VK’s Saturday NRL SuperCoach wrap: Another tough day for big guns

2014 NRL SuperCoach winner Dave Von Kotze wraps what was another tough day for traditional SuperCoach keepers.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - APRIL 09: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck of the Warriors fends off Dylan Walker of the Sea Eagles during the round six NRL match between the New Zealand Warriors and the Manly Sea Eagles at Mt Smart Stadium on April 9, 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

2014 NRL SuperCoach winner Dave Von Kotze wraps what was another tough day for traditional SuperCoach keepers.

Corey Norman (88) – worked like clockwork with Kieran Foran to orchestrate a good old fashioned towelling up of the Raiders. Norman is a dual 5/8/FLB with outstanding bye coverage who laid on a variety of attacking stats including 4 try-assists, a line-break and a line-break assist to take the Perfect Eight top spot.

Kieran Foran (87) – served as the complete package for the Eels scoring an impressive solo try with a line-break, setting up another and forcing two dropouts for an extra 12 points.

Michael Jennings (64) – much to the dismay of Semi Radradra owners, Jennings stole all the attacking stats on the left side bagging a double, one of which included a line-break. He also notched an effective offload, two tackle-busts and 14 tackles.

Apisai Koroisau (92) – took the Perfect Eight victory and if he didn’t make SuperCoaches stand up and take notice last week, he most certainly would have this week with another dominant display of raw talent, which will leave him with a two game average of 100 since taking the reins at halfback. Api’s haul came from 3 try-assists, a line-break assist, 2 forced dropouts and 30 tackles.

Issac Luke (84) – played the full 80 and top-scored for the Warriors after scoring a try with a line-break, setting up another and making 30 tackles. Luke is starting to put the runs on the board and will start next round with a three game average of 66.

Jake Trbojevic (67) – returned from injury to play 59 minutes and match his three game average after setting up a try with a line-break assist, making 32 tackles and carting the ball up for 11 hit-ups. Continues to make money for his 13,203 owners and will come with a price tag of over $372,000 next round.

Trent Merrin celebrates a try. Picture: Gregg Porteous

Trent Merrin (93) – John McEnroe’s famous quote “You can’t be serious!” was the first thing that came to mind when I heard people considering selling Trent Merrin this week. Some of the reasoning made a tiny bit of sense. Yes, he has been sick recently and, yes, he has only averaged 58 minutes in five games this season. But Trent Merrin has far too much street-cred and pedigree to go selling after one or two slow rounds, especially when he was averaging 65 points a game. His new season average is now 70 after falling just short of the ton pre-updates with a try which included a line-break, 32 tackles, 4 tackle-busts, 3 offloads and 12 hit-ups.

Bryce Cartwright (67) – starting to find some consistency in his SuperCoach output and has averaged 76 in the five games this year in which he didn’t suffer injury. Carty provided another performance that ticked most of the SuperCoach boxes with a try assist that also included a line-break assist, 3 offloads, 13 hit-ups and 26 tackles.

Javid Bowen (64) – not many things come served on a silver platter in SuperCoach and Javid Bowen is yet another prime example of this. Bowen crossed for his second try in an as many weeks in the top grade and is set to make huge dollars just by walking on the field in his third game. However, with talk of Kane Linnett returning as early as next round, is Bowen set to be just another CTW stranded on our interchange not making money?

Shaun Fensom (52) – poor discipline and a 70th minute concussion test contributed towards an average performance from the usually reliable Fensom. He made 41 tackles and 10 hit-ups but lost six points after conceding three penalties, one of which saw him placed on report for a dangerous throw.

Jarrod Croker (37) – wasn’t able to repeat the attacking stats that saw him score a double for 95 points last week in a game that was well controlled by the Eels. Another of the big name CTWs to underperform this round.

Semi Radradra (23) – could do no more than sit back and watch the ‘Michael Jennings Show’. Radradra has fallen 123 points short of his breakeven and will lose plenty of value over the next few rounds starting with a loss of around $63,000 this week.

Luke Bateman (13) – played his first game as a dual position 2RF/FRF but will pique no interest from a SuperCoach point of view as a potential cheapie after playing only 11 minutes for his 10 points.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was below par against the Sea Eagles.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (38) – SuperCoaches searched all week for a way to bring RTS into their teams after he averaged 87 in his past three games but like a few of the big name guns this weekend, he misfired and can still be picked up next week for just over $455,000.

Brenton Lawrence (27) – became SuperCoach relevant after averaging 52 in his first two games of the season but has been a bit of an SC fizzer over the past fortnight after bringing an underwhelming 40 and 27 to the table. Lawrence will make $12,000 for his owners this week but may not be the $300,000 prospect that 19 per cent of owners had hoped for when bringing him in.

Dylan Walker (13) – created some interest in SuperCoach land last week when he scored 67 against the Bunnies but returned to the ‘no-go’ category after Saturday’s season low score. Walker was also put on report for an attempted trip and could face a week in the naughty corner.

Josh Mansour (29) – the ‘base stat bandit’ was unable to make his usual impact and put out his lowest score of the year so far. Mansour still ran the ball on 18 occasions, made 4 tackles and just the one tackle-bust. Owners need not to worry, it was just a slow game for Mansour.

Johnathan Thurston (35) – had a hand in most of the Cowboys’ tries but unfortunately not enough to warrant the try assists which usually make up the bulk of his scoring. Will come with a price tag of $441,000 this week, pending updates, after falling 48 points short of his breakeven.

Te Maire Martin (27) – started his SuperCoach career with a massive 90 points three weeks ago but hasn’t been able to reproduce that form since only making $4000 for his 19,779 owners this week. He could also face the chop in the near future with James Segeyaro eyeing a return from injury.

Originally published as VK’s Saturday NRL SuperCoach wrap: Another tough day for big guns