SuperCoach NRL Champ’s Last Word:

REIGNING SuperCoach NRL champion Sam Rohlf reviews the round that saw him bottom out and looks at ways to turn things around.

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ONE of the things I have always loved about SuperCoach — presented by hipages — is the banter among fellow coaches.

So long as it’s not personal, it can create extra rivalries that are fun and light-hearted. Whether it’s a mate in a private league, an acquaintance in a cash league or a random punter via some form of social media, sometimes there is no comeback from a quality sledge.

The one that I got hit with after round three was a gem. I was told: “Lucky you won the $50k last year, you can go to Bunning’s and buy a shovel to dig yourself out of the hole you’re in this year”. Harsh but true.

Last week my trade-outs were Moses (11pts) and Hayne (7pts). Great trade-outs and I was stoked to have moved them on before the price changes.

Dumping Mitchell Moses was one of the round three’s few positives. Picture: AAP

Had I kept them and gone in another direction with my trades, there was a fairly big chance that I would of played both of them last week. Wouldn’t of that put some hurt on my score and team value.

Well, for those that aren’t aware I posted a miserable total of 815. Wow, what a shocker. I’m not one for keeping records on past seasons but that is clearly an all-time low for me.

I’ve had bigger scores in bye rounds with less players in seasons past, but 815 from a full squad of 17, that’s a blow to the SuperCoach ego.

My disappointments for the round were Merrin (39 points), Taumalolo (44 points), JT (42 points), Turbo (42 points), Cartwright (39 points), the injured Pangai (29 points), the new acquisition SJ (35 points) and the two-time failure as captain, Tedesco (20 points). A handy list of player’s right there that didn’t fire.

James Tedesco has been a real captains curse. Picture: Brett Costello

My highest scorer for the round was Cam Smith (74 points) and he was only one of five players that scored 60 or above for me last week. It was tough going.

A few things need to align to have a successful season. Recognising the players that will get you off to a fast start, picking the right money makers with your cheapies, making the right captain choices and being on the right side of the ledger with the 50/50 calls.

So far this season I have tanked with my captain choices. Round one Tedesco (35 points), round two Smith (44 points) and round three Tedesco (20 points).

Obviously, not the scores that I was hoping for and I have to break this captain’s curse before I head into the territory of being a H2H player.

Alarmingly the 50/50 calls I have got wrong more times than not this season are having a detrimental effect on my scoring output as well.

Richie Kennar was a bad benching. Picture: AAP

For the third straight week I got the cheapie lottery wrong again, this time playing Sami over Kennar.

Those that read my article last week know I had a split hair between SJ and Widdop and chose SJ as he had the dual position.

It would have been handy to have gone Widdop and have a piece of that monster tally. My score and my ranking wouldn’t look so bad today, but in truth it would have been a band-aid over a festering sore that is my SuperCoach team so far this season.

The one good thing about last week’s score is that it’s consigned to the history pages now and we move on to battle it out again this week.

With the first lot of price changes through, tough decisions still need to be made this week.

I am battling whether to axe an underperforming gun to stop the bleeding of cash and bring in my SuperCoach crush (Cameron Murray), or to finally cut loose a failed cow (Leilani Latu) but not sure if I should upgrade or downgrade him.

Meet the champ’s new SuperCoach crush. Picture: Getty Images

With a key out of Tevita Pangai in my FRF, Daniel Alvaro looks to survive for another week with his achievable BE of 31.

I’m so happy that Penrith are involved in tonight’s game. The make-up of their squad will go a long way to me sorting out what trades I’ll be making this week.

It’s not ideal to be trading on the run, but I don’t have the luxury of the near-perfect start I had last season.

Last year I very rarely needed to change from my planned trades, but you play the cards you are dealt with now and do the best you can on the fly.

Congrats to those that hit nice scores last week and well done to those that put the C on Widdop and have moved themselves closer to the pointy end of the rankings.

Good luck to all for this week’s games, I’m off to Bunnings to look for an extra-large shovel.

Originally published as SuperCoach NRL Champ’s Last Word: