Round 20 NRL Supercoach Wrap: 9 Things We Learnt

She’s a funny game! The weekend was littered with players who could have been traded in at a moment’s notice, but each target seemed to have something going against them!

Walsh looked busted in Origin, but exploded on Saturday putting any doubts about his fitness to bed, all the Rooster targets had a tough match against the Storm which came to fruition and Ponga looked like he needs another run or 2. 

Then there was Cleary with the huge BE but showed us that really doesn’t matter, and the sooner you get him in the better. 

Turbo too has the Roosters next week into a bye, some many would have held off trading him in but who really cares about that when he posts 170+?! 

Turbos Hamstrings decided to wait and see this week, not making a single trade, despite having 11 left. I scored 1,234 thanks largely to some big scoring backrowers in Fifita, Burbo and Luki.

Tough being named after Turbo and watching him as a non-owner. 

That was enough to see some green arrows, putting me up 378 spots to 5913 overall. 

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1. Sir Ted has relinquished the Throne. Arise Sir Tom

*Checks notes and files same write up from 2021*

I mean, that would save me some time!

It was the 2021 version of Turbo on Sunday and not only left the Titans in his wake, but every Supercoacher who decided the smart option was to wait on him!

His 174 just obliterated every non-owner and left many of us languishing.

A popular captaincy choice as well, owners will be riding the green arrows well into next week!

Not even a global IT outage could have stopped the great man on Sunday. 

As a Manly fan I was ecstatic, playing good footy, defence stiffened up and the points are coming in waves.

As a non-owner part of my died inside.

Was I trying to get too cute and wait until after the Roosters and bye? Yes.

If that makes me sleep better at night I’ll go with that

The Roosters and bye poses a very tricky question for us non-owners.

Do we wait the 2 weeks? Or take the risk of him doing the unthinkable and putting another monster score on the Chooks?

I think the Turbo train has left and we now must wait on the platform for whatever looks like catching him.

Taking out his return in the centres, he has scored owners 293 points in 2 weeks. Most would have captained in those weeks too, so nearly 600 points in 2 weeks. Absurd!!

Teddy still remains the number one option for the run home, but very hard to not partner the 2 of them together. 

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2. One game to end all weeks

These games pop up every now and then and to those who have invested heavily often have to look away!

This time round it was the Melbourne and Chooks game, with some heavily owned players going about their business!

And for all the points some of these players have given us in the past month or so, they were nowhere to be seen on Saturday.

Owners of Wishart, Hughes and Walker were all in and they drew a 2-7 off suit.

The attacking stats didn’t come in a bit of a slug fest, and they tanked to put it gently!

Wishart was busy but with no attacking stats relied heavily on base for his 41, Hughes was brilliant but not in a Supercoach way for only 25 and Walker, playing behind a beaten pack could only find 40.

The feast of points has turned to a famine and single handedly, ended a lot of Supercoaches weeks and that’s before I touch on Teddy and Papi later

Onto the forwards and Katoa couldn’t find the line like he seemingly has most of the year and ended with 56.

Thankfully for owners, Crichton seems to be allergic to getting tackled with the ball and offloaded around 63 times to amass a solid 74. This appears to be his floor.

It’s taken weeks but finally paid off not owning Hughes, Walker and or Wishart!

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3. Cleary returns and parachutes his way into 1,450,000 teams next week

It was inevitable, wasn’t it?

His hammy was good about 5 weeks ago and the Panthers just decided to give him an extended holiday, so he was right for the run home!

Returned with a bang on Sunday steering the Panthers to a GP victory nailing a 40m+ field goal just to remind the competition he is back and ready to go!

To those who held off with the high BE, patience wasn’t quite a virtue, but has saved us around 70k meaning he will be a tick over $700k come Monday.

Those who did jump on though are 105 points better off and probably 105 spots further up the rankings than us

I wouldn’t be waiting too long to jump on but to those who are AntiPODding him.. I wish you well.

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4. Liquorice all sorts weekend for fullbacks

Well the number 1 spot has been where this year has been won and lost on ranking points and Round 20 only muddied the waters for us!

Teddy, a popular VC or C choice was kept well under wraps by a gritty Melbourne defence.

He tried all night but the swathe of attacking points that have come his way of late were nowhere to be seen.

He posted his lowest score since his round 7 match against Melbourne (pattern emerging?) His first score under 81 since Round 7.

