Classic Competition Strategy: The Classic Competition has been spiced up a bit this year with five additional scoring positions in the form of the new bench feature. On top of this, the cap for this competition has changed from 12 million to 10 million. In this blog we will look into overall and weekly strategies as well as a few different options on how to spend the 10 million cap.
You may see some acronyms in this blog that you may not have come across before. This is what they mean.
FLB1 = Highest scoring fullback of the round
FLB2 = Second highest scoring fullback of the round WNG1 = Highest and second highest scoring winger of the round
WNG2 = Third and fourth highest scoring winger of the round
CTR1 = Highest and second highest scoring centre of the round
CTR2 = Third and fourth highest scoring centre of the round
HLF1 = Highest and second highest scoring half of the round
HLF2 = Third and fourth highest scoring half of the round
EDG1 = Highest and second highest scoring edge of the round
EDG2 = Third and fourth highest scoring edge of the round
MID1 = Highest, second and third highest scoring middle of the round
MID2 = Fourth, fifth and sixth highest scoring middle of the round
HOK1 = Highest and second highest scoring hooker of the round
HOK2 = Third and fourth highest scoring hooker of the round
Overall Strategy
The key to overall success is all about consistency. This usually means picking the top averaging players in each position if they are playing that week. It's not quite that easy as coaches will need to take into consideration the matchups these players have. In 2023 we saw the top five players in each position collectively average the following.
Hooker - 46 points
Middle - 57 points
Edge - 52 points
Half - 68 points
Centre - 48 points
Wing - 51 points
Fullback - 54 points
Why is it important to know these numbers you might be thinking! These averages may help you decide on which positions to best spend your cap on. As you can see, the halves position was the highest scoring position by a long way and coaches should consider starting players at this position in higher card rarity. At the other end of the spectrum we have the hooker and centre positions averaging under 50 points. These are possibly positions where coaches choose to save some cap space by starting bronze cards at this position.
There are many different ways that coaches can spend the cap and there is no right or wrong way to do so. It really depends on what cards coaches have at their disposal. Here are a few different options.
Option 1: 10 x Silver and 8 x Bronze
Option 2 : 1 x Legend, 1 x Diamond, 1x Silver and 15 x Bronze
Option 3: 1 x Diamond, 2 x All Star, 1 x Gold and 14 x Bronze
Weekly Strategy
If you want to be the top scoring coach on any given week, it's likely that you will need to take more risks with your selections as you will be after those PODs. Personally, I wont be doing anything outrageous like benching the likes of Cleary, Hynes and Haas as I like to keep the core of my starting squad the same. The positions that offer the best PODs are generally centre, wing and fullback. These positions are more matchup dependent than the others and historically players in these positions are more likely to be boom or bust. This is where knowing how these positions matchup against the different NRL teams can be key.
Excluding the players that made the 2023 GDS All Star Team, here are a few players in each position that finished at the top of their position in any round excluding the finals last season.
Hooker - Blayke Brailey (3 x HOK1) and Chris Randall (3 x HOK1)
Middle - Cameron McInnes (6 x MID1), Corey Horsburgh (5 x MID1), Jack De Belin and Cameron Murray (4 x MID1)
Edge - Nat Butcher (5 x EDG1), John Bateman, Tyson Frizell, Ryan Matterson, Keaon Koloamatangi and Corey Waddell (3 x EDG1)
Half - Mitchell Moses (5 x HLF1) and Adam Reynolds (4 x HLF1)
Centre - Izack Tago and Campbell Graham (4 x CTR1)
Wing - Jamayne Isaako (8 x WNG1) Reuben Garrick and Dominic Young (5 x WNG1)
Fullback - Dylan Edwards (4 x FLB1) and Tom Trbojevic (3 x FLB1)
Don't get me wrong, it's possible for any player to be the top scoring player in their position for any given round. If a coach has a particular narrative on how a player will perform against a certain opposition, I'd be starting that player. The above players are just a list of some possible POD options that had boom factor in 2023. Some of these players are riskier options than others but if you want to go against the grain and win a week, a few of them might be able to get you across the line.
