JT’s Weekend Roundup – Round 18

Well that was a pretty wild ride. A throwback to the 2021 season where anything below 1300 was a huge fail and you'd be cursing any sub-60 scores from the majority of players. Is it just the post-Origin hangover (some more literal than others) or is the competition now starting to open back up as we run into the final seven rounds of the regular season?

What ultimately looks to have cost people this week is the awful season-ending knee injury to Ryan Papenhuyzen, who started the game strongly with a couple of linebreaks only to cruelly leave the field in the first half, unable to support any weight. 16% of SuperCoaches went for Pap as their captain and that bit of bad luck might be a season-ender for those in contention as well, such was the disparity in scoring between other popular captaincy options this week.

Joey Manu cemented himself as the premier CTW thus far in 2022 with a massive day out in one of a few high-scoring games for the weekend, and the amount of blue shading over a score of 382 I saw throughout the various leagues I'm in shows there's plenty of people who have finally nailed a VC loop this week. Well done to anyone in that boat.

I thought a score of 1402 was pretty solid this week given I captained a different Rooster (thank god for Teddy junk points), but the top score this week was a ridiculous 1710 from Billys50gees who also pushes into 6th overall. What a monster!

The Weekly Top 5

• Rockers– the ‘SuperCoach-relevant’ players who killed it
• Floppers – the ‘SuperCoach-relevant’ players who killed your week
• Shockers – the left-field players who will no doubt be high on the list of trade-ins the next round and prime candidates for SC players chasing last week’s points!
• Trade Fail of the Week - always good value.
• Manic Minutes - a quick check of any minutes of interest across the round.

Picking the right nuff for the run home is generally pretty easy. Pick a guy who is a long shot to actually play a game, that's basement price and hopefully has dual flexibility. CTW-only Bronco Deine Mariner ticks two of those boxes, although barely given he was the 18th man this week. But the challenging part might just be picking who to nuff out in the first place, as two coaches who moved on Joseph Manu for Mariner realised this week...Joisus.

1. Joseph Manu - 191. In the headlines for a feigned (we believe) injury to put the defence off and ultimately burst through for a try, but sportsmanship doesn't count on the SuperCoach score sheet. In a massive purple patch at the moment but with Luke Keary aiming for a return this week that would push him back into centres, can such a heavy workrate continue for him? Two tries, two assists, an insane 18 tackle busts, four linebreaks and even a casual forced dropouts. One of the great all-round games we've seen this season. Well done to all who own and captained.

2. Latrell Mitchell - 136. As a biased Cody Walker owner, I have no idea how Latrell kept that try assist where he just stood there and shovelled the ball to Tatola to score after Walker did all the early work, but that would have only dropped him to 120 points anyway. What a comeback it's been from the Big Lat and what a play it would have been a few weeks ago to pick him over Papy if you had to save the funds. Had a few tough goalkicks on the night, missing three, in his only real blemish. That solo try was absolutely outstanding and the nine tackle busts they've scored him at could have almost all come from that one run. Has scores of 99, 93 and now this one to boost his price back to almost $700k.

3. Reuben Garrick - 122. I did call out Manu as the CTW gun of the season so far but maybe that's discounting the work of Garrick here. Even before he was put into fullback through Turbo's injury, he was scoring healthily out wide even when Manly weren't. Since Round 6, he's dipped below 50 points just once. One downside to some recent injury niggles is that he has passed the goalkicking off to DCE, but did step up to the tee to put one over late after DCE had been given a rest. A couple of try assists in a big score and will now be playing a Dragons side who've just conceded 50. As a non-owner, I will not be watching.

4. Daly Cherry-Evans - 111. An Origin series win into a commanding performance for his club side a few days later. Been a handy week. DCE sits as a huge POD at just 4% ownership but is starting to fire again after a relatively quiet season. 73, 118 and now 111 is the formline, and he has six try assists across those weeks. As a Jahrome Hughes owner, if I had the trades I would be making this switch pretty quickly. Where Hughes is surrounded by attacking weapons, so much of the attack goes through this guy's hands and when Manly are on, as they are now, that invariably leads to points.

