Round 14 NRL Supercoach Wrap: 10 Things We Learnt

Well that was a bit of fun now wasn’t it! 

We heard the pleas from everyone..  Keep an eye on round 14, it is going to be tough!

Well it gave us everything!

Huge scores, AE problems, players getting benched, Origin stars not backing up, whispers of players being dropped and some cracking footy.

What it did do was give a chance for those to really make some ground if you were savvy enough to have the right players.

There were some absolutely enormous numbers put out on the weekend, and if you miss the boat on them, chances are you were scratching around for a score.

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20 players scored 100 or more points. Some highly owned, and others, like Blake Wilson, owned by less than a percent.

It was tough to get 17 on the park and as the weekend rolled on, there were more questions getting asked.

Will the Origin players back up? Why has Brailey been benched? Why did I trade in Brad Schneider last week (That was a personal one).

Despite the mass resting’s and lack of bye players, Turbo’s Hamstrings bounced back in a big way, scoring 1270 thanks to Zac Lomax as a VC.

I only had 17 players so my AE wasn’t going to be a problem. Jumped 4472 spots into 5150 overall.

Here are the top 10 things we learnt from Round 14 NRL Supercoach…

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1. Lo.. no let’s go Max points!

There was a temptation to sell Lomax a couple week’s back, but my word didn’t he repay the faith on Friday night!

He was immense in Origin for New South Wales and carried that into Friday’s fixture against the Tigers hitting a monster 170.

Banged over 10 goals and scored three tries.

It seemed about a hundred of those points did come in the last 5 minutes but hey who’s complaining!

Owners were cheering, captainers and vice captainers were even louder.

It meant a stress-free weekend worrying about a captaincy choice.

Takes on Manly next week, into a bye than a Dolphins after Origin.

If he stays on the wing, he is obviously a season-long keeper. 

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2. TrellMit time baby!

And if you didn’t have Lomax, I hope you had Latrell!

The much-maligned Souths fullback was back to his barnstorming best on Saturday afternoon amassing a huge 150 points putting the Titans to the sword.

Looked like the Latrell of old in open space and more importantly, looked like he was having some fun out there.

Hope Madge was watching

Plenty traded it in the Supercoach gun and I hope it all pays off for you!

I mean 150 this week is absolute gold, however, takes on the Broncos next week and then will likely misses the Sea Eagles matchup with Origin and then has a bye following that.

So theoretically you have one more week? 

Enjoy it!

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3. Wingers are winners

Didn’t the wingers keep the Supercoach scorers on their toes this weekend! Wilson, Turuva, Lomax, and then the duo at Penrith kept the scores rolling! 

Nine of the ten tries on Sunday in Penrith were scored by the men in the 2 or 5 jumper with Tommy Talau crossing for four, and Brian To’o a hat-trick.

To’o was on 145 at half time and finished the afternoon with 171 backing up after Wednesday night.

Not sure too many out there would be an owner, but if you can get him in close to Round 20 for the run home, I think that’s the play. 

Talau featured in a few teams still but even if you still had him, playing him up against a Penrith side was always a risk.

If you happen to get him as your AE, mark this week as the pinnacle of your Supercoach year.

It ain’t getting any better!

But it wasn’t all 171s and 141s with Kiraz only scoring 60, Holmes 52 and the less said about Mulitalo the better.

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3. Storm rolling in

Melbourne got away with the victory, but they’re shaping as a very Supercoach relevant side.

This comes as no surprises but having players like Jahrome Hughes, Eli Katoa and Nick Meaney as a POD, you start seeing some green arrows.

And I didn’t even mention Tyran Wishart! Great to see the Overlord got something right this year.

His 122 on Sunday was a match high and he looks an absolute must over this Origin period whilst Munster is out.

Game is as good as any and Melbourne have lots of points in them.

Hughes was brilliant and in a halfback spot lacking it Hynes and Cleary, he is the next best option.

And is there any chance Sua Fa’alogo can nab a try?

Paps still might be couple weeks away, but he looks like he has got a 140 in him at some stage.

Just need it before he returns to take the 1 jumper back.

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4. Garrick can do no wrong.

Is Reuben Garrick the greatest CTW of 2024?

If he’s not I’m not sure who’s taking that mantle off him. 

