TCT SuperCoach: Your Weekly Guide to Surviving the Season

(League Code: 704791)

Round 6 delivered a chaotic weekend of footy, packed with upsets right across the NRL. While plenty of players piled on big SuperCoach scores, many popular captaincy options failed to fire, leaving coaches scrambling and shaking up the overall rankings.

A big shoutout to Shane’s team, shockers, topping the TCT league this week with a great 1,467 points. Michael’s team, THUNDERMACHINE, continues to set the pace, extending his lead at the top of the TCT league to nearly 200 points and has climbed to an incredible 11^th overall in SuperCoach. Absolute dominance.

My Team

I scored 1,418 points this week, which I desperately needed. Overall, I’m very pleased with how things played out. A lot of things went right, making it one of my more satisfying rounds so far.

That said, it wasn’t perfect. I still had a few underperformers like Chan, Grant and Makasini, but it was a strong week regardless.

I handed the captaincy to Turbo, who delivered a solid 81. Not a huge score, but more than respectable and did the job, especially in a week where many captaincy options flopped.

I initially brought in Alex Twal for Keaon Koloamatangi, as well as Tommy Turbo for Reece Walsh. I’m happy with how those trades worked out. Twal’s output was very pleasing, especially when compared to Keaon, who’s playing through a knee injury.

Right before the Thursday game, I pulled the trigger on a boost to bring in Casey McLean for David Fifita (with Simi Sasagi shifting to 2RF). I’ve wanted McLean in my team for some time, and he was fairly impressive SuperCoach-wise despite a sin bin and a tough outing against the Doggies. The one-game suspension isn’t ideal, but it doesn’t change my plans moving forward. Fifita has been ruled out with a hamstring injury which will sideline him for 6 weeks, so I unintentionally got ahead of the curve on that one.

Overall, I’m very happy with how my team is shaping up – and I should be, considering I’ve already burnt three boosts and a heavy number of trades to get here. I’m comfortable with that approach for now, but it’s probably time to start easing off the trades moving forward.

Round 6 Review

Let’s break down the key SuperCoach takeaways from Round 6:

Premium Guns

Hudson Young (2RF – $756.1k – 117 points):

The most expensive 2RF in the game shows why he’s just that. Hudson Young was heavily involved with 2 tries and 1 try assist in a high-scoring affair against the Bunnies. Owners will be looking to bolster their 2RF with elite options like Hudson. Unfortunately, there will be some disruptions soon with Hudson likely to play State of Origin.

Scott Drinkwater (FLB – $808.7k – 120 points):

I was one of the many who sold Drinky after Round 2 and, in hindsight, that’s one I definitely shouldn’t have done. From Round 3 onwards, Drinky has averaged 99.3 points per game all while being in only 6% of teams.

Drinkwater is killing it!

Blayke Brailey (HOK – $660.9k – 108 points):

With Grant not impressing, Brailey is once again cementing himself as the top hooker option in SuperCoach. With 3 try assists, 3 linebreak assists, and 46 tackles, Brailey is playing phenomenally. While Grant to Brailey might seem like a luxury trade to some, it could be a must-trade if Grant continues to produce lacklustre performances.

Terrell May (FRF – $755.4k – 108 points):

68 minutes, his highest so far this season, as well as a try, topped off a great performance. Once again, Terrell is shaping up as one of the top FRF options. At only 6% ownership, he’s certainly on my watchlist.

Mid-Range Movers

Jacob Preston (2RF – $645.7k – 118 points):

Preston looked brilliant vs the Panthers, with Galvin and Preston forming a lethal combination. He has a great draw coming up, and he’s certainly one that I’ll be keeping an eye on. Preston also has a brilliant match-up against the depleted Eels this week, which you’d expect him to capitalise on with his breakeven of 41.

Alex Johnston (CTW – $674k – 122 points):

I’ve never been a fan of Johnston SuperCoach-wise, but he’s started to post some respectable scores as of recently. A three-round average of 88.3, Johnston has some short-term cash appeal with a breakeven of 21 and could certainly go big against the struggling Dragons this round.

Keano Kini (FLB – $589.4k – 157 points):

To the owners who were patient enough to sit through 5 games of Kini averaging 56.2 despite plenty of other strong fullback/flex options, you deserved this. Kini was absolutely electric and carved up Parra with ease. A -9 breakeven will ensure that owners hold him, but I’m not convinced. I think it says more about Parra’s woeful defensive effort than it does about Kini.

Keano Kini tore Parra to absolute shreds!

Dane Gagai (CTW – $668.3k – 107 points):

Gagai was one of my POD options in last week’s article, and he’s backed it up again, producing another score of 100+. He looks brilliant, his price rose almost $100k this week alone, and he still has a breakeven of -20. Gagai is becoming a premium CTW option at only 2% ownership.

Jahream Bula (FLB – $682.7k – 118 points):

Bula is another player that I never look at picking up in my SuperCoach side. However, with the Tigers humming at the moment, Bula is really capitalising. He’s scoring and setting up tries left, right, and centre, and that’s reflected in his three-round average of 95.3. He’s my POD player of the week at only 2% ownership.

