NRL Supercoach 2026 Round 17 Wrap: 8 Things We Learnt

Dig up stupid!

When you’re in a hole, the only way is down.

I thought I had turned a corner when I brought in Haas and he scored 95, but that’s about where my joy ended. 

Ponga against the Tigers seemed to be the right move for a captain, only I didn’t realise the second half was to be played at the Newcastle swimming pool. Every week I say I’lll just Captain FRF May and be done with it

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Round 17 wasn’t the highest scoring round, but I’m tipping that if you are doing well overall, you would have had a pretty solid weekend.

Koula than Kaeo has run out of drawing boards, and might have to revert to scribbles on beer coasters. Having to play Lisati, Tu, Hosking, Chester and captaining Ponga meant scaling the lofty heights of a 1200+ score was severely out of reach. Finished with 1181, dropping 1776 spots to 44018 overall. 

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1. Cleary the right move to sell

A nervous 80 minutes awaited those Cleary sellers..

And when they came out from behind the lounge, or shopping, or wherever their safe place was, it was cheers all round!

A bold move to sell, but it has now paid off, as he was only able to post 62 with only 2 line breaks to speak of.

Through Origin, resting’s and whatever else Ivan is cooking up, he will have played 2 games in 8 weeks. He did though score 148 in one of those matches, but for what you have gotten for holding, it isn’t enough.

His next match is against the Broncos in Round 20 which will be 2 weeks post Origin. Depending on what happens in game 3, he will still have that elusive Dally M in his sights so he will look to turn it up a notch or 5. 

Non-owners, whilst they might be strutting around and happy with themselves now, need to start saving and planning now for Round 20. Not owing him against this Broncos side is like going in for an interview without pants on..

Bold, but probably not the play.

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2. Injuries hit at the most inopportune time

All that bye planning hey.. 

Round 17 saw the NRL Physio get into some of his finest work as some big names – notably bye coverage guns found themselves in the hands of the trainer and will feature in the Magic Sponge podcast.

Xavier Willison was a cruel blow to many who own and have owned for a while. Has been one of Brisbane’s best (Not all that hard) since Haas went down way back in Round 7 and copped a head knock to rule him out of the weekends match scoring only 12. Will miss this week’s crucial bye round matchup against the Sharks, then the Broncs have a bye where after that, both Haas and Carrigan will be back on deck, meaning bench or edge. Probably a sell now

Lisati too failed to finish the game as he hobbled off 4 Pines park with a lower leg complaint. Has been on the sell list for a few already, and the injury he picked up all but sealed his fate.

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Has a bye this coming week, but even 4-6 weeks out he is in no world a hold. In some way, I’m glad the decision has been made for us. His 114 against the Tigers in Round 10 was a flash in the pan it seems, as he hasn’t broken 68 in the 6 games following.

Kiraz seems to be carrying the weight of Belmore on his back, and a rib issue was the only thing holding him back on the weekend. The Dogs roll into a bye which might be just enough time for him to recover but will remain to be seen whether it hampers him post next weekend. 109, 108, 93 and 76 since returning. Gun CTW for the run home, just needs to stay fit

CTW May for the Tigers dislocated his shoulder again so that’s probably him done, and if he follows the same path I did with shoulders, he will be writing for SC Playbook in no time!

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3. Marzhew, pack your bags son

Its time we talked about Greg.

Those who were on board for his 204 don’t need to be in this meeting, this is only for those like me who are a whore for chasing points and jumped on after his 5 tries.

Do we need to have this conversation?

Since his 204 he has played 5 games and scored only 2 tries and now has 3 games on the bounce without crossing the line.

Scores of 56, 84, 37, 35 and 66 has left him with a 5-round average of 55. We paid up big money for him – 700k and he is losing money fast. Had a BE of 168 before Sundays match, so expecting him to lose 75k.

Conditions weren’t great for him to be fair, but to post scores like that against the Titans, Eels, Dragons and Tigers in that 5 week period isn’t cutting it.

Has a chance for a reprieve with the Dolphins this weekend and will be a key number, but with No ponga he may be back to where he started from money wise come this time next week.

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4. Ola and Duncan on fire in 2RF

Looks like those 2 tries from Haumole were enough to warrant selection in the Blues side.. Would hate to think what would have happened if he had only scored 1!

I posted on X after his performance on Saturday that Laurie will still go with Martin and here we are, but some just rewards for the games number 1 2RF.

A double in an early onslaught of the Storm, he will miss next week’s match against the Eels but after that, do what you can to get him into your side!

