KFC SuperCoach NRL Round 7: Ten things we learned in the surprise ‘bye round’
Round 7 was a brutal week for KFC SuperCoaches with forced trades as a result of multiple injuries and suspensions to some of the most owned players. This is what we learned.
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Ah, the surprise ‘bye round’ that no one expected hit this week – how brutal it was and the additional wave of injuries really compounded what was already a rough time for some SuperCoaches! Let’s see what we learned this week.
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1. Viliame Kikau is tough to trust this year
I was somewhat surprised to see that 21% of SuperCoaches own Kikau; I’d suggest that most aren’t travelling that well in the overall standings! Kikau has been frustrating to watch even as a non-owner; still so lethal with ball in hand but still often being taken off the field and not playing 80 minutes (barring injuries to others). With this inconsistency, even with his attacking upside, it’s hard to persevere with him. He’ll have his games scoring big but then if he misses out on attacking stats, and with the lower minutes, he could dish up plenty of 40-45 scores too.
2. Munster’s loss is Papenhuyzen’s gain
It was a devastating turn of events, with Munster looking like a standout trade-in option against the battered Warriors, but an early injury to Munster (although, tough as he typically is, he stayed on for the whole first half and still salvaged his score with some attacking stats) saw Papenhuyzen’s involvement in attacking plays spike significantly. He was getting the ball in the attacking zone as a second receiver and it paid off big-time with two tries, a try assist, a try contribution, two line breaks, two line break assists and 40 points in base and base attack stats. Will this see a resurgence in Papenhuyzen’s SuperCoach relevance when coupled with the injury to Tommy Turbo and the ridiculous price tag on James Tedesco?
3. Joey Manu is an incredible fullback for SuperCoach
It’s a small sample size, sure, but in the three games that Manu played the full 80 minutes at fullback, he currently sits on an average of 108 points per game thanks to scores of 136, 74 and the 94 this week. Much of that revolves around his incredible workrate – points from hit-ups alone total 39, 36 and 44. Now don’t get me wrong, he certainly lacks some polish as a fullback and he bombed a few opportunities on the weekend with the wrong option, but it’s great to see him get his hands on the ball more often than he does in the centres because Manu is one of the most talented current players with ball in hand. If you don’t believe me, just rewatch his bomb kick and regather (yes, he was paid this stat!) into a no-look flick pass to JWH to score. Pure talent.
4. Kyle Feldt and Kurt Mann are top 8 CTWs right now
It’s a little embarrassing but I actually didn’t realise how well both these guys have been going. Feldt has had a little boost with the goalkicking in recent weeks but even still, they have averaged 62.3 points per game and 60.4 points per game respectively. There’s a stark difference between these two CTW options though – Feldt has scored nine tries this year, while Mann has also scored four tries and set up another five. That’s not the difference – both have obviously benefited greatly from attacking stats. Feldt would be averaging 7 points per game less if you took out his goalkicking. The main difference is their base stats – Mann is averaging almost 40 points per game in base and base attack; Feldt is struggling to meet 27 points per game in base and base attack stats. The floor of Mann is quite impressive and he could keep going at this rate…
5. Tevita Pangai shows us his SuperCoach potential again
We know what Pangai is when he gets 80 minutes on the edge – a constant attacking threat with skilful offloads and strong carries aplenty. His run into a perfectly timed offload to an accelerating Tesi Niu early on in this game was a thing of beauty to behold, and I can’t wait to see more of it. Pangai may also get back his right edge partner in Staggs – late last year the two of them formed a potent combo which saw both of them averaging over 70 for five-game bursts (despite some HIA/injury concerns). Could this happen again…?
6. It’s Gutho Time…?
With the goalkicking duties falling to Gutho as a result of the Moses’ injury, that automatically sees a bump in Gutho’s scores from the kicking, but with no Moses, some of the attacking responsibility also falls on Gutho’s shoulders. We saw an uptick in his involvement in the attacking zone after Moses went off injured, and he scored pretty well as a result. He’s not going to match the likes of Tedesco and Ponga for the season, but at around $556,000, he also won’t break the bank. You’d almost back yourself that confidently that a combination of Gutho and an upgrade of almost $340,000 to another player in your 17 (say, David Nofoaluma or Cam McInnes instead of Zac Lomax or Lucy Leilua for example) would cumulatively outscore Teddy plus your original player in your 17. Food for thought!
7. Ryan Matterson is officially match-up and position-proof
Matto doesn’t care who he faces or where he plays, he’s just going to keep tackling anything that comes near him, he’s going to truck the ball up again and again and also find those tackle busts and offloads every chance he gets. Despite playing in the centres, and five eighth, and who knows where else, Matto managed to score 96 points this week with a handy try with a line break. That leaves him with an average of 85 or so points per game; 72.4 points per game in base and base attack stats. A wicked floor and the ability to find attacking stats time and time again, what else can you ask for?!
8. Curtis Sironen is a serious POD
If you can stomach the injury risk (he has failed to finish two games so far this year, and missed one game already), Sironen continues to find attacking stats beside Daly Cherry-Evans. In his four 80 minute games this year, he has averaged 78 points per game. We saw last year that Siro was able to maintain an average of around 75 points per game for an eight game stretch where he was basically playing 80 minutes each week. He has a mixed bag of match-ups coming up but with the injury to Tommy Turbo already forcing some changes to how the Sea Eagles are directing their attack, I wouldn’t be surprised if the DCE-Siro combination finds a few more tries in the next few weeks.
9. Addin Fonua-Blake has found another gear
It’s not just his eye-catching 142 point haul this week that is raising the eyebrows – it’s the fact that he may have still scored 84 points in 60 minutes from his base and base attack stats. His minutes have steadily crept up after a disrupted pre-season recovering from injury, and his workrate up until this week had been somewhat lacking for SuperCoach purposes, even if he was churning through the metres on the field. His effort cannot be faulted though, and it all came together perfectly this week. There’s also the potential that the Sea Eagles will be forced to rely more on Jake Trbojevic, Marty Taupau and of course himself to be more of an attacking threat in the absence of Tom Trbojevic. His price will likely skyrocket if you don’t jump on this week though…
10. Joey Leilua is teasing us
This week, he obviously had a great game while scoring 104 points. Sure, there was a try, a try assist, a line break and a line break assist in there. There was even a forced dropout. But there was also 51 points in base and base attack stats – an incredible number! The last time he put up those types of numbers was in 2016; can this be a return to the Leilua glory days…!?
Good luck for Round 8
Are there any easy weeks coming up? Seriously! The injuries and suspensions are piling up and SuperCoaches are struggling to come up with quality teams on a week-to-week basis. Good luck with your trades this week!