SuperCoach NRL: Five players set to shine early in 2020
These five players should be high on your SuperCoach wishlist, some shone late in 2019, others look set for increased roles in 2020 – and all look to be bargains to start the year.
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With salary cap constraints being what they are no SuperCoach player can afford to start with too many mid-range players (those priced between $400-$550K).
But when a player profiles as likely to score as well as those players priced significantly higher than him you’d be mad not to put him in your squad.
These five players fit that criterion. Some look set to cement big-minute roles, others have an early-season draw that favours success and all have demonstrated the ability to deliver significantly greater points than the price at which they will start 2020.
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David Fifita $501,900 (Broncos) – Season Avg 54PPG, Rd 19-25 Avg 79PPG
From round 18 onwards Fifita became an 80-minute player (82 thanks to overtime in round 24) and in that eight game span he busted out two tonnes and averaged 77PPG (42PPG in base and 14.5PPG in tackle busts!). Thanks to his reduced minutes off the bench over the first half of 2019, Fifita will be available for a significant discount on his 80-minute average and I think he is a mid-priced player that makes huge appeal.
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Ryan Papenhuyzen $508,200 (Storm) – Season avg. 52PPG, 80-minute Avg: 95PPG
When Papenhuyzen was entrusted with the starting fullback role he delivered – big time. In six games his scores read 87, 71, 108, 123, 98 and 85 with all bar the last score including him score a try. And thanks to his large number of cameo bench performances you will be able to buy the young gun for a huge discount on what he looks set to produce once playing fullback full time – something coach Craig Bellamy has indicated he will do in 2020. One word of caution, and I’m not trying to rain on the Papenhuyzen parade, but there will be some regression from the phenomenal PPM of 1.37 in 2019; for reference fellow star fullbacks Tom Trbojevic averaged 1.07 and James Tedesco 1.05 last year.
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Kotoni Staggs $447,700 (Broncos) – Season average 48PPG, Rd 19-25 Avg 66PPG
Cliche alert – 2019 was a season of two halves for Kotoni Staggs. Averaging just 29.2 PPG from Rd 1-11 and then 62.8 PPG across the 13 games he played after the round 12 bye, Staggs would appear to be underpriced to start 2020 thanks to his season average of 48PPG. However, a look behind the headline stats suggests you may not want to go all-in on Staggs just yet. From round 15 to 25, Staggs scored 10 tries – he also kicked goals from rounds 15-18. I don’t mean to be a Darren Downer but it will be hard for Staggs to maintain that strike rate so temper your expectations somewhat. In positive news, for Staggs at least, it looks like Jamayne Isaako will not make ths tarting team for Round One and that means Staggs should kick goals.
Luke Brooks $539,800 (Tigers) – Season Avg: 58PPG, Rd 19-25 Avg: 76PPG
The Tigers had an easy run home in 2019 and Luke Brooks capitalised in spectacular style scoring 67, 88, 99, 44, 90, 73 and 74 in the final seven games.The Tigers have a pretty soft start to 2020 with Dragons (A), Knights (H), Bulldogs (H), Warriors (A), Eels (A), Panthers (A) and Titans (A) so there’s every chance Brooks starts well in 2020. Non-goalkicking halves are always a risky proposition but Brooks could be a sneaky POD pick that rewards owners early.
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Luciano Leilua $434,300 (Tigers) – Season Avg: 47PPG, Rd 19-25 Avg: 61PPG
I think Leilua is unfairly maligned as lazy by a fair number of NRL fans and their bias may mean he flies under the radar somewhat as a SuperCoach player. Leilua punched out a PPM of 1.13 which was enough to rate him 16th among players who scored a minimum of 1000 points in 2019. And the points, and PPM, did not drop off when Leilua was required to play big minutes. In the seven games he played 50+ minutes, Leilua averaged 63.1 MPG and 63.7 PPM. Those numbers compare very favourably with the likes of David Klemmer (61 MPG & 66 PPG) and Tevita Pangai Junior (60MPG and 58 PPG) – though I hasten to add those are season-long outputs not just seven games as per Leilua. Having moved to the Tigers for 2020, Leilua has a decent chance of making an edge his own this season, and should he do so then he may be a mid-ranger worth watching.
Originally published as SuperCoach NRL: Five players set to shine early in 2020