Weekly Wrap: Round 18 highs, lows and shocks

Well Round 18 is in the books and with it, the elimination finals for those playing head-to-head.

It was an okay week for scoring with a few guns going big, some doing enough to keep you interested and Lomax, well Zachy boy what have you got to say for yourself?

If he was wearing a FitBit it would have buzzed a few times asking him to keep moving.

With the top 8 pretty well set and no teams now able to make a run, I’m very keen for the finals to come about!

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I do love my footy, but trying to pretend I watched the Titans and the Broncos and do a wrap up of the match makes it a bit difficult.

Good luck to all those who are still in the running in their respective leagues!

It does make the final two rounds a little less interesting when you have little to no trades, have been eliminated from your cash comps and are outside the top 1000.

I’d say I peaked in about Round 10 and my jokes probably did then too.

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Tigers v Rabbitohs

Where has this been from the Tigers all year? Well not so much the first 20 minutes, they have been doing that for the last 15 years but when they’re chasing points they go to another level!

Harry Grant continues to score well for those who have held onto the Tigers hooker.

If I was in the Tigers hierarchy I wouldn’t go as far as kidnapping a family member but I’d be doing everything in my power to keep him in the black, gold and white for the next 15 years.

Nofoaluma still finds a way to score well even if he isn’t scoring tries. He has a massive task in front of him with the Tigers facing Melbourne and Parramatta in the final 2 weeks, but if he can get through Melbourne okay I’m tipping a 100+ score for him to finish the year off and earn a Blue jumper.

Both Walker and Cook were solid, scoring 82 and 84 respectively. I’ve been patiently waiting for Cook to explode with a 100+ score, but he just can’t seem to get those attacking stats for him to hit his ceiling.

The Spy said on the Podcast last week that when Cook is getting tackled it means he is running. Thanks Spy, you’ll get a job with Fox Sports in no time with quotes like that!

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Bulldogs v Sea Eagles

After winning that match it was a game of what ifs for me on Friday night. What if we had just won seven more games throughout the season, we would currently be sitting in third spot.

I’m happy to take the two points and heap further pressure on the Tigers and their never ending quest to finish ninth.

DCE was enormous. He had three try assists, three line break assists and five tackle breaks to finish the night with 112, he would have given many owners a big lead in head-to-head battles.

It was his second 110+ score in the last two weeks and he now takes on the Titans and Warriors with, I’d suspect, Tommy Turbo. Get him in.

The big downer for the night was Addin Fonua-Blake who only had nine runs for the night and picked up an injury in the process and failed to finish the game.

Mentioned as a POD for the final three weeks, he may have cost some their matchup this weekend. Not that he would care.

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Panthers v Eels

This match had a very distinct semi-final smell about it! Depending on who you support, I’d say both sides wouldn’t be too upset with how it panned out.

Parra just seemed to be camped on their line making tackle after tackle, while Penrith have this ‘let’s just do enough to win,’ type of mentality.

The form of both Cleary and Luai could take this Panthers side to a grand final. If you owned both of them and played them in your side, chances are that’s where you are heading.

104 and 100 for the form halves pair of the competition, I’m not sure whether the counters at the Fox Sports lab were owners because it seemed Cleary didn’t do too much apart from kick and pass!

Still having Maika Sivo in your team would be costing you dearly. If you do it’s time to part ways. I’m looking at you Brad Arthur!

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Dragons v Raiders

If your side contains Zac Lomax and Josh Papalii, as mine does, I’m guessing by 5pm on Saturday afternoon your season was all but done and dusted!!

Lomax has been so good for us owners throughout the year, a game like this where he sits out on his right edge and does very little was always a threat. His score of 10 was, unsurprisingly, his lowest of the year by some margin.

Jack Wighton is on a rampage! 102 to go with scores of 95 and 109 in the past four weeks.

There is a threat he may get a rest at some stage, but he isn’t owned by too many coaches.

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Titans v Broncos

A surprisingly low scoring game which was unusual as both sides have shown in the past that defence isn’t something that their club is built around.

It was a game that none of the popular SuperCoach players could break out and post a big score.

Haas, Carrigan and Fifita all failed to fire, albeit Haas did score 76, but that is his average.

Fifita was unlucky not to score just before halftime but showed he couldn’t do two things at once and spilt the ball.

After bringing in Brian Kelly and Latrell Mitchell over the past couple of weeks I thought to myself who else could I bring in that would really screw me up?

That player this week was Kotoni Staggs. He just didn’t have the spark that he has in the last few weeks since returning and only managed 31.

Between Staggs, Lomax and the TAB, it was a very costly Saturday afternoon for yours truly!

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Roosters v Knights

Another Saturday night, another Roosters masterclass at the SCG. Could this team get any better?

I know the Knights were without Ponga, but they are still a top 8 side and the Roosters treated them like a training run.

Luke Keary was in everything in the first half, racking up a monster 140 alongside Tedesco, a popular captaincy choice who finished with 78, but I thought the biggest effort came from Angus Crichton!

He was unstoppable on the left edge after starting the game at lock and finished with 84, and that was without an attacking stat.

Robinson will be keen to play him as much as he can over the next two rounds to get some kilometres in his legs, so he is a massive upgrade option if you can afford the trade.

For the Knights it is a forget it and move on.Their Supercoach relevant players flopped with Klemmer 49 and Mann 33, they just were never in the fight.

It was Klemmer’s third game where he has scored under 60. Worrying times for owners with preliminary finals upon us.

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Storm v Cowboys

Didn’t this game come at the right time for owners of the Cameron’s!

Melbourne were doing it easy through the middle after Josh McGuire politely asked the referee to keep an eye on the ruck.

Smith was superb setting up three tries, whilst Munster was just as good, scoring two tries without really getting a hand laid on him either side of half time.

The pair finished with 119 and 97 respectively. Munster repaid the favour for any who chucked the C on him on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

That’s about all there was SuperCoach wise. The Cowboys just aren’t relevant anymore without the likes of Taumalolo and Morgan.

I’d be very surprised to see Lolo back this year if anyone out there held onto him.

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Sharks v Warriors

How bad is the 6.30pm game on a Sunday!? Not so much SuperCoach wise, but as a viewing pleasure 2pm is a much friendlier timeslot.

Johnson was back after getting rid of that pesky rock out of his boot I alluded to last week and set two tries up through kicks though to finish with 56.

For me, I’ll be upgrading to a player like DCE for the final two rounds. He has done his job for the year but he doesn’t seem to want to run the ball anymore.

Tevaga and Harris were okay for the Warriors, with neither going huge. Tevaga only played 47 minutes which is a bit of a concern for the next two weeks, although a HIA likely impacted this.

We know how good a PPM player he is, but if he’s only getting around the 40-50 minute mark, it leaves less time on the field to go big.