Croker’s Call: New PB sends Stockmen soaring

• STAT ANALYSIS: Vital numbers to beat the best
• SUPER TRADE WEEK: Three ‘must-haves’ to get this round

The super trade week has arrived, and it’s pretty daunting. As if two trades isn’t enough to worry about, now we have five, seriously!

It’s exciting, but time consuming for sure…

After a tough little period, The Stockmen bounced back in style last round with a huge score of 1,676 points for a round ranking of 1,835th.

We’ve moved up into 11k overall and are back on the right trajectory to make a charge towards the top end of the table.

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The score saw me take down Michael Fisher in our SC Playbook head-to-head league, which is running third overall in SuperCoach leagues.

It’s nice to have contributed positively to that ranking for the first time in a good while.

Just about everything went right last week with only Jayden Brailey scoring under 50 for me.

Tom Trbojevic was my captain for 416 points, further, Ben Hunt (132), Brian To’o (106), Cody Walker (110) and Nathan Cleary (140) all scored centuries.

I’ve got a lot of cash to play around with heading into the five trade round, and the inevitable trade of Cleary will have my bank looking pretty healthy.

Let’s take a look at this week’s trades and skippers.

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TRADES

NATHAN CLEARY to SHAUN JOHNSON

It’s a huge shame to see Cleary leave my side, but I assume everyone owns so it’s not too bad I suppose.

His done his job for the Blues and helped us claim this year’s Origin series, well done mate!

He’s out, Sharks playmaker Shaun Johnson is in at a bargain price of just above $500k.

Johnson is a gun and evolved his game over the years to become a high quality organiser alongside his obvious creative abilities.

He’s managed his way through a few games since his past injury and has looked terrific.

I’m extremely excited to get him in my side and he creates an exciting halves pairing alongside Hunt.

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STEFANO UTOIKAMANU to MARTY TAUPAU

Utoikamanu got me through the tough first bye week and has made me some good money.

It’s time to clear him out for big Marty Taupau who has helped Manly find some sensational form to climb well into the top eight.

Marty looks fit and damaging and has upped his load with a few injuries in the side’s pack.

JAKE TRBOJEVIC to TOHU HARRIS

I’m sad to see all-round good guy Jake Trbojevic leave my side.

He’s been a stalwart all season and has been decent with an average of 58 points.

He hasn’t had any big scores, but he’s been rock solid.

Unfortunately he’s injured and will make way for another workhorse in Tohu Harris who has a motor matched by very few in the NRL.

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He’s a clear recruiting target for me this week and looks to provide very safe scoring without hassle.

For now I’ll just be using the three trades this week as my squad looks pretty set. 

Of course this may change by the time the weekend is out, but I’m happy to save a few and potentially use them both next week.

This also leaves me with a sly $516k in my bank to play with, not bad…

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CAPTAINS

Tom Trbojevic starred for my SuperCoach side last round, dominated the Maroons for the second straight game on Sunday, and therefore is my pick once again as captain.

Ben Hunt has some big scores in him and will be my vice-captain for the clash with the Warriors on Friday night.

Good luck to everyone this week!