Decision Time: Answering the big questions

<ul><li>SQUAD BREAKDOWN: <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://13.210.220.211/2020/06/30/squad-breakdown-round-8-team-insights/" target="_blank">Round 8 team insights and advice</a></li><li>STAT BREAKDOWN: <a href="http://13.210.220.211/2020/06/30/stat-analysis-vital-numbers-to-beat-the-best-2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Vital numbers to beat the best (opens in a new tab)">Vital numbers to beat the best</a></li></ul>



Generally in this column I will look across a bunch of different key questions for the week, but with so many Mitch Moses owners out there, including myself, I thought it may be best to delve a little deeper into his replacement options. 



This info will also help Cam Munster owners, although it is noted there are some extra replacement options at 5/8 including Cody Walker and Luke Keary who I don’t look at in-depth here.



*Scroll down to the bottom of the page for a key on all SuperCoach relevant abbreviations.



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So, who is the best replacement for Mitch Moses?



Back to halfback and for me Nathan Cleary should be
easily the best HFB this year, so if you can afford it, do what you can do to bring
him in. 



I will analyse the rest of the guys below for those who
aren’t/can’t grab Cleary or for those who will take Cleary and then one of the
below guys at 5-8 like I will.



Many people are saying Shaun Johnson and many people
will likely go this way, but to be honest I’m not convinced he is an automatic
selection. 



Whilst he has been really good in terms of try-assists and
kicking goals, his floor is quite low this year now that he has basically lost
his running game. 



On the flipside SJ has one of the easiest draws on paper for
the year across the next five weeks. 



He is a solid option with the decision possibly coming down to your rank. 



<a id="2A9iI_vjRRRx2rKaJTzjPg" class="gie-single" href="http://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/1250950592" target="_blank" style="color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Embed from Getty Images</a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'2A9iI_vjRRRx2rKaJTzjPg',sig:'1oenJO8ndXyGIp6yYNnkgrT7P-wIQO_RE8G9LNsaHUk=',w:'594px',h:'405px',items:'1250950592',caption: true ,tld:'com.au',is360: false })});</script><script src="//embed-cdn.gettyimages.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" async=""></script>



If you have, like me, fallen behind the eight ball over the
last few weeks due to the absolute injury carnage (and missing Teddy’s 199!),
then you may need to go against the grain and look for another option. 



I will also add that if you are split 50-50 like I am on SJ and
one of the below guys perhaps SJ’s injury history could clinch the decision. Lots
to think about!



Kyle Flanagan or Dylan Brown. Flanagan is goal-kicking
at the Roosters who can pile on 50 any day of the week and on top of this he
loves a sneaky try backing up. 



Additionally he makes a heap of tackles which helps his
floor. The risk on Kyle Flanno is that if he has an off day with the boot and
the Roosters happen to have a semi quiet day in terms of tries scored he is at
risk of a low score. 



I don’t see this as any different to SJ though and the Chooks are incredible whilst the Sharks still have a question mark on them. It’s a tough call between them.



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Dylan Brown may have the best base of all three guys
due to lots of tackling and a love of running the ball. 



Where he falls down is not owning the goal-kicking duties
and he will often start a backline movement which means he doesn’t always get try-assists
as Gutho throws the money ball to Sivo (but does get contributions). 



I will add that he will have a bit more responsibility with
Moses out, but personally I don’t see how it changes his game too much as he
already gets the ball when he wants it. 



It may increase his forced drop outs however which could be
a major bonus. Does the extra attention hurt him? Probably not the way he
plays. Overall I’ll back him to average similar to his year to date, but he
does have a tougher draw than the other guys, otherwise he may well be the man.




It’s just harder to knock out a ton against better teams and
both SJ and Flanagan have easier games coming up.



Below I’ve broken down the top four halfback averages along with the lowest and highest scores this season, their next five games and their breakevens. This will help you decide on who you want to pick up.



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Nathan Cleary 



Average 77.4



Lowest 39



Highest 99 &amp; 100 



Fixtures: West Tigers, Cronulla Sharks, North Queensland
Cowboys, Gold Coast Titans, Manly 



BE 42



Kyle Flanagan &nbsp;



Average 62.6



Lowest 36



Highest 118 



Fixtures: Melbourne, North Qld Cowboys, Canberra, Warriors,
Titans 



BE 86



Shaun Johnson 



Average 62.9



Lowest 22 &amp; 28



Highest 95 



Fixtures: Titans, Penrith, Warriors, St George, Brisbane



BE 35



Dylan Brown 



Average 62.3



Lowest 35



Highest 123 



Fixtures: North Qld, Newcastle, Manly, West Tigers, Bulldogs



BE 81



As you can see above, Cleary is a stand out and has a nice run whilst there is basically nothing between the other three so far this season.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Other options who could produce </h2>



Kodi Nikorima 



Has averaged 67PPG since moving to starting five-eighth and
has a good next three weeks 



Daly Cherry-Evans 



Brodie Croft 



Very cheap but risky pending how Brisbane go with an easier
draw



Ash Taylor



Jahrome Hughes



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Mitch Moses is expected to miss 2-3 weeks after suffering a calf injury. Likely moderate grade strain with that return to play timeframe. Worth noting calf injuries notorious for lingering + with Moses’ recent history of calf injury pre-Round 3 will need to monitor rehab progress <a href="https://t.co/0NDuVDsNLb">pic.twitter.com/0NDuVDsNLb</a>&mdash; NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) <a href="https://twitter.com/nrlphysio/status/1277523564803940352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Another Option?</h2>



The final option is actually to hold Moses depending who
your back up halfback is and what other fires you need to put out in your team.




Moses is severely undervalued at the moment (down $130K) and
if you could cover him for 2-3 weeks and he does return at that point in time
then that could be the smart play with the Eels facing the Tigers, Dogs, Sharks
and the Dragons in four weeks’ time. 



Personally, I don’t have a backup half at the moment with
Averillo out and I want Cleary regardless, so I’m going to bite the bullet and
move on. 



For what it’s worth I think Moses is playing really good
footy this season but he has been unlucky to a degree and that injury last
round really dropped his average after having three try-assists disallowed in
the first 30 minutes before hobbling off. 



Summing Up



For me personally I’ll be bringing in Cleary for Moses 100%,
and likely either SJ or Flanagan for Munster. 



Dollars are also important depending on your team and for me
the tiebreak could be that SJ looks like possibly making more money over the
next three weeks with his current BE then Flanagan.



This will make it easier to get Munster back if he happens
to return in quick time. But as usual that is only based on projections that in
real life could change in a heartbeat.&nbsp; 



Ahh Supercoach! I’ll need until Thursday night to make my
mind up here! Best of luck for whichever option you go with.



As usual I’m happy to discuss on Twitter <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="@SCSpy1 (opens in a new tab)" href="https://twitter.com/SCSpy1" target="_blank">@SCSpy1 </a>or at the bottom of this article in the comments section.



<a href="http://13.210.220.211/subscribe/">Help support the future of the site by signing up to SC Playbook</a>&nbsp;for detailed SuperCoach analysis from hundreds of additional articles throughout the 2020 NRL season.



SUPERCOACH TERMINOLOGY KEY



MPG = Minutes per game



PPG = Points per game



PPM= Points per minute



BPG = Base per game (point accrued in tackles + runs + missed tackles)



POD = Point of difference



3RA = Three round average



5RA = Five round average



BREAKEVEN (B/E) = The score a player must record to earn a price rise.



*Please note all our stats are taken from the geniuses at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nrlsupercoachstats.com/">nrlsupercoachstats.com</a>

Decision Time: Answering the big questions

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