KFC SuperCoach NRL: The Mastermind reveals the best halfbacks for 2021
How you can build a team without Nathan Cleary and the deciding factor in Cody Walker versus Cameron Munster.
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The Courier Mail’s Mastermind is fresh off back-to-back top 1000 finishes and ready to sort out the KFC SuperCoach selection headaches in the halves for 2021.
Can you go without Nathan Cleary after a record breaking season? Is Cody Walker or Cameron Munster the best option at five-eighth?
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THE MASTERMIND’S TEAM REVEALED
THE MASTERMIND’S BEST FORWARDS
HALFBACK
Nathan Cleary’s 2020 average of 82.9PPG is the best ever in the position, topping Johnathan Thurston at the peak of his powers who had the previous top three season averages for a halfback of 82PPG, 77PPG and 76PPG.
Prior to Cleary’s breakout 2020 season he averaged 68PPG, 61.7PPG, 69.9PPG and 66.2PPG. If he reverts to those numbers he’s still well ahead of the pack. Shaun Johnson and Daly Cherry-Evans have been his closest rivals in those seasons but with Johnson injured and Manly’s draw neither can be considered.
Cleary is in half of teams at the moment with cheapie Sam Walker who’s tipped to play the Roosters at some point in a third? But can you afford to carry a non-playing option when there’s a stack of options in other positions guaranteed to make money fast.
You’ll have to dig deeper for an alternative value option if you don’t want to pay up for Cleary or even find a suitable backup option that’s taking the field.
The players I see with serious upside for this position are goal-kickers in teams with a handy draw, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Mitchell Moses and Jamal Fogarty.
Fogarty takes over goal kicking duties from Ashley Taylor at the Titans and should bump his 48.6PPG 2020 average to the mid 50s on that alone.
Factor in he’s got attacking weapons David Fifita and Brian Kelly outside him and I’d expect an increase in try and linebreak assists and he’s potentially past 60PPG.
Harris-Tavita had a nice finish to 2020 for the Warriors averaging 65PPG in seven games, though it’s a small sample size. He’s a dual position five-eigth too so gives good injury cover.
Eels halfback Moses struggled against the top teams averaging 34.1PPG in 2020, while he put on 65.2PPG against the rest.
An idea with some potential is to pick Moses and use Harris-Tavita or Fogarty as your second halfback. When Moses plays Melbourne in Round 2 and Canberra in Round 6, you can leave him out of your 17 and play Fogarty who has the Broncos and Manly; or Harris-Tavita who has the Knights and the Dragons.
I wouldn’t pair Fogarty and Harris-Tavita in the same style because there toughest fixtures clash.
This idea uses the same amount of budget as the most popular picks right now:
Nathan Cleary $734,300 and Sam Walker $173,700 = $908,000
Moses $481,000 and Harris-Tavita $425,900 = $906,900
Moses $481,000 and Fogarty $430,100 = $911,100
If those players perform as expected they’ll give you a nice price rise and you can take your pick on which one to trade out for a cheaper Cleary.
MOST POPULAR:Nathan Cleary and Sam Walker
MY PICKS:Nathan Cleary, Chanel Harris-Tavita
MY PODS:Mitchell Moses and one of Jamal Fogarty and Chanel Harris-Tavita.
AVOID:Daly Cherry Evans, Kyle Flanagan added 16.3PPG from kicking in 2020. Can’t see the same scoring opportunities for him at the Bulldogs.
FIVE-EIGHTH
The debate in this position is again Cody Walker or Cameron Munster?
I’ve backed Walker the past two seasons and I’ll do it again.
It’s hard to split them on their averages over the past three season Munster has scored 58.6PPG, 69.3PPG and 70PPG to Walker’s 60.8PPG, 64.9PPG and 74.1PPG.
If Munster was goalkicking he would have an edge this season, but Ryan Papenhuyzen has beaten him to that job for the Storm.
In that case, it’s got to come down to durability. Apart from a little off-field incident last year and an Origin call-up Walker’s played 64 of the past 68 games.
In 2020 I moved Munster in and out of my team twice last season (thanks for the extra trades) while Walker was ever present.
Munster has played 57 of 68 and has been pulled from the final game of the season in three consecutive seasons by the Storm as SuperCoaches go for glory in head-to-head finals.
My only question on Walker was if he’d still have the licence to roam the field with Latrell Mitchell’s return. The Charity Shield showed Walker will be popping up all over the field and creating havoc on both edges yet again.
Panthers five-eighth Jarome Luai is worthy of consideration too if you need some room in the budget. He was a cheapie in most SuperCoach teams last year at $257,400 and finished the season valued at $638,900 thanks to an average of 90 in the final six rounds, even outscoring teammate Cleary. You can pick him up for $551,400 this season.
Eels five-eighth Dylan Brown is similarly priced, and offers better than average base points with a strong running game
On the budget side of things in this position Connor Watson and Lachlan Lam looks good as mentioned in our forwards breakdown, while Matt Moylan is so cheap more than a quarter of coaches are ignoring he’s only played 19 of 44 games in the past two seasons. He’ll make some good money if we can string together a couple months of footy.
MOST POPULAR:Cameron Munster, Connor Watson, Matt Moylan
MY PICKS:Cody Walker and Matt Moylan.
MY PODS:Jarome Luai, Dylan Brown
AVOID:Anthony Milford and Michael Morgan. Sorry to my fellow Queenslanders. It’s all been downhill for these two on a SuperCoach front since the 2017 season.
THE MASTERMIND’S ULTIMATE POD SQUAD
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