KFC SuperCoach Plus Article Round 23: Is Nathan Cleary really worth $1 million?

All KFC SuperCoach eyes are on Penrith Panthers superstar Nathan Cleary — and more specifically his shoulder.

Three rounds left and trades are gone or almost gone, but the injuries and suspensions just keep piling up. Let’s see what we learned this week.

• All eyes on Nathan Cleary

And more specifically, his shoulder! He made his long-awaited return from injury last week, only Cleary’s second game since Round 12 this season (the other being Round 15). We know the injury risks are present, but it was more about seeing how Cleary looked and whether he changed his game. I think we can acknowledge that the first game returning from a serious injury is always tough, with fear of re-injury and also just being a bit tentative.

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Cleary definitely looked like he was protecting that shoulder and braced for contact, but the good news is that he made it through without issue. In terms of his workrate, it wasn’t too far off his usual numbers in terms of tackles, and even his runs (while on the low end, they weren’t lower than some other games this year). Non-owners have a tough decision to see whether he is worth forking out the big bucks (and the precious trades) for this week.

Nathan Cleary is the most popular purchase this week.

• Nicho Hynes the ‘trap’?

Let’s be upfront here — Hynes has been an absolute season-defining KFC SuperCoach option. However, his current situation is becoming increasingly murky — the past few weeks he has shared time with Ryan Papenhuyzen at fullback and his scores decreased as a result. The week just gone, Hynes scored well, but being honest, his score was the result of misfortune to teammates.

Dale Finucane’s early game head knock and subsequent failed HIA changed the rotations for the Storm, and resulted in Hynes spending longer at fullback than planned (as revealed by Craig Bellamy in the post-match press conference), followed by a stint defending as a middle forward effectively, increasing his base stats. Then, the unfortunate incidents for Jahrome Hughes opened up time for Hynes at the end of the game, when he wasn’t expecting to play any further part after coming off. Now, he’s named at halfback and there are whispers he may spend some time at hooker to give Harry Grant a rest. It’s definitely not clearcut how Hynes will score for KFC SuperCoach purposes!

• Junior Amone is one for the 2022 radar

Yes it’s a lesson we learned from Round 22, and we may be following that up with a further lesson in Round 23 (as he’s been named to start) but this is one name to keep stored for 2022 KFC SuperCoach, as he could find himself starting in the halves next year if he puts in a strong performance for the rest of the season. With most of his games being off the bench, or in the centres (which is most definitely not his natural position), Amone will be well underpriced. One to watch!

• Jordan Riki is the 2RF version of Tesi Niu

I wrote last week about how Tesi Niu turned from cheapie to CTW POD after a stint in reserve grade. Riki has had a similar trajectory and he now looms as a late-season POD option in the 2RF for those who held faithfully. Since returning to the top 17 and especially in his last four games starting, Riki has averaged 56.4 points in base and base attack stats, which is a strong floor for an edge backrower. Riki has flashed his attacking ability too, and with three tries, two try assists and three line breaks in the past five games he sits with an average of almost 77 points per game while playing almost 80 minutes each week. Riki doesn’t have the toughest match-ups for the final three rounds either, so he could continue this strong late season form.

• Damien Cook is finishing 2021 strongly

Cook started the season as the undisputed top option at hooker, especially with Grant injured and not available for Round 1. What followed was an inconsistent and ultimately frustrating season, with Cook averaging ‘just’ 59.2 points per game up until Round 16. The major issue for Cook has been the lack of reliance on him by the Rabbitohs for their attack, meaning he doesn’t get many attacking opportunities. Still, since Origin ended and from Round 18 onwards, Cook has a five round average of 78.8 points per game, comfortably ahead of Harry Grant, yet is somehow flying ‘under the radar’ with all the attention focused on Grant. It will be interesting to see how the two match up for the remaining three weeks!

• Big Stefano ‘grows up’

I say this with tongue firmly in cheek but Stefano Utoikamanu has returned from Origin camp as a different, more mature and developed player. How else can you explain the confidence in his game right now, and the improved workrate, bigger minutes and constant threat he presents to opposition forwards. Stefano has averaged 67.4 points per game from an average of 54.5 minutes since Round 18 until now (five games) — a massive increase from his 43.4 points per game from 38.2 minutes in his first 16 matches. The sky’s the limit, as they say, for this up-and-coming young prop, and he’s definitely a name to consider for 2022 onwards.

• Reuben Garrick is likely to finish as the top overall points scorer for 2021

That’s KFC SuperCoach points, by the way, although ‘Roobs’ has opened up a sizeable lead in the top pointscorer tally for NRL too. Garrick has a season average of 88.9 points per game — the highest ever by a CTW option (yes, even higher than the legendary 2015 season of Semi Radradra) but it’s the 13 games he’s played with Tom Trbojevic that really stand out — an average of 106.3 points per game. That’s ‘cheat code’ territory in the CTW given only two other players (Turbo and Cleary) are averaging over 100 this season. If you don’t have Garrick in your line-up for head-to-head finals, good luck is all I can really say.

Reuben Garrick is scoring tries for fun (AAP Image/Supplied by NRL Photos, Scott Davis)

• Turbo just keeps breaking records

The obligatory Tommy Turbo mention here but when he’s not breaking KFC SuperCoach individual scoring records, he’s on track to break all sorts of other records (and thankfully not his cheekbone). He sits No. 2 for overall points despite only playing 13 games. He has a season average of 134.6 points per game. He’s the most expensive KFC SuperCoach player ever right now. He will be the most expensive player by far for 2022 as well. He has two scores higher than the previous KFC SuperCoach record from 2020 (208 and 226) and he has only scores below 100 this season and two under 80. That’s 11 scores (!!!) of 87 to 226. These might be numbers we never ever see again in KFC SuperCoach — so just sit back and enjoy being able to witness history in the making this year.

• Josh Curran might finish the season as the highest averaging 2RF

Curran has come along in leaps and bounds in 2021, with the improvement obvious on the field and also on the stats sheet. With 11 games and an average of just under 71 points per game, the impressive fact is that Curran has had two games cut short by injury and is still scoring so well. Partially due to the misfortune of his teammates though (Tohu Harris’s ACL injury in particular), Curran has stepped up since then and has a three round average of 105.7 points per game, off the back of his career highest KFC SuperCoach score of 139. With some easy match-ups still to come, a few more big scores and Curran will be in the mix for highest averaging 2RF – yes, even with David Fifita’s hot start to this season!

Bring on Round 23!

Originally published as KFC SuperCoach Plus Article Round 23: Is Nathan Cleary really worth $1 million?