NRL Supercoach Final Word | Round 3 trades and skippers

The year of the cheapie officially continues as SuperCoaches begin to mull over who they need to jump on before round three price changes.

There are just so many good options its truly hard to go wrong.

However, it’s always safer to grab cheapie forwards like Noah Martin and Ativalu Lisati, who may just become keepers, than it is to grab outside backs like Moses Leo and Setu Tu who will always be reliant on someone else passing them the ball to score well.

Just something to keep in mind before rushing to the bank with empty bags ready to fill with cash money. 

Normally, I would be boosting; in fact, normally, I would also be advising everyone else to boost as well to generate as much early cash as possible, but this year is different.

There are 10+ cheapies all with huge negative breakevens and most of us own them all already.

Save the boost, or if you’re content on using it then use it to go on the attack. 

Turbo Irvo sits 2299th overall after a big 1400+ score last week.

It’s actually extremely difficult for me to hold off from going all out attack at this sort of rank early in the season because its exactly how I won in 2019.

But times have changed and more patience is required to master the art of green arrows nowadays  – probably something you’ll find in Tim Williams autobiography. 

Thus I’m trading well within reason and bringing in two in-form 2RF with extremely low breakevens.

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Round 3 Trade Strategy:

Ativalu Lisati is a no-brainer for anyone who doesn’t own him.

He’s crunching out numbers that make him extremely playable in your top 18 and will continue to do so should he hold down the spot.  

The second guy I’m grabbing is Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, who is doing something very similar for the Phins.

He’s not traditionally been a great SuperCoach asset and probably won’t end up being a keeper, but he will make a bunch of quick cash and help me jump to Reece Walsh as flex next week.

Other players I’ve pondered this week are: Leka ‘The Wrecker’ Halasima, who is certifiably a good buy in a red-hot Warriors outfit and may just turn into a keeper if given the green light to truly spread his wings.

Isaiah Papali’i is another guy who you simply cannot take off your radar if you take the game as seriously as I do.

Ipap has the potential to average 70+ with 80 minutes on an edge, not to mention he’s FRD dual as well. 

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For SuperCoaches targeting CTW guns i think it’s clear the top 4-5 guys from last year will be the exact same as this year.

Val Holmes and Jacob Kiraz, in particular, should be on everyone’s grocery lists over the coming weeks as they have the potential to string together season-ending level sorts of Supercoach scores when in form. 

Apologies to those who brought in Kalyn Ponga last week based on my advice that he was probably the guy to grab (and he was for 25 minutes).

Sua Fa’alogo continues to go nuclear and punish non-owners while Tommy Turbo, Reece Walsh and James Tedesco all look ready to push for that number 1 spot. 

Reece in particular has all eyes on him as he picks up the goalkicking duties due to injured Adam Reynolds.

Despite having Melbourne in Melbourne, I think he can go big, and he’s quickly become my number one player that I’m most scared to death ride after his antics at the end of 2025. 

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Round 3 Captaincy Options:

Captains this week are likely to be a decisive factor, with many decent-looking matchups on paper.

Cleary looks good for a VC against the Roosters on Friday night, as do Fa’alogo and Walsh down in Melbourne.

I wouldn’t straight C any of these guys, but one of them absolutely needs the VC this week.

For straight C, big Payne train will likely be my go-to man all season whenever I’m unsure. 

Although this week, I think Nicho Hynes and Keano Kini could be the pick of the bunch.

They should be safe as houses against the defences of the Dolphins and Cowboys, respectively.

Huge upside on both these guys if they can rack up a few attacking stats in games that should see plenty of tries scored. 

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NRL Supercoach Round 3 Trades and Captains:

Trades:

Myles Martin to Ativalu Lisati

Isaah Yeo to Kulikefu Finefeuiaki

Captains:

VC: Nathan Cleary

C: Payne Haas