TCT SuperCoach: Your Weekly Guide to Surviving the Season

Round 14 was fairly high-scoring, headlined by Penrith’s 68-0 demolition of the Tigers. The Panthers’ dominance produced three scores of 130+, helping drive some big SuperCoach scores across the round.

Congratulations to Lincoln’s side, The G.O.A.T, which topped the TCT round with an outstanding 1,629 points. Meanwhile, Chris’ side, Senior Paulo, remains at the top of the overall TCT standings.

My Team

Last round, I scored 1,450 points. While that’s a respectable score, it’s not quite enough given my current overall rank. If I want to start seeing meaningful green arrows, I’ll need to produce some bigger scores in the coming weeks.

My only trade was Alex Twal to Terrell May. Despite spending most of the game standing under the posts, May still managed a solid 77 points in 70 minutes. With his scoring ability and excellent bye coverage, he’s clearly a must-have, so I’m very pleased with the move.

Like many coaches, I captained Nathan Cleary’s enormous 148-point score. Sometimes the best play is simply backing the obvious captaincy option rather than trying to outthink the room.

Outside of Cleary, I didn’t have any players produce a truly huge score. Drinkwater and Walsh were both underwhelming again, while Casey McLean’s early exit after 44 minutes due to an ankle injury was particularly frustrating, especially given he looked certain to punch out a score of 100+.

Attention now turns to the second major bye round of the season, and I haven’t prepared particularly well. Between some poor planning on my part and the inclusion of Walsh in Queensland’s Origin squad, I’m left with just nine available players before trades. Without sugar-coating it, it’s a concerning position to be in.

Round 14 Review

Let’s break down the key SuperCoach takeaways from Round 14:

Premium Guns

Haumole Olakau’atu (2RF – $784.8k – 96 points):

58 points in base, combined with a try assist, line break assist and try contribution, has resulted in Ola becoming the second most expensive 2RF in SuperCoach. Since the arrival of Fozball in Round 5, he’s averaging an incredible 90 points per game. Given he’s been named on the extended bench for NSW, expect him to line up against the Bulldogs next round. Ola is a premium 2RF at a premium price.

Mark Nawaqanitawase (CTW – $691.2k – 128 points):

Marky Mark reminded everyone of his SuperCoach pedigree with a hat-trick against the Raiders in his first game back from syndesmosis surgery. Unfortunately, his selection in the NSW squad means he’ll miss this week’s game and potentially more matches if he earns a spot in the starting Origin side. Despite this, Mark is an elite CTW that I’ll want for the run home sooner rather than later.

Marky Mark didn’t miss a beat

Jayden Campbell (HFB – $644.3k – 91 points):

Jayden Campbell crossed for two tries as he looks to return to form after a disappointing stretch of scores. While almost 15,000 SuperCoaches are set to trade Campbell in this week for his mouth-watering matchup against the Tigers, I’d be wary. While he has a brilliant matchup this week, it’s important to note the Titans then face the Panthers, the Bulldogs and then a bye, making him a riskier purchase than he may initially appear.

Thomas Jenkins (CTW – $701.8k – 148 points):

Jenkins put the Tigers to the sword last week, finishing with two tries, a try assist and five line breaks in a monster 148-point performance. Following Penrith’s bye this week, they take on the Titans, Cowboys and Rabbitohs. However, one key consideration is the likely absence of their Origin stars. Penrith are expected to rest their Origin players against the Titans before they miss the Rabbitohs clash due to Origin commitments. With several key players unavailable, Milky Jenkins’ scoring potential could be impacted during this period.

Mid-Range Movers

Paul Alamoti (CTW – $604.3k – 109 points):

A bit of a forgotten one from the Panthers is Paul Alamoti. His scoring hasn’t been great for most of the season, though that can be heavily attributed to the Panthers choosing to go left for most of the season. However, over his last three games, Alamoti has stood up with an average of 93.7 per game. If you want to pick up a piece of this lethal Panthers backline, Alamoti could be a great option who is $100k cheaper than Jenkins and only owned by 2% of SuperCoach. While Nathan Cleary’s absence over the coming months could impact his scoring, Alamoti is expected to take over the goalkicking duties, which should help offset some of that loss.

Alamoti is the first-choice goalkicker when Cleary is out due to Origin comittments/rests

Brenden Piakura (2RF – $372.3k – 110 points):

While it was great to see Piakura pick up a try, try assist, line break and line break assist, it was the 51 points in base across 80 minutes which stood out for me. Piakura has typically been known for his low base output, making this performance particularly encouraging. If he can maintain this role and continue producing these numbers, Piakura could prove to be an excellent pickup at his current price. With a breakeven of -23, his value should rise quickly. The only downside, however, is that the Broncos have two byes over the next five rounds.

Players of Concern

Greg Marzhew (CTW – $790.9k – 37 points):

It was a frustrating outing for Marzhew, who saw very little attacking ball against Melbourne despite Newcastle scoring 30 points. The result was a hefty $100k price drop, and with a breakeven of 146, further price drops are likely to follow. Despite that, I’m holding firm. Following this week’s bye, the Knights have excellent matchups against the Dragons and Tigers, giving Marzhew every chance to bounce back quickly.

Owners will be hoping Greg replicates his five-try masterclass against the Dragons next week

James Tedesco (FLB – $655.7k – 34 points):

Coaches who held Tedesco were rewarded with 34 points and a lovely $130k price drop. He’ll miss this week due to Origin duties but, barring injury, he should back up against the Sharks next round, with the Roosters playing the final game of the week. If you’re still holding him, I’d be staying patient. You’ve copped most of the damage now, so it’s unnecessary to burn a trade when he’ll likely become a trade-in for the run home.

My Trades

At this stage, I’ll be making the following trade:

• Heilum Luki >>> Kai Pearce-Paul

To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure what to do this week, but this is where I’m currently sitting.

While Heilum Luki has served me well since Round 1, I’m prepared to move him on with a difficult run of fixtures looming. As for Kai Pearce-Paul, I’m very happy to be picking him up. He’s been consistently solid all season and has shown plenty of attacking upside along the way.

I’d also like to move Reece Walsh on. He’s been incredibly underwhelming since I brought him in, misses this week through Origin selection, and then has a bye immediately afterwards. Through the flex position, I can effectively bring in anyone in the game (sub $660k), but I don’t really love any of the available options. Most of the players I really want have the bye this week, which defeats the purpose of trading them in when my priority is simply fielding enough players.

At this stage, I’ll be going into the round with only 10 players, which is grim to say the least. However, the majority of these 10 players are quite elite, so I’m hoping I can get through this round without dropping too many ranks. I’m also comfortable taking a hit this week if it means setting my team up better for the run home. Rather than burning trades on short-term fixes just to field an extra player or two, I’d prefer to save those trades and use them on players I genuinely want in my squad for the rest of the season.

Captaincy

VC – Herbie Farnworth vs Roosters (H)

Coming up against a very inexperienced Roosters backline, I’m expecting Herbie to go on an absolute tear.

Captaincy – Jackson Ford vs Sharks (H)

At this stage, Jackson Ford gets the captaincy. I’m backing him to return to the 100+ scores we’ve become accustomed to this season. Terrell May is also firmly in the mix, and I may switch to him depending on how the week unfolds.

While I won’t be going this way, I can definitely see the appeal in captaining the following players:

• Jamayne Isaako vs Roosters (H)
• Jayden Campbell vs Tigers (A)
• Terrell May vs Titans (H)

Best of luck everyone – drop your thoughts, trades and captaincy calls below!

SC Adrian

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