NRL SuperCoach: Fearless predictions Round 6

Former NRL SuperCoach champion Wilfred Zee is backing Manly Sea Eagles forward Martin Taupau as stud of the week.

We’re almost a quarter of the way through the 2019 season and it’s quite hard to believe how quickly it’s going so far. We have the Easter long weekend to enjoy and another Good Friday match-up awaits! I’ll miss Sam Burgess going hard against James Graham, but I guess I can settle for the Wrecking Ball running at Damien Cook instead.

Bring on Round 6, let’s get into it.

1. Captain Pick – Damien Cook

Former NRL SuperCoach champion Wilfred Zee.

Call it a cop out, but I think Cook is in-line for another great week. Forget the form line, it’s the match-up. The Bulldogs didn’t think highly enough of Cook to keep him at the club, and despite several years there with some limited 80 minute games (where he was seriously impressive too), he wasn’t quite the style of hooker Des Hasler wanted at the time. Yep, he preferred Michael Lichaa. Oops! Cook is coming off scores of 53 and 84 against the Bulldogs from last year, but arguably the Dogs this year are struggling more and the Rabbitohs are even better. With such a safe floor and plenty of attacking upside, you can’t go past Cook as a potential Captain option each week – but especially this week!

2. Stud of the Week – Marty Taupau

He has been frustratingly inconsistent this year, but in many ways, that’s just Taupau isn’t it? His workrate and ability to offload and bust tackles in limited minutes has always ensured a strong PPM, but he has had to deal with a few issues which have limited his time on ground. Well, with Fonua-Blake suspended, Taupau will need to step up and if he gets to play 50-55 (or even more) he will have a great game. And if he sneaks over for his first try since Round 13 of 2017, well, he’s surely going to raise the bat!

3. Flop of the Week – Josh Hodgson

I’m quite nervous about this pick because he has such great attacking potential, and the Broncos aren’t very good defensively at the moment – especially up the middle. Still, the Broncos are in the bottom eight for points conceded to opposition hookers, and Hodgson hasn’t been in great form this year from a SuperCoach perspective. His base stats in particular just aren’t there this year; even more so than in previous years. He has only averaged 44.2 against the Broncos in five games previously, with his highest score being a 71 last year. However, I can still see the possibility of a few try assists near the line this year – a cheeky grubber into the in-goal or a crafty run and then a pass into a hole for (hopefully John Bateman) to run through and score. Or I can back my Broncos to turn up for once and actually play well and restrict Hodgson’s attacking stats!

4. SuperCoach Gold Mine

If Tommy Turbo was playing this week, I would have nominated the Dragons and the Sea Eagles to deliver the SuperCoach points this week. However, his absence at the back for the Sea Eagles blunts their attacking ability and therefore I’m going to lean on the Titans and the Knights to deliver a highscoring affair, as long as the weather isn’t too bad. There’s plenty of offensive power on both teams, as well as plenty of leaky defence as well, which is usually a good recipe for a shoot out. A 32-28 scoreline would go down quite nicely!

Kalyn Ponga could go large for the Knights.

5. Upset of the Round – the Panthers

I’m very nervous about this pick as the Panthers have been far from impressive, and the Sharks may still have some injury issues themselves, but it’s another tough week for upsets so the options are limited. The news from the foot of the mountains is that Maloney and Cleary are swapping back to their setup from last year, with Maloney paired with Kikau again and Cleary on the right edge again. This might be the catalyst needed to kickstart their season, and there were some flashes of Panther magic last week (albeit against the Titans). It’s a tough slog to beat the Sharks at home, but the Sharks are banged up and coming off the shorter turnaround so they could be struggling to be ready for this game.

Round 6 kicks off tonight

… and ends on Monday afternoon! Let’s not forget that we only have two games on Saturday, and we also have one game on Easter Monday to enjoy! Bring on the footy!