NRL SuperCoach: 10 things we learned in round 20

THE highest scoring round of the season is done and dusted with guns galore going yuuuuge! Rob Sutherland runs through the SuperCoach NRL week that was.

THE highest scoring round of the season is done and dusted with guns galore going yuuuuge! Rob Sutherland runs through the SuperCoach NRL — presented by hipages — week that was.

1. TWO SHARKS IN A FEEDING FRENZY

In the 50 minutes that Andrew Fifita was on the field — as opposed to worshipping at the porcelain pew due to a nasty stomach bug — the big man punished the Broncos scoring 88 points off the back of 51 base stat points, a try assist, linebreak assist and six tackle busts. That’s back-to-back big scores for Fifita and for those with trades left he’s still a good buy at $555K. The man Fifita put through the line for a try was Cronulla’s fullback Valentine Holmes and the fifth most traded in player for the round did not let his owners down crossing for a second to score 85 to extend his streak of big scores to 7 consecutive games. No CTW eligible player has a better 5RA and his round 21 opposition, Manly, are leaking points all over the park so there’s no reason to expect Holmes’ hot run to end any time soon.

2. A DOUBLE TON FOR ‘FITZY’

Two tries, two linebreaks, seven tackle busts and 41 tackles all adds up to 123 points for super POD Lachlan Fitzgibbon. That’s consecutive triple-figure scores for the Newcastle second-rower and it’s no surprise that his highest ever score came when the Knights had both Kalyn Ponga and Mitchell Pearce back on the field. Fitzgibbon runs off both playmakers superbly, and it would not surprise to see him add to his already impressive tally of 13 linebreaks for the season.

3. COULD JT FINISH WITH A BANG?

You should never write off a champion, and Johnathan Thurston is definitely a champion. That said, it’s a sad fact that for most of 2018 JT has certainly been down on the form that made him a champion. But lately, very lately there have been signs that the worm has turned, that those romantics among us could have a reason to give the great man a run in our teams in his final five games. In round 18 there was the 55 points against the Raiders on a night the Warriors ran very cold. In round 19 JT scored 50 on the Dragons, thanks in no small part to 18 points in forced dropouts. Then this week the maestro was in full effect scoring a try, setting up two and recording three linebreak assists for a total of 99 points. The Cowboys face the rampant Roosters in round 21 which is probably a miss — though Thurston does boast an incredible 84.8 against the Chooks over the span of his career. Round 22 sees the Cows host the Broncos, the team JT scored 110 against in round two this year and then there’s the matter of his final two games of the season, and his career, against the Eels (round 24) and Titans (round 25). I’m usually the first to argue there’s no place for sentiment in SuperCoach but this time … this time I think it has its place. Welcome to The Belalie Beasts JT!

4. WHEN LOLO IS NOT A LAUGHING MATTER

From one great Cowboys JT to another great JT in the making at the same club. We mentioned on the podcast that Jason Taumalolo had a shocking career average against the Knights (34.6 prior to last Friday’s game) and for whatever reason the Knights once again contained the big fella holding him to just 47 points in round 20. That’s a 3RA under 55 which is fully 13 points below Taumalolo’s season average. With the miserly Roosters up next there may be some merit in resting Taumalolo next week but I wouldn’t be trading him, not with ‘plus’ match-ups against the Broncos, Sharks, Eels and Titans to come. The minutes are still there (62 last week) and the points will come. Have faith.

5. CLEARY KILLING IT — AND ME

Indulge me, if you will, as I share my personal tale of woe. With two trades left I needed a CTW and half to finish off my team for the run home. I wanted one of Latrell Mitchell or Blake Ferguson from the Roosters and Nathan Cleary would be my half. The money wasn’t quite there for Fergo/Cleary and so I bought Ferguson this week in the hope that Cleary would just fail to hit his BE (which was 69) against Manly thus allowing me to get him after lockout. All was looking good until the last 10 minutes of the match in which Cleary scored a try (with linebreak), set up another and booted three goals for good measure — all up that’s 97 points. Oh and Latrell outscored Fergo too.

6. MARTY KAPOW BIG OFF THE BENCH

I’ll admit I was nonplussed when the Sea Eagles announced that Marty Taupau was to start from the bench in Saturday’s match against the Panthers. But I convinced myself he was still a must start with the hope that the plan was to bring the big man on once the Panthers had tired allowing him to bust holes against the bench forwards. And for once my fantasy turned into a reality. Taupau was unplayable on the weekend, busting nine tackles in 13 runs, recording his first linebreak of the season and for good measure he scored a forced drop out too. The minutes (53) were bang on his season average and the points (82) were 20 more than his season average.

7. REPEAT AFTER ME — JUST CAPTAIN COOK

South Sydney hooker Damien Cook has the best average of 2018, the second best 3RA and the best 5RA. He scores 50+ in base stats week in week out. He made 45 tackles (missing one), 13 runs (9 over 8 metres), four effective offloads, a try assist and two linebreak assists for 115 points this week. Just captain him every week. No matter the matchup. Just do it.

8. THE MAGIC MUNSTER MAN

Well, didn’t Cameron Munster step up on Saturday night! The Storm five-eighth joined this week’s rather crowded triple-figure club with a try, two try assists, linebreak, linebreak assist and 38 in base all adding up to 103 points against the Raiders. That’s a nice bounce back from the 14 in round 16 and 50 in round 19. I don’t want to rain on his owner’s parade but the nest three rounds look tougher. The Rabbitohs (round 21) are top tier when it comes to defending the position. The Sharks (round 22) are right there with them and held Anthony Milford, who had a 3RA of 60.7 and 5RA of 64.4 heading in to last week, to just 35. Even the Eels, yes the cellar dwelling Eels, defend halves well — to wit they kept Cody Walker to just 40 points last week.

9. ONE HELL OF A HALF FROM SJ — JUST ONE HALF

Warriors half Shaun Johnson was on 52 points at halftime in the match against the Titans. He finished on 65. Now 65 is not a bad score, but it could have been so much more but for the Titans turning in what was one of the more entertaining halves of footy I’ve seen in ages — and the Warriors seemingly giving up. Johnson was comprehensively outplayed by young Gold Coast five-eighth AJ Brimson (99 points) in the game. In fact AJ has outscored SJ over the past four weeks, who saw that coming?

10. WHICH ROOSTER DID IT BETTER?

As I mentioned above, pre-lockout I was weighing up the merits of Roosters outside backs Latrell Mitchell and Blake Ferguson. With Latrell scoring three tries (113 points) in a display which is surely seared into the mind of his opposite number Euan Aitken, I was thinking I had pulled the wrong rein — and then Blake Ferguson galloped through the Dragons to score a try to go with his three linebreaks hit triple figures (102 points) himself. What Latrell lacks in workrate vis-a-vis Fergo he makes up in explosiveness, and goalkicking helps too. Fergo’s superior workrate (18 runs of which 13 were over eight metres) won me over in the end. I think you must have one for the run home, which one will depend on what you value more in a player.

Originally published as NRL SuperCoach: 10 things we learned in round 20