To build the bank or break it? That is the question

After scoring 1188 this week, Turbo Irvo slipped a few hundred spots to 1700^th overall, and much like my fellow contributors, I just haven’t been able to string together two good weeks in a row all season.

I’m not sure if the quality of SuperCoach has gone up this year or we are all just washed has-beens, but it’s clear it’s going to take a superhuman effort to push towards the top 100 over the last 9 weeks.

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The predicament for many this week is whether to slide in Munster at 5/8 or to wait until round 20 to grab him. Last week I was all over Munster and was 100% grabbing him (until the late out), but the matchup against Penrith this week is not particularly enticing so I think I’ll hold off a few weeks. In saying that I won’t be surprised if he comes out and still scores 100 odd, especially after the week off.

It’s quite rare you get a really solid cheapie in 2RF this deep into a season, however Brendan Piakura is that guy. I’m eyeing off a trade of Zac Hosking to Piakura this week, and I suspect a few thousand SuperCoaches will make the exact same trade.

We know that guys like Cleary, Fifita, Tino and Latrell are essentials for the run home, and most of us have probably sold them over the last month, so building up the bankroll is almost certainly a positive EV play given the circumstances.  There are no other cheapies around that really catch my eye, so I’ll be taking this one while I can.

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My 2^nd trade will likely be offloading Tolutau Koula who I brought in as mid-season POD, but it just hasn’t come off. To whom I trade him is undecided, however I like the look of the entire Sharks backline, literally all five of them are SuperCoach gems.

We know the Sharks absolutely dominate the bottom teams, and SuperCoach scores go bonkers when they put 40-50 on.

I already have Talakai, who despite not scoring any huge tons has been relatively consistent with his scores all year and a breakout 120+ sort of score could be just around the corner.

Jesse Ramien is the perennial Sharks option who always promises so much, and no doubt we’ve seen his upside when he goes on a tackle busting tear, however I’ll have to pass up on him as well as the man outside him Sione Katoa.

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This of course leaves Will Kennedy and Ronaldo Mulitalo, and this one has truly been keeping me up at night. Both guys are capable of putting on some enormous scores and scoring hattricks.

Ronaldo is slightly more credible given his past few seasons, however Kennedy to me looks in career best form. At this point I’m leaning towards Kennedy simply due to lower ownership by the teams above me.

I’ve been slacking on PODs articles this year so its probably time to name drop a few who I think could be worth a look for the run home.

I think it’s fairly clear by now who the best forwards and halves are, and which guns to get back in post Origin, so I’ll focus on the CTW position which of course is the highest variance position due to having seven potential spots in your playable 17 each week.

And honestly, I might take this exact approach and try to play 6 out of 7 CTW each week for the final few months of the season in the hopes that I can spark a few massive scores like that of CNK (148) last week.

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PODS (no particular order):

Brian Kelly  – Priced at 602.5k, Kelly has flown under the radar this season whilst averaging 61.7. A very respectable average, however it just feels like CTW has really ramped up this year with many 70+ averaging players. If you think the Titans will find some momentum after beating the Broncos last week then it’s possible that Kelly can match it with the big boys in CTW for the run home.

Herbie Farnworth – Farnworth is also one who has somehow managed to average around 60 without doing too much – his base and power has been insanely good with lots of tacklebusts to bolster up his scores. Priced at 602.7k, he’s one you can take a punt on if you think the Broncos will continue their roll heading towards finals.

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Dominic Young – Yet another 60+ average CTW who not many have jumped on this year. I had to sit through him scoring 4 tries against Manly earlier in the season for a massive 148, so the ceiling is there. The Knights have a relatively easy draw to end the year playing a lot of the very bottom teams, so you could definitely take the punt on Young at 617.3k and play on matchups.

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak – No joke that’s the first time I’ve written DWZs full name in years, because he just hasn’t traditionally been that relevant. But holy smokes has that changed ever since the Spy gave him a good talking to. The Warriors are a premiership threat, truly, and I only expect them to get better as it gets closer to finals time. 719.9k is a hell of a lot to pay but I just don’t see his price dropping that much from here, especially with that whopping 175 in his rolling average for the next three weeks.

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Trades

Hosking -> Piakura

Koula -> Kennedy

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