Trade tactics: Time to NUFF

It’s that time of the season, where SuperCoaches are looking to get the best players into their team, but how can we afford the best players?

The quickest way to building your bank and getting the players you want is to Nuff out non keepers.

Ideally, we’d prefer to trade up to a gun, but with so many SuperCoach relevant players out with the bye or Origin this week, there really isn’t many options to trade up to.

So, this is the week to build our bank for the weeks ahead allowing us to trade in the players we really want in the weeks to come.

However, with the new Origin round structure (only best 13 counting towards our score) it is a perfect round to Nuff out any players we do not intent on keeping in our final ideal teams.

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What is a NUFF

A Nuff is a player that is only a player to cover a position, either the main player is out for rep selection or through injury.

An ideal Nuff is at the lowest price possible – $200,800 this year, and dual position adding flexibility to your team. A Nuff will hopefully play minimal games, and then avoid selection for the rest of the season.

The worst option is a bottom dollar Nuff that continually gets selected and plays limited minutes, creating an AE (auto-emergency) nightmare. This will leave coaches unable to make use of any VC loops and have solid AE coverage for late outs.

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Players to NUFF Out

These are the players that we do not intend on keeping, especially if they are about to drop significant value this week. Keep in mind that if a player is not selected to play this week, their price will not change.

The main players to consider moving on are below:

Jahream Bula (3RA 51, BE 148, $646,200)

Matt Burton (3RA 54, BE 108, $645,800)

Jeremy Marshall-King (3RA 59, BE 102, $599,700)

Maiko Sivo (3RA 36, BE 115, $501,600)

And other similar players where their BE is double their 3 round average.

NUFF Options

The Starters

Of the Nuffs, these are the better options this week as they are starting.

Lovett / Munro / Hawkins are all playing this week just to cover the Origin players. Souths are on the bye next week, so injured players like Latrell will have adequate time to recover for Round 21. Once their main contingent are back in the starting side, these three should be selected as a reserve at best.

Lumelume doesn’t have the greatest work rate, but Eels outside backs can always find a try.

Turner is expensive for a Nuff, but with the dual flexibility is worth a mention. He can be paired with Manu, creating coverage for both the 5-8 & CTW positions. Now at the Dragons, he could play more games, but is probably just there to cover Sloan while he is out with injury.

From the Bench

These are the players that will most likely play limited minutes from the bench this week, so don’t expect huge scores. They are to free up cash, not score points.

One player of note in this group is Colquhoun with the Dual FRF / 2RF flexibility and can be easily paired with Harris / Tapine / Tino, allowing a keeper to cover two positions. With some teams still needing to play their 3^rd bye, dual position players are going to be invaluable for the run home.

The only other player that really stands out is Mamouzelous as he is a Hooker Cheapie Nuff. While he’ll likely only play limited minutes this week, he can be traded down from your second Hooker. Players like Marshall-King, Mahoney, or Robson that aren’t quite at the keeper level can be traded, creating $300,000-$400,000 in the bank.

In Reserve

Volkman has been added to this list as Shaun Johnson is awaiting the birth of his child. We should have an update if he flies over for the game. If this happens, Volkman should be straight into the starting side.

All the best in generating cash to assist in completing your final teams.

Good luck for the final bye round!