NRL SuperCoach 2018 Champion’s Choice: Raymond Faitala-Mariner

IN an exclusive series of articles, reigning SuperCoach champion Sam Rohlf (aka Banyo Boy) reveals the left-field picks set to take SuperCoach by storm in 2018.

• Champion’s Choice: Addin Fonua-Blake
• NRL SuperCoach Champion’s Choice: Daniel Alvaro

The start of the NRL SuperCoach season — presented by hipages — is almost upon us and I thought I would look at a player that could possibly benefit due to a change of coach at his club.

RAYMOND FAITALA-MARINER ($310,600 2RF)

This Auckland-born player is in the third year of his contract with his second NRL club.

The man known to SuperCoach players as RFM, and the last hyphenated name player I will cover this pre-season, is a Otahuhu Leopards junior.

The Auckland-based Otahuhu Leopards are responsible for producing 49 Kiwi internationals and no less than five New Zealand captains with legends such as Mark Graham, Hugh McGahan and Ruben Wiki on the honour board.

Faitala-Mariner started off his rugby league journey with the New Zealand Warriors as part of their NYC team in 2012/2013. In 2012 he played just six games and scored only one try. In 2013 he tripled his game tally to 19 games and managed to cross for six tries.

RFM was selected for the Junior Kiwi side that went down to the Junior Roos 38-26.

In the 2014 season he was added to the Warriors’ full-time squad and played in the Auckland Nines before going on to notch 23 NSW Cup games for the Auckland Vulcans. At the end of the season he was named in the NSW Cup Team of the Year.

Faitala-Mariner finally made it to the NRL in 2015, becoming the Warriors’ 200th debutant in a 32-28 loss to the Gold Coast Titans in round eight.

He managed to play 11 games in his first season of top grade footy. SuperCoach-wise he finished with a total of 424 points at an average of 39PPG, scoring a season high of 71 points in 59 minutes thanks mainly to his first try in the NRL.

RFM started in the run-on team six out of his 11 games, which might have contributed to an unusually high 54MPG average for a rookie, and 79 per cent of his overall total points were scored in base stats at a modest PPM of 0.71.

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In season 2016 Faitala-Mariner had one game for the Warriors in round two before he was involved in a player swap with Shaun Lane who was on the books of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at the time.

RFM made his top grade debut for his new club in a 20-12 round nine loss to the Parramatta Eels, scoring a season-high 47 points in 64 minutes.

Faitala-Mariner started six of the 15 games he played in 2016 and finished with a SuperCoach total of 445 points. His minutes per game dropped alarmingly at the Bulldogs to 33MPG but his PPM improved slightly to 0.90 and his base stat percentage dropped only slightly to 77 per cent.

He made his international debut for Samoa off the bench in their win against Tonga in the 2016 Polynesian Cup and played 2RF in a loss for Toa Samoa against Fiji in a Test match in October.

Raymond Faitala-Mariner debuts for Samoa against Tonga. Picture: Getty Images

In 2017 RFM started off the bench in 14 of the 16 games he suited up for. He had a high score of 66 points in 70 minutes in round 18 against Newcastle and finished with a SuperCoach total of 560 points, a season average of 35PPG and marginally improved his MPG to 37 minutes and his PPM to 0.94.

With a new coach on board it’s anyone’s guess how the back row and bench at the Bulldogs will line up.

What we do know is Dean Pay has ambitions of moving David Klemmer to FRF to partner good mate Aaron Woods, which would force the ever-reliable Aiden Tolman to the bench. One would assume Josh Jackson and Adam Elliott would have two of the three back-row positions sewn up and with Fa’amanu Brown likely on the bench as the utility.

Raymond Faitala-Mariner hits it up against the Knights. Picture: Mark Evans

So that leaves a spot open in the starting pack and two spots on the bench. RFM looks to be in a battle with Danny Fualalo, Greg Eastwood, Francis Tualau and Clay Priest for those positions.

I know a very respected SuperCoach has RFM in his sights if he gets the starting spot — an edge hole runner with Kieran Foran as his ball distributor piques his interest.

Personally, for me there are too many questions with the Bulldogs as a whole this year.

New coach, new halves combination, a fullback that’s new to the position and a whole new game plan.

Guns and Rookies will be the strategy I’ll be trying to employ again, so for me he’s a trade-down option in round three if he starts well and a gun falters.

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Originally published as NRL SuperCoach 2018 Champion’s Choice: Raymond Faitala-Mariner