NRL SuperCoach 2019: Trent Copeland’s captaincy analysis Round 8
Lock-in option Damien Cook produced his worst score of the year last week and SuperCoaches are therefore on the hunt for some funky captaincy choices.
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With Damien Cook producing his lowest score of the season — 52 points against the Panthers — over 20% of SuperCoaches were left pondering if he is indeed the best ‘set-and-forget’ option.
Meanwhile my smoky of last week, John Bateman, delivered a typical 79-point game against the Sea Eagles despite having to play heavy minutes at centre after Rapana was injured. The Englishman is quickly becoming SuperCoach favourite.
Each week I will delve into the stats that stick out, the best matchups, form and even sometimes a gut feel to find the best skippers of the week.
Without further ado…
VC OPTIONS
Many teams are left with the likes of Dylan Brown and/or Adam Keighran amongst others as loophole skippers who wont play this weekend, so we have a few options throughout the early games for VC looping!
Cody Walker 5/8 (Rabbitohs) vs. Broncos
My goodness, what a start to the season this man has had. Listen to these numbers … Scores of 43, 72, 86, 64, 150, 61 and most recently, 99 points against the Panthers have the season-long average sitting at 82.1PPG and his price is over $750k! The matchup against the Broncos is the first game of the round at home at ANZ Stadium — the perfect situation for a VC selection. I wish I had the option, so the some 11,352 of you who do, don’t miss out!
Rhyse Martin 2RF (Roosters) vs. Sea Eagles
GOD 2.0 is the name, and on-brand for me, Martin is likely going to be my straight C this week. But, for those of you more skeptical than I, the VC will suffice. Martin copped an early HIA last weekend, and upon his return played every minute of the game (suggesting 80 minutes was likely) to score 84 points in 65 minutes including an unreal offload cut-out pass to Okunbor to score in the corner. We can never be 100% sure what ludicrous moves Dean Pay will pull, but Martin was exceptional with the kicking tee, in attack AND in defence last weekend in the massive win over the Cowboys — so it would be astonishing to see anything less than 65 minutes. Go you good thing.
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Cameron Munster 5/8 | FLB (Storm) vs. Sharks
Munster went awfully close to a monster score last week, scoring 68 points with a try (from his own bomb), 23 tackles, 10 points in tackle busts, a forced drop out, 15 points in hit ups and even took the goal kicking duties for the night for a further eight points. This week, Munster gets a severely understrength Sharks outfit, albeit away at Shark Park, a team who Morgan averages 55.2PPG against across six career matches. Surprisingly, Munster is owned by almost 30% of teams now and will be a popular VC choice, so you certainly aren’t in POD-territory anymore.
Other options… Michael Morgan, Viliame Kikau, Payne Haas, Sam Burgess
COPES’ CAPTAINS
In the interest of giving plenty of options, we’ve covered Damien Cook endlessly in 2019, so he will remain the ‘weekly auto-start’ in the skipper category regardless of opposition — and we can focus our attention elsewhere.
Cameron Smith HOK (Storm) vs. Sharks
It’s time we remembered just how good Cameron Smith is. Scores of 80 and 84 in his last two games (with just one try assist in each game) against the Roosters and Warriors are elite, but they don’t explain that there’s much more in the tank. Smith hasn’t been goal kicking due to a groin niggle, so if he regains those duties this week against a Sharks team missing Shaun Johnson, Matt Moylan, Josh Dugan, Aaron Woods and Wade Graham amongst others … well, it could be massive! If you need more convincing, Smith averages 70.2PPG across 16 meetings with the Sharks with a high score of 112 points.
Andrew Fifita FRF (Sharks) vs. Storm
Fifita went down with a hamstring strain just three weeks ago, the two weeks following he has played 60 and 72 minutes for scores of 106 and 71 points respectively. MASSIVE! Onto this week and the Sharks are without SJ, Moylan, Dugan, Woods, and Graham etc as mentioned above against the Storm… Quite simply, if they’re going to win this game they need their superstar big man to A) Play big minutes, and B) Create for them in attack = OFFLOADS! SuperCoach Stats projects Fifita to score 70 points this week, and I’m backing even more. As it stands, the big man is only captained by 6.7% of teams …
James Tedesco FLB (Roosters) vs. Tigers
Teddy is bubbling along brilliantly this season, and this week comes up against his former club, the Tigers, at the SCG. Averaging 68PPG this season shows he’s in the elite category as we all know, but scores of 133, 84, 76, 52 and 57 the past five matches for an average of 80.4PPG is really where it’s at for those looking for that perfect combination of a worst case scenario of around 50 with upside of 120+. Teddy is projected to score 69 points according to SuperCoach Stats and if you’re passing on Cook to start the round, then Teddy makes sense if you’re needing to catch up ground on a H2H opponent.
Other options… John Bateman, Jake Trbojevic, Kalyn Ponga, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Good luck everyone, may the Orange Armband fall on the right man this week!
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