Draft depth: Rating stocks of every position

We take an extensive look into the depth of every position in SuperCoach Draft to help you balance out your squad.

Key Analysis NRL Pre Season

Most leagues are doing their drafting this weekend and this year we’ve gone deep into the analysis to rank all the players by each position.

There are a few players of interest that we will talk about in each position.

Hopefully the deep lists below help you with your final draft preparations

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HOOKER

Hooker is a relatively shallow position heading into 2022. The time of the 80-minute hooker is all but over.

Outside of the first two hookers of Grant and Cook, all of the number nines have big questions.

Will Cheese be in a similar role and can he score as many tries as he did last year?

How will the Sharks use McInnes? Are there any risks to Api and Mahoney’s role as they are moving clubs at the end of the year?

Even though it’s a shallow position I won’t go chasing at hooker and am happy to take some value late in the draft.

RankName2021 AVG RankName2021 AVG
1Grant74 9Cotter48
2Cook66 10Brailey49
3Smith68 11Robson54
4Mahoney68 12Nikorima54
5McInnes76 13Egan49
6Koroisau55 14Randall35
7Starling49 15Liddle55
8Watson59    

Tom Starling 7th ranked Hooker

Starling is someone I think you can get relatively late in the draft as his 49 PPG average of last year is a little undervalued.

Starling had a breakout year in 2020, averaging 61 PPG game in the absence of Josh Hodgson.

When Hodgson returned in 2021, it’s fair to say that Canberra mucked around with how they used Starling.

They finally found some consistency at the back end of the year and looked much better with Starling averaging 50 mins and 53 PPG.

The club have chosen to stick with Starling over Hodgson (moving to the Eels at the end of the year) and that gives me confidence in the gametime Starling will get.

Whilst he probably doesn’t have the highest workrate for a hooker, he will find attacking stats throughout the year and could easily have a few 80+ point games.

Connor Watson – 8th ranked hooker

Watson is someone that many people are high on and I am seeing him going very early in drafts.

I get it, Watson is a great attacking player and is great for SuperCoach if given the time.

I just can’t take a guy that early when I am uncertain on the role he plays in the Roosters side.

There’s a good chance he plays a lot of his time at hooker or hovering around the middle, but the Roosters have Verrils, Radley, JWH, SST and Collins eating up a lot of minutes.

I’ll cop the egg on my face if he kills it in a high-scoring Roosters team, but I think there’s a risk he doesn’t get anywhere near the game time to be worth an early draft pick.

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FRONT-ROW

As I mentioned in the draft strategy piece, FRF is a position I am not going to spending early picks on.

I think there is value in AFB and Welch if they slip far enough, but I am happy to take a 40-50 PPG  front-rower as my final picks.

RankName2021 AVG RankName2021 AVG
1Haas68 16Utoikamanu52
2J Papalii60 17SST57
3AFB58 18NAS53
4Welch59 19Lodge57
5JFH62 20Vaughan55
6I Papalii78 21Twal57
7TPJ65 22RCG54
8Fotuaika60 23Leota47
9Paulo56 24D. Saifiti55
10Arrow52 25Collins59
11Klemmer56 26JWH52
12Thompson66 27J Saifiti46
13Tino56 28Aloiai44
14Tapine55 29Burgess,51
15Taupau58 30Rudolf51

Isaiah Papali’i – 6th ranked FRF

I was vary wary of picking I.Pap after a career season. Prior to the trials he was even further down my list due to the Eels forwards depth and the uncertainty of where he would play.

He played on the right edge in last weekend’s trials and looked good!

Whilst I don’t think his 78 PPG of last year is achievable, I am becoming a believer in him holding an 80 minute edge role and being a great attacking option with big upside in your FRF.

TPJ – 7th  ranked FRF

TPJ has great attacking upside when he is on, but can be a nightmare when he loses his cool.

I thought he had turned a corner after what he went through last year and spending time playing with Penrith.

I can’t trust him as an early pick, despite his upside.

Alex Twal – 21st ranked FRF

Twal managed to average 57 PPG last year but was playing an average of 59 MPG.

There’s going to be a year where those minutes are cut.

Yes, he is a great workhorse, but you are playing a dangerous game trusting Madge to keep up those big minutes each year with no real upside.

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SECOND-ROW

2RF is where I really want to target players with attacking upside in good teams.

Players that get through a lot of work are great, but I’m moving away from those players that bang out 50-60 each week and want players that could go 80+, despite the risk they could only score 40 points.

RankName2021 AVG RankName2021 AVG
1Fifita85 21Barnett64
2Crichton75 22Thompson66
3Murray70 23Yeo57
4Smith68 24Capewell49
5Schuster61 25J Trbojevic56
6Olakau’atu58 26De Belin55
7Leilua62 27Arrow52
8Aitken55 28Brown58
9Bird57 29Kolo60
10Curran67 30Tino56
11Harris69 31Riki,52
12Kikau59 32Tapine55
13Frizell65 33Tupouniua55
14I Papalii78 34Martin49
15Matterson65 35Elliott55
16Young61 36Tago33
17TPJ65 37CHN61
18McInnes76 38Carrigan53
19Taumalolo55 39NAS53
20Nikora55 40D Walker44

Josh Schuster – 5th ranked 2RF

Schuster is the perfect example of a player that could score poorly as evidenced with an average of only 37 in base points last year, but obviously he has the great ceiling scores when Manly are firing.

There is also the added benefit that he will move into the 5/8 role if Foran goes down where he scored well last year.

