JT’s Weekend Roundup – Round 2

The deluge of rainfall across the weekend resulted in a little lower scores across the board, but the SuperCoach scoring gods were kind, with midnight updates on Sunday evening providing a huge lift. Looking around, 1150-1200 looks to be where you wanted to land, but there’s a scattering of 1300s that will have those coaches sitting very happily this early on!

It was a case of same old, same old in a lot of games over the round, with the Roosters and Panthers again putting poor opposition to the sword and providing a deluge of their own in SuperCoach points. Other games were a little lower in scoring, with plenty of grunt work through the middle and not a lot of passes sticking where they needed to.

Concussion also reared its ugly head across some highly-owned players, with the likes of Ryan Matterson and Nathan Cleary fighting the clock to be fit for next week after copping knocks in their games. For Matto it was a very early shower and not great signs that he woke up feeling very under the weather the next day, but unlike Cleary, he has time on his side with an extra recovery period between R2 and R3. But, these things are far more serious than our SuperCoach scores so all the best to those guys in their recovery!

To sum up how things are going so far this year, here is the list of players I really, really wished I had gotten into my team at the start of the year:

Brett Morris, Jayden Brailey, Mitch Barnett, Junior Paulo, David Fifita, Luke Keary, Tevita Pangai, Reed Mahoney, Ben Hunt, Sitili Tupouniua, Jarome Luai.

And here is a list of players I really, really don’t want anymore.

Charlie Staines, David Fusitua, Jason Saab (there’s a theme there).

Fair bit of cleanup to do here.

JT’s Weekend Roundup Podcast

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 great value.

This week’s trade fail of the week is one of the best I’ve seen. It wasn’t bad luck or a rage trade (surely). It’s just…strange. One unfortunate SuperCoach decided they’d had enough of Nathan Cleary’s s**t after his opening round ton, and decided they liked the cut of Tom Burgess’ jib instead, with Turgess being brought into their side at Cleary’s inexplicable expense. I mean. It’s a good cash grab? A solid 39 points from Burgess was the result, taking his season tally to 73.

1. Luke Keary – 123. Another week, another heap of massive Roosters’ SuperCoach scores. While it was Brett Morris that flew highest with a 135, he was on the end of plenty of Keary magic throughout the game to stroll over. 4 try assists, a further try contribution, two linebreaks, two linebreak assists, 19 tackles for just the one miss – even two offloads and two busts. Just about every attacking stat in the book was ticked on Sunday afternoon. It’s definitely been the Keary and Tedesco show out there to start the year with Lachlan Lam surplus to requirements. Is this finally the year that Keary cements himself as a genuine, consistent SuperCoach option, rather than one of those flash in the pan types you have to get on at the exact right time each year? It wasn’t the greatest of opposition he’s faced over the first fortnight but the signs are good.

2. Brett Morris – 135. Has now scored an incredible 270 points to kickstart his year and notched ANOTHER hattrick here. The Tigers simply had no answer (or couldn’t be bothered trying to find one) whenever the ball (frequently) shifted to Morris’ edge. It looked slick, it looked profitable and the ageless veteran was on the back of it yet again. Just 3% owned

3. Damien Cook – 102. Can’t keep a gun down for very long. Cook was challenged during the week for his runs being way down in the first round, and immediately hit back with some blistering efforts out there, including a huge trysaver on a runaway Jason Saab (what a killer for owners). A try, 4 busts and two linebreaks and even his base was up, with 50 tackle points (38 last week). Remains to be seen whether this is the aberration rather than the norm as it used to be.

4. Viliame Kikau – 114. This guy is an absolute SuperCoach rollercoaster. Looks like scoring every week (two here). Looks like getting rested for big stints every week. No one can work him out. Could easily hit a 40 next week but at his best like he was here, he looks like a guy we’ll have to keep in mind throughout the year.

5. Tevita Pangai, Jr. – 100. Started the year on fire in 2021, churning along at a rate of 1.9PPM. This week he was helped along by a try but had a scattering of his usual busts and offloads (though not as many as the incredible 7 he threw last round). I really don’t know what to make of him. Is he taking it upon himself to tear up while Payne Haas is on the sidelines? Can his body hold up to that kind of workload through the middle each week? Is he going to do something to get himself suspended soon? He has 10.7k owners who right now, don’t care about any of those things. They’re just enjoying the points.

