NRL SuperCoach: Tim Williams’ FIVE trade targets for Super Trade Week

SUPERCOACHES have a massive FIVE trades for the coming round — the inaugural Super Trade Week. Here are Tim Williams’ tips.

Gareth Widdop of the Dragons.

THE inaugural Super Trade Week is here!

For the first time, SuperCoaches have FIVE trades in a single round.

This is your chance to refresh your team for the upcoming round 17 bye and the looming finals (which start in round 22).

Here are resident guru Tim Williams’ top five targets.

***

Tim Lafai

There’s an argument to suggest Lafai was a one season wonder in 2017 averaging 64.8PPG. The two seasons prior the Dragons centre averaged 42PPG and 38PPG, while he notched an impressive 61PPG in 2014. However the star centre hasn’t played in an attacking side as red hot as the current Dragons crop in his career to date. Lafai is an absolute bargain at $428,800 due to an underwhelming opening half of the season. The former Bulldog has a monster ceiling matched by few others in the game and has vital Round 17 coverage. While he won’t be a lock in starting CTW each week, he looms as the ideal reserve option who can be injected when the Red V face weaker opposition.

Tim Lafai is no one-season wonder. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Joe Stimson

This is very much a speculative option that comes down entirely as to whether or not Stimson is named to start in Round 16. Stimson played the entire 80 on an edge for the Storm last week after Craig Bellamy promoted him to the starting side ahead of Ryan Hoffman. A reasonable amount of options have emerged for the second major bye, but plenty of cash needs to be coughed up for the likes of Tapine, Johnson and Harris. At $254k Stimson could be the perfect cash out option. The way I see it, if Stimson is named to start again in the upcoming round he should play 80 minutes due to Bellamy’s preference for his back-rowers to go the distance. With Felise Kaufusi out on Origin duties in Round 17 it should mean a guaranteed 80 for the week you actually need him to score points for you. From there it’s a case of crossing the fingers he maintains the minutes for a hefty increase in value. Worst case scenario he reverts to the bench and can be sold for a $50-100k profit with the all-important major bye week points already locked into your overall total.

Joe Tapine

Joe Tapine has surged into SuperCoach relevance in 2018 since locking in an 80-minute edge role at the Raiders. The back-rower has a 60PPG average and is coming off a career-high 112 point game against the Tigers. Tapine doesn’t quite have the consistent base stats of other premium back-row options, but he is a handful in attack with the ability to record some impressive additional numbers with the ball in hand. Tapine isn’t quite a starting 17 player going forward – particularly with the Raiders’ brutal draw post Round 17 – but he will be an invaluable reserve who is certain to be called upon in the latter stages of the season. It’ll be interesting to see how Josh Hodgson’s return impacts Tapine, could the star hooker help turn Tapine into a premium 2RF? Raymond Faitala-Mariner offers extremely similar prospects with a stronger base and a $114k discount.

MORE SUPERCOACH: Win $300K and buy trip to space

MORE SUPERCOACH: 10 things we learned round 15

CASUALTY WARD: Fonua may miss rest of season

Gareth Widdop

The English playmaker has bottomed out in value at the absolute perfect time for coaches. Widdop is valued at the bargain price of just $484,800 and has a breakeven of 55. Some prospective owners have become sceptical over the past month, but for me the Dragons five-eighth is a must-have going forward. The halves have been a rare week position in SuperCoach this season comparative to past years, so Widdop’s 66.4PPG average is a sight for sore eyes. Widdop is involved in almost every attacking movement for the Dragons and boasts arguably the highest regular ceiling in the competition.

Gareth Widdop has a high ceiling.

Curtis Scott

This is a left-field option for those looking for a cheaper CTW to cover Round 17 with reasonable reserve credentials once trades are exhausted. The likes of Jarrod Croker, Tim Lafai and Euan Aitken are all far better buys, but you can’t have everyone. Scott therefore looms as an alternate option at just $300k following a nightmare -1 point effort against Manly when sent off for punching Dylan Walker. Scott has averaged a dismal 32.4PPG this season despite being strong in actual NRL. For this reason alone he’s a mile away from being a regular starting CTW for teams, but there is upside. In his debut NRL season last year (disregarding two games in 2016), Scott averaged an impressive 54PPG. In his favour currently is his secure position in the side and the fact he’s playing in a strong attacking Storm outfit. Scott has reasonable base stats and due to the negative score still in his rolling average he’ll likely be available for below $300k in Round 17.

Originally published as NRL SuperCoach: Tim Williams’ FIVE trade targets for Super Trade Week