NRL SuperCoach Last Word: Reigning champion Sam Rohlf’s final tips heading into round 14

THE first bye and the first State of Origin have both come and gone, and now we are just waiting to see which players will back up this week for their club teams.

THE first bye and the first State of Origin have both come and gone, and now we are just waiting to see which players will back up this week for their club teams.

As each week passes now, the number of teams that have a chance for the overall SuperCoach title now starts to thin out.

Last week I ended up with 12 players on the field, with the late surprise start of Sione Katoa and his 55 points being a very welcome addition.

TRADE COMPARISON: Two best trades of Round 14

NRL SuperCoach champ Banyo Boy has his final say ahead of round 14.

I’m another who missed the Jason Taumalolo party last weekend and ended up with a score of 728 points.

It’s never good to miss out on points, but to miss out big on them, on a bye round and also miss the chance to move in the rankings is never fun.

Even with my round rank of 20,612 I still managed to drop 895 ranking spots to a total overall rank now of 14,411.

Shaun Johnson has been a frustrating hold for the champ, but he’s finally back.

Last week I traded out Richard Kennar (dnp) and Siliva Havili (dnp) for Sam Burgess (56 points) and Api Koroisau (83 points).

The Burgess score I was a little unhappy with as I was close to bringing back one of my favourites in Daniel Alvaro (82 points).

Alvaro has been terrific over the last few weeks but with Nathan Brown back for the Eels, I’ll hold fire for a week or two to see if he can keep up his run of good form.

Koroisau was excellent for the Sea Eagles last week and hopefully a few more scores like that will help me bridge the vast gap between Damien Cook’s price and his price as we get close to the end of the Origin series.

When it happens it’s going to exhaust all the money that I will hopefully be able to make up until that time.

This week some of us welcome back Shaun Johnson (73ppg) after one of the most frustrating holds that I can remember since I’ve been playing.

It’s great to get another starter back, but I still have two sitting on the bench in the heavily owned Ryan Matterson and my forward POD Joseph Tapine.

Tapine has one more week to sit out due to his suspension, so hopefully both Matterson and

he will be available in team lists next week.

Ryan Matterson again misses out for the Roosters.

Unless there is any late breaking news about an Origin player I own that may not back up this week, I will be holding trades.

It’s the first chance that I’ve had to save trades since the very first trade outs of Mitchell Moses and Jarryd Hayne just before the start of round 3. With the super trade week not far away, I’ll want as many trades up my sleeve as I can to try to change the fortune of my team over the final part of the season.

I’m off with the family for a well overdue holiday for the next week, so I will rejoin you all again in two weeks, so best of luck to all for the next fortnight.

Originally published as NRL SuperCoach Last Word: Reigning champion Sam Rohlf’s final tips heading into round 14