NRL SuperCoach: Trent Copeland’s captaincy analysis Round 18
ORIGIN players backing up (or not!) have a direct and contagious affect on our captaincy decisions in a week such as Round 18. Trent Copeland analyses the best options this week.
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ORIGIN players backing up (or not!) have a direct and contagious affect on our captaincy decisions in a week such as round 18, so it’s of great importance to be all over the LIVE Countdown Show and all the late mail that will come from teams over the weekend.
With almost every SuperCoach team now being full of around 20-22 ‘guns’, the likes of TPJ, Kikau, Tim Lafai and even Johnathan Thurston amongst others may well sit outside your starting 17, so the best way to get a leg up over your competition is nailing your skipper.
Each week I will delve into the stats that stick out, the best matchups, form and even sometimes a gut feel to find you the best skippers of the week.
Without further ado …
Round 18: SuperCoach teams analysis
BARGAINS: Trent Copeland’s Cheapie Bible
VC OPTIONS
Cody Walker 5/8 | FLB (Rabbitohs) v Bulldogs
This game is the first one on Saturday, so firstly make sure you have a non-playing guy available after that to facilitate the VC-loophole.
On to Walker himself, and isn’t he in some scintillating form. The Rabbitohs have won EIGHT on the trot and Walker has a three-round average of 80.3PPG with scores of 84, 90 and 67 in a left-side attack that is the most dangerous in the competition. One thing to note is that Greg Inglis being out may change some of the structures and stifle some of the success. Or, he could take on extra workload and score more, who knows but the upside is certainly there!
Alex Johnston CTW | FLB (Rabbitohs) v Bulldogs
AJ is one of the most purchased players this week, so what better way to welcome him to your franchise than with the added VC responsibility against the Bulldogs. Johnston’s move to fullback in 2018 could hardly have worked better, averaging 59.9PPG this season and most relevantly, 88.3PPG over the past three rounds with scores of 80, 126 and 59.
Cameron Munster 5/8 (Storm) v Sea Eagles
Munster has been in phenomenal form this season, averaging 59.8PPG and barring round 16’s aberration of 14 points has been incredibly consistent. If we take a look back at the seven matches before that, Munster delivered scores of 78, 80, 80, 45, 69, 75 and 98. Impressive. Barring any injuries in Origin III that prevent Munster taking the field this weekend I like Munster to go large in this one against the Sea Eagles.
Other options… Sam Burgess, Jesse Ramien, Tom Trbojevic
COPES’ CAPTAINS
Rhyse Martin 2RF (Bulldogs) v Rabbitohs
I’ve been shouting from the rooftops that Martin presented as “GOD 2.0” when he was about to make his debut in the NRL earlier this season as an 85 per cent+ career goal kicker who can play 80 minutes in the back row with a great work rate and penchant for an offload.
Well, the goalkicking duties fell his way after Mbye left for the Tigers, and all of that scoring potential came to a head last weekend, with the PNG superstar scoring 153 points with a hat-trick of tries. But not to be overlooked was the 30 tackles, 10 points in tackle busts, an offload and 30 points in hit-ups. The kid is the real deal, and in 80-minute matches this season has scores of 79, 82, 61, 63 and 153 for an average of 87.6PPG with only two of those games including the goal-kicking. The game is against the form team in the NRL but I don’t think it matters, he’s that good.
Cameron Smith HOK (Storm) v Sea Eagles
Remember when everyone was saying Smith was “finished” as a SuperCoach asset after starting the year with a 56PPG average through five rounds? Yeah, that’s well and truly in the rearview mirror with scores of 123, 106, 74, 72 and 104 in his past five matches for an amazing five-round average of 95.8PPG.
Incredible. Now, he gets a matchup against the Sea Eagles who have conceded a truckload of SuperCoach points to goal-kicking players this year. Oh, and he’s projected by SuperCoach Stats to score 109 points. Honestly, you don’t need a reason to look elsewhere; if your VC fails then Smith is your man with no Origin concerns.
Ryan James FRF (Titans) v Roosters
You could be forgiven for thinking that James’ scores in recent weeks have been “inflated” by tries … no question they have, to over the 100 mark, but what cannot be overlooked is the huge increase in base stats over the past four matches - 63 points, 69 points, 58 points and 52 points playing 78 minutes on average in the middle. If 52 is your worst-case scenario with 100+ point upside, I’m in on that when he plays in the last game of the round for flexibility purposes.
Other options… Jason Taumalolo, Angus Crichton, Damien Cook (if they back up), James Tedesco
Good luck everyone, may the Orange Armband fall on the right man this week!
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