Captain’s Challenge: Round 17, skippers to target and avoid

We’re one game into the shortened round 17, and already the captaincy decision has been thrown wide open.

Whether to captain Ryan Papenhuyzen or Nicho Hynes in the opening clash of the four game round was the big question facing SuperCoaches this week.

Then, Nicho was ruled out due to COVID, leaving just one man for the all-important job, Lil Papy.

What we didn’t predict was the near million dollar man scoring just 47 points (pre-updates).

As a hugely popular option, this leaves SuperCoaches with a big decision to make in a round with few obvious options.

With regular columnist Clementine Cassidy unavailable having been struck down by COVID (she claims it’s no coincidence the universe gave it to her and ‘Prince Nicho’ on the same day), I’ll step in to assess a few of the alternate options.

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SKIPPERS

Latrell Mitchell

I think Latrell is a pretty straight forward option now for anyone who jumped onboard the Rabbitohs fullback.

South Sydney are fairly depleted in their forward pack which concerns me that the star backline may not have a great platform to work off, but they’re still favourites with the bookies.

There are next to no other options this round with a ceiling of 150+ that Latrell boasts.

He was tremendous on return last week, and is kicking goals against a very leaky Newcastle defence.

Lock him in.

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Isaiah Papali’i and Shaun Lane

The safest options remaining this round.

While averaging 63 across the last five weeks, I.Pap has an average of 77 for the season which is immense.

He’s basing 53 per game and loves finding the tryline. He’s just about as safe as they come, and with Ryan Matterson and Junior Paulo out he should get big minutes and lift.

Shaun Lane is significantly lower ownership which excites me. Renowned for being a little attack reliant in his SuperCoach scoring, he’s based at around 50 per game the past five weeks which is on par with I.Pap.

Running outside Dylan Brown, attacking a lacklustre Tigers defensive unit, he’s every chance to add some attacking stats to that base.

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Dylan Brown and Mitchell Moses

Outside of Latrell, the Eels halves boast the greatest ceiling with the friendly match up against the Tigers.

Brown’s base is significantly higher than Moses which makes him a little safer, but the fact Moses kicks goals does bridge that gap a little.

Both men are capable of going big on their day, and despite losing to the Tigers last meeting, the Eels should have a few points in them this week.

CAPTAIN RISKY

Cody Walker

I can’t bring myself to go near Cody who hasn’t quiet been himself this year, but in his defence he’s not playing with a team anywhere near as strong as what he had last season.

Latrell’s return will help the entire team, and Cody, so hopefully he can edge towards last year’s heroics that saw him average a mammoth 84 points per game.

We know he can go big, really big, so there’s temptation.

As above with Latrell though, I’m genuinely concerned a near full-strength Knights pack could dominate the Rabbitohs, giving Cody very little to play off.

While he could go 100+ if the pack lift, I can also see him going sub 30, so I’m not willing to risk that.

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VERDICT

If I owned Latrell I’d be all over him this week, but I don’t.

After that, I’d lean towards the Brown or Moses camp due to their upside. Again, I don’t own, so we move on again.

As such, I’ll be going either of Lane or I.Pap, probably the latter option who is super consistent with upside.

Good luck to everyone this week which a truly difficult decision to make.

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