SuperCoach end of year awards: Season 2023

Hello and welcome!

SuperCoach has dished up another up and down year; although if you’re like me, it’s been mostly full of downs.

I’d been in free-fall for the last month and a half but thankfully managed to cling on to the top 7k, so it wasn’t a majorly disastrous season.

Although, now that the season has come to end, there’s no better time to take a look back at which players will be walking away from 2023 with some SuperCoach silverware.

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Best Cheapie

Is there really anyone other than Harry Sheezel who can take out this award?

The Rising Star got off to a flyer in his debut season, pumping out an average of 115 through his first four rounds.

Even with JZ and Aaron Hall in the side throughout the year, he still managed to finish off 2023 with an average of 99.5, rounded up to an even 100 thanks to a final three-round average of 128.

With the two aforementioned veterans having since retired, there’s every chance Sheez takes a massive step forward next season, resuming his role as the seagull off half-back.

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Best Mid-Pricer

Errol is teetering right on the edge of mid-price status, however, I’m willing to squeeze him in at his bargain starting price of just $472k.

I don’t want to be ‘that guy’, but I was hot on him even before pre-season games began.

Third year breakouts are a common thing in the land of AFL SuperCoach, and with an expected uptick in midfield minutes, I had Errol pencilled in for a monster breakout.

Did I expect him to be this good? No, definitely not.

His ownership – much to my sadness – skyrocketed after he dominated a pre-season hit-out against Carlton, amassing 45 disposals and 3 goals.

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His CBAs took a hit when the real stuff began, but it thankfully didn’t impact his SuperCoach scoring.

He started off the year with a 115 and 107, then averaged 144 across rounds 7-9.

His second half of the year was where he really hit his stride though, led by a five-round average of 132 from Round 14-18.

He had a small dip in Round 19 where he scored just 66, but managed to bounce back the very next week with a 152 against the Bombers.

I have high hopes for Errol in 2024, and due to the amount of goals he kicked this year, we should be seeing him in our forward lines yet again.

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Best POD

Now, this one’s a bit trickier.

There’s a number of suitable candidates for this award, particularly the likes of LDU (114 avg), Adam Cerra (108 avg), and Dan Houston (106 avg) to name a few.

However, none of those players compare to what Tom Liberatore put up this season.

At under 10% for majority of the season, Libba had arguably a career-best year… Certainly a career-best SuperCoach year, smashing his previous best average from all the way back in 2014 by six points!

If not for an early concussion in Round 22 where he scored just 20 points, Libba’s 2023 average would have been an incredible 121, ranking him as the third highest averaging player of the year only behind Marcus Bontempelli and Tim English!

Geez, the Bulldogs must love their SuperCoach.

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SC Playbook AFL Podcast MVP

Marcus Bontempelli’s 2023 season will be something we tell our grandkids about.

To drop under 100 just once through a full season is special.

To drop under 110 just three (THREE) times in a full season is borderline insanity.

It’s not just his ridiculous consistency that has earned him the highly sought after 2023 ‘SCPB AFL Podcast MVP’ award, but also his ceiling.

On seven occasions he scored 145+ and went over the 160 mark four times.

Polling 33 votes across the course of the season over on our weekly podcast, Marcus Bontempelli pipped Rowan Marshall (30) and Errol Gulden (29) for the coveted prize.

He’s going to be priced at above $700k next year but if there’s one thing I’ve learnt this season, it’s that you can’t play AFL SuperCoach without the Bont in your side.

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SC Playbook AFL Podcast LVP

I should stress that there’s a whole lot of bias that goes into this voting system.

Particularly when you’ve got Niko handing out anywhere from 3-10 votes per player on occasion, it can make for some slightly skewed results.

I mean, finishing with an average of over 100 AND the world famous SCPB AFL Podcast LVP award in one season is hardly justifiable…

Alas, the people have spoken.

To be fair to the Doc haters, his start to the season was probably where he deservedly polled the most votes.

A 108 against Richmond in Round 1 was epic, but it slowly began to plummet from there; and the theory of “more CBAs = more scoring” was proved to simply be an illusion after all.

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What proceeded Round 1 was a three-round average of just 77, culminating in a torn meniscus.

To his credit, Doc recovered remarkably well, missing just the two matches!

Upon his return, he went on to average 111 across the next five games.

I’m happy with Doc’s season!

The fact that he polled 23 votes and beat (or lost) to Darcy Cameron (21) and Mason Redman (20) is an outrage.

Just to really put that into context, Eddie and I were the ONLY ones who ever voted for Mason and he racked up 20 votes… From just TWO people.

Full list of MVP & LVP votes