Unpopular Opinion of the Week – Round 12

Previously a segment on the weekly SC Report podcast, we’ve decided to bring in a bit of left-field, controversial thinking to our weekly lineup of articles. Who better than a Manly fan to deliver this one! Welcome aboard Matt West for the Unpopular Opinion of the Week. This one’s designed to stoke the fire, so don’t be afraid to fire back!

Feel the need, the need for Trade Speed.

Ya snooze, ya lose.

So for a good while now, the mainstay and accepted tactic in SuperCoach is don’t rush into things, consider all stats and eventualities, price rises and drops, upcoming fixtures, bye rounds and injuries. To win your mini league or to gain your best rank you can follow the herd (and have the same team as the herd) and comfortably not disgrace yourself. BORING!

So would it surprise you to hear that the top team has Luke Garner? (57, 65 and 84 in the last 3?) Or Zac Lomax (93 last round?)

Or the 4^th placed team has Shaun Johnson (96 points)

Is the surprising thing that these guys have these PODs in their teams, or is it that fact that they have gone super early on them and reaping the rewards?

In order to do well in this game you need a) luck and b) an itchy trigger finger.

If you’re languishing around the five figure ranking mark, you need the ability to identify the next big thing. Well, that’s all well and good, but the real challenge is to act on that gut call ASAP. It goes against everything we hold dear. Who else listens to 4 podcasts per week and reads articles behind a paywall? By the time we have ingested all of this (genuinely helpful) info, we have skipped the early POD and retreated to the comfort of the norm like a bloody grandad!

So how do we break out of these comforting chains??? 

You need to feel the need, the need for trade speed.

Let me throw an example out to you: Harry Grant.

Injured this week, playing Origin, misses round 13, may get rested post Origin,  $810k and prime candidate to Speed Trade out. Reece Robson, for instance scored 89 AGAINST the Storm last week, plays 13. Although trading RR in isn’t an early call, Speed Trading Grant is.

Shaun Johnson is owned by 3.2% of teams and would have taken absolute balls of steel to bring him in recently, but the team in 4^th did exactly that whilst he was horribly out of form and the Warriors took a beating every game for weeks.

Even identifying a whole team as Speed Trade targets could be effective. Sticking with the Storm, they had a truly shocking capitulation against the Cowboys last week. They have conceded 28+ points this season three times.  How many times in the 2019 and 2020 season did they concede 28 points+? Zip, nada, none. I’m not gonna be sitting on a Papi-less, Hughes-injured, Origin-effected, out of form Melbourne. Sell these guys ASAP.

You still holding Talakai? How’s that working out? He was a sell weeks ago and if you Speed Traded him out after his 1 big half against Manly, you would have pocketed 160k in profit and not have to convince yourself that he is a CTW keeper that scores 30!

How often in the past have you held on to a player way too long? We have increased trades this year and have the ability to move on a heap of these guys and jump on the next big thing before they become the next big thing and save some cash in the process.

So I’m going to play Eyes up Supercoach with reactions quicker than a cat whilst you Grandads are snoozing.

Trust your gut, make the trade and get a jump on other players.

Good luck all.