KFC SuperCoach NRL: Round 22 best players and trade targets

The Mastermind analyses every NRL Round 22 game and how best to deal with Tom Trbojevic’s latest injury scare.

The greatest KFC SuperCoach season we’ve ever seen could be in doubt with a cheekbone injury potentially halting Tom Trbojevic’s 134PPG 2021. Turbo’s only going 34PPG better than SuperCoach “God” Corey Parker’s 97PPG in 2011.

Trbojevic declared he had no fractures and wanted to play, while NewsCorp reported on Sunday Manly planned to rest him for two games. What you do with Trbojevic next could define your season... that is if you can do anything with trades running low. Holding him is the safe play and he could realistically outscore any trade you make in one week let alone two with the Raiders, Bulldogs and Cowboys to finish the season.

There are any number of fullbacks putting their hand up to fill Turbo’s shoes for the last three weeks with Dylan Edwards, James Tedesco, Latrell Mitchell, Adam Doueihi and Reece Walsh all making a solid case to be one of your final trades based on this week’s performances.

Kalyn Ponga and Ryan Papenhuyzen have been underwhelming in recent weeks but are proven performers to consider too.

Trbojevic to Nathan Cleary, enjoying the second best season we’ve ever season at 112PPG, could even be possible for those with Adam Doueihi and the right dual position players.

Aside from Turbo, the blows keep coming with highly owned players biting the dust for the season with suspensions for Ryan Matterson, 17%, Corey Harawira-Naera, 13% and Victor Radley, 9% making the second row the toughest position to deal with right now.

Reuben Garrick’s ridiculous season continued with 199 points moving his total points tally of 1867 in reach of the all-time record, Sam Burgess’s 2014 tally of 2055 SuperCoach points from 23 games. Turbo may be missing but with the Raiders, Bulldogs and Cowboys to finish the season, I’ll back Garrick to score the 189 points needed to surpass him.

ROUND 23 LATEST: EARLY MAIL

Let’s take a look at the highs and lows from each game and the players to add to your watchlist.

STORM 26-16 RAIDERS

Highs: Bailey Simonsson, 106, scored a hat-trick on his return from injury, making a timely return for the 14% of teams who’ve held him this long. Brandon Smith, 82, scored his tenth try of the season and had six tackle busts after a couple quieter weeks with Harry Grant’s return. Dean Ieremia, 73 had a try and two linebreaks. Nicho Hynes, 72, played 70 minutes including the usual half at fullback before switching into the middle.

Lows: Corey Harawira-Naera, 13, came on after Jarrod Croker, 4, failed a HIA in the first half but was sent off for a high shot in the closing minutes and won’t play again this season. Dale Finucane, 1, played just a minute suffering a headknock. Ryan Papenhuyzen, 22, played just 29 minutes. Josh Addo-Carr, 20, missed out on a try for the third week in a row.

Watchlist: It’s about this time every season the Storm start resting players, with their formidable for and against they’ll only need one win for the minor premiership so expect Jahrome Hughes, 51, who was hit high by Harawira-Naera to get a rest this week along with Finucane.

DRAGONS 16-34 PANTHERS

Highs: Dylan Edwards, 96, had a massive 26 hit-ups for 40 points, seven tackle busts, a linebreak and two tries. Could be a POD option for the last couple weeks with Nathan Cleary, 82, firing up the Panthers attack again. Mikaele Ravalawa, 83, had a try and three linebreaks, benefiting from the skills of Zac Lomax inside him. Junior Amone, 76, scored two tries in his 25 minutes on the field with some impressive footwork close to the line. Matt Burton, 71, moved back to the centres to make way for Cleary and scored his fifteenth try of the season.

Lows: Viliame Kikau, 18, was sin-binned and played just 45 minutes. Stephen Crichton, 22, took Charlie Staines’ spot on the right wing and produced a very similar score. Andrew McCullough, 28, injured his ankle and will miss the rest of the season.

