KFC SuperCoach NRL 2023: Rating every club’s goalkicking cohort
Loading up on goalkickers is a key to SuperCoach success – we run through the contenders at every club to identify those that will excel in 2023 and those that will struggle.
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Just how important is goalkicking for so many of the elite of SuperCoach NRL?
Well if Val Holmes had not been taking the kicks at the Cowboys he would have averaged 14.7PPG less in 2022 and instead of having the third best average of any CTW (five game minimum) he would fall out of the top-25 at his position.
Nathan Cleary would still be a gun HFB, but his 2022 average would have been below Jahrome Hughes.
I’d note that even without goalkicking Nicho Hynes would still be the top HFB, though he would be around $110K cheaper to start the year.
Tanah Boyd kicked for only five games in 2022 but he played in 18 games (with Toby Sexton and Jamayne Isaako the other goalkickers used).
When he did kick, Boyd slotted his attempts at an impressive 82% accuracy which added 82 points (net) or 4.6PPG to his average.
The Titans took a total of 88 shots at goal in 2022. If Boyd had played every game, taken every kick and maintained his accuracy rate, then he would have netted 256 points at 10.7PPG. That’s an improvement of better than 6PPG for Boyd, which may not sound like much, but equates to around $65K price difference.
RATING EVERY CLUB’S KICKING COHORT
BRONCOS
Adam Reynolds is a legitimate sharpshooter and has been slotting a high volume of goals at or better than an 80% success rate for years now. In 2022 Reynolds made 61 of 72 (84.7%) regular season attempts netting him 222 points and adding 11.1PPG to his average. The Broncos do have backup options. Kotoni Staggs kicked when Reynolds was unavailable in 2022 making 16 of 20 attempts (80%). Herbie Farnworth has a career strike rate of 87.5% (14/16) but that should not shock anyone who has heard commentators inform them that Farnworth comes from the Manchester United Academy system – and if you have not heard that multiple times then I doubt you’ve ever watched the Broncos play.
New recruit Reece Walsh was the preferred kicker at the Warriors and he converted 79% of his 61 attempts there so he’s likely ahead of Staggs and Farnworth now, but provided he’s healthy, ARey will take the kicks for the Broncos which should worry those looking to start the season with Walsh as he’ll lose the 7.5PPG kicking brought him in 2022 and so starts at an $80K premium.
BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs have plenty of goalkicking options. Matt Burton took the majority of kicks last year (50/69 at 72%) which added 162 points or 6.8PPG to his score. I’d expect Burton to continue kicking in 2023 and with the added firepower of the new recruits he may get a few more shots, and points.
Kyle Flanagan is the best backup option at the club (career 132/171 at 77%) while Jake Averillo (39/49 at 80%) and Hayze Perham (14/18 at 78%) have form also.
CANBERRA
Jamal Fogarty was the lead kicker for the Raiders with the Titans recruit taking over the tee once he recovered from a knee injury suffered in the trials. In 13 regular season matches Fogarty made 48 of his 60 attempts (80%). Four other kickers were used by Canberra last year: Brad Schneider (18/24), Jordan Rapana (7/10), Jarrod Croker (3/4) and Corey Harawira-Naera (1/1). Fogarty has a career average of 76.6% (131/171) and while that compares a little poorly compared to the career of veteran Jarrod Croker 80.7% (856/1061), Croker looks to be battling to make the starting 13 week in week out so I would think Fogarty keeps the tee even if both are in the starting line-up.
COWBOYS
As mentioned above, Holmes is the first choice kicker for the Cowboys and he did an outstanding job in 2022 kicking 91/111 (82%) in the regular season. Scott Drinkwater (4/6) and Chad Townsend (4/4) took the remaining 10 shots. The importance of club form is illustrated well here. North Queensland finished second-last in 2021 and the team took 88 shots on goal. They finished third in 2022 and took 121 shots in the regular season. That’s 33 extra shots on goal which equates to (at an 82% strike rate) an extra 96 SuperCoach points for the season. It might not sound like much but that’s many many ranking positions at the end of the year.
