SuperCoach Plus article round 16: Is Kalyn Ponga really a better player at fullback?

The narrative goes that Kalyn Ponga is more at home at fullback, where he is currently playing, compared to five-eighth. But do the stats back that up?

Round 16 of SuperCoach is here and these are the burning questions set to define the week.

From Briton Nikora’s base boost, to Kalyn Ponga’s best position to John Bateman’s form surge.

We’ve got you covered.

IS KALYN PONGA REALLY A BETTER PLAYER AT FULLBACK?

The Newcastle superstar is the most popular purchase this week and the buy makes sense given Ponga is in brilliant recent form, averaging 83 since his latest return from concussion. The narrative goes that Ponga is more at home at fullback, where he is currently playing, compared to five-eighth. But do the stats back that up? Kinda but not really.

Ponga averages 68 at fullback over his career compared to 64 at five-eighth (injury-affected games removed). In short, he’s a bit better at fullback but not significantly.

Kalyn Ponga is a popular purchase this week. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

WHAT SCORES CAN WE EXPECT FROM JAKE SIMPKIN?

The Wests Tigers young gun is by far the most popular cheapie of the week. After averaging 17 minutes as back-up to Api Koroisau this season, he’s set to up his minutes considerably now Koroisau is out with a broken jaw. With Tallyn Da Silva on the bench, Simpkin is highly unlikely to get 80 minutes. But 60 minutes is a real possibility. Simpkin’s PPM sits at 0.74 when playing over 40 minutes, so here’s what we can expect from him over the next few weeks.

- 40 minutes: 29.6 points

- 50 minutes: 37 points

- 60 minutes: 44.4 points

- 70 minutes: 51.8 points

- 80 minutes: 59.2 points

WHERE ARE BRITON NIKORA’S EXTRA POINTS COMING FROM?

Briton Nikora is the third most popular buy this week and fair enough given he is in the midst of his best ever SuperCoach season by a massive 10 points per game. So where have these points come from? Well, a significant amount of Nikora’s extra scoring is from increased base. He’s averaged 46 in pure base this season (runs + tackles - negatives points). His average base over the previous four seasons is 39.5, meaning Nikora is scoring 6.5 points per game more in base this year than the rest of his career.

- Base stats 2023: 46

- Base stats 2022: 41

- Base stats 2021: 37

- Base stats 2020: 39

- Base stats 2019: 41

WHERE ARE JOHN BATEMAN’S EXTRA POINTS COMING FROM?

Bateman struggled with an ankle injury early this season and therefore produced a slow-ish start. He averaged 57 over his first seven games, but has upped his average to 86 in the last three rounds. The two tries have certainly helped, but Bateman has also moved more into the middle in defence with his tackle count well up in recent weeks. In his first seven games, Bateman averaged 31 tackles. He’s increased that by a massive 13 tackles per game in the last three matches to 44 tackles a match.

- Tackles per game in first seven rounds: 31

- Tackles per game in last three rounds: 44

John Bateman has been tackling himself to a standstill. Picture: Getty

HOW DOES SCORING IN 2023 COMPARE TO PREVIOUS SEASONS?

There’s been plenty of chat in the general NRL world about the high quality of this year’s product. General consensus is that the NRL hierarchy have created one of the most exciting seasons in recent history by getting the balance right between close games and (relatively) high scoring. The structured (read boring) play of the 2000s and 2010s is behind us. But equally, the blowouts of the “V’landys Ball” season of 2021 are also behind us and the NRL is better for it. So how has SuperCoach been effected? Well, looking at the top player scores of all-time, it’s clear that 2021 was an outlier with 20 of the top 50 scores ever coming from that season. Meanwhile, scoring in 2023 is essentially on par with 2022, both with five scores in the top 50.

2019 - Two scores in top 50 all-time

2020 - Seven scores in top 50 all-time

* 2021 - 20 scores in top 50 all-time (including six of the top eight)

2022 - Five scores in top 50 all-time

2023 - Also five scores in top 50 all-time

WHO IS THE MOST POPULAR PLAYER IN TOP TEAMS?

Nicho Hynes is the best player in SuperCoach by more than 10 points per game, so you’d think he’d be the most-owned player in the top one per cent of SuperCoaches, right? Wrong. Hynes is owned by 91.5 per cent of the top one per cent, placing him second. Top spot goes to somewhat of a shock pick in Reuben Garrick at 95.7 per cent. This is a starkly different figure to his overall ownership across all SuperCoach players of 41 per cent.

Originally published as SuperCoach Plus article round 16: Is Kalyn Ponga really a better player at fullback?