Players of Interest – Josh Mansour

Josh Mansour ($459,200 / CTW) or otherwise known as “the Sauce” is a fallen CTW gun best known for his beastly base stats, try scoring and as a true cult hero of the mighty Penrith Panthers with that beautiful beard.

Recent Statistics:

2018 – games played (13), average (49.1), minutes per game (76.5), PPM (0.64)

2017  – games played (13), average (50.9), minutes per game (80), PPM (0.63)

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2019 Players of Interest: Read all of these here

2019 SuperCoach Club Previews: Read all of these here

Mansour’s SuperCoach output however, has been mixed at best over the past few years, failing to crack the 60 PPG mark since 2016, where he averaged 63 PPG.

Injuries have been a valid excuse of late with an ACL injury suffered in the post-season of 2016 highlighting his troubles.

However, his form in and around these injuries was, at times, superb:

• 2016 – He was having an outstanding NRL season running 4309 metres, scoring 16 tries, 25 line breaks and 40 tackle busts. At at the end of the season makes the Australian Four Nations team.
• 2016 – He ruptures his ACL in a freak training accident during the Australia camp.
• 2017 – He returns for the Panthers in Round 13 for a 38 to nil win vs the Bulldogs at ANZ and starts performing very well by the end of the season, averaging 66.2 PPG over the last four rounds.
• 2018 – In round 6 vs. the Titans he is injured thanks to a flying knee from Anthony Don suffering five separate fractures to his cheek and eye socket. He had averaged 49.1 PPG in the lead up to the injury. On his return from the injury he finished off the season (from round 19) averaging 52 PPG.

My point here is, if he can stay fit and assuming that he is now fully recovered from his ACL injury then there is the potential for real value in his starting price.

With the injury history out of the way let’s have a closer look at why he’s considered to be a  fallen “gun” in the SuperCoach game.

Put simply, Mansour is a base stat king, with average BPPG of 28.6, 28.3 and 31.6 over the past three years. Of the highest averaging CTW players over these seasons only Blake Ferguson has produced better base statistics at 35.7 BPPG.

With the Panthers relying on their back three undertaking a lot of work to get them out of their own 20, Mansour will once again have the opportunity get that base!

So what can we expect in 2019?

It is worth remembering that in 2016, the year where he averaged 65.7 PPG, the Panthers were the sixth best in attacking side in the NRL. They have a squad that is definitely good enough to challenge this in 2019 and perhaps go even further.

In 2016, he had had Peta Hiku inside him at centre 11 times and in 2018 it was Tyrone Peachey for twelve games, so it’s hard to find a comparison given they both have a reputation for hogging the ball. However, I’m sure there is a link and it’s good news for Mansour that Peachey has finally left the building….

The fixture also looms positive, at least early on, for Mansour. Two of his first five games are against Eels and Knights, teams that conceded the equal most amount of points to CTWs last year.

Round	Team	Pos vs Team	Avg @ Stadium	Avg vs
1	Eels (H)	1st	56.5	71.8
2	Knights (A)	1st	72.8	74
3	Storm (Bathurst)	13th	38.0	59.7
4	West Tigers (H)	9th	56.5	60.5
5	Titans (A)	7th	31.7	44.7

So assuming he is fully fit, there is no Peachey playing inside him and he has some favourable match-ups to start the season, what’s not to love here at the price?

From my point of view, I think he’s definitely worth a punt from round 1, what about you?

A big big thank you to NRL SuperCoach Stats, a lot of us could not get these figures anywhere else without you.

Check out the rest of our Players of Interest articles below: 

Greg Inglis

Jahrome Hughes

Clint Gutherson

Brett Morris

Kurt Mann

Michael Morgan

Matt Moylan

Esan Marsters