NRL SuperCoach Stat Attack: 10 stats to decide Round 6

SOME key stats are just pure interesting, and some can be the difference between success and failure. Get your weekly stats fix with Trent Copeland.

CAPTAINCY. It’s something that SuperCoaches have often taken for granted in previous years with the luxury of Paul Gallen, Corey Parker, Sonny Bill Williams and Sam Burgess all playing 80 minutes every week.

No longer is this the case, and no longer can we lock in that orange armband with such calm confidence.

With teams often getting a “leg-up” by captaining guys like JT, James Tedesco and Anthony Milford on any given week, more and more people are taking risks when picking the big C. A couple of stats below, among others, will show just how risky people have been willing to go.

Here we go stats nerds …

Anthony Milford and Moses Mbye | No.3 & No.5

As I mentioned above, SuperCoaches are now taking the “gotta risk it to get the biscuit” mentality to captaincy. No way in the past would these two have come into popular consideration for captain choices, but last week Milford (37 points) and Moses Mbye (9 points) were the third and fifth most popular captains respectively … OUCH! Will you saddle up again?

Ethan Lowe has been in great form for the Cowboys.

Ethan Lowe | 9.3 per cent

If I was to ask you, after five rounds of the NRL, which 2RF has the most points overall in SuperCoach, what would the answers be? Parker? No. Burgess? No. Mannering? No. The answer is, Ethan Lowe! With 374 points, an average of 74.8 at 0.9 PPM, playing 80 minutes every week in one of the best teams in the comp and coverage of the round 12 bye, it is staggering that Lowe is only owned by 9.3% of teams. Unfashionable choice? Who cares. Take a good look at Lowe in the next few weeks of trades, no doubt VK and #PODwatch has.

Jake Friend | 269

This one is probably a direct result of how bad the form of the Roosters has been so far this season. Jake Friend leads all players in the NRL with 269 tackles across five rounds, next best is Simon Mannering with 220. Friend is averaging 61 PPG this season and is playing 80 minutes regularly. At $373k is he an option for you with the lack of HOK keepers? I think he should be in the conversation at the very least.

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Moses Mbye | 38

Did you captain Moses Mbye last week for his huge nine points? Man, that must hurt! What might hurt even more though is the immediacy we find ourselves needing to decide whether to keep him past round 12 or not. Mbye flew out of the blocks, but has a BE of 74 this week and a 100+ BE looming next week. The stat of 38 is his career average against the Storm, not exactly what you want to hear when he needs a biggie to hold his value. What will you do?

Panthers | 194 & 53

These stats really shocked me. When I narrowed the stat search down to try and identify which team is giving the most chances for opposition players to score points I thought of two distinct categories; missed tackles and errors. The team atop these two categories was Penrith with 194 and 53 respectively. The Titans were next on the missed tackle count with 154 and Canberra were the only team under triple figures with 99. What does this mean? Start your Cowboys this week with confidence! JT skipper anyone?

Dylan Walker is finding his feet for the Sea Eagles. Picture: Gregg Porteous

Dylan Walker & Jake Trbojevic | 95

The two Sea Eagles stars combine for the highest career average against this coming week’s opponent with 95. The Warriors do leak points, and Dylan Walker is seemingly finding his feet for the Sea Eagles and flying under the radar with an average of 51.8. JTurbo as he is known in SuperCoach circles could be a nice trade-in option this week, next on the list was Paul Gallen with a career average of 88 against the Titans and he’s a good captaincy option if you own him.

Semi Radradra | 11.8 per cent

With a BE of 146, Semi Radradra is going to quickly become very affordable in the next three weeks. His starting price of $512,900 saw him begin as the most expensive player in the game and the 11.8 per cent of SuperCoaches who started with him will be filthy at the ease at which the rest of us will be able to pick him, according to SuperCoach GOLD, at $350k in round 10.

Semi Radradra is going to quickly become very affordable in the next three weeks.

* Top 20 teams overall | 6

This is the length I go to for all of you stats nerds. I have looked through the top 20 teams for overall points, and the average amount of players in those teams that will play in the all-important round 12 bye? SIX players. Some teams have as many as 9-10 and some have 3-4, but pretty much all teams in the top 20 include James Tedesco, who could well play Origin and miss five weeks over that period. Interesting.

* Corey Parker | 69

Of all the “safe”, reliable captain options like Surgess, Gallen, Fifita, Parker and Cameron Smith, Corey Parker has the highest projected score this week with 69. Is that enough? Tedesco, Milford, JT and Moses Mbye are all projected to score 75+ according to SuperCoach GOLD. So, who will you pick?

Will Corey Parker be your captain this week?

* Nathan Peats | 82

Nathan Peats returns this week from injury, and it is welcome news to the 6.6 per cent of teams who already own the bye-period must have at HOK. For those who don’t own Peats, though, he is projected to score 82 against this week’s opponent — the Raiders — and rise in price to almost $400k. Do you buy him now? Or wait until the bye period begins with his injury history and DeGois still named on the bench for the Eels? I think the latter.

Hopefully the stats fix for the week gives you the edge, definitely some interesting numbers to use to your advantage. Good luck this weekend.

Originally published as NRL SuperCoach Stat Attack: 10 stats to decide Round 6