NRL SuperCoach 2016: Dave Von Kotze wraps the first game of Round 13

Game one of Round 13 had some usuals star and others step up while injury hurt the SuperCoaches who’d gone for the DCE POD.

Josh Papalii celebrates after scoring a try in their win over Manly.

MANLY’S woes continued in Canberra last night and they produced some underwhelming SuperCoach performances.

But the Raiders had some starred, with Jack Wighton leading the way from the back to be the best on the night.

RAIDERS

Jack Wighton (90): earned the Perfect Eight mantle with a try and two try assists for his highest score of the year. Wighton also cruelled Tom Trbojevic (33) owners after he made a fantastic try-saving tackle to rob him of a certain 17-pointer.

Papalii showed no ill effects from Origin I.

Josh Papalii (88): showed no ill effects from last Wednesday’s Origin opener scoring a try, assisting in another, breaking the line twice and busting two tackles during his 10 runs. Papalii’s 9,802 owners will enjoy a $25,000 price rise from the left edge-forward.

Another solid display from the in-form Leilua.

Joseph Leilua (70): looked as if he was in for a quiet game during the first quarter but turned it on as he has done so on numerous occasions this year to set up a try for Josh Hodgson, assist in two line breaks and offload four times during his 16 runs. BJ’s score should upgrade nicely when effective offload points are added.

An early finish for Hodgson didn’t hurt his score too much.

Josh Hodgson (68): the dangerous English import also known as Josh Pod-gson to 15.3 per cent of SuperCoaches will maintain a six-game average of 68 after laying the foundations to set up another win for the ‘Green Machine’. He was given an early shower when the game appeared to be won, only playing 66 minutes but kept a PPM of over 1 as a result of 29 tackles, 2 tackle busts, an offload and a try which included a line-break.

Jarrod Croker (38): was soaring with a four-game average of 87 until the past fortnight where he has only averaged 37.5. It just wasn’t Croker’s night with attacking stats happening all around him and if he hadn’t scored 20 points with the boot, it would have been a disastrous evening for his 42,177 owners. He will drop in value by around $37,000 if he holds on to this score but owners need not hit the panic button just yet as he will offer cover during round eighteen and has maintained a season average of 62 up to this point.

SEA EAGLES

A try to Parcell made his owners happy.

Matt Parcell (80): came through in a big way for the 13.8 per cent who own the nippy hooker from the northern beaches. Parcell played the full- eighty, was ever present in defence topping the tackle count with 42 and put the cherry on top with a superb play that included a try with a line break and two tackle busts. If Parcell continues to play these big minutes, he will definitely remain a hold during the middle section of the bye period.

Trbojevic should be in line for an upgrade.

Jake Trbojevic (67): played the full game but this may have been out of necessity due to a horror night of injuries for a few key players in the Sea Eagles line-up. JTurbo should be set for a few decent upgrades with an extra six to twenty points possibly coming his way for either a last touch or try and line break assist for Daly Cherry-Evans’ try.

Jamie Buhrer (49): appeared as if he was going to play the duration until he was knocked for six by new Raider Junior Paulo (34) after 65 minutes and failed to return. With an estimated price of $272,000 next week, he will come into consideration for many teams to offer cover through the bye period.

An injury set DCE owners back, with him sidelined for the second half.

Daly Cherry-Evans (43): DCE was ready to reward the 2,464 SuperCoaches who invested in him as a ‘Super POD’ after he scored a try with a line-break to set himself up for a potential ton, however, injury struck just before the half time break and he spent the second half on the sideline with his left foot in an ice bucket.

Jamie Lyon (16): another fallen ‘gun’ of the past who will definitely have a line drawn through his name as a POD to cover round fifteen after limping off the field in the 56th minute with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

Brenton Lawrence (13): came off the bench for 6 hit ups and 6 tackles but only lasted twenty minutes, succumbing to suspected pec injury. Lawrence sits firmly in the ‘sell’ category for the 8.3 per cent who still own him after missing his breakeven by 44 points.

Originally published as NRL SuperCoach 2016: Dave Von Kotze wraps the first game of Round 13