Players of Concern

Daniel Atkinson (HFB – $295.7k – 19 points):

The fact Atkinson was $315.9k last week and still managed to lose money says a lot about his SuperCoach output. A three-round average of 26 is nothing short of diabolical, but that’s the risk you run with cheapies. He was never going to set the world alight, but owners were definitely expecting more. It now leaves around 50,000 owners needing to fork out $400k+ to upgrade him to one of the top HFB options.

Joe Chan (2RF – $529.5k – 16 points):

16 points and hooked by Craig Bellamy after a poor outing is never a good sign. I’d personally prefer him to be dropped out of the side completely so that he doesn’t lose any cash, giving me time to assess my options. With him playing, he firms as a sell. He has a breakeven of 101, and if he produces a similar performance, he’s going to lose a lot of the money that most spent a trade to get him in for.

Joe Chan copped a classic Bellamy spray, before being hooked 5 minutes later…

Harry Grant (HOK – $580.5k – 42 points):

Look, the whole Melbourne side aren’t performing at the moment, but I expect more from Grant. In the last two games, Grant has produced scores of 39 and 42, and I wouldn’t knock anyone wanting to move to Brailey sooner rather than later.

Team List Watch

• Soni Luke starts at 9 after Reed Mahoney goes through concussion protocols.
• Moses Leo drops out for the Storm and is replaced by Manaia Waitere.
• Savelio Tamale drops out of the side, making way for Matt Timoko to return at centre for the Raiders. Fortunately, both Simi Sasagi and Noah Martin keep their starting role on the team sheet. Beware though, as Noah Martin was a late switch to the bench last round.
• Casey McLean is replaced by Izack Tago as he serves his one-game suspension.
• Liam Martin faces a long stint on the sidelines after suffering an MCL injury, and is replaced by Luke Garner.
• Matt Dufty returns to the NRL at the fullback position to face his former club, meaning Latrell will stay in the centres.
• David Fifita drops out after suffering a 6-week hamstring injury and is replaced by Liam Hubner.
• Setu Tu keeps his spot on the wing despite David Fale returning from suspension. However, Fale looms on the reserves.
• Taylan May returns to the centre position, pushing Heamasi Makasini to the wing. This should see Makasini’s SuperCoach scoring improve.
• Jarome Luai returns to 5/8, pushing Jock Madden to the bench. Hopefully this doesn’t impact the minutes of Alex Twal.
• Adam Reynolds returns for the Broncos, pushing cheapie, Thomas Duffy, to the bench.
• Dylan Brown returns at halfback, pushing Sandon Smith to 5/8, Fletcher Sharpe to fullback, and Fletcher Hunt to centre. Cheapie, Wilson De Courcey, drops out of the side.
• Dylan Lucas is out for 4+ weeks with a throat injury. This brings in cheapie, Thomas Cant, to the starting side.
• Mass changes to the Eels side, especially the bench. However, nothing is overly SuperCoach relevant.
• Leo Thompson returns for the Doggies, while Stephen Crichton looms on the reserves.
• Sharks have the bye.

My Trades

For now, my trades are as follows:

• Joe Chan >>> Ryan Couchman

For me, Joe Chan’s a sell, and going early on Rouchman not only frees up almost $200k but saves me a trade next week when he returns from suspension.

I’m looking to start freeing up some cash so that I can upgrade Daniel Atkinson to another gun halfback to line up next to Nathan Cleary, whether that be Nicho Hynes, Jayden Campbell, or Adam Douehi.

I currently have $197.7k in the bank after my downgrade to Rouchman. I still need to move Reed Mahoney on, I have Jonah Pezet still sitting there, and I may look to sell Jackson Ford in the coming weeks if I think he’s peaked, especially with Mitch Barnett looking to return soon.

I’ll also be keeping an eye on Thomas Cant this week. At $299.7k, I’ll be interested in how many minutes he’s given. He’s typically been a player with high output, and there are also rumours of him goalkicking. If he looks good this week, I can bring Sasagi down to CTW, and get in Cant for one of my cheapie CTWs, likely Sialetili Faeamani.

Captaincy

At the moment, I’m thinking of placing the VC on Tommy Turbo against the Cowboys. I’m expecting this to be a high-scoring affair, and Turbo should be the beneficiary of this. As for my captaincy, I have a gut feeling that Teddy is going to go big against the Knights. Teddy is due for a big one soon, and the Knights always seem to play poorly without Dylan Lucas. I’m hoping that the Teddy captaincy could be a bit of a POD captain to separate myself from the pack.

Although it hurts me to go against Nathan Cleary as the VC or the captain, the game is being held in Darwin, so I’m banking on Cleary not to go ballistic simply due to the weather conditions. It looks like it’s going to be a hot one and a wet one. That said, I expect the Panthers to bounce back strongly after being stunned against the Doggies.

Although I won’t be going this way and don’t have some of these players, I can definitely see the appeal in captaining a few other options:

• Scott Drinkwater vs Manly
• Latrell Mitchell vs Dragons
• Adam Douehi vs Broncos

I’m keen to hear your thoughts, trades, and captaincy calls – drop them below! Let’s see who nails Round 7. See you next week!

SC Adrian

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