EELS
Mitch Moses is the undisputed king of the kickers at Parramatta and in 2022 he kicked 81/104 (78%) in the regular season. The real King of Parramatta, Clint Gutherson, is the backup here. In 2022 Gutho kicked 8/11 and he has a career 70% strike rate. Should injury strike Moses then Gutherson is a more than capable backup and the extra points move him into ‘buy’ territory in SuperCoach.
DOLPHINS
With no incumbency as a guide it’s hard to have too much confidence in selecting who will take the kicks for the Dolphins. Tom Sangster says it doesn’t matter as they won’t be kicking goals anyway, but I think Tom’s just being mean. So let’s take a look at the contenders:
Jamayne Isaako: Career 232/289 (80.3%), 2022: 15/18 (83.3%)
Anthony Milford career 44/68 (64.7%), 2022: 8/15 (53.3%)
Isaiya Katoa: No NRL form, no goals in NSW reserve grade but he kicked 21 goals from three games for Tonga at the World Cup at 88.9%
Sean O’Sullivan: Career 2/2 in 2022 for the Panthers.
Isaako is clearly the strongest kicker in this group. Katoa is also a legitimate contender, but appears to be unlikely to nab a starting spot.
DRAGONS
It’s fair to say, and if not fair I’m still saying it, that the Dragons had their problems last year and while I’m at it I’d add that Zac Lomax was not at his best either. And despite that, Lomax still finished fifth for total points at CTW in 2022 with goalkicking adding 10.2PPG to Lomax’s average (71/92 at 77%). The cupboard is pretty bare behind Lomax with Jack Bird next best. Bird does have a career strike rate of 70% but the sample size is small with just the 10 attempts.
KNIGHTS
There’s some uncertainty over who will take the goalkicks at the Knights, but there’s certainty that three of the four players who had a crack in 2022 – Jake Clifford (19/30), Anthony Milford (8/15) and Tex Hoy (7/15) – will not in 2023 as they have left the club. Kalyn Ponga is the other player who took kicks in 2022 and the accuracy 80% from 12/15 attempts was an improvement on his career strike rate of 73%. New recruit Jackson Hastings can kick, he made 10 of 15 attempts when at the Tigers last year and 26 of 31 back n 2016 when at the Roosters. With Ponga injuring his calf in the pre-season I’d imagine Hastings gets first shot at the job.
PANTHERS
Nathan Cleary is probably the best goalkicker in the NRL right now and will take the shots for the premiers. In 2022 Cleary made 61/72 (84.7%) of his regular season shots. Injury limited Cleary to just 14 games and in his absence Stephen Crichton (32/39, 82%), Kurt Falls (7/10) and Sean O’Sullivan (2/2) were the other options. Crichton would immediately rocket into ‘must own’ territory should a long-term injury befall Cleary.
RABBITOHS
When available Latrell Mitchell is the preferred kicker at the Rabbitohs and in 14 regular season games last year he made 47 of 64 attempts (73.4%). Mitchell has never had an elite strike rate but the Rabbitohs score plenty of points and he’ll take plenty of shots should he stay healthy. Blake Taaffe, who slotted 30/35 (85.7%) when Mitchell was absent is a more than handy backup.
ROOSTERS
Sam Walker is a work in progress as a goalkicker and the hard work is paying off. Walker kicked 90/114 (78.9%) in the regular season for the Roosters which is very reasonable. But his improvement as a goalkicker over the back half of the season was noticeable, both to the eye and on the stat sheet. In the first 12 games of 2022 Walker kicked 34/47 at a 72% strike rate. In the second 12 games he kicked 56/67 at an elite 83% success rate. Paul Momirovski is the backup kicker – provided he can land a start.
SEA EAGLES
Reuben Garrick will take the shots on goal at the Sea Eagles when fit. Garrick has a 77% strike rate and was just a smidgen under that kicking 57/75 at 76% in 2022. He was more accurate in 2021 (81.8%) but he also got far more shots on goal, something I attribute to the ‘Turbo effect’. Tom Trbojevic was electric in 2021 and on his back the Sea Eagles scored 142 tries and kicked 122 goals. Injury limited Trbojevic to just six full games in 2022 and Manly scored just 85 tries. This directly impacted Garrick; in 2022 with a busted Turbo he averaged 3.5 attempts on goal per year, in 2021 he had 5.7 attempts per game.