5. Viliame Kikau - 102. Just a quiet reminder that Kikau is still a huge part of the Panthers' arsenal and now has a 5RA of 78 to go along with it. It maybe wasn't quite the typical Kikau game, with just one bust and one offload, but he stuck his tackles, made some good runs and got a try and an assist on the back of it. Top-scoring 2RF in the game in Round 18.

1. Will Penisini - 25. Scores of 21, 22 and now 25. Crushing if you've not only kept him around to watch that price drop, but also played him over that stretch. Almost had a try in the first half but got dragged back out of the in goal and that was about the only time he looked like doing much. Rough.

2. Ronaldo Mulitalo - 33. Six tries in his last six games has helped Mulitalo along to a pretty healthy average of late, but never looked likely on the night despite coming up against a depleted Cows side and racking up six busts on the night. Not the worst output for a CTW but for almost $600k, your expectations are always a little higher than usual.

3. Scott Drinkwater - 41. Sticking in Townsville and it was another player in Drinkwater who has been in great form of late that also couldn't get much going here. His first game since Round 12 where he didn't put up a try assist, though he did bust seven tackles on the night. It was -8 in errors and penalties that didn't help at all. Has made huge inroads in consistency this season so expect him to bounce back next week at home against the Tigers and be a hold and play for another week.

4. Kotoni Staggs - 47. Ten missed tackles! It's been a very up and down season for Staggs but you'd be expecting him to follow up last week's 103-point effort with something similar against the Titans, but despite a few wild offloads, fell way short of the mark owners had probably set. You generally keep these CTW guys in as matchup plays by this time of year and they don't come much better than the last-placed Titans these days.

5. Josh Schuster - 9. This guy will be in every team next season given where his price is likely to be landing. He has three single-digit scores in a row now coming off the bench in what you could argue is probably a waste of a bench spot. In a week where not many other big-name SuperCoach players flopped (outside of injuries), let's include the Schu as a reminder of just how far he's fallen. Calling it now, 75% ownership come R1 2023.

1. Sam Walker - 138. This score is by no means a complete shock, but it's fair to say Walker hasn't set the scoring world alight so far this year, with a previous best of 87. Solid without being spectacular, most had likely already moved away from Walker to a player with a higher ceiling, and have missed out on this mammoth game where 36 points came in goals alone.

2. Jason Saab - 121. What did we say earlier about this being 2021 all over again? Like Walker, this comfortably eclipsed his next-best this season, which happened to come last week with a 76. On a roll now, as are Manly.

3. Tevita Tatola - 102. Two tries in two weeks after not having scored one since 2020...

4. Declan Casey - 88. Bit of a rollercoaster ride. Played 56 minutes in his debut game in horrendous conditions in R16 for a grand total of 0 points and a nasty HIA, and then bounces back to score his first try and set up another in his second. Good on him!

5. Adam Doueihi - 87. Who would have thought playing your best player in his desired position would have paid off? Wild.

Like last week, the disruption of Origin, both with mid-game restings and pre-game scratchings, can cause some chaos amongst the minutes, so I'll again pull out some of the more interesting plays this round:

• Haumole Olakau'atu (70) again just won't get a full game out there, taken off just when Manly are on the march yet again.
• Isaiah Papali'i (80) played his first full game since Round 10. David Fifita (80) had his first since Round 7. And Zac Hosking (80) makes it two in a row in another big game for the cheapie.
• Joey Manu (71) actually did come off after that dummy through. Robbed of a 200!
• Joe Ofahengaue (56) had a pronounced drop off in minutes after being shifted to prop with Hastings moving to lock. It was his lowest minutes since Round 10.
• Middling minutes from some midrange plays with Max King (48) and Cam McInnes (54) being reasonable fill-ins if you needed them this round.

Injuries

• Ryan Papenhuyzen - Knee - Season
• Sio Siua Taukeiaho - Cheekbone - 3-6 weeks
• Billy Smith - Knee - Season
• Sitili Tupouniua - Knee - Season
• Sione Katoa - Shoulder - TBA
• Moses Suli - Ankle - TBA
• Siosifa Talakai - Shoulder - 0-1 week

Failed HIA - Sio Siua Taukeiaho

Suspensions

• Jordan Rapana - 2-3 weeks