NRL Supercoach Finals Week 2 | Final Word

Week two of NRL Supercoach finals is here, with the big guns standing up in style in the opening week.

Was last round a lesson in simply backing the proven Supercoach players, or do we look for an edge with low-ownership options to potentially skyrocket up the rankings?

It won’t take much to make moves, at all…

Only 38 points separate the top 10 from the top 1,000, while 167 points separate the top 10 from the top 10,000!

With triple skippers that can be made up very, very quickly.

As the clock ticks down to Saturday night’s opening fixture between the Raiders and Sharks, it’s time to lock in a Supercoach squad for the weekend.

Here’s the Final Word ahead of NRL Supercoach finals week two.

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Strategy

Could combinations be the best play in week two?

Finding the players that frequently combine for major attacking stats is a popular Supercoach tactic, and with just one week to worry about and no concerns any further ahead, it looks as viable as ever.

We know the weak defensive spots of each side, so do we simply go all-in on the players hitting those spots?

Linking a halfback-5/8 with their edge back-rower is the obvious move, or perhaps a fullback with the winger on their preferred attacking edge.

This week, it’d be players like Blaize Talagi into Casey McLean, Braydon Trindall into Teig Wilton, Blayke Brailey into Addin Fonua-Blake, take your pick!

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Match-ups to target

Penrith’s left edge attack at the Bulldogs right edge defence

The Bulldogs right edge concedes 46% of all their tries, compared to 37% on the left, while Penrith’s left edge scores 50% of all their tries.

Further, Stephen Crichton is likely out, meaning Bronson Xerri shifts to the right edge, which adds to further disruption, granted he’s an extremely underrated defensive player.

As per last week, this brings into calculations Casey McLean, Blaize Talagi and Brian To’o, who played left wing last week.

I feel the Bulldogs are fairly tight in the middle third of the field, and Xerri is solid in contact himself, so To’o on the flank is the standout to me.

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Cronulla’s left edge attack at Canberra’s right edge defence

The Raiders’ right edge concedes 52% of all tries, compared to 37% on the left, while Cronulla scores 47% of all tries on their left edge.

This brings into contention Braydon Trindall, Teig Wilton, KL Iro and Ronaldo Mulitalo.

I find that all are extremely viable options this week and will be in POD range, with Iro catching my eye most of all.

POD plays

It’s hard to know exact point of difference players as we only have ownership stats for the top 10 players, but we can have a bit of a stab at those who will be avoided by most.

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Tom Starling

Blayke Brailey is 62% owned, I suspect that number would be higher among top-ranked Supercoaches.

He comes up against the Raiders’ middles, who defend extremely well, so finding attacking stats will prove hard to come by.

They’re likely to be fatigued, so it’s not to say he can’t have success, but it does open the door for the in-form Tom Starling, who outscored him by 10 points last week.

Starling’s running game seems to improve with each game he plays.

Currently, at sub 25% ownership (no exact % given), he’s a great alternative to Brailey.

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KL Iro

Iro had 22 runs and 19 tackles last week in a great show of work rate which he’s well-known for.

He scored in nine straight games prior to injury but has yet to find the line in three games since.

He’s come very close and is a huge chance to capitalise with plenty of ball expected down the left this week.

With elite base and power, a great try-scoring strike-rate and a great match-up he looks an excellent option.

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Captains

As we know, captain scores are multiplied by three while vice-captains are multiplied by two.

I’ve discussed it across multiple shows during the week and in the article last week, but I feel the safety-first approach to skippers could be the smart play.

The final month of the NRL season is when we see enormous scores as teams that are flying put the sword to decimated sides that have a ticket booked to Bali.

Don’t have short memories, this isn’t going to continue.

NRL finals are a different beast, with the cream of the crop on the field and everything to play for.

The ceiling of the best attackers reduces, while the ball in play will only enhance the work rate of the best forwards.

This was reflected last with Walsh the outlier with 128 points, aided by 95 minutes of footy and one of the great individual finals performances you’ll see.

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Of the popular Supercoach players, it was forwards in Payne Haas, Eliesa Katoa and Hudson Young who delivered the best scores.

All that being said, Haas and Katoa aren’t in action this week, which makes it a little harder to target forwards.

People will flock to Nathan Cleary, and it’s hard to ignore the star halfback.

While the Bulldogs’ defence is great, he’s pretty well match-up proof and is one of the few players this weekend (based on weekly match-ups) that has a high ceiling in my opinion.

I’d be very reluctant to go against him, the play could be to lock him in as vice-captain rather than captain if you’re wanting to play a little differently.

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Joe Tapine is the safe option, he’ll play big minutes, get through a tonne of work, and hopefully free the arm for a few offloads.

He should be good for a safe 60-70 points, but he does lack upside, barring a try or assis,t which would edge him towards the 90-100 mark.

Teammate Hudson Young is different; he won’t guarantee you the safe 60-70, but he can go 100+ on any given day.

He has a great match-up running at Nicho Hynes and the weaker edge of Cronulla and will be fired up after the controversial sin-binning last week.

Lastly, Dylan Edwards up against the Bulldogs.

He hasn’t set the world alight of late and may potentially be carrying a niggle, but he’s also a proven Supercoach gun.

He’ll get through tonnes of work and needs only one major attacking stat to propel himself towards a 75+ score.