NRL SuperCoach Round 12: Rolling coverage of weekend action
NEWCASTLE forward Pauli Pauli was the SuperCoach star as his side lost narrowly to Parramatta on Monday night.
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KNIGHTS V EELS
Injuries/reports:
* Kieran Foran aggravated a shoulder injury he brought into the game. He did not return in the second half and is set to miss a few weeks.
* Brad Takairangi succumbed to a hamstring injury in the second half.
* Tepai Moeroa copped a high shot from Korbin Sims and didn’t return due to concussion. Sims was placed on report.
* Danny Levi copped a late concussion and didn’t return.
* Jeremy Smith was ruled out pre-game with a bicep injury.
* Junior Paulo signed with the Raiders over the weekend and didn’t take the field for the Eels.
Talking points:
* Semi Radradra (72) was the most popular captaincy choice of the week at 16.3 per cent. He didn’t disappoint, but also failed to produce the massive score many were hoping for against the lowly Knights.
* One cheapie replaces another. Popular bargain Vai Toutai missed the final Parramatta team, replaced by Nines tryscoring sensation Bevan French (40), who scored a try and pulled off the matchwinning trysaver in the final moments. With Foran and Takairangi both injured, plus Michael Jennings likely on Origin duty in round 15, French looms as a serious cheapie for the byes.
* Jaelen Feeney (23) notched some handy points for the 18 per cent who held onto the failed early-season cheapie.
Highlights:
* Pauli Pauli (87) finally produced for the 15 per cent who held from the start of the year. Pauli was the go-to man on the left, notching a try, linebreak and 34 tackles on his way to the top score for the game. He will see a $50,000 rise and start next week with another negative break even.
* Nathan Ross (80) had spiders on him all night and was unlucky not to score the matchwinner, only denied by a last ditch effort from French. Ross notched a try, two linebreaks, seven tackles busts and ran for over eight metres on every carry.
* Popular cheapie Daniel Saifiti (48) produced his second great game in a row, notching another $20,00 in rises.
Lowlights:
* Manu Ma’u (54) had a brilliant game in actual NRL, but it didn’t translate to SuperCoach stats. He had a hand in two tries, but was rightly only awarded a last touch assist and linebreak assist for his involvements.
* Popular early-season pick Michael Gordon (38) scored below his season average despite scoring a try.
* Plenty of SuperCoaches hung onto Pat Mata’utia (dropped), still owned by 16 per cent, and Jacob Saifiti (wrist), still owned by 21 per cent, just for this bye round. However, both failed to take the field.
Knights: 1. Jake Mamo, 2. Cory Denniss, 3. Sione Mata’utia, 4. Nathan Ross, 5. Akuila Uate, 6. Jaelen Feeney, 7. Trent Hodkinson, 8. Sam Mataora, 14. Tyler Randell, 16. Josh King, 11. Tariq Sims, 12. Pauli Pauli, 15. Korbin Sims. Interchange: 9. Danny Levi, 10. Daniel Saifiti, 17. Mickey Paea, 20. Lachlan Fitzgibbon.
Korbin Sims moves to lock to replace injured Jeremy Smith while Lachlan Fitzgibbon is named on the bench.
Eels: 1 Michael Gordon 2 Semi Radradra 5 Clinton Gutherson 4 Brad Takairangi 19 Bevan French 6 Corey Norman 7 Kieran Foran 18 Daniel Alvaro 9 Isaac De Gois 10 Danny Wicks 11 Manu Ma’u 12 Beau Scott 13 Tepai Moeroa Interchange: 14 Kaysa Pritchard 15 Peni Terepo 16 David Gower 17 Kenny Edwards
Rookie flyer Bevan French, who lit up the Auckland Nines, makes his NRL debut on the wing. He replaces Vai Toutai, who drops out of the side, with Clinton Gutherson moving to the centres.
Daniel Alvaro starts at prop in place of Junior Paulo, who was released to join the Raiders on Sunday.
RAIDERS V BULLDOGS
Injuries/reports:
* Sam Kasiano (Bulldogs) and Edrick Lee (Raiders) both left the field with hamstring injuries and did not return.