Despite him sitting 7th in the overall scorers, he has just gone from strength to strength in the centres this year.

Banged out 93 on Sunday afternoon, despite leaving the kicking tee at home.

He is in everything, has a great bye schedule and in a game where few things seem to go his way, he still punches out great scores.

Manly have overcome a tough few weeks of footy and take on the Dragons, Rabbitohs, Cowboys Knights and Titans in the next 6 weeks.

Averages 82 without his HIA game.

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5. Captain’s fire or fall. Not much between!

Round 14 had a couple of popular captaincy choices. Problem was there was a gulf of points between them!

Scotty Drinkwater was the weekend’s most popular captaincy choice and he bombed out scoring only 45.

He had a runaway try but very little involvement in a Cowboys side that looked second rate against the Warriors.

I’m starting to go very cold on the Cowboys and he and Holmes might be next on the chopping block.

David Fifita was the second most popular choice and he did crash over for a late try for 81, but that wasn’t enough when players like Latrell and Lomax went crazy.

Hopefully though you didn’t have a Joe Chan problem with your AE.

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6. Are we going to learn from this round? 

Round 17 has the same problem as this round, three teams on the bye – Manly, Titans and Rabbitohs.

Are we going to learn anything from the debacle that was this round?

Locked in players like Armstrong, Hynes, Edwards and Robson were no shows leaving many teams short.

It was a juggling act to get 17 on the park, let alone 17 good-scoring players.

I was messaging one mate who only had 13, and was happy to break the news that Armstrong meant had 12.

You could do all the planning in the world, but as I said last week we can’t tempt fate, nor the coaches pulling a swifty on us.

Looking forward to seeing what further drama unfolds in round 16!

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7. Blaize. I will never stop writing about you

Well thankfully Barrett didn’t pull anything stupid on us and played Talagi ensuring another massive cash rise for us owners!

Crossed over in the opening exchanges, it was all smooth sailing from then as he finished with 69, and another 80k to his bank.

Will have made over 400k if you got him at bottom dollar.

And I don’t think there’s any reason to sell yet!

Playing on the wing outside Penisini and with a fully fit Moses, Gutherson and Brown pulling the strings, I can see some more big scores in him.

Will have a BE of something normal this week (44) against the Roosters but takes on Newcastle, Rabbitohs and the Titans after their round of 16 bye.

Supercoach has him predicted to get to 700k… Wow!

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8. Iro. The Base stat man sent from the Gods

Shout out of the week goes to Kayal Iro!

I don’t know what this guy has done to the attacking stats VooDoo doll but if this bloke could find a try or try assist it would be remarkable!

He scored two tries against the Raiders way back in round four and since then has only had one try assist.

Despite this, he is averaging 60. Absurd! 

Let’s hope when it rains, it pours!

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9. Hands down not the worst trade, but remains to be seen.

Brendan Hands was a popular buy this week – BE of -22 and starting hooker getting 80 minutes.. That was until T Baz got involved and named Lussick from nowhere in the 17! 

Didn’t eat into Hands minutes all that much as he still played but just having the 2 of them there means neither is a solid option movinig forward.

The benching of Brailey pushed some owners (Maxy) to bring Hands in.

He will make some coin for owners, but with no certainty of big minutes, there is a risk. 

And big concerns for Brailey owners.

Only played 31 minutes on Sunday with Crossland preferred. Knights looked a little sharper in attack so does not bade well from coming weeks!

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10. Minute Watch

Dragons v Tigers
RFM 80, JDB 41, Liddle 74, Fainu 80, Api 80

Titans v Rabbitohs
Haas 75, Fifita 80, Fermor 80, Keon 80, Moale 48 

Cowboys v Warriors
Luki 62, Lolo 52, Nanai 33, Barnett 58, AFB 55, Egan 56

Broncos v Sharks
Piakura 74, Haas 52, Hazelton 40, Nikora 80, McInnes 54 

Storm v Knights
Grant 58, Katoa 80, Chan 28, Brailey 31, KPP, 80, Lucas 80, Crossland 67

Panthers v Sea Eagles 
Sorensen 80, Henry 42, Ola 24, Burbo 80

Bulldogs v Eels 
Hughes 36, Preston 70, Curran 16, Salmon 80, Hands 69, Tuilagi 80, Carty 80, Lane 47