Owners would be happy to cop the one week missing (considering Cleary and the weeks he misses) but scores of 130, 96, 74 and 113 just scream must have. Will be 820k so might need to sell a Couch or 2 (See what i did there?) but either way, you aren’t winning it all, or your H2H without him

And Duncan in the centres is working out! Bit more open space and a real threat now on the right edge, those who have owned for weeks now were bullish about the DPP upgrade, are now cheering even louder

Bagged a double way back on Thursday night to finish with 117 and cement his status as season keeper. Being able to bounce him up and down will prove invaluable as the weeks roll on and the trades head into single figures,

5. Dolphins out in open water

Lid is off, Phins are up and we are all cutting up those plastic rings off our 6 packs, so the Dolphins don’t get stuck in them!

Serious footy side this one, and they could go on a run that brings the whole of the NRL together..

A GF between them and #Fozball really has no losers.

Herbie just rose above and did what he does best. Scored 99 for many who captained him. Bit short of those who VCd him but just keeps finding ways to score well. A big one is imminent.

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Bostock has been huge since coming back from his knee and now has a Blue jersey not with number 2 on it to show for it. Bad for owners, good for Blues supporters who like their wingers to be big bodied

Isaako has been great and kicks goals like he knows if he misses one, he has to room with Ray Stone for a week or something and JMK as a HOK option looks better and better as the weeks go on.

Not all great with Kuli on the slide, but does play this weekend. He hasn’t scored above 61 in the last 5 weeks and is bleeding all the cash he has generated. Maybe not one to run home with, but there are worse options. 

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6. Fullback Lottery

Are we ready to throw down and run the Fullback rollercoaster for the final 10 weeks?

There’s certainly no shortage of gun FLBs to choose from and if the weekend is anything to go by, the decision is as foggy as a Cooma July morning! 

Sua bounced around and seemed to do very little yet finished with 86. Since his lean run, he has gone on to score 92. 80, 139 and 86 for a lazy average of 99. If you don’t own, might be too late as everyone else does. Come deathride with me.. 

Turbo – See last weeks article. Owners alike will have him for an Eels matchup and he does his best work late in the season

Teddy backed up for his 3^rd game in 9 days – I was wrong on that but pulled back some love from owners with a 71 after 3 of the last 4 weeks of sub 50 scores. Will be 570k and his request for an RDO keeps getting knocked back by Robbo

Scotty Drinkwater has been meh to say the least. 100 here, the couple of 50s then looks good, then a bludger. Owning can’t be good for your health, but probably better than owning Walsh

And those who brought in Dylan Edwards looking for a POD, have found a POD, just not a very good one. An 83 against the Warriors a few weeks back piqued the interest of many who saw him as an integral part with no Cleary, no Origin and a good run. Since then, he has put together a pair of 74s and then only 31 on Saturday against the Cowboys.

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7. Marky Mark leaves no Mark

There was a choice for many Supercoaches this weekend – Marky Mark or Payne Haas.

Like those Super ads where one guy goes up the escalator and the other goes down.. That’s where Marky Mark owners were left after Friday night’s script flipping game. In the basement and now way out

He was meant to come out and tear up the Broncos right edge off the back of his Blues debut and 229 in the past 2 outings.

Not even close to his last fortnight, scoring only 28 which turned out to be his second lowest score in his short NRL career. His previous lowest? A 2 against the Broncos in Round 9 playing only 26 minutes.

That wont ease the pain for the 19781 of Supercoaches who brought him in for this matchup. Roosters have the bye this week coming, but Mark will be in Blues camp, then backs up against the Eels the Saturday after Origin. Its smooth sailing after that, until Rugby HQ get their dirty little hands on him and undo all the good work of the last 3 years.

8. Minute Watch

Eels v Rabbitohs

Williams 65, Kautoga 80, Smith 58, Fifita 80, Duncan 80

Titans v Bulldogs

Tino 73, Hau 29, Morrin 42, Pascoe 52, Thompson 57, Hayward 80 

Broncos v Roosters

Haas 80, Willison 9, Piakura 77, Whyte 56, Watson 41, N Butcher 80

Dolphins v Warriors

Kuli 80, JMK 71, Plath 61, Laban 80, Barnett 59, Egan 59

Cowboys v Panthers

Lolo 46, Mikaele 38, Luki 80, Nanai 80, IPap 66, Yeo 58, Garner 55

Sea Eagles v Storm

Ola 80, Burbo 80, Paseka 55, Lisati 56, Clarke 76, Grant 80 

Raiders v Dragons

Taps 52, Pattie 57, Young 80, R Couch 59, T Couch 62, Stewart 80, Egan 80 

Knights v Tigers

Crossland 80, Lucas 80, Mooney 49, Cant 12, FRF May 80, CTW May 17, Api 72, Sukkar 66,