NRL Supercoach Final Word | Round 7 trades and skippers

Turbo Irvo sits at 5,231st overall after a few weeks of red arrows despite no major disaster rounds.

The rankings are always super congested this time of year, but will begin to thin out over the next month as we hurtle towards State of Origin.

One good captain, one perfect week of trades, or one perfect anti-POD, and you might find yourself skyrocketing up thousands of rankings. 

With news coming through of long-term injuries to highly owned guns David Fifita and Dylan Lucas, and similar panic over the role of Joe Chan moving forward in that Melbourne squad, it’s time we have a deeper dive into 2RF and assess who the best possible replacements are for these guys. 

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For me, Kai Pearce-Paul is the absolute top dog in the position this season. Averaging 87.6 so far and seemingly doing it with ease.

The offloads are coming off faster than the Supercoach Spy’s hair, and with guys like Bula and Doueihi always lurking, he is primed for LBAs galore this season. Just one guy you simply won’t regret buying.

Hudson Young comes in next best, averaging well over 80 as well. His ceiling was on display last week, clocking in 117 against Souths, which included two tries and an assist.

The Raiders’ game plan is clearly just to get the ball in space to one of Hudson or Simi Sasagi, who is also averaging 80+ and deserves a mention here as a fantastic replacement due to his dual 2RF/CTW status, but I much prefer him at CTW if possible. 

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Tallis Duncan is the next guy I’m extremely high on right now as a trade in, and if I hadn’t already stacked my 2RF last week with a few guns, then he would probably be the guy I would be grabbing this week, great differential.

Runs hard lines and will score plenty of tries on that Souths edge, and I honestly wouldn’t be shocked to see him become the number 1 averaging 2RF over the next month. 

Jacob Preston must be spoken about after a scintillating 118 against Penrith of all teams. The plan was clear (target Blaize Talagi), and the execution was flawless thanks to some sharp passing and good positional play from Lachlan Galvin, which allowed Preston to do what he does best, bust tackles and break lines.

If this Galvin/Preston continues to evolve and prosper, then he will become a must-have.

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Kulikefu Finefeuiaki and Haumole Olakau’atu are also amazing buys and are almost certainly keepers at the position this season.

However, my one glaring concern with both these guys is how much durability they have, both with such a battering ram play style, and therefore, they are definitely higher on the risk/reward spectrum than some of the previously aforementioned players. 

Now, for some talk about the guns you may have missed.

For me, Adam Doeuihi is right at the top of the list, and my word has he punished the doubters. An average of 94, which almost certainly would be 100+ if he had retained the goalkicking over the last 3 weeks.

Just an absolute monster on the ball, runs galore, and busting tackles with ease, he looks an absolute must have, if not at halfback (presuming you already have a Cleary/Hynes stack) then at flex.

The Tigers draw does toughen up over the next month, but I still think AD will prosper as long as he remains healthy. 

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Tannah Boyd continues to out-average Nathan Cleary at halfback and doesn’t look like he’s going to slow down. He has turned into the ultimate accumulator and has the dream run of Titans, Dolphins, and Eels over the next 3.

We might see some huge 150-type scores from him soon to continue putting pressure on Hynes/Cleary/Doueihi for the top SuperCoach halfback mantle. 

Jake Clifford is another guy who has seemingly gone completely under the radar despite being the top-scoring 5/8 by a significant margin.

As long as the Cowboys continue to put up points, he will continue to average 80; it’s just that simple.

Another positive is that Drinkwater and Purdue’s points aren’t detracting from Clifford’s, which is a telltale sign that all the chefs in the cowboy kitchen can work together and produce delicious Supercoach Michelin star meals. 

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Now onto my trades for the week, and speaking of Michelin star meals, they smell like perfectly cooked chicken, lightly Nawaqanitawase salted with a side of Tedesco sauce.

The Roosters have a dream 5-week draw, and so it follows, I am bringing in their two star players who both have absolutely insane upside if the gears to the machine get churning. 

Marky Mark running at Marzhew this week has me considering a straight C on him, but I may temper my expectations just a little bit so as not to anger the Supercoach Gods.

Teddy is tried and true SuperCoach gold and will probably score more total points than any other player in Supercoach over the entire 10-week Origin and bye period, lock and load. 

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Trades and skipper plans

Chan—> Lisati 

Fifita —> Tedesco 

Iro —> Nawaqanitawase 

VC: Turbo

C: Cleary