Tom Trbojevic makes everything about Manly better, but his impact on Reuben Garrick is magnified.
For completeness I would note that Manly’s backup kicker is Daly Cherry-Evans. The skipper is a more than capable understudy in this area having kicked 114/148 over the past five seasons at 77%. If DCE were kicking full-time then he would be an elite HFB for SC as opposed to sitting just outside that tier. If Garrick cops an injury then watch out.
When the @NRL Dally M is in town you kick goals. Big future ahead for this kid. Great to spend time with you bro @NichoHynespic.twitter.com/jooUo0dHL1
— Dan Carter (@DanCarter) January 31, 2023
SHARKS
Nicho Hynes converted 76 of 105 (72%) regular season attempts for the Sharks in 2022. The volume of attempts was great, the conversion rate not so much and kicking added 10.7PPG to Hynes’ SuperCoach average. However, in the pre-season Hynes was (see above) getting some tips from one of the greatest goalkickers in all time, All Blacks legend Dan Carter, and if a little of that magic rubbed off on Nicho and he could add 10% to his conversion rate then that would equate to almost an extra 3PPG for the man who was already the best at his position.
STORM
No team took more shots at goal in the 2022 regular season than the Storm (126 compared to 123 by the Panthers and 121 by the Cowboys) so being the keeper of the tee at Melbourne is a valuable SuperCoach job. Last year Ryan Papenhuyzen had the job for 10 of the 12 games he played and Nick Meaney for 17 games. The eagle eyed among you will note that this totals 27 games in a 25 game regular season – they both took shots at goal in rounds 9 and 16. Cameron Munster took nine shots and got lucky five times, great player – shocking kicker.
Papenhuyzen would appear to be the preferred kicker for Melbourne and it is easy to see why as he has converted 90 kicks from 109 attempts over the past two seasons at an 83% strike rate. Papenhuyzen is an SC stud even without the tee – he would have averaged 78.4 sans goalkicking in 2022 – but add the kicking and he scoots ahead of his rivals at the position. Now he just needs to find a way to turn around his worrying games per year trend which has seen him play 20 (2019), 17 (2020), 13 (2021) and then 12 (2022) games but that’s an issue for a different yarn.
TITANS
The player who wins the race to play halfback will also take on kicking duties at the Titans it seems. Early in 2022 the halfback job was Toby Sexton’s and so was the kicking job where he kicked a rather lacklustre 16/28 (57%). Jamayne Isaako then took the job and kicked 15/18 (83.3%). Sexton resumed the role in rounds 18-20 kicking 9/13 (for a season tally of 25/39 (64%)) before being dropped to the QCup. Tanah Boyd finished the season with both the starting halfback jersey and the goalkicking job and he slotted a respectable 23/28 (82%).
Watch the pre-season trials and round one teams because if Boyd can land the starting job ahead of Sexton he’s a legit SC buy.
WARRIORS
As mentioned above Walsh was the main kicker at the Warriors in 2022 but he’s now at the Broncos. Shaun Johnson was the backup option kicking 14/18 or 77.8% of his attempts. A leading kicker in the past (Johnson’s career strike rate is 75.7% with 459 successful shots from 606 attempts) SJ has been plagued with leg injuries in the past two seasons and has only taken 38 shots at goal in that time. If not Johnson then the Warriors do have options. New recruit Luke Metcalf kicked 30 goals at a 79% success rate in the NSW Cup last year. He’s no guarantee to nab a starting spot in 2023 – but if Johnson gets injured then Metcalf is his likely replacement in the team and with the tee. Left field possibilities are Mitch Barnett, who has joined from the Knights and in 2021 he had a brief but beautiful cameo as kicker for Newcastle making 13 of 16 attempts (81.3%) and Tohu Harris who has kicked 8/12 over his career but has not kicked since 2017.
WESTS TIGERS
Adam Doueihi did not have a great year with the boot in 2022 but should be first choice this year.
Injury kept Doueihi sidelined until round 15 and he didn’t kick till the week after.
In ten rounds he kicked 22/31 (71%). In 2021 he was more accurate kicking 69/87 (79%). Luke Brooks is the backup kicker but his career numbers 20/30 (67%) are no threat to Doueihi.
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