SuperCoach NRL: Wilfred Zee’s Fearless Predictions for Round 23

CAPTAIN: Tom Trbojevic. STUD: Nathan Cleary. FLOP: Jarryd Hayne. Former SuperCoach NRL champion Wilfred Zee makes the big calls in his round 23 forecasts.

THREE rounds left! It feels like only a few weeks ago that we were starting to feel the familiar frustrations of captaining the wrong player, or picking the wrong reserve, or copping an ill-timed injury to one of our keepers, and so on.

It’s really crunch time for those in sudden-death head-to-head finals, as well as — more critically — the top few ranks in the overall standings! With another change at the top of the leaderboard, it’s going to be an absolute nailbiter for the last few weeks and I’ll be watching with great interest as to how it’s going to play out.

Right now, anybody within 100-200 of the top spot is still in with a chance!

Let’s have a look at Round 23.

Tom Trbojevic will be celebrating again when Manly play the Titans. Picture: Phil Hillyard

1. Captain Pick — Tom Trbojevic

In the end, Martin’s score last week was passable but ultimately disappointing given the high scores on offer from plenty of other popular picks. This week there are a few standouts but I can’t go past Tommy Turbo. He has been on fire in recent weeks as the Sea Eagles’ attack has really clicked. Throw in the fact that the Titans have been very susceptible to opposition fullbacks for basically the whole season, and the weak right defensive edge of the Titans as well allowing Tom to attack on his favoured left side, means there could be some big, big points on offer this week. As a non-owner I’m scared!

Nathan Cleary will put the Knights to the sword. Picture: Getty Images

2. Stud of the Week — Nathan Cleary

Call me boring but Cleary delivered for me as Stud last week, and I’m backing him in again against the defensively frail Knights. With Maloney out injured Cleary is the main man with the goalkicking, and that combination alone is already a winner. Throw in the fact that the Knights may be playing Ponga at five-eighth on the left-hand side of the field, setting up a new defensive combination with Mitch Barnett on the edge there, and there’s yet more potential for attacking stats. He’ll be a safe 50+ score in base stats and goalkicking alone, but I’m thinking there’s great potential for 100+ this week. Again, I’m scared as a non-owner!

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3. Flop of the Week — Jarryd Hayne

I’m crazy, right? Hayne is fresh off scoring a hat-trick and has been in near-vintage Hayne form. A three-round average of 78.3 is no joke after all. Still, what’s even less funny is a Storm coming off back-to-back losses, playing at home, with Smith, Munster and Slater fit and raring to go. The Eels have been better, much better, the past month than they have been for most of the year but I think the Storm are going to show up in a big way, to show they aren’t to be written off this year.

Jarryd Hayne will get blown away by the Storm. Picture: AAP

4. The SuperCoach Gold Mine

It was a funny week but I managed to pick the second-highest scoring game of the round, with the Panthers and Titans narrowly pipped by 50ish points by the Raiders and the Tigers. This week, I’m expecting the Sea Eagles and the Titans to put up a cricket score — from both sides! However, the Sea Eagles offence will ask too many questions of the Titans defence and we could see a comfortable Sea Eagles win, albeit in a bit of a shootout.

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5. Upset of the Round — the Raiders

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to have this prepared before the round kicked off as I was 100 per cent going to tip my beloved Broncos to upset the joint competition leaders. It certainly had that smell, and of course I played Milford and Oates with the expectation both would go well in a dominant win. I don’t really love any of the other options but the way this season is going, I think we’re going to see at least one shock upset in the rest of round 23’s games. I think it’ll either be the Titans over the Sea Eagles (because both teams are just wildly inconsistent and unreliable) or it’ll be the Raiders over the Roosters, because the Raiders, and also because the Roosters might still be feeling the effects of that tough win over the Rabbitohs last week. On their day, their offensive weapons in the pack and the backline are just so unpredictable and dynamic so, if they get it right, they could beat any team in the competition. It’s just that it happens so rarely!

Bring on Round 23

Some juicy match-ups this week as well as some really interesting games which could have a strong bearing on the final make-up of the top eight, so I’m keen to watch a few games this week. Good luck to everyone and may your orange armband land on the right arm, and the reserve choices fall favourably to all!