NRL Supercoach Round 22 Wrap: 8 Things We Learnt

Mayday Mayday, Herbie down. I repeat Herbie down!



What a cruel end to one of the most exciting seasons for a single player in Supercoach! 



&#8216;Herbie does his Hammy&#8217; is not the sequel to &#8216;Herbie goes Bananas&#8217;, but an injury felt across Supercoach. 



There was water everywhere over the weekend, but that was just the tears of every Supercoacher seeing Herbie go down.



Forced us into another trade, and those with 1 – Maxy – Will be running tradeless for 5 weeks!&nbsp;



The weather Gods had a big hand in the footy played this weekend, and scores were as miserable as the rain that belted down across NSW.



The Reapers were able to find some points up in the Gold Coast with AJ and Campbell putting on a second-half show, leading the charge to 1,298 points, seeing 2,892 green arrows into 14,181th overall.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">1. Wet Weather footy is the worst</h3>



Let’s be real. Wet weather footy like this just sucks. 



Looks a hell of a lot of fun to play in, but from a Supercoach perspective, awful



They should just wipe out a weekend like this and just forget it even happened.



It’s wet, it&#8217;s miserable, it&#8217;s cold and the footy is as ugly as those sumo citrus mandarin/orange hybrid things on the shelves



The weather gods decided this weekend would be wet, and not many hands would have been going up in the sheds after the games to take the jerseys home.



Trades were hard to decipher, sit v starts were even worse, and as the weekend went on, the heavier the rain got



Thankfully though, the Gold Coast missed all the wet weather, and the Panthers and Titans guns starred, but if you were looking at a trade in target not named Cleary, then you might have been better off trading in a duck or Jungle Edge.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">2. Herbie&#8217;s Hamstrings pulling on the heartstrings</h3>



Herbie giveth and Herbie taketh. 



In fact, Herbie gave us all so much this year, that even in a short 18 minute stint, he was still able to give us 69 points.



One of the cruellest hamstring blows in recent memory (Matching any of Turbos), curtailing any chance of a massive 150+ score he was on track for.



I don’t remember feeling so dejected after a player went down, purely from a Supercoach sense. 



Had the Warriors back tracking and in 18 minutes, already managed a try, 5 tackle busts and 3 line breaks. 



Oh what could have been!



The hamstring injury looked bad, so I’m guessing we won’t see him back until finals, so it’s back to the trading table. 



Like swapping out a Ferrari for a Honda, no matter who you decide to go to, it will be a downgrade. 



There aren’t too many other CTWs we don’t already own or have tried before, so good luck finding that gem in the rough.



Thankfully, he was priced at over $800k, so money won’t be an issue, and it might allow for some upgrades elsewhere. 



I have a sneaky POD 5-8/CTW who can slip down to the CTW and bring in a certain Melbourne 5/8 for the run home. 



But yeah.. More trades.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">3. Last week’s stars, this week’s Fish and Chip wrapping</h3>



We spent all last week waxing lyrical about how good some of these halfbacks were for the run home and how they could be the POD to help you break through the norm.



Well, this weekend they faded into oblivion, and if there was an advertisement for not chasing points, this was it!



Those who went rogue and brought in Dearden didn’t consult Tim Bailey as the rain tumbled down at Shark Park, halting any scoring momentum for him and the Cowboys as they looked like they couldn’t get out of the place quick enough.



Jamal Fogarty, too, had Mother Nature to contend with, as Wollongong tested out the wind ratings, belting out 50km/h plus breezes, enough to knock the hair of the Spys head



He only managed 25 in the Raiders&#8217; first loss in 9 outings and couldn’t create the opportunities or space that he has in the past month or so.



And the Bulldogs&#8217; trio of Galvin, Kiks and Burton too were met with puddles and couldn’t break 30 in the Lachie Galvin Cup. 



It wasn’t all bad, though, as Campbell notched up back-to-back hundreds and heads into a Souths matchup, just oozing confidence. 



It screams captaincy trap, expecting a big score, only for him to turn in a 30.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">4. Cleary is Supercoach</h3>



Yeah, he is that guy.



Don’t outthink the room. If you don’t have him yet, just find a way.



Maybe hasn’t hit those massive 140+ scores we expected from him, and ones that came at will in previous years, but he has been so much more consistent in 2025.



Backed up last week’s 118 with 106 against a brave Titans outfit in the sun on Saturday afternoon, has 1 score under 77 since Round 9 and has a huge month in front of him.