* Last week’s boom cheapie Tyrone Phillips (15) had a quiet game before limping off late with a severe knock to his shin.
Talking points:
* Young gun and now potential cheapie Reimis Smith scored two tries on debut after being called in late for Josh Morris, who was promoted to the NSW squad for the injured Josh Dugan (elbow).
* SuperCoaches rushed to the “C” button after it was revealed Joseph Leilua (90) would come up against rookie Smith - and big BJ didn’t disappoint. Leilua may well surge over the ton once effective offloads are added in the second stats call.
Highlights:
* Aiden Tolman (95), owned by just 2.6 per cent, overshadowed the more fancied bye purchases by notching a try, 38 tackles and 36 points from runs.
* Young gun Joseph Tapine (96) produced his best game in the NRL, notching two tries accompanied by linebreaks.
* Moses Mbye (80) had averaged just 41 in the last seven weeks following a whirlwind start, but produced when it mattered most for the 17 per cent who held on for the bye. Mbye notched a try, two try assists, a linebreak and two linebreak assists.
* James Graham (79) was the most popular purchase in SuperCoach over the last few weeks and didn’t disappoint with a non-stop performance that included 39 tackles, 34 points in runs and a linebreak assist.
Lowlights:
* 2016 revelation Jordan Rapana (50) produced a handy score but missed his break even by 45 points and will drop below the $500,000 mark.
* Popular hooker purchase Josh Hodgson (38) failed to notch at attacking stat.
* Star cheapie Kerrod Holland (36) had an absolute shocker with the boot and will be a popular sell ahead of the round 15 bye.
Raiders: 1 Jack Wighton 2 Edrick Lee 3 Jarrod Croker 4 Joey Leilua 5 Jordan Rapana 6 Blake Austin 7 Aidan Sezer 8 Shannon Boyd 9 Josh Hodgson 10 Paul Vaughan 11 Iosia Soliola 12 Elliott Whitehead 13 Shaun Fensom. Interchange: 14 Kurt Baptiste 15 Jeff Lima 16 Luke Bateman 17 Joe Tapine
Unchanged.
Bulldogs: 1 Sam Perrett 2 Curtis Rona 23 Reimis Smith 4 Kerrod Holland 5 Tyrone Phillips 6 Josh Reynolds 7 Moses Mbye 8 Aiden Tolman 9 Michael Lichaa 10 James Graham 11 Raymond Faitala-Mariner 12 Greg Eastwood 13 Tim Browne. Interchange: 14 Sam Kasiano 15 Adam Elliott 16 Danny Fualalo 17 Craig Garvey
Young gun Reimis Smith is the replacement for Josh Morris, who has been called into Origin camp for the injured Josh Dugan.
DRAGONS V COWBOYS
Injuries/reports:
None.
Talking points:
* As expected, Tyson Frizell (56) was a late inclusion after being released from Origin duties earlier in the week and he delivered a solid performance for those who took the plunge.
* The Dragons were expected to make hay while the Cowboys stars were away. They failed to fully deliver but did manage to mine some SuperCoach attacking gold.
* Forward Ethan Lowe (50) was trusted with the kicking duties for the Cowboys in the absence of JT.
Highlights:
* Dragons centre Euan Aitken (72) was one of the safest Round 12 CTW options, with strong base stats and a good habit of finding the try line. He didn’t let his 7500 owners down, scoring his fourth try of season, making 18 tackles and notching 10 points from tackle busts and 10 from line breaks.
* Jason Nightingale (64) was the main beneficiary in the absence of regular fullback Josh Dugan. He added attacking stats to his usual strong base score, including and early try, six points from tackle busts and 10 from line-breaks.
* The lively Jahrome Hughes(78) was a surprise inclusion in the halves for the Cowboys in place of Michael Morgan, although he played at fullback. He certainly didn’t look out of place in the NRL as he beat a host of Dragons to score his first NRL try in his club debut for the Cowboys. Barring injuries he is only likely to play two games this season, so will not see a price rise, but is worth keeping a watch on.
Lowlights:
* Javid Bowen (14) owners joined the long line of fans cursing the NRL bunker after the young Cowboys centre ran 60m to the tryline only for the play to be ruled invalid after an earlier knock-on. It was made all the worse by the fact he did little else to help his 26% of owners in the first bye round after finally getting his third game.
