2019 The Initial OG Draft

The 2019 Initial Draft is hands down the biggest day of the year. We all spend the preceding weeks or months preparing to make sure that we don't do something stupid (like pick Mafi before the 16th round)!

The Snake Draft order was decided during the Australian Domestic Cricket Big Bash competition on the 7th of February when the Hurricanes took on the Renegades. Whoever's randomly allocated batsman scored the most runs would get the first pick. The Snake Draft means we pick 1st to 8th, then 8th to 1st, 1st to 8th and so on until we complete our full team of 23 players. The results looked like this:

Draft PickManagerBatsmanRuns1stWylieWade58 Runs2ndBlakeCooper44 Runs3rd CargieMcDermott39 Runs4thLarryFinch35 Runs5thNsyncShort28 Runs6thNabungHarper20 Runs7thNelsonJewell4 Runs8thHarryHarris3 Runs

The Draft Picks

23 Man Teams

Initial OG Draft Highlights:

Best 1st Round Pick: Akira Ioane - No one expected him to go at 3rd pick, but with a drop of 7.8 points to the next ranked player Pablo Matera. He could prove to be of insane value. The reason he went under the radar; injury to Jean-Luc Du Preez and Mafi's court case means his value over the rest of the field was maximised.
Worst 1st Round Pick: Ardie Savea - it's always hard taking the 8th pick but Savea was ranked 27th on overall averages last year. He is going to need a big year to pay off.
Biggest Balls up: Amanaki Mafi - Somehow he went in the 2nd round as the 12th overall pick. Apparently his name being splattered all over the news for three months straight wasn't enough for this Draft battler to catch on. To be fair, Nsync hasn't played Draft since 2016, and he spends most of his time watching Rugby League. So even if he did know about Mafi's court case, it'd be nothing unusual for the players he has grown up supporting.
Value Pick (Snuck through late): Warrick Gellant - picked at 44th, in the 6th round despite averaging 45.4 points in 2018 (which put at 15th overall). The only thing that could let him down now is a bad case of second season syndrome.
Most predictable: Malcolm Marx - he is just so far ahead of the chasing pack, 16.8 points per game to the second placed hooker to be exact. This makes him even more valuable than his main competition of McKenzie and Mo'unga who had 1.6 and 0.1 point higher averages respectively.
Best Smokie: Josh Ioane (62nd overall, 10.6 points average from 8 games). What do you do if you can't get Reiko Ioane? Pick the unproven Josh of course! He may be locked in a battle with Banks and Gatland for the starting fly-half jersey, but if his 80 minutes in round 1 is anything to go by he could be an absolute find!
Best Sub: Bongi Mbonambi (4th ranked hooker, 32.4 point average). Clearly his injury for the bulk of 2018 scared off a lot of his potential managers, but we would have thought his undeniable talent would have definitely had him higher up peoples list then what he was!

Average Points Value per team ranked 1-8

Looking at the full squad of 23 we found the total value of each team from 2018's stats to see who should be favourite this year.
(Note all new players were given the score of the VOLP or an average sub if they wont start games)

1st = 6th pick Nabung 705.9 point average
2nd = 1st pick Wylie 696 point average
3rd = 4th pick Larry 690.4 point average
4th = 7th pick Nelson 679.5 point average
5th = 8th pick Harry 672.4 point average
6th = 2nd pick Blake 659.7 point average
7th = 5th pick Nsync 638.3 point average
8th = 3rd pick Cargie 579.4 point average

Our picks as per the Pick order was:

Good luck with your 2019 picks, here is our full 2018 draft order, hopefully it might give you some insight into how Rugby Union Super Nerds might draft.

