NRL Supercoach | Clem’s Captains, Round 20 Skippers

ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX POINTS!

196. Points. 

392 points for those who VC’d or straight Captained.

And I have never loved the loop more in my life. The hardest decision was which Couchman twin to give the Captaincy to (I went Toby in the end and thank god because that meant I played Hosking…)

And all hail our Wet Haired Prince, Nicho Hynes, who tore apart the Dolphins, putting up one of the highest SuperCoach scores ever, sending those who gave him an armband soaring up the rankings.

And thanks to Nicho and some elite performances by Timmy with his hattrick, Lucas, Tallis, Fifita, TMM, and Ponga… we finally did it! 

After 8782 years spent trying to crack the top 100, the Friday Beers scored a 1574 and rose 72 places to 50^th overall! 

I am in raptures! My goal this season was top 1000 so anything more is a bonus!

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And for those playing at home, that dastardly Spy is approximately 500 points behind me – the good news is we can mark Lucas safe from him for now as he hasn’t managed to bring him in.

And if you didn’t VC or Captain Nicho, don’t worry because there’s still literally 8 weeks left and plenty of time to climb (or tumble) up and down the rankings.

And just quickly, some nice news! It all went to plan, and Shang Tsung IS giving me my soul back! I’ll tell you what, not having a soul for two weeks was a bit weird, but I had faith I’d get it back this round and Lucas’ 193 points was completely worth it…

Welcome back Cleary and hi to new recruit Payne Haas too…

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Now onto the Captains in what is a completely weird week where we envy those who have one of Cleary or Nicho in the Flex, because those of us who don’t have a choice to make – do we go a VC on Cleary who’ll be starring in The Grudge Match, or do we go Nicho coming off what was basically a double ton?

I would like to petition a SuperCoach update: we’re allowed to choose one round a year where you can Captain a reserve – because surely this would be the week to do it.

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Nathan Cleary

At approximately 10pm tonight, Myles Martin could be the most Captained player of the year, or 60% of the top 10% of Supercoaches will be cursing putting the VC or Captaincy on Nathan Cleary…

(especially if it’s at the expense of Nicho).

But the fact that 12% of the top 10% are straight Captaining on a Thursday night and 10% of the top 1% are too – is testament to the elite option he is this round.

I don’t have the balls to straight Captain, and as someone who is already in a world of heartbreak trying to decide my sit/starts this week with absolutely no clue who I’ll drop if Cleary goes large – I envy those who do.

Coming off a Wally Lewis medallist performance, a NSW win, and fresh off a bye – it’s almost impossible to contemplate not putting something on Cleary tonight.

Not to mention he boasts an average of 98.5 and has 7 tons in his 13 games so far this season. 

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Coming up against the Broncos in the Grand Final rematch, the Panthers and Nathan will be going out there with a point to prove. 

But, while the Broncos have lost 8 in a row, and have been looking like the shell of the shell of the team that won it all last year – this week they’ve named their strongest side in weeks and weeks, and they won’t go down without a fight.

Cleary’s a safe bet VC choice this week, but I’m still chucking a tenner on the Broncos to cover all bases.

P.S if you’re going Tommy Jenkins as a pod play this is quite fun too and could be the antidote to the Cleary x Hynes dilemma…

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Nicho Hynes

ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX POINTS.

That is all.

(I wish so much I had him in my Flex… Sangsta, can we PLEASE just give him some sort of dual for this round…?).

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Kalyn Ponga

Facing up against Nicho and co, we have Kalyn Ponga, who stripped off his dinner suit with about 10 minutes to go against the Bunnies last week to finish on 111 points.

And honestly, what a rollercoaster of a ride that would have been for Captainers. The absolute level of junk at the end of that game was nothing short of glorious. 

Now he’s up against the Sharks who are coming off their absolute annihilation of the Dolphins, and the question is – will he wear his dinner suit?

For the record, I don’t think so. The Knights will surely come out wanting to take a scalp after last week’s narrow loss. Their attack is elite when they click, and Ponga is a huge part of that attack. And while he’s pulled some scores of the 50/60 kind this season, he’s also had 4 big tons in his 9 games. 

At only 3.6% Captained and 1.9% VCd in the top 10% – if you’re wanting to go a slightly more poddy route then the masses, could Ponga be your man?

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Tommy T

Here’s the thing – it’s 12pm on Thursday, and I still have no idea who to Captain and at this point I’m seriously contemplating throwing my lucky handbag dice.

But we need to go through the options, of which Tommy T is absolutely one.

Now a million people brought him in in Round 17 and we are all still collectively saying to ourselves… is this the week he goes big?

Because he is going big… right? RIGHT?

All I know is that Manly will want to win this one with every fibre of their being, the Titans are not a defensive powerhouse, and the main thing we need is for everyone to remember Tommy’s on the field and for him to keep scoring points for the full 80 minutes…

If that can happen, there’s a chance for owners that THIS is our week. Let’s hope the GC weather report is wrong.

Dolphins vs Cowboys

Do with this game what you will. 

Will the Dolphins come out after their thrashing by the Sharks last week and try and assert some dominance (Origin players back in say yes); or will the Cowboys complete 3 straight wins in a row?

Throw the dice.

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Verdict

A shorter Captains article this week with less options, because if we look at the scoring over the past few weeks – it’s becoming way harder to predict what will happen. 

If you’d gone Tallis last week over a Herbie Captainer, you’d be happy. If you’d looped TMM and taken the Captaincy off Hynes – even though 107 is a decent score – you’d be crying into your Saturday arvo beer.

My advice for you is go with your own gut. If you have your eye on a player or a pod move you think is going to go good – do that – there are so many poddy CTW and even 2RF players who are going under the radar as armband choices and your pod play could be next.

At least if it fails, you’ve tried something you wanted to do. And if it comes off – you’ll be stoked and wake up Monday morning feeling like the Oracle.

For me, I currently have the VC on Cleary and if he’s not on 140 points by 10pm tonight, I’m throwing the lucky handbag dice: 1 – 3 we go Ponga, 4 – 6 we go Tommy T…

And on that note, I must run! I’m off to the Community Hall to meet Mariah to go over our special Myles Martin Captaincy presentation for tonight. She’s singing a special version of Hero, and everyone’s invited…

Clementine xxx