Clem’s Captains: Round 10 NRL SuperCoach Skippers

Magic Round 2025 is run and done, and what a weekend!

First up, how bloody good is it meeting people and having a beer and a yarn and watching copious amounts of footy and talking about SuperCoach followed by a dance and a singalong at 2am on a crowded Caxton dancefloor! 

What a bunch of legends everybody is, and a special shoutout to the Playbook subscribers and listeners – what an absolute crew you all are!! 

Times that by three days; add in a Warriors win where MetGOAT went wild and the stadium went wild and I basically spontaneously combusted willing us not to lose the lead in the last 5 mins

Prequal that with the upstairs of the Lord Alfred, where we Wahs fans took over and the sounds of Red, Red, Wine and Slice of Heaven interspaced with the chant of ‘Warriors! Warriors! Warriors!’ rang out across Caxton Street as the rain pelted down.

Finish each day with a tour of upstairs/downstairs/outside/dancefloor of the Caxton where you’ll meet the best of people, catch up with the best of people, and cut a shape or 10.

Throw in a cheeky kebab in the early hours of the morning from the king of kebab stores – Abrakababra.

Round the whole thing off with a 5am finish Monday morning, and the verdict is in…

Magic Round is the BEST weekend of the year – better than Christmas.

And I did it. I took out the Captaincy in golden point with a couple of attacking plays Sunday night, and thank you to everyone who messaged me that they had the Captaincy on me (I’m truly honoured and so happy that I double tonned for you).

But even though me and the legendary NRL Physio took the tough carries for the team through to Monday morning – really, can anyone beat the Spy’s effort almost managing to double ton in the space of 48 hours?

Credit where it’s due – a round of applause for him – probably the best 60-minute effort from a Captain in SuperCoach history (you may note that last week in this article we predicted him as a 4pm player – we’ll chalk that up as a win).

Now, for anyone who’s switched the Captaincy from Spy onto me this round – please note, I’m on a bye this weekend in preparation for the State of Origin double header.

I’ll be playing Friday and Saturday next week when my bestie comes down from the Goldie to represent QLD.

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We’re playing one match in Manly, followed by a match in the city… stay tuned for scores…

(I’ll give you the tip: she’s an attacking player known to run a 50-point play or two…)

Anyway, let us talk about this Captaincy article for a second, because we are on a bit of a hot streak here, which is very unlike us, and clearly the crystal ball I stole from Spy’s house is finally delivering. 

Friends, I’m not kidding – WE HAVE PREDICTED TWO CAPTAINS IN A ROW! 

Unheard of scenes!

So, while we’re on this lucky streak, let’s go buy a Lotto ticket, chuck a checky multi on, and dive straight into the Captains starting with…

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Captaincy Candidates

Hammer and The Fox

And let’s start with tonight, which could potentially be a big old defensiveless points-fest.

But even though there’s some real potential the Hammer could pull out a hatty, and Addo Carr could say ‘hold my beer’ and return serve with four tries to go with his hot streak of doubles.

My best advice here is if you have a gut feeling on a guy, just do it.

Now let’s move into the Friday night games, where we have some real potential for VCs.

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Kalyn Ponga and Fletcher Sharpe

And get ready to loop because Newie finally came alive for Magic Round, and if you have a Ponga or a Sharpe in your team, against those points-leakers, the Titans, this is an excellent VC.

The Spy (and everyone else who owned) was in raptures Saturday arvo when Sharpe celebrated his 21^st with a hat-trick and 128 SuperCoach points. 

The rest of us shed a gentle tear into our plastic cups of XXXX while we huddled under black umbrellas in the Lord Alfred courtyard, lamenting our lack of a Sharpe ton, as the grey Brisbane skies also released tears of rain that fell poetically around us.

Now with around 500,000 SuperCoachers trading him in this round – there’s a chance he could go again – do you risk not VCing him?

Against the Titans? I think not.

Of course, you might like to have a go at Ponga, who looked to ton himself before down-dates unkindly took him to a (still impressive) 98.

There were a couple of try assists FINALLY after what has felt like a 500-year attacking drought for those loyal amongst us who have held through the tough times.

But really, against the Titans – just take a stab at any of the Newie backline as VC and be done with it.

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Unless you have Payne Haas

Then, this is your safest and viable VC.

Brisbane did not buy into the magic last round and got the Benny Hill music playing instead, but Hass still managed to throw up an 87, the very best of the worst against the Panthers who had come to play. 

Over 65 points in base in that game, an average of 95, and playing the Bunnies who the Knights decimated last round, all leads to one verdict:

The Hass VC or Captaincy remains safe as Haases (I’ll see myself out…)

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Cleary because he’s Cleary

129 points, including his first try of the season, and Cleary took to Suncorp to make a statement vs the Broncos in his best game of the season, which would have given the Broncos fans who packed the stadium flashbacks to the 2023 Grand Final. 

The Cowboys can pile on points, but they can leak them even better – if Nathan can get a bit of a hot streak running and go two tons in a row – you do not want to miss out on that.

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Lil Papi

Imagine being the team to play the Storm after that absolute fumble against Ricky’s Raiders.

Imagine being a fly on the wall post-game in the Suncorp sheds, and at training this week.

The absolute tea you could tell.

And while I’d hate to be a Tiger this round coming up against the Storm, who will be out to slaughter; I am quite pleased I’m a Lil Papi owner and can chuck the armband on him on Sunday afternoon.

One of the best on ground last Sunday night, our favourite glorious mullet scored in his ninth game of the season.

And even though it stung a little, he only got an 80 in amongst the tons it was raining at Suncorp last round – I’ll be keeping the armband on him vs the Tigers, who have leaked 63 points the last four fullbacks to face them.

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Clem’s Verdict

Magic Round is the best weekend ever.

And it’s raining in Manly right now, so I might just go Nicho, just for fun. 

But while I flip the Captaincy back and forward between him and Lil Papi for the rest of the weekend, I’ll put my VC on that safety net masquerading as a Front Rower, Payne Haas (and then likely give Lil Papi another run at the Captaincy manifesting a double ton at home all the way).

But there are SO many options this round that could go massive – so if you have a gut play, go that guy. 

Imagine being the person who Captained Toia last Friday night while the rest of us benched him…

And on that note, I hope you have a beautiful weekend and your Captain tons up.

Quick Captaincy reminder – I’m on a bye this round, but I just spoke to the Spy who is apparently eyeing up a cheeky Thursday night whiskey, so a Captaincy option for sure right there…

Until next week,

Clementine xx