KFC SuperCoach NRL: Why you should play Draft in 2023

SuperCoach Draft has been training the house down in the pre-season and has received some massive quality of life improvements and some incredible rule changes.

So now is the time to start gathering your mates, assembling your leagues, and get drafting!

For those of you who don’t know what draft is, it’s basically fantasy sports in its purest form.

If you love fantasy sports, but not KFC SuperCoach Classic, then Draft is for you. KFC SuperCoach Draft is radically different from Classic, as people take turns picking players in a free-for-all.

There is no salary cap, you don’t have to worry about ‘cheapies’ and once a player is drafted they become off-limits to the rest of your league. In other words, every team is unique.

Here’s why you should sign up today and start assembling your Draft league now.

YET ANOTHER EXCUSE TO WATCH FOOTY

Since every one of your teams is unique, you’ll feel a greater attachment to some of your players and now have another excuse to watch the footy. It also gives you more of a reason to watch NRL games you would otherwise have no stake in, as well as watching games that look trash on paper could be better if you have a player to cheer on.

PLATFORM IMPROVEMENTS

We’ve completely redesigned the KFC SuperCoach navigation and menus - on both desktop and app - to simplify and speed up navigating around the site. No more opening of menu systems or digging through layers of navigation to get between screens, games and sports.

Now it is all neatly laid-out and available across the top of the screen on desktop, and bottom of the screen on app, never requiring more than a click to get around sections within each game.

We’ve also completely redesigned the help and game information section, making it easier to find information and help topics on any aspect of the game. No need to read through paragraphs of text to find the info you are looking for.

MORE FLEXIBILITY THAN EVER

While 2022 saw some massive improvements for league settings, with the introduction of mock drafts, customisable squad sizes, greater controls over the pre-draft and player rankings, and more, 2023 will see even more flexible options for league commissioners.

League commissioners can now change the draft order for any round of picks ahead of the Live Draft. This is especially useful for Keeper Leagues, and in combination with pre-season team-to-team trades (where leagues can arrange for priority picks in the Live Draft, for example, as compensation for an unbalanced, completed team-to-team trade).

Leagues now have the ability to turn on ‘selectable emergencies’. While auto-emergency remains an option, commissioners may now chose a league setting where you can select an emergency player, who will replace a non-starting player in your line-up if they have a matching position. Otherwise you can just stick with auto-emergency and get the lowest points on your bench above 0 if you have a non-starter in your line-up.

SIGN UP TO KFC SUPERCOACH

Leagues will also have an option to play bye rounds under a reduced scoring system. While many leagues may choose to skip the big bye rounds all-together, commissioners now have the option to set a reduced number of scoring players in each team during these weeks.

I.e. The best X scores will count and contribute towards each team’s total, as set by the commissioner. This may give you more incentive to actually play through the bye rounds, if you only need to get eight players on the field for example.

COMMISSIONER ACCOUNTABILITY

Now while we have given draft commissioners a bunch of more flexibility over league settings, we can’t let them get away with anything.

Starting in 2023, you will find notifications and logs of any league settings changes made by your commissioner throughout the season.

PRE-DRAFT IMPROVEMENTS

In your Pre-Draft, you can now set your default starting player rankings based on Average Draft Position rather than our recommended default.

Last year pre-draft player rankings changes allowed users to more easily move players around, (in addition to the drag and drop method), which remains the case in 2023.

LIVE DRAFT CHANGES

For the first time, Commissioners will be able to PAUSE the live draft if required. If any technical issues occur, an emergency happens or whatever the reason, if necessary your Draft commissioner can now hit pause.

Additionally, indicators in the live draft will show any participants who are on auto-pick.

WAIVER WIRE CHANGES

Starting in 2023, there are now more ways for the league commissioner to configure a league’s waiver wire order. In addition to Reverse Ladder and Last Pick to Bottom, they can now select Lowest-to-Highest round score, or season-to-date cumulative score.

Not only that, but the commissioner now also has full control of the Waiver Wire order. They can set and change the Waiver Wire order manually, on a round-by-round basis if desired.

KEEPER LEAGUE CHANGES

We’ve made some profound improvements to the way Keeper Leagues will be handled and work from 2023 - to create a true “all-year” experience.

Keeper Leagues will now roll over automatically each season. There is no longer a need to reactivate a Keeper league and reinvite everyone to re-join - your league just keeps going!

The Commissioner will continue to have the option to replace anyone wanting to drop out by inviting a new league member to take over. As a result, commissioners will have the option to switch on trading right through finals and the off-season if they wish - as well as being able to complete team-to-team trades in the pre-season, once the league has rolled over into the new season, and ahead of the new season’s live draft.

In addition, commissioners of Keeper Leagues now have the option to set a maximum number of players that each team may retain from year to year. Each team can then organise their list ahead of the live draft to set their keepers within that new maximum.

PLAYER POSITION UPDATES

Just like last year, player positions will be reviewed at regular intervals during the season, with dual-position status being assigned to players if their on-field role changes. Note that while we can add a position to a player who needs it, we cannot remove positions or change positions once assigned, also a player cannot have more than two positions

For example, if Reuben Cotter (FRF) ends up being used in a hooking role for whatever reason, he may be a change to gain HOK status. But if he then gets shifted to lock for whatever reason, he would be stuck as an FRF/HOK for the rest of the season.

Expect updates on the completion of Rounds 13, 16 and 19.

SIGN UP TO KFC SUPERCOACH

FUN, BANTER AND PRIZE MONEY

Because Draft leagues are way more personal than Classic leagues, there is much more opportunity to have fun and a bit of banter.

You could have a live draft party with all your league mates, come up with a fun competition to determine the draft order, make a Facebook group for banter and trash talk. You could even have punishments for those who finish last, buy a league trophy, draft players you love, just do whatever makes SuperCoach fun for your league!

More Coverage

KFC SuperCoach: Position changes revealed

Rob Sutherland and Wilson Smith

Strength of schedule: SuperCoach players set for flying starts

Rob Sutherland

While there is no official prize money for KFC SuperCoach Draft, the format is perfectly suited for you and your league mates to put your money where your mouth is and have some money on the line.

COMMUNITY

Join our SuperCoach NRL Central community Facebook page to chat in real time with our SuperCoach experts and share ideas with fellow SuperCoach nuts. There are also several other popular draft pages and groups you might want to join. Post your teams and trade ideas/questions to get advice from other coaches and get involved in the SuperCoach Draft community.

Originally published as KFC SuperCoach NRL: Why you should play Draft in 2023