SuperCoach NRL 2018: Wilfred Zee’s wrap of the good, bad and ugly from Round 19

A BENCH reshuffle meant Nathan Brown played a full game against the Bulldogs, once again making him a buy option. Former SuperCoach NRL champion Wilfred Zee looks at the good, bad and ugly of Round 19.

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FORMER SuperCoach NRL — presented by hipages — champion Wilfred Zee looks at the good, bad and ugly of Round 19.

Eels v Bulldogs (14 — 8)

At the start of the season, few would have predicted that this primetime match-up would be between the 16th and 14th placed teams; certainly the broadcasters would not have expected it to be this bad. However, the draw was set and we were dished up with some rugby league equivalent of offal. It certainly was not a memorable game! However, the Eels were good enough to come away with the win and there is a chance they climb off the bottom of the table in the coming weeks!

Let’s look at the key performers.

Nathan Brown played the entire 80 minutes against the Bulldogs. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

The Good

Nathan Brown (81)

Brown was uninspiring at best last week as his minutes were reduced due to a four-forward bench, and on the field his workrate wasn’t where it usually was. No doubt some discussions were had and coupled with a late swap on the bench, with four forwards becoming a bench

hooker, a bench backrower and two middle forwards, Brown suddenly looked like a great

option again. Well, a full 80 minutes at lock later, and a monster 81 points in pure base stats (40 tackles, and 22 runs with 19 of them being over eight metres!), plus a tackle bust and a

penalty conceded, and Brown has shown that he thrives when given a challenge. Hopefully Brad Arthur was suitably impressed with the performance and this will be the norm for the

remainder of the year!

Tepai Moeroa (81)

Moeroa was a late swap into the starting squad and he played 72 minutes, getting through plenty of work himself. He was instrumental in the Pritchard try as he broke the line once and

delivered a perfect final pass to assist the try, as well as busting two tackles and throwing one offload (pending updates). Moeroa also scored 53 points in pure base stats which for Moeroa is more the exception rather than the norm. A great score, but I wouldn’t expect this to happen too often.

Cheapie Lachlan Lewis had a tough night against the Eels. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

The Bad

Brett Morris (15)

He was sinbinned so missed 10 minutes of the game, but even then his typically low workrate was on display. He looked dangerous when he did get the ball, but that just wasn’t often enough.

Lachlan Lewis (16)

He’s been impressive since his debut but this was probably his worst game, and that showed in his SuperCoach score too. Four errors, a penalty conceded and four missed tackles sum up his night pretty well, even if he did find a few nice kicks, one that forced a dropout too.

The Ugly

Clay Priest (24)

His night was cut short as he suffered ligament damage to his elbow after 24 minutes on the field, which assumedly ended his night early. He will most likely miss two to three weeks.

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Originally published as SuperCoach NRL 2018: Wilfred Zee’s wrap of the good, bad and ugly from Round 19