NRL SuperCoach: Fearless predictions Round 19

It’s that time of the week again, the Eels are playing at Bankwest Stadium, and Mitchell Moses is therefore the Stud of the Week.

So it wasn’t a bad week for the predictions last week, although I was very, very wrong on RTS!

I backed my call by trading him out too. Thankfully it was Teddy who ended up outscoring him so no harm, no foul, right? Round 19 is shaping up to be a tricky round again so let’s get into it.

1. Captain Pick – James Tedesco

Tommy Turbo came through for me last week with an impressive 106 points; is it wrong that I felt disappointed it was only 106? It could so easily have been 140+ again if he managed to hold onto the ball once or twice more, or if he managed to pass that ball to his brother to score. Anyway, that was last week and we’re talking Teddy now. The Bulldogs haven’t been very good this year. The Roosters are also a pretty good footy team. The last time these two teams met, Teddy had a rest and the back-up fullback (who is usually a centre) scored 136 points. Now I’m a big fan of Joey Manu’s talent, but he’s not on Teddy’s level. That means Teddy will score better than 136, right? That’s how this works, doesn’t it? Hah!

2. Stud of the Week – Mitch Moses

Mitchell Moses is the stud of the week.

It’s that time of the week again, the Eels are playing at Bankwest Stadium (a.k.a. #PARRAdise) so it means roll out Mitch Moses and the rest of the Eels with confidence. The Eels are averaging over 30 points per game they play at Bankwest this year, and in fact 48% of their total points scored this season have come at Bankwest. Scary. From a SuperCoach perspective, Moses is averaging 83.8 points per Bankwest game – a total of 503 points in six outings at the venue. That’s basically 45% of his total SuperCoach points tally this year scored in just six games! Scary.

LOWDOWN: NRL teams analysis

LATE MAIL: Predicted team changes

BARGAINS: Final Cheapie Bible

3. Flop of the Week – Jahrome Hughes

He’s fresh off a whole-of-round high score of 115 but he shifts back to fullback again with Munster’s return, where he has only scored more than 60 three times this season – 74, 87 and 70. His two highest scores have come in the halves (the 114 was mostly scored when he shifted to halfback following a HIA to Croft). The Sea Eagles are a much better defensive outfit under Des Hasler this year (fourth best in the NRL), and have been one of the four toughest teams for opposition fullbacks to score SuperCoach points against. The Storm are playing at home but I don’t think the Sea Eagles are going to let Hughes rack up a score this week.

Final teams are starting to take shape. Well, if you’ve got trades left. Join Tom Sangster, Dave Campbell and Tim Williams for the lowdown.

4. SuperCoach Gold Mine

It’s down to two games for me this week – the Eels and the Warriors could put up a highscoring shoot-out on Saturday afternoon at Bankwest Stadium; or the Roosters could run up a massive score against the battling Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon at ANZ Stadium. With decent weather expected for both games, the conditions are set for some quality attacking footy and that always spells good news for our SuperCoach scores.

5. Upset of the Round – the Panthers

The Raiders have been very consistent all year and in contrast, the Panthers’ season can probably be summed by a comparison to ‘Jekyll and Hyde’. Well, Mr Hyde is well and truly representative of how the Panthers look right now, and that means that they could knock off the top four Raiders. They get the advantage of playing at Panthers Stadium for starters, and with such a long turnaround from last game, they will be raring to go and wanting to put on a big show for the home fans. The Raiders of 2019 are no pushovers though so the Panthers will need to play for the full 80 minutes to get up on this one.

Round 19 kicks off tonight

The Sharks have a prime opportunity to get their season back on track at home, against a Cowboys team still missing their main man in Michael Morgan. The Cowboys have tried hard but still struggle to compete for the full game, and they’ve only won one game of their last four as a result. Still, the Sharks have lost their last five games in a row so they will be desperate to show their home fans a win this week. Good luck everyone!