NRL SuperCoach Last Word: Reigning champion Sam Rohlf’s final tips heading into round 12

NO Damien Cook, no worries. Reigning NRL SuperCoach champion Sam Rohlf is taking a punt on a left-field POD.

SOMETIMES when you make a call and throw it out to the universe, the universe listens and takes you up on that call. My call that my team was going to struggle in round 11 was duly noted and I got what I asked for.

If you have Damien Cook (113 points) and Kalyn Ponga (98 points) in your team for SuperCoach — presented by hipages — you more than likely posted a nice score above 1100 last week. I don’t have either, and scored a pedestrian 965 points.

The Ponga non-ownership I can deal with as I started with the Tom Trbojevic/James Tedesco combination, which I will maintain until the very end, injuries permitting. However, Cook is destined to be the Semi Radradra of 2015 for me.

I started with the Smith/Havili hooker combo and have watched as Cook has gone from a nice second hooking option to an out-and-out SuperCoach gun and a fair chance of being Australia’s next dummy half.

Sam Rohlf is ruing not buying Damien Cook.

It’s not like I haven’t planned to get him in, it’s just that other issues with my team have sprung up at the most inconvenient of times. I’m sure many long-time SuperCoach players know exactly what I’m talking about.

As mentioned above, I only scored 965 last week which sees me slide out of contention for pretty much everything in SuperCoach you can aim for. There will be no third key ring for my collection and no top eight final series at the end of the season. My current season tally sits at 11,114 and that now has me ranked 15,671 after dropping back another 5,093 spots.

PODCAST!!! The bye season is just around the corner and two great cheapies are on offer. Get the teams lowdown with Tom Sangster and Nick Campton.

Last week my trade ins were Anthony Milford (38 points) and the popular Rhyse Martin (82 points). I decided on Milford over Connor Watson (79 points) as he had the lower ownership and because I wouldn’t have the trades to move on whoever I ended up picking. Didn’t work out that great for me did it?

Everything about the Martin trade was great. I got rid of a player (Scott Sorenson) who was only going to be useful if he was fit for the first bye, which isn’t looking likely. Martin produced a great score and retains a negative break even of (-39), so there is more cash to be made over the next few weeks. I just hope I have the trades left to turn him into a keeper.

In last week’s article I said I was keen to bring in AJ Brimson for Lachlan Croker and pocket $110,000 this week. Then the coach of the Cowboys, Paul Green, gave us another option by moving Michael Morgan to fullback and giving Te Maire Martin a chance to lock down a starting spot.

So for my first trade this week I’m going to stick to my guns and bring in the lower percentage owned player which is Te Maire Martin at 4% ownership at the time of writing.

Brimson (14% ownership) has the better break even (-28) and it’s no surprise he’s the most traded in player this week. The thought did cross my mind to trade Shaun Johnson for him, but trading out another keeper just for the cash grab isn’t going to help me much going forward. TMM gives me an extra number for the first bye which I sorely need and he has a small break even of 4.

My second trade this week is the one I’m excited about. I moved on Richard Kennar as I’m not sure if he will be playing the first bye and traded in Clint “King” Gutherson.

Gutherson has bottomed out in price and has a break even this week of 22. I had already traded in “King” this week before the teams dropped on Tuesday, but to find out coach Brad Arthur had moved him to five-eighth was music to my ears.

I’m not expecting 2017 type numbers from Gutho, especially without the goal kicking, but Gutherson fits nicely into my team and I’m happy to have him on board with his 3% ownership at the time of writing.

That’s it for another week, best of luck to everyone for round 12.

Originally published as NRL SuperCoach Last Word: Reigning champion Sam Rohlf’s final tips heading into round 12