NRL SuperCoach champion Wilfred Zee wins $50K, wife gives birth on same day

NRL SuperCoach winner Wilfred Zee is still coming to terms with the crazy chain of events that unfolded on Sunday.

WILFRED Zee is still coming to terms with the crazy chain of events that unfolded on Sunday.

Firstly, he woke to Father’s Day celebrations.

A few hours later, his wife went into labour.

Next, he won $50,000 as champion of NRL SuperCoach, News Corp’s NRL fantasy game.

And to round out the evening, wife Janice gave birth to their second child, a healthy boy Noah.

“It doesn’t get any better than that, what a day,” said the 31-year-old lawyer from Rochedale, Brisbane. “I won’t ever forget this Father’s Day.”

SuperCoach winner Wilfred Zee with new born son Noah and wife Janice. Picture: Jono Searle

Zee had planned to watch all three of Sunday’s games on the edge of his seat as he rode home his side Traders Anonymous, who first hit the SuperCoach lead in round eight and held the spot continuously from round 12.

But 15 minutes before the final game between the Panthers and Sea Eagles, Zee and his wife were forced to dash to Greenslopes Hospital.

“It all started to get crazy just before the final game,” a happily sleep-deprived Zee told News Corp.

“I didn’t get to watch the final game (due to the birth), which was probably a good thing to save me all the stress.”

NRL SuperCoach winner Wilfred Zee with son Noah. Picture: Jono Searle

Wilfred Zee relaxes with new-born son Noah. Picture: Jono Searle

Zee, who was having just his second crack at the overall prize in six years of SuperCoach, admits he took a few sneaky looks at his phone to keep up with his SuperCoach progress – with the full blessing of his wife.

“I’d already had a pretty frantic chat with my wife that at some points I’d be on the phone, checking team lists and things like that,” said the Broncos fanatic.

“She was very supportive overall.

“She made sure I understood the priority here. But she knew where I was standing and a good chance to take out the title.”

One of the final things Zee saw before running off to the hospital was an injury to the man he labelled his buy of the year, Bodene Thompson.

“There were a few nervous moments when I saw Bodene go down,” he said.

“I was definitely a bit panicked, but I didn’t have much time to worry about it because I had the wife slowly getting a bit more worried and feeling more pain. A lot of things were going on at the same time.”

Zee, or Catfish as he is known in the SuperCoach community, is a prolific poster on the NRL SuperCoach Talk forum page.

Even as he was chasing down the $50,000, he still took time to post his thoughts and solve the problems of fellow punters, making him an immesely popular winner amongst fellow SuperCoaches.

Proud dad Wilfred Zee, whose son Noah was born the same day he won NRL SuperCoach. Picture: Jono Searle

As one user wrote: “Catfish mate you will go down as one of the Immortals of SuperCoach, and one of the most deserving champions of all time.

“Your contribution to this site is only matched by your SuperCoach ability. You’re a very worthy champion and without question a very deserving one.”

And as for what Catfish will do with the $50,000: “With baby No. 2 now we were thinking we’d need to be pretty strict on the budget, but now we’ll pop it aside for a rainy day,” he said. “We’ve got a holiday to be booked, so the wife is going to appreciate that one.”

Now that’s one happy family. Picture: Jono Searle

BEST MOVE

“Either starting with Milford or buying Bodene Thompson in round 13. I was expecting a solid 65 average and good bye coverage, but he killed it. Much better than I expected.”

WORST MOVE

“I sold Cody Walker the week he got dropped, and bought Gareth Widdop. I really rated Walker when I saw him playing in the trials and Charity Shield, I thought he had SuperCoach gun written all over him. I just didn’t trust Madge (South Sydney coach Michael Maguire) and his job security, so when he got dropped I didn’t want to muck around.”

FIRST BUY NEXT YEAR

“Probably Anthony Milford. He still generally hits the 40 or 50 mark even if he doesn’t do anything too flash.”

HOW MUCH TIME DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUPERCOACH CHAMP?

“I averaged five to six hours a week across reading team lists, reading articles, catching up on podcasts etc. The bulk of the time I spent was in the pre-season. I did a lot of research, analysis and planning. I worked out very early on who I would target over the byes and looking at which premium guns I’d have by a certain round. I had all that roughly mapped out by the time the season started. That was when I was spending the most time, and from rounds 8-12 I spent plenty of time reviewing and going over the bye strategy. But once I hit round 18 onwards, it was basically auto pilot. I spent less and less time because I didn’t have many decisions to make as I didn’t have many trades (he used his final two trades in round 24 and had eight from the end of Origin).”

FINAL TEAM

Hooker

Cameron Smith, Jake Friend

Prop

Andrew Fifita, James Graham, Jesse Bromwich, Jake Trbojevic

Back row

Sam Burgess, Simon Mannering, Bodene Thompson, Bryce Cartwright, Trent Merrin, Kurt Capewell

Halfback

Shaun Johnson, Nathan Cleary

Five-eighth

Anthony Milford, Johnathan Thurston

Centre/wing

Jarrod Croker, Tohu Harris, Joseph Leilua, Euan Aitken, Jordan Rapana, Josh Mansour, Taane Milne

Fullback

Cameron Munster, Kieran Moss