NRL Supercoach | Clem’s Captains, Round 9 Skippers

Well…

Last Thursday at around 9.40pm, I got a very memorable lesson in why you don’t ignore signs.

(Which was honestly an incredibly wild thing for me to do – I LOVE a sign, it’s literally my thing alongside mathematical physics and rain dances).

But you might recall a few weeks ago, I pulled a card on the Playbook poddy, and it was a gem of an Alex Twal card, and I gifted it to the OverLord, confidently declaring that this was a sign to bring the great man in.

And he did. 

But guess who didn’t – me, moi, yours truly… 

And I am suitably ashamed – I am supposed to be your Playbook Support Group Coordinator, and I failed at basic Sign Appreciation 101. I vow to do better.

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Because imagine not owning Twal as the ball gracefully left his hands and he sent Spy’s boy, Royce Hunt, skipping up the field to score a try as the Raiders parted like the Red Sea.

Big men doing graceful things. It’s poetry. It’s art. It’s a simply glorious thing. 

And as the 8^th Wonder erupted and the 978% of SuperCoachers who owned Twal rejoiced at his first SC ton ever, I sat there… smiling through the pain… quietly shedding a tear for the Friday Beers knowing that this was a dark omen…

Which, despite the heroic efforts of Latrell and Teddy and Nicho and Jackson and Nathan, came true…

Because Spy had himself a WEEK, and congratulations on your score, sir, you have now closed our gap by around 187 points… in one round.

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But now the battle lines have been redrawn, and after the last two rounds manifesting for you, you’ll get no more help from me…

…okay, okay…you can borrow my crystals…briefly…I am a literal slave to my kind heart…

And a score of 1402 sees the Friday Beers drop out of the top 500 to sit in 1,297 place. But it’s early days and onwards and upwards. Only 8 weeks in of a long season, and a few character-building reds never hurt anyone.

And what a week it was…TWENTY-TWO tons! Captains making it rain points and HOW GOOD!

And a huge congratulations to everyone – there were some MONSTER scores out there!

And this week promises another plethora of tons, so without further ado, let’s launch into some of the likely candidates, starting with…

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Scotty D

Friday, 6pm, it’s our first game of Round 9, where we have Scotty D vs a Bulldogs side who have not been looking like the same team that finally showed the Panthers they are kind of mortal way back in round 6.

(What’s the opposite of a flat-track bully?)

At only 6% owned, Scotty D is a major pod option, and if you are one of the lucky few to own him, you have to at least think about going against the crowd and consider a VC on him this round. 

127 points including a try and three assists vs the Sharks last week, he now takes on that crumbly Bulldogs right edge defence… and the Cowboys aren’t the Panthers…

While he’s dropped a few scores on the lower side this season, with a 3-round average of 95, we can forgive those rocks – VC this round and loop when he comes up diamonds.

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Teddy

There is nothing more glorious than sitting in the stands with a beer and live-manifesting your Captain to ton up.

And last Saturday arvo, the girls and I did just that, and the screams of elation when Teddy ran up the field and scored that try… what an absolute time to be alive!

Back-to-back tons bring his 3-round average to 118, and while he faces a much tougher matchup against a Broncos side that has been stringing wins together without Payne or Reece, you could happily give the VC armband to Teddy this week and get ready to loop if he goes big. 

Straight Captaincy is a little bit too risky for me…

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Latrell Mitchell

Welcome to the Latrell Fan Club, where the points are flowing, and the celebration circles just keep on going…

And honestly, if you’re one of the few death riding Latrell Mitchell, I hope you’re comfy behind that couch, my friend, there is not nearly enough whisky in the world for you.

FOUR tons in a row – 101, 111, 177, and 128 vs the Storm last Saturday night. 10 tries already this season. A 3-round average of 139… Most total points and highest average for SuperCoach 2026 so far… 

Should I keep going?

Playing Newy on Sunday arvo, at 961k with a 17-point BE, at approximately 4pm, we might have our first million-dollar man for the season.

The trade in-and-out section has become a feature of this article– and can we please get a Playbook Support Group message to the person trading Latrell out for Val Holmes asap…

Step away from the trade button, my friend, and give him the armband instead.

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Nicho Hynes

The weather is a fickle old thing, and while my early attempts at weathergirling for Nicho’s Sunday arvo match up against the Tigers are only turning up a grey cloud so far, if you’re a fellow Nicho owner, please do not discount the power of a good rain dance to turn a grey cloud into a literal downpour.

(We WILL get his hair wet even if we have to perform 10 rain dances and pour a bucket of water on it ourselves…)

And it was a literal downpour of points for the Wet Haired Prince up in Townsville last week, as he racked up 113 points, feasting on the Cowboys with a hand in 4 tries.

A 3-round average of 102, 4 tons so far this season, 8 try-assists, and 112 points in goals. I FINALLY brought him in last round, and he’s not leaving my team until I shut the app after SC Finals.

Playing the Tigers who have such SC Gods as Alex Twal in their team, this won’t be a romp in the park for Nicho, but if you want to go a bit poddy on the pack with your Captaincy (or VC if you somehow have a super rogue loop) – you could do no worse than Nicho and his Glorious Wet Locks.

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Nathan Cleary

Round 9 concludes with Nathan and Dylan and Co vs Manly on Sunday night.

And in a season where it’s raining tons and Nathan Cleary has scored 5 of these tons in his first 8 games – he’s basically a fixed feature of the Captaincy articles.

Our set-and-forget Captain threw up 106 points, including a try vs Newy last week. And with a 3-round average of 93, I’m not even looking at the stat that says the Sea Eagles only give up 50 points to halfbacks since they’ve been playing Fozball.

The only thing redeeming the Clearly Captain deathriders the past two games, is the fact that he’s playing a little game where he racks up points in the first half only…

And FYI – as one of those deathriders, I’m finally likely giving him the armband this week – so you’re on your own if you choose to deathride – there will be no more second half anti-point manifestations from me.

Do with that information what you will.

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Dylan Edwards

Our top-scorer for Round 8, Dylan Edwards, said ‘hold my beer’ to Teddy, as he whacked out a massive 151 points to stake his claim on the Blues fullback spot.

A HUGE first half vs the Knights, and Edwards got amongst the Panthers attack finishing with 3 tries, a try-assist, 2 linebreaks, and 2 linebreak assists – stunning times if you owned him.

(This game was less stunning times if you owned Jenkins, but we will allow him last week off scoring tons as he’s gonna make Spy pay for not owning him this week).

A 3-round average of 98 and only owned by 8% of teams at the time of writing, if you own Dylan, you may as well get a bit poddy with it and give him that armband.

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Verdict

I said it last week, don’t outthink the room, and this week that theme doesn’t change. Fullbacks and halfbacks are where it’s at this week – the plethora of tons being smashed out by the two positions is just too juicy and too frequent to ignore. 

For me, as a founding member of the Latrell Fan Club, he’s got my VC as we manifest his 5^th consecutive ton, while Nathan’s got my Captaincy right now – third times a charm for a game where there’s two (point-scoring) halves.

But whoever you Captain, I hope they score you an absolute ton, and I hope you have a beautiful weekend! Three games on Sunday… HOW GOOD!

Clementine xx