Briton Nikora – 20th ranked 2RF

Nikora went through some form issues in 2021 which saw him relegated to the bench for a few rounds.

The fact that SJ wasn’t on the field for a lot of his time at the Sharks also hampered his SuperCoach potential.

He is one that has crept up my rankings after recent trial form and I wouldn’t be opposed to taking him earlier.

Jai Arrow – 27th ranked 2RF

Averaging on 47 MPG playing in the middle last year, a move to the left edge at South Sydney should see his scores increase.

Jordan Riki– 30th ranked 2RF

Averaged 52 PPG last year with only three tries to his name.

Reynolds will create many more opportunities to have some decent growth this year.

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HALFBACK

Another shallow position this year and there is a clear drop off after Keary, the 7th picked HFB this year.

If I miss out on any of these halfbacks or there is a mad rush for them, don’t panic and draft the next guy on your list. Look for value later in the draft.

RankName2021 AVG RankName2021 AVG
1Cleary108 9Moses58
2DCE79 10HastingN/A
3Hughes73 11Reynolds58
4Hynes78 12Brooks54
5B. Hunt67 13Clifford46
6S. Walker62 14Sexton62
7Keary75 15Fogarty59
8Johnson53    

Sam Walker – 6th ranked HFB

Last year Sam Walker had some huge games but also some very poor ones from a SuperCoach perspective.

This year he won’t have to run the team and gets the opportunity to inject himself when he sees an opportunity.

Jake Clifford – 13th ranked HFB

Looking great in trials and even though I’m not high on the Knights, I do think Clifford is a better player than his 46 PPG average last year suggests.

Toby Sexton – 14th ranked HFB

He has a very misleading 62 PPG average from last year and I expect to see a lot more 40’s in his SuperCoach scoring this year.

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FIVE-EIGHTH

The 5/8 position has some really good elite options in Munster and Walker, and then has some very good options up until Dylan Brown.

After Brown there is a fair bit of depth where there are a number candidates that could finish as the 8th best 5/8.

So again, if I miss out on the good options I’m not going to pick a 5/8 until very late.

RankName2021 AVG RankName2021 AVG
1C. Walker84 9Douihei77
2Munster74 10Wighton47
3Keary75 11HastingsN/A
4Schuster65 12Brimson61
5Burton64 13Tracey48
6Luai59 14Mann44
7Brown53 15Clifford46
8Johnson53    

Matt Burton – 5th ranked 5/8

I think there are some mixed feelings about Burton.

Obviously, you don’t want to read into his average from last year much in a different position and team.

Although, his scores in the six jersey last year are very good and the Panthers had a few missing when he got those scores.

I think everything will go through Burton and Dufty in this team and he has the talent to jag the attacking stats.

Jackson Hastings – 11th ranked 5/8

There is some great value in drafting Hastings late.

He will be heavily involved in all the Tigers attack and he gives his all each week, but he is still playing in a relatively weak attacking side.

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CENTRE-WING

The CTW rankings are continuing with the theme of chasing the upside and don’t be afraid to get the elite options early.

There is also some value in relatively unknown CTWs that will be further down people’s lists, and you can get the likes of Penisini, Tago and Suli very late.

RankName2021 AVG RankName2021 AVG
1Garrick88 31NaiqamaN/A
2To’o84 32Harper54
3Tupou59 33Penisini42
4Ramien63 34Thompson58
5Staggs62 35Saab47
6Manu62 36Mann44
7Johnston73 37Feldt52
8Aitken, Euan55 38R Smith51
9Lomax57 39Hammer48
10Bird57 40Tracey48
11Graham56 41Suli39
12Nofoaluma53 42Cobbo41
13Kelly59 43Mulitalo51
14Doueihi77 44Fermor46
15Best52 45Paulo,43
16G Jennings54 46Sami49
17Ravalawa57 47Paulo43
18Farnworth52 48Schoupp44
19Olam56 49LeeN/A
20Momirovski55 50JAC61
21Tago33 51Maumalo,55
22Rapana63 52Cotric48
23Coates41 53May48
24Holmes64   54Naden43
25DWZ53 55GildartN/A
26Timoko43 56S Katota58
27S. Crichton49 57Niukore41
28D Walker44 58Sivo55
29Niu58 59Herbert44
30Gagai68 60Hiku43

Daniel Tupou – 3rd Ranked CTW

Tupou went from a 71 PPG average in 2020 to a 59 PPG average in 2021 and arguably suffered the most from the Roosters injuries.

With the Roosters back to full strength and Sam Walker a big fan of the cut out pass, I expect him to get back to that 71 PPG average.

Valentine Holmes – 24th ranked CTW

Like most, I see a big drop off for Holmes playing in the centre position.

Maybe he gets the fullback position back, but centre is even worse than the wing position for Holmes from a SuperCoach scoring perspective.

Tesi Niu – 29th ranked CTW

Niu is currently out with a hamstring injury but was in line for the fullback jersey at the Broncos.

You can get value for him now that he is injured and although Cobbo is a decent player, I think there’s a good chance Niu takes back the fullback jersey and is in a better team than last year where he averaged 58 PPG.

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FULLBACK

Elite options will fly off the board in the first round, but I’d be happy to get Walsh or Kennedy late if it means I get high scoring/elite players in other positions.

RankName2021 AVG RankName2021 AVG
1Trbojevic143 9Walsh64
2Tedesco87 10Kennedy65
3Papi79 11Manu62
4Mitchell82 12AJ73
5Gutho75 13Campbell64
6Hynes78 14Edwards56
7Ponga68 15Laurie57
8Dufty68    

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