NRL SuperCoach: 10 things we learned Round 10

Former NRL SuperCoach champion Wilfred Zee wraps the action from the week that was in a round that saw guns fire and guns flop in almost equal measure.

• Casualty Ward: Every injury at every club

• Early Mail: Dragons walking on thin ice

There are plenty of things we learned in Round 10 that it’s hard to know which 10 to focus on here! Let’s just get into it.

1. Ryan PapenhuyGUN

Forgive my poor pun play but he is a legitimate GUN at fullback. He looked likely every time he touched the ball, and did some very impressive special effort plays like keeping that penalty kick for touch in the field of play. His performance wasn’t perfect of course, and that may see him revert back to the bench this week, but with a strong 30 points in pure base and an extra 20 points in base attack stats, that’s an impressive floor when he has the potential to streak away once he breaks the line!

What a weapon! Ryan Papenhuyzen has made his talents known. Picture: AAP

2. Kenny Bromwich flies under the radar

Forgotten in the pre-season with all the hype surrounding Joe Stimson, KBrom was given a chance with Stimson suffering a back injury which made him unavailable for Round 1. Kenny has since gone on to play every single game as the starter on that left edge, and average 63.9 points per game. Five of his nine games, Kenny has scored 65 points or more, while making $155,100 since his starting price. As he continues to build a combination with Cam Munster, KBrom could find himself as a real POD in the second half of the season as he continues to play 80 minutes on that left edge.

3. Patrick Herbert >>> Jarrod Croker

Big words for a three-game rookie to be considered a better SuperCoach option than one of the best CTW SuperCoach options ever, however as a fellow goalkicking centre (for now, anyway) Herbert offers a tackle busting ability far beyond what most centres can offer. In fact, a competition-leading 127 tackle breaks in 22 games in the NSW Cup last season; that’s an average of almost 6 tackle busts per game! Herbert has only flashed that ability but we saw him bust eight tackles this week when he had zero in week one, two in week two and one in his third game. Expect plenty more on the way… and with better base stats than Croker, well, Herbert has all the makings of a genuine top seven (if not top five) CTW option for SuperCoach.

4. Tevita Pangai is still here

All eyes have been on Payne Haas at the Broncos lately but Pangai reminded us that he is still around, and still very relevant. He only played 47 minutes but his PPM was back to his normal elite level — offloads galore, plenty of hard runs and that attacking potency which resulted in the try to Payne Haas. Pity he hasn’t been credited for his involvement in that play… but I digress. He is only $26,000 or so below his starting price, back when the hype was real and about 40% of SuperCoaches had him in their pre-season teams. Round 12 coverage is lacking and his break-even is 44, but at just 10% ownership (with no doubt a number of these teams being ‘zombie teams’ of players who registered but perhaps never finalised their team for Round 1) he looms as a legitimate POD option for your FRF position.

5. RIP for SuperCoach, Rhyse Martin

Has someone checked on Trent Copeland this week? “God 2.0’s” biggest supporter was heard screaming “why?” into the Sydney skyline as Martin sat on the bench, and sat on the bench, and sat on the bench some more. In fact, he sat until the final 16 minutes, before he was finally given a chance to run onto the field to score his 15 points. Not only that, Nick Meaney continued with the goalkicking despite Martin being on the field — missing what could have been a game-defining missed conversion if the Titans had scored in the dying minutes. Surely, we have seen the last of Martin’s relevance for SuperCoach at the Bulldogs for now!

Rhyse Martin’s God-like status can officially be kicked to the curb. Picture: AAP

6. Manu Ma’u is tough to ignore for Round 12

Yet another backrower who is available for selection in the CTW position, Ma’u being dual position is just another easy lay-up for Round 12 planning. Finally starting at lock this week, Ma’u soldiered through 62 minutes in the middle, with both edge forwards playing 80 minutes this week, and got through 59 points in base and base attack stats. Throw in a linebreak and Ma’u offers such a safe floor; with his offloading ability, Ma’u also has the chance to nab some attacking stats and that could easily start this week against the Panthers… he does have the shadow of Nathan Brown looming over him though!

7. Damien Cook sits on the precipice of SuperCoach history

Yes, Cook is where Gareth Widdop was last season, one round away from potentially being the first player to be worth more than $800,000. In fact, Widdop was $791,800 and a had a break-even of just 24 — a score of 33 or more would have seen him hit the jackpot. Of course, he scored 29 and fell $1,600 short of cracking that magical barrier. Cook has a break-even of 60 and is $18,700 short of the magic number; if he hits his average (being 83.1 points per game this season!) he would get there! The Tigers are the sixth hardest team for opposition hookers to score on this season; however, Cook is no ordinary hooker and he is a huge chance of notching up this magical achievement.

8. Mitchell Pearce is the form halfback of the competition

It’s hard to believe that Pearce, who averaged just 36.8 points per game over the first five games of the season, now has a five-game average of 85.2 points per game with his lowest score being 61 in that time. Nathan Cleary, Adam Reynolds, Mitch Moses — no one even comes close right now while DCE and SJ have been injured. At over $612,000 we may have missed the boat however, so congratulations must be offered to the 7% of SuperCoaches that are riding the Pearce train.

What hamstring injury? Andrew Fifita cracked a ton against Manly. Picture: AAP

9. Andrew Fifita is superhuman

How else do you explain 53 busy minutes where he scored 100 SuperCoach points during that time! From 24 runs — albeit most of them going sideways and looking for the second phase play with NINE effective offloads out of his 24 total runs. On top of that, he missed zero tackles and didn’t make any errors or concede any penalties! Fifita sellers surely must be feeling some regret; I benched Fifita out of an abundance of caution and already feel so much regret on that move!

10. Addin Fonua-Blake might be the #1 prop at the Sea Eagles

I mean, he is seeing more minutes than Taupau on the season (both saw 47 in this game) and is getting through more work in that time. Fresh off a score of 111, AFB has a low break-even of 43 with a 100+ score in his rolling average for two weeks. That’s almost a perfect storm of conditions for a bye coverage option for SuperCoach — with the potential to finish as a season-long keeper over Taupau if the workrate and minutes hold up! At just 2% ownership, and affordable at under $523,000, AFB is a very interesting option this week.

Bring on Round 11

It’s the final week before Round 12, and of course State of Origin, we all have some difficult decisions to make as we finetune our teams. Hopefully you all trade wisely and make good decisions about your options this week!