Watchlist: Zac Lomax, 67, showed what made him one of the best CTW scorers last season with a try assist, four linebreak assists, two offloads and goalkicking. You could do worse than taking a gamble on him at $370k for the last few weeks. Jack Bird, 67, scored a try in his second game at fullback for the Dragons.

BRONCOS 20-21 ROOSTERS

Highs: James Tedesco, 99, at his busy best again with 21 hit-ups for 35 points, 10 tackle busts, a linebreak, try and try assist. He’s the obvious replacement for Turbo. Props had the four other top scores of this game with Isaac Liu, 86, Siosiua Taukeiaho, 84, Payne Haas, 84, and Tom Flegler, 75, all having their hands in tries on top of a stack of work. The right wing for the Roosters is a guaranteed hot spot for points and injuries, Brett Morris had 11 tries in seven games, Matt Ikuvalu had 11 tries in 14 games. Dale Copley, 73, scored in his first game for the Roosters. Sure, he’s not the most glamorous option, but there are few better places to pick up tries and he’s just $249k since his mid-season switch.

Lows: A season ending suspension for Victor Radley, 36. Tyson Gamble, 31, faces a ban for a crusher tackle. Xavier Coates, 16, has a five-round average of 16.8PPG. He had six tries in the first four games but only two in the past 10. Will be a bargain cheapie on the end of the Storm backline next year.

Watchlist: Jordan Riki, 61, scored a try as he continued his strong form with a five-round average of 76.6PPG. Joey Manu, 51, returned to the centres and returned to underwhelming scores.

RABBITOHS 36-6 TITANS

Highs: Cody Walker, 121, continued his incredible back half of the season with three more try assists. He was ticking along nicely with 66PPG in the first 10 games, but has ramped it up to 102PPG in his past 10 games. Latrell Mitchell, 115, posted his third century in four games with a try, try assist, 12 tackle busts and three linebreaks. His form is hard to ignore but will be even more so next year with the goalkicking duties. Adam Reynolds has added 19PPG from goals. Add that to Mitchell’s 81PPG average and you’re looking at a 100PPG player in 2022. Brian Kelly, 99, had a try assist, seven tackle busts, a linebreak and four linebreak assists. He’s showing the form we tipped for him at the start of the season with a three-round average of 88PPG. Josh Mansour, 94, scored two more tries to make it seven in four games since Alex Johnston went down injured. Braidon Burns, 92, picked up a double as he filled in for Dane Gagai. Damien Cook, 80, had a try assist and four linebreak assists on top of the usual swag of tackles.

Lows: David Fifita, 31, had his worst score of the season and was well contained by the Rabbitohs with just one tackle bust and only three of 10 runs breaking the 8m mark. The Rabbitohs right edge didn’t see much ball with low scores for Taane Milne, 13, taken off early for Benji Marshall, 10, and Jaxson Paulo, 10. The Titans right edge players did it tough with five missed tackles for both Patrick Herbert, 7, and Greg Marzhew, 27.

Watchlist: Corey Thompson, 73, scored his first try since returning from injury and while you might be put off by the Storm matchup this week he’ll be in the same spot Bailey Simonsson scored three and Reuben Garrick had a double to post centuries the past two weeks.

COWBOYS 16-24 TIGERS

Highs: Adam Doueihi, 99, now has a five-round average of 103PPG with the scores ticking over for him without too much fuss across a range of categories. He had 40 in base stats, a try assist, try contribution, 4/4 goals, six tackle busts, two forced dropouts, an offload and two linebreak assists. Stefano Utoikamanu, 82, scored his fifth try of the season and is delivering the goods for the 14% of owners who’ve held him with a five-round average of 67PPG. Ben Hampton, 78, had a try, try assist and two linebreaks. You’d back him to do similar this week with the Eels terrible defence leaking tries on that side. Ken Maumalo, 77, scored his fifth try in four weeks. Alex Twal, 72, punched out another big base stats game and has a three-round average of 69PPG.

