SuperCoach NRL Stat Attack: Trent Copeland does the round 12 numbers
TRENT Copeland looks at the No.1 player in the game, a POD-alicious backrower, a flying winger, a gun half who’ll be available at a bargain price and the top 10 hit-up beasts.
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- NRL SuperCoach: Trent Copeland’s captaincy choices round 12
- Trade Comparison: Two best trades of round 12
THE first big bye round is coming at SuperCoaches harder than Bishop Michael Curry went at “FIRE AND LOVE” at the Royal Wedding, and that’s saying something!
As the dust settles and you bask in the glory or assess the damage, your resident stats nerd is here to unearth the hidden gems each week that will get you ahead of the curve (your mates). Stats like highest projected scores, captaincy percentages, ownership nuances, and career/opposition trends.
This week we take a look at the man I’ve dubbed the “#CHEF” as the new numero uno, Fitzy going to a new level, Josh Addo-Carr’s sky-high upside, a gift from the SuperCoach — presented by hipages — gods and more. Here we go!
Damian Cook | #1, 83.8 & 98
#CHEF as he is now known, is the new No.1 overall pointscorer in SuperCoach. Not just HOK-eligible players … EVERYONE! When we raved in pre-season about his upside when given the full 80 minutes, this was what we were talking about. His past seven matches have seen scores of 82, 80, 102, 50, 92, 68 and 113 for a stellar average of 83.8PPG. This week he gets a match-up against the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium, where SuperCoach Stats projects Cook to score 98 points — huge! I wonder if #CHEF can see Cameron Smith in the rearview mirror?
Lachlan Fitzgibbon | 5, 108, 63.3 & 1
Fitzy has long been one of those SuperCoach players that the vast majority say “Nah, the base stats aren’t there, scoring too many fluky tries”. Well, he’s been putting up numbers like this for two years running now, after averaging 57.6PPG in 14 matches in 2017 and now 63.3PPG through 11 matches this year. Well, this week the man owned by only five per cent of teams comes up against the Sharks who he averages 108PPG against (albeit one game), the highest average of any player’s match-up record this weekend. Oh, and for what it’s worth, Fitzy plays the big bye round next week with a match-up against the Eels who are currently conceding the MOST points to 2RF’s of any team in SuperCoach. Get on!
Josh Addo-Carr | 100
Speaking of high numbers, Addo-Carr is catapulting his name into NSW Origin contention with the sheer weight of numbers — tries in an actual sense, SuperCoach points in ours! SuperCoach Stats projects JAC to score 100 points on the dot this weekend against the Cowboys, the highest of any player in the game. With scores of 92, 109 and 156 just a few weeks ago, his 21,265-some owners out there will be hoping this one comes to fruition.
Nathan Cleary | 121 & 497
With all the struggles in the halves this year for the likes of SJ with injury, Gareth Widdop being priced at $800k and numerous other studs of yesteryear like Milford faltering, I present to you a gift from the SuperCoach gods. In my opinion, Cleary is alongside SJ and Widdop as the best halves in the game, if not better, and comes into this week with a BE of 121 against the Dragons. If things pan out, Cleary could be available as a trade-in after the round 13 bye for a crazily-low $497k in round 14. For a guy who has averaged 66.2PPG and 69.9PPG in his first two seasons in the NRL, that is a steal!
High Scores | 4 & >147
In terms of the history of highest individual scores in SuperCoach, only four players have managed to crack the top 50 this season. With Cameron Munster’s 183-point bomb back in round 14 of 2016 still the benchmark, the four players to enter the list so far are;
Gareth Widdop: 173 points (3rd highest ever) v Titans, round 3
Tom Trbojevic: 158 points (11th) v Raiders, round 4
Josh Addo-Carr: 156 points (19th) v Dragons, round 9
Rob Jennings: 147 points (40th) v Sea Eagles, round 3
We often talk about expecting players to go 100+ in good match-ups, but considering 141 points is the cut-off to make the top 50 scores of ALL time maybe we should set the bar a little lower.
Hit-ups | +2 & 359
Every hit-up in SuperCoach is worth one point at the minimum, or two points if that run is over 8m — making up a large part of what the “experts” refer to as base stats. For the most part, players in the top 10 in hit-ups will all be SuperCoach-relevant players. Well, through 11 rounds of footy, here is the top 10:
1. Blake Ferguson — 359 points
2. David Klemmer — 343 points
3. Jason Taumalolo — 310 points
4. Marty Taupau — 306 points
5. Andrew Fifita — 301 points
6. James Tedesco — 289 points
7. Nene MacDonald — 285 points
8. Ken Maumalo — 280 points
9. Jai Arrow — 263 points
10. Paul Vaughan — 263 points
No surprises that some of the best FRF/2RF names in the game are on that list. Impressively, Ferguson and Tedesco are in the top six in the same side signifying the work they do for the Roosters off their own try line.
Captains | 13.9 & 0.6
By way of captaincy decisions, it’s been a tough year to say the least! But when you nail it there is no sweeter feeling — particularly when very few others have backed in that captain. Well coming in to round 12, the hottest name in town and No.1 overall pointscorer — Damian Cook — is the punters’ choice. Here is the list of most popular options, with one particular POD at 0.6 per cent I would like to highlight.
Damian Cook — 13.9 per cent
Andrew Fifita — 11.7 per cent
Jake Trbojevic — 8.9 per cent
Jason Taumalolo — 7.6 per cent
Jai Arrow — 0.6 per cent
I’ll just leave that there …
Overall Rankings | Top 10
As we hit the treacherous bye period, the men will be separated from the boys as they say, and the rankings at the top are extremely tight! It’s also a good time to compare where your team is at to the overall points tallies and structure your trades/captaincy decisions around the gap. Sitting atop the ladder after 11 rounds is “REIGNING CHAMP” run by Christie — a fantastic effort to have averaged 1116 points per round to this point.
1st — Reigning Champ (12,272 points)
2nd — don’t blush baby (12,252 points)
3rd — Ragingeagles (12,223 points)
4th — BlackBronx (12,213 points)
5th — Spartans (12,174 points)
6th — Munsters Inc (12,154 points)
7th — Watmoughs Knee (12,151 points)
8th — BransfieldBrawlers (12,139 points)
9th — Crichtons’s Offcuts (12,125 points)
10th — bolts_muppets (12,109 points)
As you can see, it’s tight! Congratulations to all of those in the top 10 so far but you don’t win anything in May — we’re coming for you.
There you have it. I hope the stats point you in the right direction this week. As always, hit us up on @SuperCoachNRL or @copes9 if there are any stats you would love to see. Good luck!