SuperCoach NBL: How you can finish number 1

Last season, David van der Giessen won the inaugural SuperCoach NBL competition, taking home multiple prizes – including a brand new Mitsubishi.

During NBL24, David became a superfan of the NBL. He consumed every article and piece of content, grabbing any advantage he could on the opposition. 

>> REGISTER FOR SUPERCOACH NBL

When he won the major prize, David dedicated it to his late son Jack, who passed away with anencephaly in 2019, just 13 hours after being born. The “DoIt4Jack” team celebrated Jack's legacy in the perfect way. 

“I am just so glad that his name is synonymous with something I have achieved which I am really, really proud of — to be crowned a SuperCoach champion,” David said at the time.

“(It's) just one of those things you never think you’re going to achieve.”

Today I picked up the major prize for winning the @NBLSupercoach competition.

In a weird twist of fate, today is also the 5th anniversary of my son Jack passing away.

As you all know, my SC team was named after him.

Quite overwhelming.

💜💜💜#Supercoach #DoIt4Jack #NBL24 pic.twitter.com/5KfkltKt9L

— I-Am-ME-I-Am-DVG (@myNAMEisDVG) April 19, 2024

David will be running it back this season, and with all the experience and learnings from NBL24, provided some advice on how you can pick a winning team.

Here's a selection of David's best tips

Mastering the schedule
With many teams playing multiple games per round, checking the schedule in advance is important to ensure you get the most value out of each SuperCoach pick.

David explained that with the NBLxNBA schedule, he avoided the New Zealand Breakers and Cairns Taipans until later in the NBL24 season – which paid off.

“I also decided to aggressively target the early DGW (double-game week) schedule. In round 3, while a good percentage of coaches were holding players through those byes, eight of the 10 players in my squad were on a DGW,” he said via Code Sports.

“These proved to be significant decisions and were key factors behind my early success.”

>> SuperCoach NBL: Full list of pre-season scores

Every player matters
Unlike other SuperCoach games, in SuperCoach NBL, every rostered player can impact your success.

“One of the biggest mindset changes for seasoned SuperCoach AFL, NRL and BBL participants is the fact that all 10 of your SuperCoach NBL players score points for you each week (five on-court players scoring at 100 per cent plus five bench players scoring at 50 per cent)," David explained.

“There is none of this, “I can hold onto player X and bench him for his two-week injury”. If you do that, it means you will score a big old doughnut for that two-week period.

“At the start of last season, more than 20 per cent of teams started with gun cheapie Taran Armstrong. The problem was that Armstrong suffered a foot sprain in the lead-up to round 1 of the NBL season. He ended up not playing until round 6. In rounds 2, 3, 4 and 5, his ownership remained at over 10 per cent and, unfortunately, all those owners continued to cop a doughnut throughout that period.”

>> READ MORE: How I Built the Best SuperCoach NBL Team of 2024

If you think you can win SuperCoach NBL this season, sign up now to go into the running to win up to $1,000 in cash prizes every week.

>> REGISTER FOR SUPERCOACH NBL