Clem’s NRL Supercoach Captains: Round 14

I thought I had broken the curse.

Friends, I truly did.

All that chanting, all those crystals…

The buckets of superglue!

Everything fell apart Sunday arvo, when Super Mario Fullback Manu came across a Poison Mushroom Timmy Williams’ Captaincy and he reverted to Small Mario Manu and only scored a 51.

Either that or I used too much superglue…

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But let us not dwell on the past and instead reflect on the good news that, with the Chooks on the bye, I have a whole extra week to try and convince that Joey M Captaincy Killer, Timmy W, to take one for the team and trade him out of HIS team.

Now, on that note we are in Round 14 and word on the street is that there’s a bunch of teams playing short, if you’ve heard any of the panic coming out of Spy Headquarters over the past few days you know what I mean…

With the ‘will they or won’t they’ uncertainty of Origin players backing up and three teams on a bye…if you’re playing short take comfort in the fact that at least you have a free Vice Captaincy loop.

And don’t trade out Nicho if you possibly can help it. Spy, I’m looking at you. The backflips happening over in the Contributor chat are making me dizzy…

Now because we’re missing all our go-to Captaincy Chooks and the faithful Origin contingent can’t be counted as backing up, this week’s Captaincy choices are kind of like that box of Roses Chocolates where there’s about 3 flavours you and everyone else likes and someone’s going to get stuck eating the strawberry crèmes.

(As an aside, I absolutely abhor chocolate and fruit together…nothing ruins a good block of Cadbury’s more than a sickly-sweet fruit filling…)

Anyway…your Captains all play in the Saturday games…anybody else is a Vice Captain or a Captain Risky if playing after (so Vice Captain one of the next three AT LEAST).

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Battle of the Alphas

On Saturday at 3pm we have an epic points-scoring showdown between two Vice/Captains and I hope you have a piece of this in your team.

David Fifita – Those who have been around for the last couple of years will remember we had 2021 Fifita and then we had 2023 Fifita…and now we have 2024 Fifita.

And 2024 Fifita is also totally someone you would choose to shag in Marry/Shag/Avoid, because our 2RF King is absolutely getting involved in all the action this year, and the amount of scoring that’s happening for those lucky enough to have him on their team! It gets you hot just thinking about it.

(For those not up with the game, 2022 David Fifita was an avoid and not a shag, because he just stood to the side waving his arms around and didn’t get involved in the action).

With the second highest average so far this season (86) and fresh off the bye, David Fifita is 100% a Vice Captaincy consideration this round vs the Bunnies and I’m bringing him straight into my team.

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Latrell – IF you own Latrell, you must be congratulated as a pod-hunter with excellent foresight (please point me in the direction of where you purchased your crystal ball sir!).

Because even though he’s a massive risk for an Origin call-up after last Wednesday night’s send-off, at least you have one of the Captains of the Round in your team and one of the only decent fullbacks left for this round too.

With a 3-round average of 89, 3 try assists in his last game back in round 12 vs the Eels, and fresh off a bye, if you own Latrell vs the Titans this week, you absolutely should at least put the Vice Captaincy on him.

Especially if you like such stats as the fact that he has tonned up in his last three games vs them.

Scotty D

Well, well, well. Here we all were last week, thinking about which Rooster we were going to Captain for the absolute annihilation of the Origin-depleted Cowboys…when the correct answer was Scotty D (or Terrell May – congrats to the 0.5% of owners who clearly listened to the Joey M x Terrell May video when May scored a double back in Round 9 vs the Broncos and calmly told the 500,000 SuperCoachers who traded him out that week “look what I just done”).

Mic. Drop.

But we are here to talk about Scotty D and coming off the back of two tons, including a 101 vs the ‘sure thing’ Roosters, can you really ignore the second highest score so far in SuperCoach as a Captaincy option vs the Warriors even if the Wahs are off a bye and with most of the crew all back together again?

I think not. At least give the man a VC consideration.

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A few other Captains to consider

If you’ve put your Vice Captaincy on one of the previous three and they’ve failed to reach the lofty heights we expect from them, consider your Captaincy on one of these…

Jarome Hughes – With Munster out and Harry (hopefully) backing up from Origin, Hughes is definitely going to be winning that game of paper, scissors, rock. And we all know what that means – lots of lovely playmaker points for him vs Newy this weekend. Now, he’s only tonned up once this season, so proceed with caution…but if your VC has failed and you want to take a risk…

…actually you could maybe go his sidekick, the try scoring God Eli Katoa too…

An Eel. Moses, Gutho, DBrown – take your pick.

The crew’s all back together, and Round 13 saw the Eels beat the Sharks, 34 to 22. So, coming into Round 14 with the Monday game vs the Bulldogs, I think you could absolutely take a chance on one of these three.

Two try assists and 20 points in goals, saw Moses score an 86 last round to go with his 116 way back pre-injury in Round 3. He’s absolutely one to consider for the poddy armband this week if you own, if you just ignore the fact that he scored a 33 vs the Bulldogs to open the 2024 season…

King Gutho only managed a 66 last round (ironically the same score he scored vs the Bulldogs in Round 1), but on his day he can punish non-owners so you could definitely also consider a Captaincy on him in this weird week of Captains.

Dylan Brown looked a thousand times better with everyone back together last week, and with a try to make up his 76 points vs the Sharks, do you take the risk that THIS is the round that Dylan Brown FINALLY tons up for his faithful owners, including yours truly?

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Verdict

Honestly with a free VC loop for so many this week who are struggling to field a full 17, now’s your chance to go a bit left field on your VC, put it all on black, and whack it on an out-of-the-box player who looks a sniff of a ton up (Lomax anyone?).

I truly think the Captaincy this week belongs to Latrell, Fifita, or Scotty D – sit back, crack open a beer, and get ready for a Saturday ton-up frenzy.

For the Friday Beers, with a full team of 19 and at risk of a Sam Hughes’ 16 as an AE, it’ll be a VC on David Fifita into a Captaincy on Scotty D…unless the horror of having to watch the Wahs game and will them to win vs willing my Captain to ton up vs them gets the best of me.

But whoever you Captain, I hope he absolutely tons up for you, and may your weekend be as glorious as Jakey T’s glorious thumb.

Clementine xxx