So according to some scores on Facebook and Twitter, it was a pretty big week! Someone forgot to tell the Milwaukee Talkies as I struggled after a massive week last week.

I was beaten in one of my more important head-to-head matches by 320 points which isn’t good at this time of the year!

It was another week of missed trades for me as I have been even more cautious and saved a further two trades!!

I’ll revisit my strategy come Round 25 but with the ever growing injuries it may be a ploy that pays off.

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As planned out as it has been, I have missed out on moving on players like Haas which has the recruitment team absolutely seething as he continues to bang out massive score after massive score.

With the amount of injuries adding up, teams will look vastly different to the ones we thought we would see. Players like Teddy, Ponga and Walker will define the next few weeks, as will Cleary on his return.

Will the two trades to get him back be worth it? Let’s hope if your trades are low you have cover, and good cover at that.

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Eels v Raiders

This was a throwback to pre Peter V’Landys rules!

How strange was it to see a 0-0 score line at half time, but how good of a game was it! The Raiders well and truly showed the competition they aren’t done with for 2021, despite running out with a backline that would be competitive in the Canberra Raiders Cup.

Corey Harawira-Naera continued his rich vein of Supercoach form, knocking out a solid 88 to kick the weekend off. He’s now a must-have 2RF for the run home in my books.

The popular Eels players didn’t quite hit the heights many would have hoped for playing this Raiders side. Gutherson was busy annoying the referee at every chance; however they don’t amount to Supercoach points unfortunately as he finished the night with 56.

Reed Mahoney also couldn’t back up last week’s 98 as he tackled his way to 53.

The two shining lights for the Eels were their back-rowers in Papali’i and Matterson. The pair bashed and offloaded their way to 79 and 72 respectively and were whiskers away on numerous occasions from a try.

Minute Watch – Matterson 80, Paulo 57, Mahoney 69, Tapine 56, Papali’i 7 (HIA)

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Roosters v Knights

It was a battle of the fullbacks and there was a clear clear winner! James Tedesco what a performance!

There were a lot of naysayers writing off the gun for the year but he reminded everyone why he has been the most popular player of the past three years.

He banged out a huge 146 and cemented himself as a near must-have to partner Turbo for the remaining six weeks. Amazingly he just broke his breakeven so his price won’t change for the coming week.

The big scores for the Chooks didn’t stop at Teddy, with Tupouniua bagging a double, scoring a season high 125. He outscored his back-row mate in Crichton by 45 points who found the tryline late much to the delight of owners.

Sammy Walker though was outshone fairly well by Teddy and only managed 38 which would have stung many owners.

Ponga and the Knights were no match and their scores were a good reflection of that.

Many who bought Ponga in would have been hoping for a bigger output than 50 but potential owners will appreciate the drop in price.

His run does open up now with Brisbane twice and the Dogs, but he will be hoping for a Mitch Pearce return to help take the attacking load off him.

He’s incredibly cheap now at $583,700 with a breakeven of 163.

Minute Watch – JWH 50, Radley 80, Watson 80, Barnett 80

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Cowboys v Storm

And the 2021 King returns! It actually pains me to write that knowing full well Tommy Turbo has already got that crown well and truly locked in, but it’s been 10 weeks of “Papi should be back next week” and we finally got to see him run out again!

The mercurial fullback got 33 minutes – whilst Nicho got moved to five-eighth – and he looked threatening at stages on return.

All eyes will be on team list Tuesday to see if he has done enough to grab that number 1 jersey back from the Sexiest man in League.

Amongst all that we had a game of footy that didn’t really go to script. The Cowboys put up a hell of a fight and Bellamy wouldn’t have been impressed.

Both Hughes and Hynes though scored well as both took control with Munster missing. Hughes partnering Cleary on the run home looks ot be a lethal combo.

Hynes was hit hard in final updates though, dropping over 20 points in the process!

Brandon Smith knocked out a semi-low of 68 by his standards, with about 35 of those points coming in one run where he shrugged off what seemed to be the whole of Far North Queensland.

I’m not sure where Harry Grant fits when he is back but as an owner of him, I hope it’s in the 9 jersey and that it’s next week.

Taumalolo didn’t have that same punch he has shown in the past couple of weeks amassing only 47 in his 59 minutes, put that down to the Melbourne effect. He has played Souths, Melbourne and the Chooks in the past three weeks so he will enjoy playing the Broncos next week.

