SnooperCoach - Afl Supercoach 2010 Clipboard

The first NAB Cup round has now finished and what have we learnt from this scrappy limited insight?

Firstly, the remarkable performance of Nic Naitanui kicking 4 goals and scoring 178pts was not what anybody expected. Despite this dominant performance, one can't help but feel he won't play a better game this year. The absence of David Hille and Paddy Ryder in the ruck played a huge part, not to mention the absence of his fellow mentor Dean Cox. Unless Naitanui continues this kind of dominance in the next few rounds of the NAB, he will not be in the mix for selection.

However, what we can take from his performance is that perhaps for the first time in many Supercoach's careers, perhaps Dean Cox will not be the ruck lock he always has been in the past. Surely Naitanui will be given a greater role meaning Cox will not have the same impact as years past. And of course as we've learnt, Dean Cox generally misses a few games each year.

David Hille is probably sitting as a lock for the second ruck spot. He is the annual returning key ruckman at a bargain price, like Troy Simmonds in 2008, and Hamish McIntosh in 2009.

The leading ruck spot though looks to be safe in the hands of Aaron Sandilands & Darren Jolly. Mitch Clark surely won't have the same impact as season 2009, as Jamie Charman returns. Kurt Tippet is a great option if your keen to show some difference and innovative coaching. Cameron Cloke is the cheap gamble, and though he remains a dud player he looks like having alot of game time and opportunity at the Power.

That's enough about rucks for now.

The Brett Burton and Trent Hentschel debate appears to have already been put to bed, with the Birdman proving to be much more productive. Mitchell Banner, a $100,200 price tag holder was very impressive with a score of 94. Yet other forwards like Justin Westhoff and Jay Schulz also shone against an underdone Crows lineup.

Nathan Krakouer continues his role as half back rebounder scoring 120, a great sign for his supercoach season.

The Hawks are showing they mean business in 2010, even though their overwhelming victory was against a few Tiger cubs who were clearly not ready for the big time. The hawks usual suspects bullied the tiges and were all impressive with their form for supercoach tilts, including Lance Franklin, Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Brad Sewell and Jarryd Roughead.

Dustin Martin now appears a certainty as the most popular picked player for Supercoach, scoring 83 in his first senior hitout.

A few unknown Brisbane youngsters stole the supercoach show against the Bulldogs. Tom Rockliff scored 144 and Jack Redden 113 put fantasy coaches on notice. The awkward price of Redden will probably see most favour Rockliff in the forward line at a sum on $109,200.

The Bulldogs are clearly easing into their season with no great intensity, though it was good to see Callan Ward execute his skills cleanly for a tidy low-possession score of 70.

As for the Saints, David Armitage was given full opportunity without Nick Dal Santo or Lenny Hayes being involved. Though his score of 111 is impressive, the stars will return and his game-time will be reduced.

Heath Shaw did his usual role for the pies, hopping around the half back line getting plenty of the ball. Looks set for a big year, though our memories shouldn't be too limited as to forget his off-field issues and failure to handle a forward tag.

Up north, all the excitment is revolving around speed machines Gary Rohan and Lewis Jetta, who both justified reason for Round 1 selection with their eye-catching displays. In Paul Roos's final season, it seems he's finally discovered the benefits of the draft. Many will be watching their second NAB match with much interest.

A few things were learnt form Carlton's clumsy showing. Brock McLean still looks slow, Lachie Henderson is in for a long year of unfair media criticism about how he can't fill Brendan Fevola's shoes, and that Chris Judd will remain a supercoach powerhouse.

Liam Anthony was superb for the Kangas but his half a million price tag will scare many buyers. Levi Greenwood was used in a few roles and scored 88. At $236,600, he may be an innovative alternative to Rick Ladson, Brett Jones or Josh Hunt.

Michael Barlow and Clancee Pearce were the ones to take note of in the Dockers game. Although both sides look again to be cellar dwellers, a follow up performance by the two will be monitored next week. Anthony Morabito suffered what could be a serious injury in other news.

The Dees worrying sign was that James McDonald, Brad Green and Nathan Jones were their top contributors. None of their youngsters really stepped forward to stand out. Early days though.

Joel MacDonald running out of defence should be taken note of by all coaches. His 98 points and relative freedom may signal a strong year in supercoach points. Besides, playing with Melbourne means the ball is likely to be in his proximity frequently.

Michael Voss is possibly the greastest SuperCoach addict of them all. His off season trigger happy trading antics mirror the behaviours of an obsessed Supercoach tragic looking to shuffle his side weekly. No doubt Voss is suffering a servere case of post purchase dissonance as he ponders "What have I done?". We all know the feeling Michael.

Simon Goodwin produced a 92 point first half and 146 for the game against the demons to catapult our ranking back to 375. In contrast, those teams reaping the benefits of Mathew Richardson had a major setback with the Tigers champ injuring his hamstring while scoring 18. Likewise, many used the injury of Hayden Skipworth to inject the ever reliable Brent Harvey into their forward lineup. Unfortunately for those sides, Boomer will miss 12 weeks, and dropped in price after his zero.

A below par week for the side, but still in the top 1000. For now.

Adam Goodes saved the day almost single handedly with his 180 odd. But some worrying signs shot up elsewhere. They come in the form of Brent Harvey and Steven Hill. These problems will be discussed below when considering trades for the week.

Despite the poor performance of Sam Mitchell, it is certain he can bounce back after copping a heavy tag from Brett Kirk.

With one round out of the way, it is time to reveal all our teams to the work colleagues and friends. It's also time to rant about how we all had player 'x' our side but got traded out at the last minute.

Those involved last year remember that the SuperCoach servers crash and burn in the lead up to the first game. This year was no exception. In the hour leading up to the lockout, players with injury clouds like Lenny Hayes, Simon Black, Robert Murphy needed to be culled from many sides.

But the one that hurt was the ommision of Greg Broughton in the final side for Fremantle. This caused a last minute strategical change which saw Scott Lucas, Peter Burgoyne, Ricky Petterd be reshuffled to Simon Goodwin, Ryan Houlihan, Stephen Hill. The thinking was to have three Fremantle backline rookies to ensure the position was filled each round.

Below is a final shortlist of players to choose from the SnooperCoach analysis. Some corrections from the Early Analysis have been made based on NAB cup form, particularly in reference to the rookies. The list reflects a fairly conservative style team structure. Some gambles have been included on the end. Reasons for ommitting some players from the outset have also been explained at the bottom.

When the season begins on Thursday, SnooperCoach will be updated weekly with commentary from the rounds big movers.

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If all the stats and formulas are crunched together to produce the "mathematically strongest team in the world of Supercoach" it would still falter. All the player stats and facts mean nothing if not put into some form of context. The context may include the venue, opponent, position, injury, suspension, the team, time of year etc. Plus, one attribute many forget to consider is the important aspect of the player characteristics.

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Ben Cousins was all the talk in most fantasy realms over the summer break. All the anticipation for a cheap gun midfielder has finally been unveiled, and most will be dissapointed with his asking price being $465,000. As a result, there appears to be no Nick Stevens cheap midfielder that everyone will pick up. Depending on his preseason, perhaps Paul Hasleby may be the one in 2009, but it's way to early to be confident of that.

The team structure for 2008 was vital in the initial team selection process. Those who loaded up on forward cash cow rookies had solid returns early in the season. Injuries to so many backline players wreaked havoc for coaches who had spent the big bucks in defence. Any playing backman became an advantage, as many coaches consistently played at least one zero in defence for a lot of the season. The midfield is where the great coaches can separate themselves from the pack.