NRL SuperCoach: Wilfred Zee wraps round 25 action
VALENTINE Holmes was basically THE key player to pick up in 2018 SuperCoach.
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FORMER winner Wilfred Zee wraps round 25 of SuperCoach — presented by hipages.
Broncos v Sea Eagles (48 – 16)
The equation for the Broncos was simple – score more than 24 points and they get a home final and play the Dragons. Score more than 32 points and they also get a home final and face the Warriors. Lose, no home final and they will face the Panthers in Sydney. In the end, they could not have done it any more perfectly – scoring exactly 32 points to lock in a home final against the Dragons. The Broncos will be a scary opponent in the finals if they can keep up this form. The Sea Eagles… well, there’s a lot – A LOT – for them to sort out in the offseason!
Let’s look at the good, bad and the ugly in this game.
The Good
Corey Oates (108)
Oates scored FOUR tries, with some highlight reel stuff mixed in as well. Throw in two line breaks, three busted tackles and just 14 points in pure base stats (limited work available for him) and it’s a great score, but not a fabulous score.
Jake Trbojevic (94)
Jake Turbo capped off a solid year where he averaged over 70 across the season. His steady 80 minute presence guaranteed him as a pick this year. He scored 57 points in pure base stats, plus forced a dropout (what!), threw an effective offload, busted a tackle and of course, scored a try with a line break. He has so many good skills for a lock forward and will be a SuperCoach force for years to come.
The Bad
Jordan Kahu (17)
He was a defensive liability in this game as he missed a massive six tackles. The Broncos will need to fix this for the finals.
Matt Wright (16)
Sadly for SuperCoach purposes, Wright belongs here but in terms of the game he had, he was a lot better than his wing partner. However, low involvement and no attacking stats means he’s here, and Parker fluked a try to give him a better score than his on-field performance indicated!
The Ugly
Tom Trbojevic (20)
He was looking dangerous but in the 30th minute, he copped an accidental knee to the head from a defender and failed the subsequent HIA.
Tevita Pangai Junior (29)
He played 50 minutes before coming off with another hamstring concern. Hopefully it was just precautionary and he will be ready for the first week of finals.
Bulldogs v Sharks (18 – 30)
The narrative before this game kicked off was that the Sharks could win 98-0 and force the Roosters to hand back the minor premiership that had been presented to them last night. Of course, no one seriously thought this would happen as the Bulldogs were ready to take the game to the Sharks. They were brave and full of effort but the Sharks just had too much class to tough the game out and prove they are a top four team this year.
Let’s look at the good, bad and the ugly in this game.
The Good
Will Hopoate (128)
Hoppa dropped a monster score in Round 18, and has been okay without setting the world on fire since then. Well, he showed up again against one of the tougher defences in the NRL. Hoppa scored a try, set up another, broke the line twice, assisted another line break, busted 15 (!) tackles, threw three effective offloads and scored 33 points in pure base stats. He has really looked stronger at fullback this year and it’ll be interesting to see what happens next year.
Valentine Holmes (127)
Holmes was basically THE key player to pick up in 2018 SuperCoach. He has averaged 84.3 from Round 10 until now, and that average could nudge over 87 after this week’s score. Incredibly, he averaged 93.3 after taking up the goalkicking as well. He’s very, very hard to ignore if he still has the goalkicking boots to start 2019. He scored a try, assisted three others, broke the line twice, assisted two other line breaks, busted three tackles, kicked three goals from three attempts and scored 26 points in pure base stats. He’s been very safe at the back too so it’s not just him with ball in hand that he’s improved as a fullback.
The Bad
Edrick Lee (14)
He has been strong this year but he missed out on all the attacking points – this was not surprising though since he was up against the Morris brothers who are still decent defensively.
Reimis Smith (20)
Fresh off 125 points last week, Smith missed out on the attacking stats this week against the relatively stingy Sharks’ defence. Playing him was always a risk this week.
The Ugly
No major injuries to note.
Eels v Roosters (10 – 44)
So this game could very well have decided the overall race, with a massive amount of points being scored and a few key decisions could have decided the final positions. It also could have decided your head-to-head Grand Finals! The Roosters weren’t even in top gear, but they had far too much firepower for the wooden spooners who were also depleted due to injuries. Not much else needs to be said about this game!
Let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly from this game.
The Good
James Tedesco (170)
Teddy is just ridiculous! A week after scoring 90+ without any major attacking stats, he showed what happens when he gets those stats too! One try, four try assists, one line break, four line break assists, three offloads (two effective), 12 tackle busts and 31 points in pure base stats. He is a freak with ball in hand and is showing us why he is arguably the best fullback in the game right now – or if not right now, then after Slater retires!