#Actual Pick1Malcom Marx2Richie Mo'unga3Akira Ioane4Damian McKenzie5Brodie Retallick6Israel Folau7Reiko Ioane8Ardie Savea9Damian Willemse10Anton Lienert-Brown11George Bridge12Amanaki Mafi13Waisake Naholo14Ben Lam15Pieter Steph-Du Toit16Ngani Laumape17Lodewyk De Jager18Samu Kerevi19Manasa Mataele20Ricky Riccitelli21Michael Little22Jack Goodhue23Solomon Alaimalo24Pablo Matera25Andre Esterheizen26Armand van der Merwe27David Pocock28Duane Vermeulen29Jesse Kriel30Dane Coles31Aphiwe Dyantyi32Damian de Allende33Marnus. Schoeman34Rob Thompson35Eben Etzebeth36Jeff Toomaga-Allen37Jordie Barrett38Codie Taylor39Kwagga Smith40Folau Fainga'a41Jeronimo de la Fuente42Luke Jones43Lukhanyo Am44Warrick Gellant45Tyler Ardron46Taniela Tupou47Steven Kitsoff48Beauden Barrett49Dan Du Preez50Luke Whitelock51Michael Hooper52Isi Naisarani53Handre Pollard54Bernard Foley55Robert Valetini56Tom Banks57Guido Petti58Robert du Peez59TJ Perenara60Will Genia61Curtis Rona62Josh Ioane63James Parsons64Ben Smith65Toni Pulu66Emiliano Boffelli67Tevita Kurindrani68Joe Powell69Henry Speight70Jackson Hemopo71Ramiro Moyano72Marvin Orie73Melani Nanai74Bill Meakes75Caleb Timu76Nathan Harris77Warren Whiteley78Matt Phillip79Tendai Mtawarira80Matt Todd81Patrick Tuipulotu82Shaun Steverson83Etene Nanai-Seturo84Scott Barrett85Pari-Pari Parkinson86Sekope Kepu87Makazole Mapimpi88SP Marais89Dalton Papali'i90Jordan Taufua91Jack Dempsey92Tetra Faulkner93Ruhan Nel94Ma'a Nonu95Sia Kolisi96Andries Coetzee97Thomas Du toit98David Havili99Whetu Douglas100Dane Haylett-Petty101Adam Ashley Cooper102JD Schickerling103Otago Desio104Augustine Pulu105Dylan Smith106Jason Jenkins107Craig Millar108Quad Cooper109Lauchlan McCaffrey110Allan Alaalatoa111Gareth Evans112Wilco Louw113Angus Cottrell114Ryan Crotty115Jake Gordon116Tyrel Lomax117James Slipper118Tevita Li119Bryn Hall120Kieran Read121Bongi Mbonambi122Kurtley Beale123Grant Hattingh124Sam Whitelock125Brandon Paenga-Amosa126J Petiaia127Coenie Oosthuizen128Elton Jantjies129Jack Maddocks130Louis Schreuder131Tyler Paul132Batista Delguy133Lachlan Boshier134Agustin Creevy135Jean-Pierre Smith136Vince Aso137Gonzalo Bertranou138Jed Holloway139Richard Hardwick140Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco141Hayden Parker142Hendrik Tui143Andrew Makalio144Brad Weber145Ned Hanigan146Christian Lealiifano147Jordan Uelese148Marcos Kremer149Embrose Papier150Matt Proctor151Nyakane152Vaea Fifita153Tei Walden154Otere Black155Dillyn Leyds156Sonny Bill Williams157Bailyn Sullivan158Aaron Smith159Liam Squire160Owen Franks161Nick Groom162Sam Carter163Bryce Hegarty164Blake Gibson165Nehne Milne-Skudder166Diaz Bonilla167Liam Coltman168Bryn Gatland169Harry Johnson-Holmes170Chris Eves171Ofa Tumungafasi172Anaru Rangi173Jano Vermaak174Atu Moli175Adam Coleman176Tom English177Damien Fitzpatrick178Mitchel Drummond179Rene Ranger180Angus Taavao-Matau181Joe Moody182Ross Cronje183TTT184Toby Smith

Written by Harrison Dale.