Final Word: Rd 2, key trade + tactical advice

• SPY TALK: Answering the big SuperCoach questions ahead of Round 2
• STAT ANALYSIS: Vital numbers to beat the best atop the rankings

There were some massive SuperCoach scores pumped out over the first round. 

I captained Teddy which was a relief after what he came out and did. 

I also was really pleased that Mitch Barnett, Junior Paulo, Kurt Capewell and TKO scored well for my side. 

The CTW’s are a bit of a troublesome area moving forward and cash generation to get some premium reliable options into that part of your team appears more vital than ever. 

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PODs & Super PODS 

After round 1, here’s the players I’ve identified as PODs (Point of Difference players – less than 10% owned) and Super PODS (less than 2% owned) that should be on your radar. 

I’ve listed them in ranking order of who I believe is the best to take the risk on: 

PODs (My top 5 ranked) 

1. Mitchell Barnett – Get him in. He shouldn’t be on this list in a week’s time. 
2. Reed Mahoney – Again probably not going to be on this list in a week’s time when he goes above 10% ownership. He looks a great value proposition and a solid money earner if not a keeper.  
3. Brian To’o – He delivered as promised. Expect a huge year from To’o on the left edge for the Panthers. He could well be 2021’s answer to the 2020 version of Nofo in the CTW. 
4. Jai Arrow – 70 points in 45 minutes. Strong SuperCoach pedigree. Injury history is the only red flag. 
5. Tyson Frizell – A quality rep back-rower who has gone to a better club. Frizell was the most impressive 2RF option I saw on the weekend that I hadn’t considered. I like him to average 65+ in 2021

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Super PODs (My top 5 ranked)

1. Kodi Nikorima – He is set for a career year and gets the bonus of the goal-kicking until CHT fully recovers from a quad injury. 
2. Andrew Davey – Gets the starting gig at Manly. He looked good in his 34 minutes last week scoring 34 SC points. Let’s hope he gets 65+ mins.  
3. Andrew McCullough – 64 SC points mainly from his 59 tackles. Expect that every week. If you want a solid under-priced HOK option don’t discount him. He’ll average 65+ this year. 
4. Paul Vaughan – Not much talk about him but I was suitably impressed. He has been SC relevant in the past and I could see a resurgence this season based on Round 1. 
5. Leeson Ah Mau – Jagged the try which obviously inflated his score, but with the Warriors playing the way they did, forward tries might be more prevalent this year than in the past. He also has good offload potential.   

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Anti-PODs (My top 5 ranked)

Including players is not the only way to get ahead in SuperCoach. Leaving out the right players can also help you rocket up the leaderboard. Consider going without one of these highly owned (25%+) players:

1. Jason Taumalolo – Get him out of your team ASAP. Payten is messing with his minutes and could be effectively messing up your SC season if you have him. 
2. Damien Cook – The game plan has changed and he’s been a slow starter in the past. It’s an easy call to anti-pod the Australian hooker.  
3. Ryan Matterson – I’m keeping him this week, but with the glut of mid-priced talent in the 2RF position he’s on the potential trade block for next week. 
4. Charlie Staines – He would be a huge gamble given his ownership and the dearth of options in the CTW, but he is going to be rocks or diamonds and more consistency is probably what SuperCoaches crave. 
5. Jordan Riki – Riki was unimpressive last week in his 80 minutes. There’s been a lot of hype, but I’m not sure he is going to deliver. It’s not going to hurt you to hold him for week or two.  

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ROUND 2 MATCHUPS 

Matchups are important in SuperCoach. More so than looking at the match-ups this week my strong advice is to keep a very close eye on the weather. 

Rain is forecast for 7 out of 8 games on the weekend and how heavy the rain and the field is can significantly impact SuperCoach scoring. 

It should be in the forefront of your mind when making trade decisions and VC and C options for this weekend. 

It’s easy for SuperCoaches to ‘jump at shadows’ and ‘rage trade’ after the first round, but consider your moves wisely and also take into account that this weekend with the weather it may be the perfect weekend to set your team up to make money in round 3. 

Cash generation is going to be critical this year because of the high dollars that SuperCoaches have had to dish out on Teddy, Cleary and Papy amongst others. 

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CAPTAIN

James Tedesco will be my captain again most likely. 

There’s not much more needed to be said other than he is playing at an elite level that produces consistently great SuperCoach scores. 

Is the wet Teddy’s kryptonite? It’d be a brave man to bet on it, but it might just be the big move you need to get ahead of the pack. 

Nathan Cleary is a solid option for VC or even straight C if you don’t like your bench to hold up. Left field options I’d consider outside of those two are David Fifita and Addin Fonua-Blake if you own them.   

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TOPSPORT BETs of the WEEK

2021 – ROI (Return on Investment) = 52.8%

Round 1 Recap 

No luck with the anytime try scorers or the value multi but the multi got up for us at a price of $7.64. 

Round 2 

Brandon Smith anytime try scorer @ $5.10

Addin Fonua-Blake anytime try scorer @ $7.00

David Fifita anytime try scorer @ $3.25

Multi – Storm/Titans/Warriors/Panthers/Raiders to win = $6.85

Value Multi – Warriors 1-12, Cowboys 1-12/Titans 1-12 = $29.28

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