Lows: A couple of early season cheapies returned to either create an AE nightmare or provide a surprising extra body in 17s. Ben Condon, 26, had six missed tackles, while Jake Simpkin, 17, appeared for the first time since Round 11. The 8.6% of teams who held Simpkin him could get a surprise starting role for the week with Jacob Liddle, 37, suspended for a crusher tackle.

Watchlist: Two Cowboys cheapies looked good on debut with Griffin Neame, 47, and Ieremia Nanai, 52, playing about 40 minutes each and combining for an incredible try.

SEA EAGLES 56-10 EELS

Highs: Reuben Garrick, 199, scored a century for the third week in a row and his ninth in 21 games. He had three tries, six linebreaks, a try assist, nine tackle busts and 8/10 goals. Tom Trbojevic, 179, also has nine centuries but from just 12 games. He had a try, four try assists, seven tackle busts, two linebreaks and 12 linebreak assists. Daly Cherry-Evans, 96, had two try assists and 10 linebreak assists a lot of those passes to Jason Saab, 90, who had a try, try assist and three linebreaks. Moses Suli, 83, came on as 18th man and had two tries and three linebreaks in just 17 minutes.

Lows: Ryan Matterson, 42, was sent off for a high tackle on Brad Parker and will miss the rest of the season suspended. Marata Niukore, 30, was sin-binned. Maika Sivo, 11, spent the night watching Saab speed past him. Mitchell Moses, 12, missed seven tackles. Clint Gutherson, 24, has plummeted to $495k with a three-roud average of 38PPG. Michael Oldfield, 7, had 10 missed tackles.

Watchlist: Eels cheapie Makahesi Makatoa, 41, was impressive on his debut playing 35 minutes. Matterson’s suspension opens up some minutes in the Eels backrow.

WARRIORS 24-10 BULLDOGS

Highs: Josh Curran, 139, backed up last week’s 111 with another monster score for 10% of SuperCoaches. Curran was in everything for the Warriors with a try, try assist, five tackle busts, three linebreaks, two linebreak assists and 57 in base stats. He’s got the Broncos, Raiders and Titans up next so I wouldn’t back against the scoring to dry up. Jazz Tevaga, 92, played 54 minutes as starting lock and scored a try on top of 57 in base stats. Aaron Schoupp, 90, had 43 in base stats, seven tackle busts and a try. Reece Walsh, 75, had a try, try assist and 4/5 goals and with the draw ahead he’s also worth a look. Euan Aitken, 74, has a three-round average of 97PPG since moving into the backrow.

Lows: Kodi Nikorima, 10, reduced to just 28 minutes off the bench with Wade Egan back from injury.

Watchlist: Josh Jackson, 70, punching out big safe numbers with a five-round average of 68PPG. Ryan James, 56, played 60 minutes after switching to the Bulldogs in a very handy move for the 22% of teams still carrying him. But will he stay at the Dogs with the Raiders now missing Harawira-Naera for the season.

SHARKS 14-16 KNIGHTS

Highs: The battle of the base stat beast centres was won by Jesse Ramien, 90, over Bradman Best, 72. Ramien had a try, linebreak and 51 in base stats while Best had a try assist, two linebreak assists and 47 in base stats. Briton Nikora, 82, combined well with Ramien and had a try assist. David Klemmer, 73, had 56 in base stats and three offloads in 45 minutes for his best score since Round 3. A knee injury to Daniel Saifiti should give him more minutes in the closing rounds. Enari Tuala, 72, picked up a double to make it six tries in three weeks on the left wing for the Knights.

Lows: Kalyn Ponga, 36, missed five tackles and hasn’t produced the big scores owners were hoping for yet.

Watchlist: Mitch Barnett, 65, should hold down the 80 minute spot on the left edge with Lachlan Fitzgibbon out for the season. He hasn’t missed a game and scored the fourth most points in the position.