Jumping off the Overall train, but full steam a-head

• STRATEGY PLAYBOOK: Who to sit/start in your 17s
• CAPTAIN’S CHALLENGE: Who to skipper in Round 18

Sometimes you’ve just got to know when it’s over and for me the dream of an overall win or even top 100 finish is dead for 2021. 

But that doesn’t mean my Supercoach season is dead and buried. My focus has now turned to my two cash head-to-head comps. 

The Better than Lego Cup is a comp I’ve been in for maybe the last five years and is always a tightly fought affair. 

The prizes are split up in different ways which keeps it interesting. Prizes for 1^st and 2^nd, minor premiers and skins (most amount of weekly highest scores in the year) give all the lads involved plenty to play for. 

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The Topsport Charity Cup was started this year by Topsport boss Tristan Merlehan in conjunction with NRL Supercoach guru and NSW cricket player Trent Copeland. 

20 selected Supercoach players are playing off for a top prize of $10,000  –  $5,000 to the winner and $5,000 donated to their chosen charity of choice. 

The bad news is I’m running 11^th in the Better than Lego comp and 12^th in the Topsport Charity comp. 

The good news is in both comps I am only one win away from the Top 8. 

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However with only four rounds to go till finals start I need to win probably at least three out of my last four match ups in each comp. 

Might be a bit tough with only four trades left up my sleeve!

As many NRL Supercoaches would know and attest to, Head-to-Head competitions are a totally different beast and one of the keys which I obviously haven’t done is keeping trades in hand for the back end of the season. But all is not lost. 

My squad in general is pretty decent. I’m probably only lacking a second quality fullback to partner Tom Trbojevic and another strike CTW and I’m looking okay. The players I believe are worth keeping a close eye on and considering spending your all important last trades on to set your team are: 

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FLB 

Assuming everyone has Turbo then L.Mitchell, K.Ponga, J. Tedesco are the best options to partner him……I’d only consider Papi if he shows he’s fully fit and over all the concussion symptoms. My number one target is Kalyn Ponga. 

CTW 

Some combination of B.To’o, D.Gagai, A.Johnston, R.Garrick, J.Ramien and N.Hynes is what your CTW should be made up of right now. 

Let’s assume if you haven’t sold Hynes already it’s probably only a matter of time with Papi’s return imminent. 

Others to take a flyer on in the position include K.Staggs, D.Tupou, D.Nofoaluma, B.Best, T.Milne and D.Young. My number one target is Alex Johnston.

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5/8 

The key person in the 5/8^th position you must have is Cody Walker. 

Behind that there are many options and no real standout. A.Doueihi, C.Munster, K.Nikorima and M.Burton probably present the four most playable options as a second 5/8^th. 

If you still have C.Watson or J.Schuster I think they are more than capable of holding up a spot in the 17 or providing depth for the run home. 

I currently have Walker and Watson so I think I’m just going to have to ride out the season with Watson and play him on matchups. If I did have more trades up my sleeve my number one target would be Cameron Munster.

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HFB

With the injury to N.Cleary the HFB position is again not that clear. 

The big question is will you have the funds and trades available to bring back in Cleary when he comes back? And if and when he comes back will he be at the same SC pointscoring peak he has shown all year? 

J.Hughes, S.Walker, DCE, B.Hunt and SJ all present good options for the run home. 

I’ve currently got SJ and Nikorima, but with limited trades I won’t have the luxury to make any changes for the rest of the season so it’ll be a case of watching and hoping they can get the job done. 

Coming off a great Origin 3 Man of the Match performance I think Ben Hunt is primed to step up for a depleted Dragons side. 

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2RF 

D.Fifita, a fit T.Harris and A.Crichton are musts in the 2RF position for the run home for mine. 

Lolo is the big question mark. What minutes will he get from coach Todd Payton and can he return to being a SC stud? 

I have a stacked 2RF with Fifita, Harris, Crichton, Barnett, Papali’i and Josh Curran so I have more pressing issues to address with my last four trades. 

If the Jason Taumalolo of old returns however I may just have to find a way to get him into my team. 

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FRF 

Like David Fifita, and maybe even moreso, Isaiah Papali’i just has to be in your team. Preferably, unlike me, you have him in the FRF position. 

L.Thompson, M. Fotuaika present good second options. AFB, P.Haas and J.Papalii all look like having strong finishes to the season. If I had the trades I’d target and bring in Josh Papalii who traditionally finishes the season very well. 

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HOK 

Not much to see here. Brandon Smith is the best option by a fair margin here. 

J.Brailey and R.Mahoney have seen their seasons tail off Supercoach wise and H.Grant can’t get on the park. 

Of course if Grant can get back on the field and start playing decent minutes he’s the one to watch. I can’t see much else coming out of the pack here although Damian Cook was outstanding in Origin 3 and we know he is capable.