Latrell Mitchell (163)
With one of the fastest hat tricks you’ll see, Mitchell wasn’t doing all that much until he exploded into life in the second half. With three line breaks to go with his three tries, two line break assists, one last touch assist, nine tackle busts, one effective offload, six goals from nine attempts and 24 points in pure base stats (good for Latrell’s standards!) it was a big, big game from him.
Shout outs to Fergo and Tupou – it’s very rare that you can score 122 and 99 and not make the ‘Good’ section of this wrap-up!
The Bad
Mitchell Moses (-7)
This is not a joke, he played 80 minutes (well, 70 technically since he was sinbinned) and made three errors, conceded a penalty, and missed a goal and two tackles. Crazy stuff!
Corey Norman (16)
The other Eels’ half wasn’t much better as he missed six tackles and kicked the ball dead once, and did very little else.
The Ugly
No major injuries to note.
Knights v Dragons (14 – 24)
The Dragons finish the regular season a winner, as they dispatched the injury-ravaged Knights missing a number of key players. The Dragons weren’t that convincing at all though, and arguably the Broncos and Warriors are probably hoping to get to play them over the other teams down the bottom half of the eight. The Knights at least avoided the wooden spoon this year, but their defence leaves a lot to be desired and it will be an area to be fixed for 2019.
Let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly from this game.
The Good
Mitchell Pearce (96)
Pearce certainly showed that the Knights made a good choice in spending money on him, and he had one of his better games in sparking something for the team. You get the feeling that if Pearce had help from Ponga and Watson in this game, they may have won. Pearce set up two tries, broke the line once, forced three dropouts, offloaded effectively four times, busted two tackles and scored 29 points in pure base stats. Still, there are a lot of goalkicking halves you’d take ahead of Pearce at the halfback position…
Cam McInnes (91)
The hooker landscape this year meant that there wasn’t really much interest in hookers after Cook, Daylight, Smith, Daylight, Hodgson/Farah. McInnes recorded his highest score of the year as he set up one try, provided the last touch for another, assisted two line breaks, busted one tackle, threw one effective offload and scored 53 points in pure base stats. Unfortunately he’s just not going to be relevant while Damien Cook is around!
The Bad
Jack Cogger (7)
He didn’t have the best game as he made two errors, conceded a penalty, kicked a ball dead and missed four tackles – he may have a battle on his hands to get and retain his spot at the Bulldogs next year with the emergence of Lachlan Lewis!
Nick Meaney (18)
Filling in for Kalyn Ponga at fullback was always going to be a tough ask and while he has been decent, Meaney didn’t have his best game this week. He also took up the goalkicking, albeit only one goal from three attempts, and his one error lead directly to a Dragons’ try!
The Ugly
No major injuries to note. Jai Field never made it onto the… field.
Storm v Panthers (16 – 22)
I saw this as an upset initially, but then thought about how many key outs the Storm had, and decided it was fair enough. The Panthers still don’t look convincing at all, but it’s an improvement on recent weeks. A few of their players stood up in particular, and a few more will need to step up again if they are to make it past the first week of finals. The Storm, well, they’ve done incredibly well to get to where they are with the injuries they have had.
Let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly of this game.
The Good
Felise Kaufusi (87)
He’s flown under the radar this year. He hasn’t scored as many tries, but he’s somehow managed a 58.8 average while scoring four tries and two try assists – well down from his nine tries, one try assist and two last touch assists from 2017, when his average was 61.1. What that says is that Felise has improved his base stats, and this is a positive sign for future years. Potentially, he could be the next Tohu! Kaufusi scored a try with a line break, busted three tackles, threw one effective offload and scored 50 points in pure base stats.
Josh Mansour (81)
What a crazy game Mansour had! Sinbinned early, he looked like he was going to struggle. However, he then scored twice, once including a line break, as well as busting seven tackles and getting through plenty of work – 20 runs for 33 points, and five tackles (and one missed) as well. The Panthers are definitely much better when Mansour is getting through his yardage work. Had he not have been sinbinned, he could have raised the bat.
The Bad
James Maloney (19)
He was meant to make a big difference but to be honest, I didn’t really see much. Maloney wasn’t overly involved, but despite one try assist he made three errors and missed five tackles.
Nathan Cleary (36)
One out of Six! Five missed goals… that’s a 30 point swing. His score would be fine if he didn’t kick so badly. Owners would be disappointed naturally, as he would have easily gone 60+ if he was kicking well.
Tamou was also sinbinned.
