You get four. That's the whole allocation for the season, and once they're gone they're gone.
Most coaches treat boosts as a bonus. The coaches who win treat them as a planned resource with a spending schedule, the same way you'd plan trades. This article is about how to think about that schedule.
What you're actually buying
A boost is a multiplier on output you already have. That means its value is a function of two things, and only two things:
1. How many games your boosted players are about to play
2. How well they're about to play them
You can't control the second. You can control the first completely, because the draw is published. This is why boost planning is really just schedule planning wearing a different hat — and why you shouldn't read this article without reading [The Schedule Is King](01-the-schedule-is-king.md) first.
The corollary: a boost used in a single-game round is close to a wasted boost. Not entirely wasted, but you've bought half the games for the same bullet.
The three schools
There's no consensus among the best coaches in the game, and that's genuinely useful information — it means there's more than one way to win. Here are the three positions you'll hear argued, and what each is actually betting on.
1. All-in early: boosts as a cash weapon
The most aggressive school. Spend boosts in the first five or six rounds, not to win those rounds, but to accelerate cash generation. A boosted round on a squad full of rookies who are about to hit their third game inflates their scores, which inflates their three-game average, which inflates their price rise.
The bet: cash compounds. A bigger bank in round 6 buys you a better squad for rounds 7 through 22, and a better squad for sixteen rounds is worth more than four well-timed scoring rounds.
The risk: you're defenceless later. If injuries hit your squad in the back half of the season, you have nothing left to cover the hole.
Coaches have won the game this way, having spent every boost by the end of round 6.
2. Henshall-hunting: boosts as timing tools
A more surgical version of the same idea. Rather than spending early on principle, you spend on the specific rounds where clubs are hitting their third game and price movement unlocks for the first time. Two, maybe three boosts inside the first five rounds — targeted at exactly the rounds where the first (and biggest) price jumps are landing.
The bet: the first price jump is the biggest one, so amplifying it is the highest-leverage use of a boost in the entire season.
The risk: it requires the draw to cooperate. Some seasons the third-game rounds cluster nicely; some seasons they don't.
3. Play it by ear: boosts as insurance
The conservative school. Identify two or three candidate rounds pre-season based on double-game density, but don't commit. Keep at least one boost — ideally two — in the back pocket for the second half of the season, when injuries, load management and form slumps start doing real damage.
The bet: the season is long and chaotic, and optionality is worth more than a marginally better round 4.
The risk: unspent boosts are worth nothing. Coaches who "save for the right moment" often finish the year with two in hand and a mid-table rank.
A workable middle path
If you're new, this is a reasonable default:
- Boost 1 — around rounds 3 to 4. Aimed at cash generation, timed to when the bulk of your rookies hit their third game. This is the one boost almost everyone agrees on.
- Boost 2 — the first genuinely heavy double round. Find the earliest round where six or more clubs are on a double and your squad is well represented.
- Boost 3 — mid-season, opportunistic. Hold it until a round where your squad happens to be loaded with doubles, or where you've just upgraded and want to bank the ceiling.
- Boost 4 — hold for the run home. Injuries, finals push, or a late double cluster.
Adjust aggressively based on the draw. If NBL27 front-loads the doubles, shift earlier. If it back-loads them, shift later.
Three rules that hold regardless of school
Never boost a round where your squad is thin on games. Count your squad's total games in a round before committing. If it's low, wait.
Don't boost a round you're about to trade through. If you're planning to move three players out this week, boosting the current squad is spending a bullet on players you don't want.
Boosts don't fix a bad squad. If your team is genuinely underperforming, a boost amplifies the underperformance. Fix the squad first.