Spy Talk: Tackling the week's big questions, Round 2

<p>Love it!<br />
Do you think Timmy put me onto a dud in Sam Walker? With Keary having so much ball last week Walker was nulled. Better to pull the pin now and go straight to Moses?</p>



<p>Hey Troops!</p>



<p>After missing five games last weekend due to a great mate’s wedding (this is four more than my previous record of 1 missed opening round game) I will be rectifying that this weekend and be back to normal!</p>



<p>Anyway, let’s cut to the chase. Round 1 was mental. Low scores across the park. Basically no guns tonning up (outside of J Hughes if you include him).</p>



<p>This means one thing, please don’t panic. Things can change quickly and traditionally the opening weekend can throw up some lower scores with defences fired up, blokes underdone and attacks yet to find their flow.</p>



<p>The other thing is that low scores mean’s the current gap between the teams that will likely finish between 1<sup>st</sup> and 10,000th at the end of the year will be very minimal.</p>



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<p>Once you add it all up round 1 will become irrelevant if you can get a roll on soon enough.</p>



<p>For those that started well that’s a great bonus and well done, but for the rest of us, one great score will change everything! So let’s hope that it’s you when it comes..</p>



<p>Now for the opening week big questions…</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Jason Taumalolo – Lolo</strong></h2>



<p>Lolo! Social media erupted on Sunday night and if you hadn’t seen the game you would think Lolo had scored 18 points in 31 minutes.</p>



<p>Alas, he pumped out 53 in 51 minutes almost entirely in base. For a bloke who hasn’t played a game in seven months, didn’t trial and in the most trying of conditions I’m happy enough.</p>



<p>That isn’t to say he isn’t on notice, but he was absolutely gassed and couldn’t play big stints.</p>



<p>I’d back him to edge towards 60-65 minutes over the coming weeks and if he can add a few tacklebreaks and offloads he will be set for major jumps.</p>



<p>Remember he may not be the Lolo of his prime right now, but he isn’t priced at that either.</p>



<p>You didn’t spend $650k on him, so as long as he punches out decent scores and makes money it’s a win for me. Let’s see how he goes this week.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Chooks (In general)</strong></h2>



<p>Gee they struggled! I couldn’t believe the lack of threat they posed to the Knights defence (watched most of it on my phone between the wedding ceremony and the reception).</p>



<p>Good job Newcastle! I can only see things changing and surely they find their rhythm quickly.</p>



<p>That being said, with some expensive players in our sides, if they don’t perform this week it may be a case of flipping a couple of their underperforming guns to guys who will make cash.</p>



<p>Big review on this next week, but I won’t be dropping any of them just yet!</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Fullback Spot</strong></h2>



<p>That does lead directly into this topic. I love Tedesco and generally I would simply keep him even after a poor start, but one thing I can’t afford is for him to drop $100k+ given either he or Lil Papi (Papenhuyzen) are my tickets to Tommy Turbo.</p>



<p>So if Teddy goes low again and goes into Round 3 with a monster breakeven, I will flip him to a short term fullback set to make cash.</p>



<p>The logic here is that I want Turbo, but at a discount, so ideally I want someone at fullback to make $100k while Turbo loses $200k and I get Turbo at essentially $300,000 cheaper!</p>



<p>If Teddy also loses a bunch of cash and I hold I won’t be able to cash in on that scenario. Hopefully a big score this week is delivered so I don’t have to worry, but decisions will need to be made if not…</p>



<p>And Turbo&#8230;</p>



<p>Hard to write about Supercoach and not include him. Penrith utterly dominated Manly in terms of territory and ruck speed so it’s a bit of a write of game for me. Turbo scoring 62 is very good and he nearly went through again late if not for an ankle tap. </p>



<p>A true reflection of Tommy and Manly we may find out this week but certainly in round 3 otherwise. Still terrified not to own and want him asap but not at the current price…</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Captains</strong></h2>



<p>I tell you what! Not owning Turbo and no Cleary hurts this week. Skipper is tricky!</p>



<p>Papenhuyzen I’m keen on, but they play Souths and he is only one game into a new season after last year’s head knocks and subsequent slowish return.</p>



<p>He should be kicking goals again though. David Fifita &#8211; Could well be him! I expect he may find a little more ball and I can’t see the Warriors being as effective on him as Dylan Brown’s edge, but I could be wrong.</p>



<p>Tedesco v Manly. I don’t mind this play and back the Chooks to bounce back. I am actually leaning towards Teddy at the moment with the other two strong contenders.  </p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Perfect Penrith </strong></h2>



<p>Gee they simply rolled on from the last two seasons!</p>



<p>They absolutely dominated field position and had wave after wave of attack.</p>



<p>I can’t wait to get Cleary in!! To’o will be primed very, very soon. Crichton looked incredible last week and could kick up a gear in 2022. Tago is a weapon. Once again I’ll be happy to have plenty of Panthers backs and it may well be those four I go with, but three at a minimum.</p>



<p>In terms of forwards, I want some more clarity on minutes but Liam Martin (Tim’s boy) is a big watch, whilst Kikau is a watch but traditional plays less and is inconsistent.</p>



<p>I’m not as keen on the rest as they will likely share the load.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Sum Up</strong></h2>



<p>There are so many messages this week not to panic, and it’s so true.</p>



<p>Only trade if you have to or if you are sure you have made a genuine error. There’s nothing worse than using a couple of trades then realising next week it was a waste and you want your original guys back!</p>



<p>Enjoy the footy (I sure will!) and we will chat over the weekend.</p>



<p>Spy</p>


Spy Talk: Tackling the week’s big questions, Round 2

Discussion (1)

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