Supercoach BBL Final Word: Round 2 captains, PODs, weather watch

The opening round of Supercoach Big Bash is in the bag, with plenty learned across the first five fixtures.



It started in typically chaotic BBL fashion, with rain shortening the opening fixture to just 11 overs each side.



It had Supercoaches scrambling to tweak their starting side, with many cutting several Sixers players from their squads.



While it didn’t exactly pay great dividends for myself, I like the fact that it should hopefully create some diversity among teams this season as a result, which is always good to see.



The opening round for the Stallions was a bit of a bludger…



Not a heap went right, including flipping my vice-captaincy from Jack Edwards to Ben Dwarshuis just before lockout due to the shortened game, which hurt a lot.



We scored just 895 points in round 1, which is disappointing, but we’ll keep our chins up and hope for a round 2 bounce back.



Let’s take a look at the Final Word ahead of Supercoach BBL round 2.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Weather watch</h3>



All weather is courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology as of Friday, 1PM. Forecasts are subject to change.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Looking ahead</h3>



The Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder have the round 2 double, meaning they’re the priority pick-ups this round.



The Melbourne Stars have the round 3 double and have several enticing options after a strong round 1 win, so there’s scope to go early on any of their contingent.



The Hobart Hurricanes also have the round 3 double, meaning they’re worthwhile holding onto despite some underwhelming scores in the opening week.



The Perth Scorchers are on the double in round 4 and will begin to come into calculations, more so from next week.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="819" height="1024" src="https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1-819x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-2403537" srcset="https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1-819x1024.jpg 819w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1-240x300.jpg 240w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1-768x960.jpg 768w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1-640x800.jpg 640w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1-1200x1500.jpg 1200w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 639px) 98vw, (max-width: 1199px) 64vw, 770px" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Breakevens</h3>



Each week we’ll list the top players with both the highest and lowest breakevens, plus a few additional players worth noting, to help track your cash movement.



The breakeven number is the score required in the upcoming round for a player to make or lose money.



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Lowest breakeven (Money-makers)



Jack Edwards -54



Tim Seifert -50



Ollie Peake -45



Ben McDermott -36



Campbell Kellaway -36



Marcus Stoinis -30



Tom Rogers -14



Luke Wood -10



Mitch Perry 0



Jack Wildermuth 1



Brody Couch 4



Josh Philippe 6



Hugh Weibgen 6



Charlie Stobbo 6



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Highest breakeven (Likely price drop)



Note the breakevens for the players on the double game round are scores for the two games.



Shaheen Afridi 158



Mitch Owen 133



Matt Renshaw 131



Babar Azam 127



Chris Green 124



Nathan Ellis 120



Reece Topley 120



David Warner 113



Nathan McSweeney 111



Matt Short 110



Riley Meredith 109



Glenn Maxwell 108



Rehan Ahmed 108&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">PODS and Super PODs</h3>



In the Final Word, we’ll look at the super POD options, the players at under 10% ownership (among the top 10% ranked coaches once rankings roll in) that could send you soaring (or falling) up the overall ranks.



They come with big risk, but the reward is immense if it comes off.



Last week, Shadab Khan delivered at 8.5% ownership with 96 points, while Tanveer Sangha managed an okay 36 points at 3.7% ownership.



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Nathan McSweeney &#8211; $114,400 – 8% ownership



McSweeney dropped in cash last round after being run out in the opening game.



He came into the competition in red-hot form, including a double ton for Australia A.



He’s one of the classiest batters in the competition and may be utilised as a bowler at times.



He bowled 1.2 overs in the opening game, granted it was coming on for Shaheen Afridi, who was taken out of the attack.



The Heat were only planning on using five bowlers, meaning he’s right in the frame should they opt for a sixth bowler.



Matt Kuhnemann &#8211; $75,500 – 9.5% ownership



Kuhnemann returns after missing the opening game of the tournament for the Heat.



He’s not necessarily a huge upside option, but he does start cheap and could free up cash to spend elsewhere in the squad.



He needs only a wicket in each game to score well, while multiple wickets would provide enormous value for money and cash generation at a bargain rate.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Captains</h3>



The Heat play in game one of the round, meaning they’re the team to target for the vice-captaincy.



Xavier Bartlett is the obvious option and will be a popular option.



He also batted at seven, which is encouraging, although Jimmy Peirson blasted a 22-ball half-century and likely gets elevated this week, while any appearance from Michael Neser would see him drop down as well.



Neser isn’t in the squad for the opening fixture.



I think Shaheen Afridi is an excellent POD option off the back of a horror opening game.



The -1 in the opening game will scare people off buying and also captaining, making him very enticing.



Despite the poor opening where he was taken out of the attack, Afridi is world-class and could take a bag of wickets across the double.



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Captaincy options will come from the Thunder, who play in the second game of the week.



It’s one of two players, Shadab Khan or Daniel Sams. I wouldn’t look to get creative and play elsewhere.



Khan is batting one spot higher than Sams and looked great with the willow in the opening game, as did Sams.



Both are great options and there’s very little between them, I’m going to narrowly give the edge to Sams though as he will bowl the death overs which is the key.

Supercoach BBL Final Word: Round 2 captains, PODs, weather watch

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