SuperCoach NRL: Wilfred Zee’s Five Fearless Predictions for round three
FORMER SuperCoach NRL champion Wilfred Zee gazes deep into his crystal ball to deliver five fearless predictions for round three.
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The upsets continue to come, and it’s great for the NRL competition this year. It really could be one of the most even competitions for years. This, however, makes life as a SuperCoach really, really hard. Even the most obvious picks (*ahem* … Cam Smith) can let you down at the worst times! It’s been a tough start to 2018, and as with every year there are some unexpected names popping up as potential SuperCoach options for this season. Back to the predictions — well at least I’m making some progress on my poor showing in Round 1.
Let’s look at Round 3.
1. Captain Pick
Smith’s captaincy percentage finished at 20 per cent for round two, a drop of 7.5 per cent from round one but still head and shoulders above the next most popular option who was only at 8.5 per cent. It’s of little comfort to know that 20 per cent of your fellow SuperCoaches were shaking their fists at the TV as Smith plodded his way to only 40-ish points. Anyway, it’s a new week and we need to captain somebody else. My pick for a strong captain score (in my book, this is a 70+ score) this week is going to be James Tedesco, up against the Knights. He’s played them four times for an average of 80, with a low score of 51 and a high score of 107. Barring a nice score for my vice-captain, Teddy will be wearing the captain’s armband for “The Has-Beens” this week.
2. Stud of the Week — Jason Taumalolo
His past four outings against the Melbourne Storm have yielded an average of 70.5 points per game. What I’m concerned about this week, as a non-Taumalolo owner, is that he will be fired up after being well contained by the unheralded Broncos pack and in particular, the young upstart that is Tevita Pangai Jr. He will be raring to go, not only to do his best to get the Cowboys’ season back on track but to stamp his authority as the best forward in the game by dominating one of the strongest packs in the competition. Although the Storm are typically stingy, especially against middle forwards, that doesn’t seem to worry Taumalolo and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him put in an absolutely powerhouse performance this week in what could be a lower-scoring week (due to the look of the weather forecast across the country).
3. Flop of the Week — Corey Thompson
Am I allowed to say, “I told you so” when it comes to Robbie Rochow? He showcased his lack of base (which I warned plenty about) and also put up a mediocre defensive effort too, missing a truckload of tackles. Sure, Corey Thompson didn’t really flop, but he also didn’t score as well as he did in round one even if you take out the attacking stats from both weeks. So, this week I’m going to double down on Corey Thompson. His break-even this week looks tasty, but it’s important to remember that his round one score (the main reason his break-even is so low this week) will only be in his rolling average for this week — come round four his break-even is going to be influenced by his scores in rounds two and three. If he goes low this week, which is always a possibility if there’s wet weather (check the forecast), then his money-making prospects will be stunted. Basically, if you’re buying him you’re backing him to replicate his stats from the first two weeks of the season — and not the stats he demonstrated over multiple seasons in the past …
4. Highest pointscorer for this week
Look, I realise that I’ve set myself a near-impossible task trying to predict this category (if I was any good at it, I’d probably win Perfect 8) but at least it won’t be from lack of trying. This week I’m going to go with someone from the 0-2 Raiders, Mr “Michael” Jordan Rapana as he is known to some, as the 2-0 Warriors travel to Canberra. The Warriors’ left-side centre/wing pairing of Maumalo and Kata have always been suspect in defence, and now you throw in a new left-edge backrower (due to injury) and there are likely to be chinks in the armour. Hopefully, three or four chinks that turn into tries for Rapana!
5. Upset of the Round — the Bulldogs
Well the Knights came through for me again, and I couldn’t be happier for the club and also the Knights faithful. What a start to the season for them! It gets a bit harder this week with the Roosters, but you never know … I can’t back them again for the upset though. I’m looking at another battling club, the 0-2 Bulldogs who take on the high-flying 2-0 Panthers. While this seems crazy on paper I’m looking at the fact that the Bulldogs got beaten comprehensively by the Storm and the Roosters, but still put up a fight for decent periods of the game. I can’t see the Panthers being on the same level (as the Storm and the Roosters), and this could be a harder game than expected. Besides, we know that the Bulldogs are one of the best wet-weather clubs in the competition … Panthers fans are probably praying for no rain!
Bring on Round 3
Historically this is the most important week of trading in SuperCoach; however, this may have been superseded in 2018 with the introduction of the SuperTrade Week in Round 16.
Still, this week is your last chance to swap those underperforming guns that could bleed massive amounts of cash (hello Paul Gallen) for those mid-rangers who are about to explode in price (hello Kalyn Ponga); it’s also your last chance to swap those dud rookies (Leilua Jnr, Nicholls) for the quality options that are going to make you money (do your own research here). Happy trading SuperCoaches!
Originally published as SuperCoach NRL: Wilfred Zee’s Five Fearless Predictions for round three
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