SuperCoach NRL: Wilfred Zee’s fearless predictions round 12
CAPTAIN: GOAT hooker Cameron Smith. FLOP: Bunnies playmaker Cody Walker. UPSET: The Bulldogs to tame Wests Tigers.
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THEY say that a week is a long time in rugby league. Well, it’s also a long time in SuperCoach — presented by hipages!
Bouncing back with a solid three out of five, with one of my predictions being ruined due to injury (what a pain in the butt … amirite?!) hopefully a little bit of confidence is restored in the predictions for this week.
Or not, I couldn’t blame you either way! It’s a tough week of decisions coming up for SuperCoaches so let’s have a look at Round 12.
1. Captain Pick — Cameron Smith
It’s not often you can nail a prediction as well as I did last week, so excuse me if I showboat a little and point out that not only was it a captain-worthy score, but it was literally the highest score of the round last week. Can’t get much better than that! Thank you, Damien Cook. This week, I’m going back to the well. I won’t regurgitate the figures but I’ll give you a hint, the player in the same position last week just scored 113 SuperCoach points! Yep, I’m backing Cameron Smith, the GOAT hooker, coming up against the Cowboys who have well and truly leaked the most points to opposition hookers. Not only will Smith take advantage of any opportunities in and around the middle of the field, he gets to kick the conversions as well. Coming off that shocker of a loss last week, the Storm will be ready to roll and so will Captain Smith.
2. Stud of the Week — Jake Trbojevic
A subpar showing from him last week with just 46 points, but it wasn’t exactly your typical game. This week a weakened Raiders pack awaits, one which was already giving up the third-most points of all teams to opposition backrowers — even when full strength! The Sea Eagles will want to continue building on the momentum of their past few weeks, and Jake will be at the heart of it all as he also pushes his case for Origin selection. Lock him in for a big game, perhaps even a captain-worthy game, for those who may have been scared off after last week’s debacle.
3. Flop of the Week — Cody Walker
So, I was duly punished for not going conservative with my pick of Fifita in this category last week. Oops. I’m going to play it a bit smarter this week with the pick of Walker, who has gone off the boil in the past two weeks with scores of 18 and 31. He faces a tough assignment away in New Zealand against the Warriors, who are in the bottom four teams for points scored by opposition five-eighths. Yep, that includes Cody’s first round score of 80 (but that was in Perth), and Munster’s score of 78 (in Melbourne) but otherwise the likes of Widdop, Keary, Milford and Morgan have all struggled against the Warriors. Not a great sign for Cody this week!
4. The SuperCoach Gold Mine
This was a really weird week, and as you may have guessed the sin bins kept SuperCoach scores down — except for the Broncos and Roosters which produced a massive 1634 points. Otherwise there was only one other game which saw more than 1500 points scored, closely followed by my pick of the round, the Titans and Knights which featured 1474 points. Surely that’s a pass for picking one of the top three highest-scoring games?! This week, I’m liking the look of the Roosters and Titans game, with the Titans giving up plenty of points to all positions but, in particular, to opposition fullbacks (Teddy) and five-eighths (Keary). On the flip side, the Roosters are giving up plenty of points to FRFs and 2RFs — two of the strongest positions for the Titans given the likes of James, Wallace, Arrow and Proctor in their starters. Sounds like a good combination for points for both teams!
5. Upset of the Round — the Bulldogs
I almost feel sick writing this (cue angry pack of Wests Tigers fans) but I can sniff an upset brewing this week. For starters, it’s a Tigers home game being played at ANZ Stadium — a.k.a. the Bulldogs’ home ground. Secondly, the Bulldogs have yet to concede more than 22 points to any team since round eight. The last time the Tigers scored 22 points or more? Round eight. It’s no secret that the Tigers’ season has been built on defence, and their attacking woes are also well-documented. Hopefully, for their sake, the inclusion of Lolohea and Fonua sparks a few more points. Otherwise this could turn into a really ugly 8-6 or 10-8 type of grinding win for the Bulldogs. Yuck. Please Tigers, prove me wrong!
Bring on Round 12
Origin teams are about to be announced shortly but that doesn’t mean we are able to stop preparing for the bye! Some really tough decisions await us yet again, so all the best for your 50/50 calls and good luck for your captain and reserve choices this week.