NRL SuperCoach: 10 things we learned round 23

HAS Nathan Cleary overtaken Cameron Smith as the new accumulator of unicorn points?

Nathan Cleary on the charge.

HAS Nathan Cleary overtaken Cameron Smith as the new accumulator of unicorn points?

Tim Williams wraps the round 24 action.

1) There were three types of SuperCoach players in Round 23. The 7.7 percent who captained Tom Trbojevic, the 26 percent who owned Tom Trbojevic, and the 74 percent who did not own Tom Trbojevic. With minimal unique players in sides at this stage of the year, the Manly fullback really did make or break the round for most and will have decided copious head-to-head semi-finals. Getting to the point, or all 194 of Turbo’s, the best player of 2017 recorded the highest SuperCoach score of all-time against the Titans who actually ran out eventual winners. How’s this for a night out:

Tries x 3

Try-assists x 2

Tackle breaks x 11

Line-breaks x 5

Hit-ups x 19

Incredibly, Tommy could have had another meat pie had Frank Winterstein not bombed a near certain try-scoring opportunity, while he had another try-assist disallowed later in the game (rightly so). Trbojevic leaps Cameron Munster’s 183 point haul in 2016, while James Maloney 181, Gareth Widdop 173 and Jordan Rapana 170 round out the top five.

NRL CASUALTY WARD: Will Cameron Smith play?

Tom Trbojevic scores one of three tries.

2) Adding insult to the wounds of those who didn’t give Trbojevic the armband was the performance of the alternate captaincy choices. Damien Cook (19.4 percent)and Cameron Smith (7.7 percent) banged out extremely underwhelming scores of 41 and 37 respectively. Cook’s effort was a monumental season low, while Smith’s performance was actually decent considering it came in an injury effected 34 minutes with no genuine attacking stats.

3) Valentine Holmes’ (82) hot-streak continued against the Cowboys in the Shire. The Cronulla fullback now averages a staggering 81 points per game since Round 10. Holmes was also highly contentiously denied a try and linebreak that would have seen his score soar into three figure territory. It was the first time in six weeks he hadn’t crossed the white stripe, regardless, the points continued to flow for the in demand number one.

4) Shaun Johnson (88) snapped an extremely lean run of form for his lofty standards against the Bulldogs on Sunday. SJ was instrumental for the Warriors having the key hand in two tries that came with a pair of line-assists, while he made a handy 23 tackles to bolster his score. The form reversal came at a key time in the halves department with the likes of Cody Walker (21) and Cameron Munster (34) failing to fire in recent weeks.

5) Has Nathan Cleary (74) overtaken Cameron Smith as the new accumulator of unicorn points? Probably not, it’s more a case of a jealous non-owner reviewing the SuperCoach week that was. Penrith were well beaten by the Knights, and Cleary didn’t appear to play a major hand in the game. But such is the class of the young half, he manages to ground out points across all categories seemingly effortlessly. Even when he has an off day, or Penrith fail to fire, Cleary manages to notch decent numbers.

Nathan Cleary loves going big late in games.

7) Rhyse Martin (49) sent a major scare for his plethora of owners when being named to run out for the club’s reserve grade side on Sunday. Panicked coaches naturally assumed he wouldn’t be backing up for the NRL side that afternoon, and the lateness of the game meant many would be forced to take an auto-emergency. Fortunately, it was all a ploy from the club to get Martin qualified for the ISP finals series. The SuperCoach gun played the opening two seconds before heading up the tunnel to prepare for the main game.

8) Often in analysis we speak of a player’s SuperCoach pedigree, basically their history of averages in past seasons. Which throws me back to a man that was thrown about as a potential keeper earlier in the season, Peta Hiku. The Warriors centre started the year on fire, but law of averages suggested he’d come back to the pack over time. Since Round 3, Hiku has a season high score of just 66. In his past seven weeks he’s scored: 19, 5 (five minutes), 24, 25, 28, 33 and 44.

9) The stunning runs of Latrell Mitchell (32) and Blake Ferguson (39) finally came to an end against the unluckiest of opponents in Canberra. Many expected points to flow against the Raiders who aren’t renowned for their astute defensive unit, but the Green Machine put in their best effort of the season without ball in hand. Sadly, it came at a cost for SuperCoaches with the Roosters outside backs failing to fire.

10) This week is the penultimate round of the season with preliminary finals kicking off. With injury concerns to popular players such as Alex Johnston, Cameron Smith and to a lesser degree Jesse Ramien, Tuesday teams will be crucial to the make-up of final 17s. Those who saved an emergency trade or two could be set to reap the rewards.