Captain’s Challenge: Who to skipper in Round 13?

• SQUAD BREAKDOWN: Round 13 team news + SuperCoach analysis
• QUANTIUM STAT ANALYSIS: Vital numbers to beat the best

What an interesting week we have for skippers with half the competition on the bye, while a host of star SuperCoach players are on Origin duty.

It makes for an extremely exciting week for so many reasons.

First of all, we get two cracks at captaincy options with a free shot at the vice-captain loophole.

For any rookie SuperCoaches out there, because almost everyone will fail to field 17 players this week, we can easily activate the loophole, so make sure your vice-captain plays BEFORE your captain, as they always should anyway.

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Basically, if your VC goes well, simply put the captaincy on a non-player in your 17 (you should have a few to pick from), and you will then receive double points for your VC’s score.

Pending your options, you’d probably be happy to take anything from 90-110 points this week due to the lack of guns available.

Furthermore, you can use your players from teams on the bye this week to come in as your captain if you are looping.

Players from teams on the bye (Roosters, Raiders, Sharks etc.) won’t lock out until 4pm Sunday at the beginning of the final game of the round and can be moved around prior to that time.

Last week, it was incredible to see both Tom Trbojevic and Nathan Cleary flop as resoundingly popular skipper options.

Cleary was our number one option, however we did have Nicho Hynes as our vice-captain, so anyone who chose to loop his 156 points would be cheering.

Many stats below will be skewed slightly due to teams running out very different to prior weeks.

Onto Round 13, and keep in mind when reading, two skipper picks this week!

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TIER ONE

NICHO HYNES

Nicho looks the man for the job this week. Melbourne of course lose a few extra players from prior weeks, but their pack is still strong and their spine from last week is the same.

Their depth is so strong that even their depleted side warrants plenty of respect.

They face a Titans side that lose strike forwards in Big Tino and Dave Fifita which will hurt them significantly.

They’ve conceded the 13^th most points of any team this season, including recent returns of 38 v Sharks, 20 v Bulldogs, 48 v Panthers, 28 v Tigers, 36 v Broncos, 40 v Rabbitohs and 36 v Sea Eagles, what a shambles!

They also concede the fourth most SuperCoach points to fullbacks.

Nicho has a three round average of an astonishing 159 points!

Hard to knock…

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CLINT GUTHERSON

I expect King Gutho to fire following the Origin snub.

The Knights hit back last week with a tough win against Manly, but they lose enforcers Tyson Frizell, David Klemmer and Daniel Saifiti this week which are obviously huge blows to the go forward.

What I like about Gutho is that he’s relatively well in POD range and has a huge ceiling, so you can make up massive ground if he does go large.

He scored three successive tons not long back, including a 140 against the Dogs.

Prior to last week, the Knights conceded, 36 v Cowboys, 36 v Tigers, 16 v Raiders and 38 v Roosters.

The Knights concede the eighth most points to fullbacks which isn’t too bad at all.

Parra field a very strong side again this week, and the pack should get over the top of their opponents despite the loss of Junior Paulo.

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TIER TWO

JAHROME HUGHES

Hughes has become remarkably consistent this season having not scored under 52 since round 3.

He has a three round average of 81PPG and five round average of 93 points per game.

For all the reasons listed above regarding my lack of faith in the Titans defence, Hughes can go big as he runs the show in the absence of Harry Grant and Cam Munster.

The Titans concede the fourth and sixth most points to halfbacks and five-eighths respectively. Brandon Smith is also a decent option for owners, I just prefer the ceiling of Hughes/Hynes more.

ISAIAH PAPALI’I

It’s hard to fault what I.Pap has done this season. I’ll probably avoid him personally as I chase the high ceiling of outside backs and the fact he plays in the final game of the round, but it’d be unfair not to give him a mention with a season average of 85 points.

He’s the safest option this round and does have three tons to his name this season, including a 129 against the Raiders.

The Knights also concede the second most SuperCoach points in the competition to second-row forwards.

He’s basing 55 per game this season and would find an attacking stat while sitting on the bench!

It’s worth noting he has played 63, 69 and 59 minutes the last three weeks which isn’t ideal.

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CAPTAIN RISKY/PODS

MATT BURTON

I don’t mind Matty Burton as a sneaky option now that he’s playing in his preferred halves role.

I don’t rate the Tigers defence at all, and I think Penrith’s reserves can put a decent amount of points on them.

It’s hard to really gauge Burton’s history as he hasn’t played much footy in the halves in the NRL under the new rules in particular, but there’s very few reasons to suggest he can’t dominate.

Having spent the season at centre in a new-look team it’s also pretty irrelevant looking back at those stats.

The Tigers concede the fourth most SuperCoach points to halfbacks and the most of any team to five-eighths.

Penrith play in the second game of the round, so I like him a lot more as a vice-captain option so you have back up if the shaken up Panthers side do finally have a down week and Burton struggles with new combinations.

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TEVITA PANGAI JNR and JAMAYNE ISAAKO

Brisbane play in game one so it’ll be fairly tempting to VC TPJ or Isaako.

While certainly risky, Isaako is a pretty tempting play as a massive POD skipper who put 156 on the Titans a month back.

On any other week you wouldn’t dream of it, but with two cracks at skippers this week he is a little tempting.

The Dragons concede the third most SuperCoach points to fullbacks.

Isaako has three scores under 31 this season.

TPJ is always a huge risk of sin-bin, injury and just about anything else that can bring him undone.

However, in his defence he’s been on his best behaviour this season and has been durable thus far.

He has two high scores of bang on 100 this season, so his ceiling may not be that of others, but I do think he has a 140 odd in him by season’s end.

The Dragons concede the sixth most SuperCoach points to back-rowers.

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AVOID

RYAN MATTERSON

Playing in the final game of the round, massive HIA risk, back-to-back scores of 47 and 42 in 59 and 70 (sin-bin) minutes, not worth it despite being a proven gun.

TIGERS PLAYERS

I know plenty of Penrith players are missing, but I’m still not convinced the Tigers will rattle them too much.

The likes of Luciano Leilua and Adam Doueihi very well may score onwards of 100, I just prefer other options this week.

Doueihi is probably the one to gamble on as VC for anyone thinking it’ll be a Tigers romp.

VERDICT

Every Nicho Hynes owner should probably have one of their selections on him if nothing else but to play it safe if he goes huge again.

Lock that one in and hopefully we don’t need to worry about anything as he soars to yet another 150+ score!

I’m not a Gutho owner, but if I was I’d probably VC Hynes and skipper Gutho.

For me, the vice-captain must come from the opening two games, and Matty Burton looks good to me.

He’s sizzled this season at centre and gets a chance to run the show in the halves, very exciting stuff.

He could well get 25, but he also may hit 170, I’ll take that chance with Nicho ready to save the day should Burton fail.

Good luck this week!