Back goalkicking, makes a lot of tackles, gets those unicorn points we all love and finds ways for his side to win each week. 



He is Supercoach.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">5. Reece is probably not Supercoach</h3>



And the opposite of whatever Cleary is, is probably Reece Walsh.



Was in everything good about the Broncos on Friday night, so thought he didn’t need to run the ball as much and scored all his points in attack!&nbsp;



Managed an incredible 4 try assists, had about that many line break assists and wasn’t even on 100!



A late try gifted to him by Carrigan was enough to kick him into triple figures and had owners in raptures on Friday night.



He down-dated a bit, but was the weekend&#8217;s highest scorer with a season best 134. 



Many had the C or VC on him, so an easy decision to loop if so.



Owners know it’s either ugly, dirty rocks or the prettiest diamonds you have ever laid eyes on, but since he has returned, he has a low score of 61 and a 5RA of 76. 



So he may have turned a bit of a corner



Takes that form into Melbourne, where if he shies away from running the ball and can’t find any attack, he could be set for a single-figure score. 



Either way, Walsh owners have 134 points in their pocket, and us non-owners don’t.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">6. Second Row lottery</h3>



Players keep going down, and when they do manage to start, the scores aren’t that great!



The second row has really blown open in the last month with injuries, poor form and some guns not doing what we expected from them.



Kiks is a great example. 



Hasn’t exactly broken through since Origin ended and the Dogs stars returned, turns it on against Manly last weekend, so signs were he was back, then gets a bath – both figuratively and literally by the Tigers on a wet Sunday afternoon scoring only 30!



Easy to put a line through that performance, but it’s the lack of B+P that might be worrying owners with only 1 score over 69 since Round 15.



Isaah Yeo was also a sought-after trade, but failed to finish the game with a shoulder injury. 



I reckon we can maybe put this one down to the Supercoach gods. 



Timmy brought in Yeo, so the Gods thought, if everyone has an injury to contend with in Herbie, then Timmy too, needs one. 



Set for scans, wouldn’t surprise me if he gives it a week or two.



Hudson Young, well that’s another we can put down to the weather, and Nikora can too join that pile, but he becomes a tricky sit vs start decision as his best is so good, but has been off for a month or so at least.



But if you rolled the dice you might have been able to find some value in the position!



Patty Carrigan did his usual 60 in base, but updated with a TA to Walsh to 82. 



Will serve as a great option with both May and AFB on a bye in the coming weeks.



Erin Clark bounced back with some increased minutes, and Jackson Ford could be a smokey POD to plug a gap. 



Big minutes, good attack and finished the weekend with 72 and owned by only 1.6%.



That or just get Halasima.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">7. Head-to-head finals</h3>



Well, after 22 rounds, we have reached the finals of head-to-head Supercoach! 



It&#8217;s about now where I pretend I was never going for overall glory and am focusing on my H2H leagues and finishing on a high!



Now is the time to start playing silly buggers, chopping and changing your sit v starts, messing with your captain and VC and swinging a few last-minute trades!



Keep an eye on your opponent’s side and see where you can find a POD to get a leg up in your matchup. 



If you somehow have trades, you are absolutely in the box seat. 



Tigers are on the bye, so no May, hopefully, you have already prepared and have someone who can fill that spot, not named Tui Simpkins. 



I have also found death-riding works just as well.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">8. Minute Watch</h3>



Eels v Storm Williams 80, Hopgood 51, Smith 30, Guymer 80, EKat 80, Grant 80



Warriors v Dolphins  Halasima 80, Clark 65, Ford 64, Herbie 18 :(, JMK 64, Lemuelu 80



Broncos v Rabbitohs Carrigan 66, Willison 35, Hubner 45, Aitken 80



Titans v Panthers Fermor 80, Smith 66, Yeo 52



Dragons v Raiders Cook 68, Liddle 30, JDB 57, Taps 67, Young 80, Hosking 58, Horse 50



Sea Eagles v Roosters SST 65, Tevaga 48, Watson 57, Crichton 80, Foketi 18



Tigers v Bulldogs Doueihi 80, May 70, Hunt 15, Preston 80, Kiks 80, Mahoney 46



Sharks v Cowboys McInnes 52, Brailey 80, Wilton 80, AFB 55, Cotter 80, Robson 80

NRL Supercoach Round 22 Wrap: 8 Things We Learnt

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