SuperCoach NRL 2018: Wilfred Zee’s wrap of the good, bad and ugly from Round 21

RABBITOHS hooker Damien Cook once again goes large for his stack of owners. Former SuperCoach NRL champion Wilfred Zee looks at the good, bad and ugly of Round 21.

Damien Cook scored three figures against Melbourne. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

FORMER SuperCoach NRL — presented by hipages — champion Wilfred Zee looks at the good, bad and ugly of Round 21.

Knights v Tigers (16 – 25)

The Tigers started the game on fire and the Knights were struggling. Then they lost Mitchell Pearce and their hopes took a bit of a nosedive. However, they still hard and were able to get the game within two points but were ultimately unable to overcome the Tigers, who pulled away at the end. The Tigers lost Benji Marshall to injury but it didn’t matter, with Luke Brooks putting in a man of the match performance to get his side home.

Let’s look at the key performers in this game.

Luke Brooks went huge against the Knights. (Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)

The Good

Luke Brooks (111)

The Man of the Match was everywhere, and especially took charge with Benji playing injured, and then off the field for the final 15 minutes. Brooks scored a try, set up another, and also provided the last touch on a third try. He also kicked a field goal, forced a dropout, busted seven tackles, broke the line once, assisted another line break, threw one effective offload, and scored 31 points in pure base stats – a mighty effort from Brooks compared to his usual stats. He has been mediocre in recent weeks but he really stepped up this week when his team needed him to.

Aidan Guerra (107)

Guerra made it back-to-back tries as he put in a huge 80 minute performance at lock this week. His try was accompanied with a line break, and he also busted eight tackles, offloaded

effectively once and scored 60 points in pure base stats. He has been good for the Knights all year and has been one of the few players who can lift their heads up high for their form this year.

The Bad

Ken Sio (28)

Kicked two goals and had a line break, but also found the time to get sinbinned and managed to keep kicking the ball dead off the kick-off!

Cory Denniss (19)

He had a very quiet day generally, but this may have a lot to do with the amount of times the Knights dropped the ball!

The Ugly

Benji Marshall (13)

He was injured early in the game but struggled on, but it hindered his ability to play. In the end he came off with Jacob Liddle going on at hooker and Farah shifting to the halves.

Mitchell Pearce (7)

He played 42 minutes and was relatively quiet due to the Tigers’ dominance in the first half, but he came off with a corked thigh early in the second half.

Corey Thompson (24)

He came off in the 56th minute with a leg injury, which may have aggravated in the process of attempting to score a try.

Damien Cook scored three figures against Melbourne. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Rabbitohs v Storm (30 – 20)

It was a potential grand final preview, and boy, wasn’t it a cracking game! I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing these two teams going at it again at the end of the year. The Rabbitohs

managed to find an extra gear in the second half and were able to rein in the Storm who were threatening to cut loose, and then ran over them in the final stages of the game. Having said that, the Storm played the last six minutes of the game with 12 men due to injury and a lack of interchanges. Nevertheless, it was one of the best games of footy this year!

Let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly of this game.

The Good

Damien Cook (110)

Another week, another superb Cook performance. If he maintains this form, especially for SuperCoach, he will be in contention to record the greatest SuperCoach season by a hooker – ever! Currently Cameron Smith (who else) holds the record with a ridiculous average of 83.2 in 2013 from 21 games! Cook is very close to this record however regardless, this will go down as one of the all-time great SuperCoach seasons! Cook scored a try, set up another, broke the line once, assisted two other line breaks, busted seven tackles and got through 45 points worth of work in pure base stats. Running out of words for this guy, seriously…

Josh Addo-Carr (101)

The Fox! Remember him? You know, the guy who had a three-round average of 119 at one stage this year – and then has averaged 37 points per game since, not breaking 60 points at all for the past eight games? The dry spell has been broken though, as he scored two tries, set up another, broke the line twice, busted five tackles and scored 27 points in pure base stats. When he’s on, he’s on!

The Bad

Cameron Munster (23)

103, 50, 14, 98, 75, 69 – those are Munster’s last six scores for an average of 68.2 points per game. He’s relatively consistent overall, but has the potential to drop a stinker now and then – understandable for every young player. This week was another stinker as the Rabbitohs worked out how to contain him, but you’d back him to bounce back soon.

Jesse Bromwich (27)

He played 49 minutes but was easily contained by the dominant Rabbitohs’ forwards. It was a bit sad to see, and the Storm need their alpha forward to lead the way if they are going to make it to the grand final this year.

The Ugly

Cam Smith (55)

He limped off the field with six minutes to go, and the Storm were out of interchanges so they couldn’t replace him. Word is, it was just a sprained ankle and he should be okay to play again soon… but more information will be forthcoming eventually.

Adam Doueihi (68)

He left the field in the 59th minute with a suspected ACL injury to his left knee – a shocking outcome for what has, overall, been a very promising debut season for the youngster.

Rhyse Martin continued his incredible SuperCoach season. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Bulldogs v Broncos (32 – 22)

The Bulldogs have been somewhat flying ‘under the radar’ in recent weeks – if only just to note that they are playing better than their standing on their ladder. It’s a credit to them for sticking strong, even when plenty have written them off for the year. It also makes the wooden spoon ‘race’ very interesting! The Broncos… sigh, they are so bloody inconsistent!

How good was their defence last week! Where did it go this week?! The price you pay for a young and upcoming squad, I guess…

Let’s look at the key performers.

The Good

Korbin Sims (105)

His score should be higher (by one try, a line break and several tackle busts – approximately 135-140!) but unfortunately the Bunker not following due process robbed him of his career first hat trick. Sims was huge off the bench for the Broncos as he scored two tries, both with line breaks, busted three tackles, threw three offloads (yet to be updated), and scored 45 points in pure base stats – all in 45 minutes on the field. Korbin has played his role well for the Broncos while at the club, and it’s unfortunate that he has to leave but that’s the reality of the salary cap these days.

Rhyse Martin (82)

Martin shares this score with McCullough but given Martin is owed points from his involvement in the Morris try, he should take this spot (either a last touch assist, or a try assist). Martin continues to pump out 80 minutes on the edge while kicking goals (a perfect eight from eight this week), and also getting through plenty of work (50 points in pure base stats). He also has an offload recorded, which (if it’s the one I’m thinking about) it should definitely get upgraded to an effective offload after reviews. There’s also the fact that he may

have been robbed of a line break and potentially more (depends if he would have raced away to score) at the end when the ref called a forward pass – it was a very close call! He’s definitely a consideration for captain option every week at this point!

The Bad

Jordan Kahu (2)

Kahu had a shocker, and it lead to him being hooked after 53 minutes. The reshuffle saw Boyd move back to fullback, Staggs on a left centre and Isaako back to the wing, and it immediately saw the Broncos attack more comfortably.

Corey Oates (26)

He’s had worse games, but the Broncos needed a bit more from him last night. Was a tad unlucky as a few tryscoring opportunities could have been turned into points if things had fallen his way.

The Ugly

No major injuries to note.

Originally published as SuperCoach NRL 2018: Wilfred Zee’s wrap of the good, bad and ugly from Round 21