1. Charlie Staines – 10. We knew it would never be the kind of return Staines got in his first two games last year, but he now sits with a breakeven of 74 with a grand total of 28 points across his first two games. For whatever reason, there’s very little ball going down his edge and when it does, he’s rarely finding space. The more profitable edge is clearly Brian To’o’s, evidenced by the sheer difference in hitup points between the two this weekend. 40 for To’o, 11 for Staines. With 56% ownership to start the year, it was always a gamble not to pick him up, but it looks like you’ve made the right call early days if you were in that 44%. Due with a capital D this week though, surely?

2. AJ Brimson – 18. After starting the year with plenty of promise coming off a blistering end to 2020, it’s fair to say this score comes as a bit of a surprise. It even includes a linebreak! When the Titans got on a roll, scoring 3 tries in about as many sets, it was the other halves and Tyrone Peachey providing the quality ball at the line. Just 5 hitups all game. AJ Mitchell? Surely just a blip on the radar. Given he’s got the Cowboys this week, anyone that backed him in early over a Papy (or Teddy, god forbid) would be praying he bounces back. Every chance to.

3. Kurt Capewell – 36. An early try last week eased the nerves of SuperCoaches who had splashed a little bit of cash up in bringing Capewell into their sides. The base was still somewhat of a worry, but it’s minutes here that hurt him, getting taken off inside 50 minutes and not being brought back on (with the game well and truly over). If this happens often, and every chance the Panthers run up plenty of scores like this during the year, it will mean Capewell becomes quite a rollercoaster.

4. David Fusitua – 25. (Copy/paste from last week). We all ignored the signs. The lack of good SuperCoach scores since SJ left, the lack of good SuperCoach scores ever, the averages of 37 and 28 over the last few years and the awkward pricetag. It made him fit in our sides at least. Can’t say it’s overly surprising where this score ended up all things considered, but you’d hope a Warriors side that looks decent would provide him a few more attacking stats this year. That’s what it’ll take since his base is absolutely terrible.

5. Anthony Milford – 19. Surely has to be his last game in Broncos colours for a while. Getting shifted from one half to the other because you can’t make a tackle is…not good.

1. Ben Hunt – 114. Is he back as a SuperCoach option after years and years in the wilderness? Followed on from a 74 last week to tear the Cowboys to shreds. Admittedly his first two opponents have offered somewhat limited defensive resolve, but this early shot of confidence to a guy who has been down on it for years could be exactly the tonic he needs to see himself in the top end of the frame for HFBs in this game. How much longer until we say it might just be his year. One game?

2. Hymel Hunt – 90. Another one of these midrange CTWs who ebbs and flows from huge scores to rubbish ones.

3. Daniel Alvaro – 74. An interesting prospect here. Coming in off the bench at a price of $256k he was not on many radars, with only around 1% of teams taking an early risk with him. Against the Cowboys, he outdid a lot of previous stat efforts. He threw as many offloads (3) as he did all of last season. His linebreak was his first since 2017. But it’s really the base worth keeping an eye on. 50 base points (tackles + hitups) in around 48 minutes is a great return. If those minutes keep up there, there’s plenty of cash to increase. Just be wary with that time on the field since it was just 37 minutes in Round 1.

4. Jamayne Isaako – 80. Much-maligned these days for his erratic play, he’s actually been pretty consistent with his attacking stats to start the year. Doesn’t make the most runs from the fullback position but has provided a couple of forced dropouts, a few goals, a linebreak, plenty of busts and even offloads. He’s a handy enough player with a bit of confidence but Brisbane just have far too little of it at the moment.

5. Taniela Paseka – 87. Just his third ever try assist here but he finds himself the second-highest FRF scorer for the week, behind TPJ. Thought he might have more of an increased role with the loss of AFB from Manly during the off-season but the sub-50 minutes per game are what kills him at that price. 4 offloads is Taupau-like.

Injuries

• Chanel Harris-Tavita – foot – TBC
• Andrew Davey – ACL – 6 months
• Api Koroisau – wrist – 6 weeks
• Raymond Faitala-Mariner – calf – TBC
• Waqa Blake – calf – 1 month
• Bailey Sironen – shoulder – TBC
• James Roberts – shoulder – 1 week (due back R3)
• Harry Grant still not due back until R6.
• Victor Radley back next week.

HIA – Cade Cust, Adam Reynolds, Jaxson Paulo, Ryan Matterson (all failed). Nathan Cleary (passed)

Suspensions

• Dallin Watene-Zelesniak – careless high tackle (2-3 weeks)
• Kyle Feldt – dangerous throw (2 weeks) – accepted early guilty plea
• Jamayne Taunoa-Brown – crusher tackle (4 weeks)
• Phoenix Crossland – crusher (3-4 weeks)
• Felise Kaufusi – dangerous contact (2-3 weeks)