Final Word: Trades, tactics, tips, Round 19

Joey Manu! What can you say? For SuperCoaches there were levels last week. Starting at the lowest is those that don’t own Joey Manu which was about 68% of teams, next level was if you owned Joey and didn’t put the VC or C on him which was about 31% of teams. The 9% left either VC’d or Captained Joey Manu and were loving every minute of it.

The levels were only further exacerbated by the injury to the week’s most popular captain Ryan Papenhuyzen. Plenty of high scores with 8 x players scoring over 100 SC points and a further 23 x players scoring between 80-99 SC points for the round.

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Sets us up for a great finish to the season with two weeks to go before head-to-head finals and SuperCoaches in their various leagues scrambling for positions in the Top-8 of their comp. I was fortunate to put the VC on Joey Manu and was able to loop straight up through Trent Peoples.

With the strength of my squad my AE was actually 47 for Taylan May so I knocked out a respectable 1418 moving up a few spots to 1270^th and closer to my revised overall goal of a top 1000 finish. I won my key head-to-head clash and am sitting in 9^th spot in my cash league probably needing to win the next two weeks to secure a finals spot.

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Strategy

It’s a pretty obvious two trades this week to bring in Tedesco and Munster for Jarome Hughes (via duals) and Papi.

That will leave me with 6 trades left and a few holes left to fill coming into the last 7 weeks of the season. My HOK position currently has McInnes and Reuben Cotter. I feel I will need at least one trade to bring in Harry Grant or Damien Cook. Leaning towards Harry.

I also have space to trade out Ezra Mam and bring in a marquee HLF like a DCE or even a Jackson Hastings as a huge smokey. Alternatively I may just move Hynes to HLF and have the option then to trade in a Ponga, Latrell or Drinkwater.

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My other 2 key targets in an ideal world would be Tapine and To’o. It might be a stretch to think I could get all of these trades done with injuries, illness, restings and suspensions sure to take their toll on the back end of the season.

Good luck to all those Supercoaches out there with the run home. It’s going to be a challenging fun ride if last week is anything to go by!

My Trades this week will be Hughes to Munster and Papi to Tedesco.

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PODs & SuperPODS

Here’s the players I’ve identified as PODs (Point of Difference players – less than 10% owned) and SuperPODS (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-4 ranked)

1. David Fifita – undeniable upside but comes with some risk with the way under pressure coach Holbrook likes to change up his start-sit roles on a weekly basis. Might just be a risk worth taking in an interesting 2RF position. 75 last week and seemingly did little
2. Brian To’o – outrageous that he’s a POD. Doubt it will last.
3. Jackson Hastings – surprised his ownership was as high as 9% but I feel a lot of those would be sleeper teams that have given it away for the year. If he plays 80mins at lock on a weekly basis he will deliver 75+ avg and at that price he is a bargain!
4. Tohu Harris – as soon as you doubt Tohu he delivers. Doesn’t seem to matter if Warriors are winning or getting beaten Tohu is fixture proof and a solid 2RF POD for the run home.  
5. Nat Butcher –  Has averaged 62 in games this year when he’s played 80mins. With Sitili out for the season after doing ACL he should be set for big scores.
6. Kalyn Ponga – Was outstanding for the Knights backing up from Origin. Knights have a reasonably soft draw. He could explode and is kicking goals. Lots of plusses. Solid POD.  

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SuperPODs (My top-1 ranked)

1. Jesse Ramien –  Last two weeks has exploded into contention and is only 1.5% owned with a favourable draw for the Sharks after this week’s clash with Panthers.

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CAPTAIN

Its an interesting week for captains but I think James Tedesco will be a very safe, popular option for Supercoaches. Reuben Garrick and Isaiah Papalii look to be solid considerations for the VC playing early in the weekend and Valentine Holmes playing for a Cowboys team looking for a bounce back win at home against the Tigers might be the go for owners. I’ll likely stick with Garrick VC and Teddy C.

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TOPSPORT BETs of the WEEK

Please Gamble Responsibly

2022 – Starting with $1000 bank  

Current Balance – $594 (-$406)

Round 18 Recap

No good last week with the Bets. Storm cost us the multi and papi and lane didn’t get over the line to finish off the good work of Ola and Suaali

Round-19 Best Bets (Odds courtesy of TopSport)

Total Bets $54

Same Game Multi

J Suaalii/J Tedesco/A Crichton @ $14.29 x $20

To score a try Multi

J Suaalii/D Fifita/M Tualagi @ $10 (TopUp) x $34