* Cowboys edge-forward Gavin Cooper’s SuperCoach stocks rose last week after missing Origin and on the back of a five-round average of 67 and strong base and attacking stats. Those who did take the plunge would have been disappointed with his unfamiliar lack of both. He scored just 33 points, including his 19 tackles.
Final Teams:
Dragons: 1 Jason Nightingale 2 Kalifa Faifai Loa 3 Euan Aitken 4 Tim Lafai 5 Kurt Mann 6 Gareth Widdop (c) 7 Benji Marshall 8 Leeson Ah Mau 9 Mitch Rein 10 Russell Packer 20 Tyson Frizell 12 Joel Thompson 13 Mike Cooper Interchange 11 Jake Marketo 15 Dunamis Lui 17 Will Matthews 19 Josh McCrone
Tyson Frizell starts after being released from Origin duties. Jake Marketo moves to the bench. Jacob Host and Siliva Havili drop out of the final 17.
Cowboys: 1 Lachlan Coote 2 Kyle Feldt 3 Javid Bowen 4 Kane Linnett 5 Antonio Winterstein 6 Jahrome Hughes 7 Ray Thompson 8 Ben Hannant 9 Jake Granville 10 Scott Bolton 11 Gavin Cooper 12 Ethan Lowe 13 Jason Taumalolo Interchange 14 Rory Kostjasyn 15 John Asiata 16 Coen Hess 17 Patrick Kaufusi.
No changes. As named 1-17.
BRONCOS V TIGERS
Injuries/Reports:
* Broncos hooker Andrew McCullough broke his thumb in the first half and is expected to miss up to six weeks.
Talking points:
* Elijah Taylor proved his doubters wrong and once again he delivered on the attacking stats front. He finished with an impressive 83 points which included a try, two tackle busts, one offload, one linebreak and he made 45 tackles.
* Cheapie Josh Aloiai, who started in the backline, only saw 35 minutes of game time for 24 points.
* Broncos Rookie Jaydn Su’a played for 80 minutes and earned himself 51 points. Mostly made up of tackles.
Highlights:
* Cheapie Josh Addo-carr made good on his attacking potential. He crossed for a try, made two linebreaks and three tackle busts to finish with 67 points. He may struggle to get another call-up with James Tedesco on the verge of returning from injury but his confident performance on Friday night will give Tigers coach Jason Taylor plenty to think about.
* Tim Simona was a handful for the Broncos. The centre scored a try, assisted in another, made three tackle busts and one linebreak to register 82 points.
Lowlights:
* Broncos halves pairing Anthony Milford and Ben Hunt were expected to have a big game but both failed to deliver, Milford more so. After a low score of 19 points in round 11, Supercoaches, especially those who VC’d him, were hoping he’d bounce back. But he only managed 37 points which included 5 tackle busts and 13 tackles.
* Hunt finished with 57 points, well below his potential, which was made up of two try assists and a forced drop out.
Final Teams:
Broncos: 1. Jordan Kahu 2. Greg Eden 3. Jack Reed 4. James Roberts 5. Lachlan Maranta 6. Anthony Milford 7. Ben Hunt 8. Joe Ofahengaue 9. Andrew McCullough 10. Adam Blair 11. Alex Glenn 12. Jaydn S’ua 13. Jarrod Wallace. Interchange: 14. Jai Arrow 15. Herman Ese’ese 16. Tevita Pangai Junior 17. Kodi Nikorima
No changes. As named 1-17
Tigers: 1 Jordan Rankin 2 David Nofoaluma 3 Tim Simona 4 Kevin Naiqama 5 Josh Addo-Carr 6 Mitchell Moses 7 Luke Brooks 8 Tim Grant 9 Dene Halatau 10 Ava Seumanufagai 11 Josh Aloiai 12 Chris Lawrence 13 Elijah Taylor. Interchange: 14 Sauaso Sue 15 Matt Ballin 16 Kyle Lovett 17 JJ Felise
No changes. As named 1-17
Originally published as NRL SuperCoach Round 12: Rolling coverage of weekend action
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