Paps was another many turned to to gain some momentum on the run home, but he too was a victim of an attacking wasteland and only posted 35 which include a TA.

He has a soft draw incoming, so plenty might look to bring him in, but he does look a yard or 2 off the pace. 

Ponga too couldn’t get moving giving new and potential owners a headache as he now heads into the bye with scores of 71 and 49 since his return. Cut price Ponga incoming!

The answer though lied in the beaten and bruised QLD backline members in Walsh and Hammer and of course, a well rested Turbo!

The manicured eyebrows of Reece Walsh were no match for a Knights side whose edges look shakier and skinnier with every passing week.

His speed was no match and with Reynolds back pulling the strings, looks an ominous player to not own.

His 113 brings his 3RA to 102 and has a 5RA of 90.

Bulldogs, Titans, Cowboys and Parra, there may be some points!

Imagining talking about buying him then pulling out.

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5. Barnett resumes proceedings from Wednesday night

Too much for a front rower yada yada yada. The man is on another level!

Barnett was enormous for the Blues on Wednesday and got the Virgin direct from Brisbane to Canberra and took off where he left off, albeit in a darker jersey!

Has been far and away the form front rower in Supercoach and just posted his 5^th big attacking stat in a row, bagging a try after being moved to the left edge.

It doesn’t matter where he plays though it seems, the stats just keep following him!

And I remember a time he was banging goals over for Newcastle.

After CHT missing a few crucial kicks, does he take control of the tee?

I only shudder as a non-owner if that happens and have no way to trade him in unless I move 4 players on. 

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6. Room in the toolkit for a Hammer?

Gee he looked good didn’t he!

Thankfully he saved his brilliant flashes for Sunday and not Wednesday, but are we looking past a proven scorer?

One of the only players to score well at FLB against the Panthers, he scored a double and set another up on his way to a season high 123.

Kicked off the year with a tick under a 100 average, then was cruelled by a hamstring injury.

Posted 94, 41 and 73 in his 3 games preceding this one showing us that he might just be warming up!

He is available at CTW which is perfect and will only be a touch over what he started the year at.

A mixed bag in terms of matchups, but if he can put 120+ on the Panthers, then anything is possible!

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7. Campbell crashes back to earth 

Owners incredibly quiet, non-owners telling us we told ya so!

A low score for Campbell as he couldn’t break through the Manly front line.

It was looking good early (from a Campbell-owners eyes) as the Titans found 2 quick tries but that’s where it ended.

Campbells brilliance of late couldn’t make a dent and he was left only to rely on his base.

He managed to score 42, which with his –30 BE will still net him roughly $60k, he will probably peak in price next week where a straight swap for Cleary is on the cards.

Those who bought would be looking for a cash out option, but with many running low on trades, maybe the play is to hold and see if he can find some monster scores again?

The $800k+ price tag though means owners can move to Cleary and make money. 

Dolphins, Broncos and Sharks in the next 3 weeks.

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8. Fallen out of love with your Valentine?

Big worries here for Val owners! He has fallen way back in the CTW pecking order and looks a shell of the player he has been!

Backing up after Origin, he only managed 44 which included 16 points in goal kicks. 

His 136 against the Tigers way back in Round 12 seems an outlier as that was the only score above 76 in the past 11 games.

The Cows have a favourable draw, playing a majority of their games in Queensland, but can you hold a $620k CTW who has a 3RA of 54?

His 2 lowest scores of the year have come in his past 2 games.

There may be a 120+ left him in, but how patient do you have to be to see that?

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9. Minute Watch

Raiders v Warriors
Smithies 62, Starling 80, Young 80, Tapine 54, AFB 68, Barnett 73, Egan 80

Rabbitohs v Tigers
Cook 80, Keon 80, Maole 25, Fainu 80, Da Silva 69, 

Knights v Broncos
KPP, 80, Brailey 71, Lucas 80, Crossland 54

Storm v Roosters
Grant 80, Chan 21, Faalogo 4, EKat 80, May 46, Watson 70 (Sin Bin), Crichton 80. Whyte 33

Panthers v Dolphins
Sorensen 82, Henry 64, Cleary 82, TPJ 33, Lemuelu 68, Plath 82

Sea Eagles v Titans
Burbo 77, Lawton 80, Fifita 80, Randall 72

Cowboys v Bulldogs
Cotter 61, Robson 80, Luki 63, Lolo 46, Curran 72, Hughes 37, Preston 68, Mahoney 80