The Ugly
No major injuries to note, although Tim Glasby failed his HIA.
Warriors v Raiders (20 – 16)
The Raiders had been on fire the past two weeks, dispatching two premiership favourites in the Rabbitohs and the Roosters, but they came up against the in-form Warriors, who were fired up for Mannering’s 300th game. In the end the match was a little disappointing in terms of quality, even if it was still exciting and a tense finish. The Warriors got into the grind and showed some flashy skills at the right times to get the win, while the Raiders had some typically Raiders-like moments of brilliance coupled with brain fades (as a team). The right team won at the end of the day.
Let’s look at the key performers in this game.
The Good
Josh Papalii (93)
Big Papa was a beast again at lock, playing the full 80 minutes and getting through plenty of work. He scored a great middle forward try, with a line break, as well as busting three tackles and scoring 62 points in pure base stats. If he starts next year playing lock again, he’s certainly worth considering given how he has gone in the back end of this season. If he stays on 93, he will have averaged 63.6 so far this year. But his average since switching to lock is 69.25 points per game!
Peta Hiku (90)
Hiku has had an up-and-down season, as he burst out the blocks at the start of the year but then had a few bad games in a row, leading to him being dropped and also benched for a while. It appears he has won his job back off Gerard Beale and he showed his attacking upside, scoring a try with a line break, setting up another (with an absolute gem of a no-look flick pass) with a line break assist as well, busting six tackles, throwing one effective offload and scoring 33 points in pure base stats. There’s an argument that Hiku may be undervalued to start next year again, due to his stints on the bench…
The Bad
Blake Austin (1)
He has been impressive in the past two weeks, but this was not a good game from him. Three errors, one kick dead and three missed tackles explain his score somewhat, but his involvement was far lower, and he was outshone by his halves partner.
BJ Leilua (11)
He only played 47 minutes and despite what looked like him going down injured at one point, he didn’t seem to come off and there appears to be nothing conclusive on this. Otherwise, I’m not sure why he was brought off as he didn’t seem to be having that bad of a game, not having missed any tackles and only conceding one penalty and kicking the ball dead.
The Ugly
Simon Mannering (27)
He only played 42 minutes before a sternum injury cut short his 300th game. He went off the field and stayed on the bench for the rest of the game. Hopefully he gets to play a few more as his team goes deep into the finals!
Issac Luke came off for a HIA but returned in the second half.
Rabbitohs v Tigers (51 – 10)
The Rabbitohs made an emphatic statement as they demolished the Tigers, along with the Tigers’ faint (and now extinguished) finals hopes. The Rabbitohs were inspired by their leader who looked refreshed and incredibly dangerous, and it saw the left side attack click again, and they picked on the Tigers’ right edge all night. The Tigers… well, they shouldn’t be disappointed as arguably they have overachieved this season given plenty of pundits had them sitting in the bottom four. It’ll be exciting to see how they go next year.
Let’s look at the key performers.
The Good
John Sutton (137)
Sutton was supposed to be washed up this year, but he has played his best footy in the second row since he moved there in 2014. He toyed with the Tigers in this game, scoring a try, setting up another two, providing the last touch in a third, breaking the line twice, assisting another line break, busting six tackles, throwing two effective offloads and getting through 44 points in pure base stats. He had a blinder of a game and is a key member of the team right now.
Cody Walker (111)
Sutton’s partner-in-crime was a primary benefactor of Sutton’s good work, as he scored a try, set up another, broke the line once, assisted three line breaks, forced two dropouts, busted six tackles, threw one effective offload and scored 22 points in pure base stats. He and Sutton have such a great combination, but when GI is lurking out wide, it gives them so much more time and space to cause mayhem.
The Bad
Moses Mbye (9)
This game was incredible… the Tigers’ outside backs barely got to touch the ball. Such was the dominance from the Rabbitohs’ forwards that they just weren’t given any opportunities at all.
Luke Brooks (16)
He needed to stand up and do something to inspire his team, but to be fair I don’t think even the likes of Cronk, JT and other elite halves would have been able to do anything against that steamrolling Rabbitohs performance.
The Ugly
Sam Burgess (46)
Surgess came off the field in the 53rd minute; a pity since he was on track for a monster score. It was a hamstring injury, and then it wasn’t? Who knows, but Seibold seems to have played it down, and it’s been confirmed by big Sammy himself that he most likely will be fine and right for week one of finals.
Sauaso Sue came off for a HIA and also to have his head stitched after copping a nasty knock to the head.
GI was rested with 11 minutes to go, as was Cook with five minutes to go.
Originally published as NRL SuperCoach: Wilfred Zee wraps round 25 action
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