The Final Word | Round 22 NRL Supercoach Trades Plans and Strategy

With just six rounds left in the season, it’s time for Supercoaches to pull out every trick in the book that they possibly can as they hunt for the best possible finish, whether it be for overall or head-to-head.

Turbo Irvo has unfortunately been unable to get off the ground this season, hard stuck at about 4,000^th overall for the last few months, thanks to a lack of Herbie Farnworth in my side. 

It’s not every year that a CTW will burn you for multiple hundreds of total points due to one wrong selection, but this is a perfect example of it happening and me not reacting fast enough to get him in, then doubling down on the decision to deathride him and getting even further in the hole.

Alas, I still have some H2H cash comps to win, and my team is looking relatively strong across the board with 4 trades left heading into this week. 

Embed from Getty Images

Round 22 Trade Plans

The first trade will be injured Jahrome Hughes back to Nathan Cleary, which is simply a trade that needs to be done.

Housekeeping, if you will.

The matchup against the Titans is a straightforward captaincy on Cleary, who has still yet to turn on the thrusters this season, in my opinion, which is scary considering he is still comfortably averaging 80.

If you’re tossing up going against Cleary, my advice is simply don’t do it to yourself.

He will likely crank out a 150+ at some stage over the next 6 weeks as Penrith make a serious push towards the top 4. 

For those teams stuck with Dylan Lucas or Koloamatangi at 2RF and wanting to offload them, there are a handful of decent options that have put their hand up recently.

Embed from Getty Images

If you believe the Penrith late-season push will continue, then Isaah Yeo is the man at $545k.

Yeo has been a little down on his best this season, but last week’s 83 in 70 minutes was an impressive display of base on top of the crafty ballplaying try assist in the attacking 10. 

Currently I’m leaning towards Lucas to him as my second trade, but that’s because I already own Hudson, Ekat, Angus and Kikau, who I believe are the top 3-4 guys in the position for the run home. 

Fantasy NRL markets have arrived! Alongside our mates at BetBuzz, we’ve designed unique fantasy based markets pitting players together by position every round. Check them out here!

In CTW, we have a fairly obvious top three in Kiraz, Farnworth and Lomax who are cementing themselves as must-owns for the next decade of our lives. 

Reuben Garrick isn’t far behind, and neither is Dane Gagai, who has emerged in recent weeks as a super POD with goalkicking duties on top of a move to fullback, where he sees a lot more touches, meaning more base and more base + power, which is his greatest Supercoach asset. 

In my eyes, there actually isn’t that much to be done in terms of attacking the CTW position with differentials this season because the top guys are just impossible to bet against.

Embed from Getty Images

Round 22 Captains

As for Captains this week, I don’t think you can look past Cleary against the Titans, especially if it’s dry weather on the Gold Coast compared to the predicted rain in Sydney.

Harry Grant becomes a viable VC against the Eels tonight, and will almost certainly continue to cause mischief around the ruck with the zippy Papenhuyzen and Wishart lurking for any gaps.

If you’ve taken a risk on Reece Walsh at fullback, then I think this is the game you also have to risk some form of captaincy on him, as it could be an absolute feast for him. 

Good luck and remember to be cautious about overplaying your hand too early, especially at the single or double-digit rankings.

There is still lots of footy to be played out over the next month and a half. 

Embed from Getty Images

Round 22 Strategy

Trades:

Hughes OUT. Cleary IN

Lucas OUT. Yeo IN

Captains:

VC: Haas

C: Cleary