Buy, Sell, Hold Round 23

Head to head finals continue this week and so does the pain and torture of running out of trades. No one has any trades but players are still dropping like flies. Everyone gets a suspension. Except Nathan Cleary…

Best call – BUY Josh Curran (139). If you picked him up to replace someone like Angus Crichton, then you reaped the rewards

Worst call – BUY Victor Radley (36). As I always do, I did give the caveat for Radley about him being able to stay on the field.

James Tedesco ($703,900 FLB – 99 last round, Average: 83.9, Breakeven 63)

If for some reason do you want to sell Tom Trbojevic right now and don’t own James Tedesco, this is the week to remedy that. The 99 he scored against the Broncos could easily eclipsed by whatever the Dragons are masquerading as NRL side these days. He’s down to 29% ownership, which when you consider the amount of zombie sides around, that’s an amazingly low number for one of the game’s best players.

Nathan Cleary ($987,400 HFB – 82, Avg: 112.2, BE 134)

Speaking of under owned guns, Cleary has plummeted to just 24% ownership. Again with the number of zombie teams around that’s insanely low. The Panthers are basically matchup proof and last time they played Souths he dropped 190 of the finest Supercoach points around. This Souths team is playing better than that team was, but there’s every chance he hits triple figures like he did against the Roosters in Round 14. A worthy punt for one of your final trades, especially if your H2H opponent doesn’t own him.

Enari Tuala ($469,800 CTW – 72, Avg: 43.6, BE 38)

The end of season is a good time to go POD hunting and if you don’t want to pay $566k for Euan Aitken (you should, he’s still only at 2% ownership), then you can get Tuala for $100k less. He currently has a three round average of 80.3 and faces the Bulldogs, Titans and Broncos in his final three. Tuala is in just 1,300 teams at the time of writing, about 1% ownership.

Briton Nikora ($483,200 2RF – 82, Avg: 56.2, BE 15)

A former Supercoach darling has struggled to be relevant this season with fluctuating minutes, but he’s finally strung together some long stints on the field. His last four games have seen him play 80, 80, 70 and 66 minutes for scores of 107, 43, 77 and 82. He’s not scored below 40 in those games for base stats, and only one game was below 50 for base plus power stats. If you’re struggling for a 2RF and need a good POD, at just 2% ownership (a touch over 2,000 selections) with games against the Tigers, Broncos and a Melbourne side resting some starters, Nikora could be very handy unique player.

Victor Radley ($478,000 HOK|2RF – 36, Avg: 50.4, BE 41)

Easy come, easy go. It’s going to be difficult to trust Radley in the future. The loading he receives every time he’s on report is just too risky and the reward isn’t there. Even with a couple of big scores he still only has a five round average of 65 and a three round average of 55. An absolute Supercoach myth.

Ryan Matterson ($556,400 2RF – 42, Avg: 64.9, 95)

Speaking of suspensions, with Matterson if it’s not concussions or injuries, it’s suspensions. With games against Melbourne and Penrith to finish the season he may not have been relevant anyway but it would be nice to have the choice rather than have it thrust upon us.

Corey Harawira-Naera ($465,400 2RF – 13, Avg: 61.0, BE 127)

If you weren’t lucky enough to boot him out last week then you’re probably happy that his putrid scores won’t be polluting your team anymore. A three round average of 26.7 and just 43 total points in the last two rounds is a bitter end to what was an impressive Supercoach season for the Raiders forward.

Jahrome Hughes ($612,900 HFB – 51, Avg: 73.6, BE 105)

With Cleary out he was the best halfback option available. Now that Cleary’s returned and shed some cash it’s less than $300k to jump from Hughes to the Panthers halfback. Hughes is already missing this round and you’d have to think Melbourne will be in no rush to return him with Nicho Hynes around and a top four spot well and truly secured.

Tyson Gamble ($448,100 HFB|5/8 – 31, Avg: 47.9, BE 79)

Yet another suspension, which hurts because he was turning into a decent backup to hold in case one of your starters was injured or suspended. Even more so this round if you were running with Hughes.

Tom Trbojevic ($1,164,100 FLB – 179, Avg: 134.6, BE 154)

There will be some very skittish owners having to actually think about picking a captain if Turbo sits out a week. The Sea Eagles play the Raiders on Friday evening so chances are we’ll know early if Tom is playing, and it also makes him the easiest vice-captain choice of the round. As long as he doesn’t cop another hit to the head.

Brandon Smith ($533,700 HOK|2RF – 82, Avg: 68.7, BE 54)

Harry Grant owners will rejoice but it looks like Smith is just being rested for a week, which isn’t surprising considering how much effort he appears to put in every week despite looking exhausted for 80% of the game. An easy hold since he should return for Round 24 and it would be a waste of a much needed trade.