unlikely)
The Spiceman! What a champion, talk about timing for his knock… ah that is brutal, fingers crossed that one of them is a late scratching for the young fella. – TW