Minute Watch – Taumalolo 59, Robson 67, Hess 40, B Smith 68, Welch 62, Papi 33

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Rabbitohs v Warriors

If the weekend was a smorgasbord of points, then Saturday truly was the all you can eat buffet! Five players breaking 100 with Koloamatangi scoring 99!

Now here comes the bad news.. Cody Walker wasn’t amongst those five! It was Damien Cook of all people who notched up a huge 148. Seriously this bloke has been a Supercoach dud for most of 2021 with a season summary that looks like Joe Burns’ Test record.

A whole heap of 40s with a couple of 100s when they’re not needed! The Origin hooker had an absolute day out setting up a massive four tries and cost me and I’m sure plenty of others their head-to-head match up.

The Rabbitohs back-row had a day out with Murray, Koloamatangi and Su’A all going large. Murray though does look set to spend a week on the sidelines due to a crusher tackle.

Walker and Reynolds weren’t awful, the Rabbits just did the damage straight through the middle and their edges weren’t needed as much.

The Warriors look tired and now will surely miss out on the top eight unless they can muster some more players.

I’ve never seen a team get stung so hard with injuries with AFB breaking his finger. Lodge also has a date with the judiciary as he was placed on report. Both set to miss a week at least, AFB likely more.

Minute Watch – Murray 53, T Burgess 46, AFB 49 (Injury), Lodge 54, Tevaga 41

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Sea Eagles v Tigers

I had Tommy Turbo scoring 14 tries in this one. Much like Ariarne Titmus, he carried the hopes and dreams of a nation this weekend as captain and despite scoring 95, he was kept relatively quiet.

In a very high scoring match it was DCE who took the Tigers apart.

Hopefully there will be a new episode of Tiger Town coming out this week about Manly’s demolition.

DCE shapes as a massive play over Cleary after his enormous 172.

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Manly’s draw means we could win all remaining six games and finish top four.

DCE has a breakeven of 1 and will continue to rise in price. Get him in now if you’re keen.

Reuben Garrick had another quiet match and hasn’t scored since the Bulldogs match three weeks ago! His ceiling is still too high to think of trading and it’s only a matter of time before he finds that try-scoring form again.

As for the Tigers, they do a good job year in year out of giving their fans a bit of hope, before bringing it all back down on them.

Adam Doueihi bagged a try and finished the night with an impressive 80 giving owners a glimpse of his early season form in the 6 jersey.

Minute Watch – Schuster 80, Olakau’atu 80, Utoikamanu 65

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Panthers v Broncos

Another match that didn’t quite go to plan with Brisbane finally showing some fight after two seasons of being easybeats.

Their somewhat resurgence will have a few owners reconsidering using players when coming up against the Broncs plus the added bonus of playing all games in Queensland should have them fired up.

It was another Payne Haas like performance from Payne Haas who’s form since Origin has been superb and as a non-owner (I know!) it pains me every time he has a stormer.

105 brings his three round average to 95. At this stage I may have to Anti-POD him which is just fantastic…

Kotoni Staggs hasn’t set the Supercoach world on fire since his return and those who sounded him out as a POD may have to look elsewhere, although he does play the Knights twice and even the Spy would bag a try against them.

Jarome Luai’s return didn’t quite spark the Panthers attack, thankfully it appears Tyrone May might have picked up an injury (for Supercoach purposes), meaning Matty Burton may get some footy. Luai and Burton failed to break 40, with Luai unable to break 50 points since round 9!

Minute Watch – JFH 57, Capewell 80, Haas 72, Riki 80

David Fifita is in a MOOD this arvo! 😤😤😤#NRLDragonsTitans #TelstraPremiership pic.twitter.com/AciSEir5TG
— NRL (@NRL) July 25, 2021

Dragons v Titans

This match was all about David Fifita!

We weren’t blessed with too many Supercoach guns on Sunday but David Fifita did the heavy lifting!

He started from the bench which was a worrying sign for most, but that seemed to make him hungrier as he toyed with the Dragons, scoring a try out of nothing and setting another up. He finished with a monster 134 which included 22 points in tackle busts.

The Dragons heading into this weekend were 7th which couldn’t be a better advertisement for a top 6. They looked flat and uninterested and will not be playing finals and you can take that to the bank.

A little smokey for late cheapie of the year is Mathew Feagai who I have had milling around my side all year.

I was forced to play him this weekend and he managed a massive 89 which included four line breaks?!

He is set to make a ton of money if anyone has trades and needs a cheapie which, if that’s the case, means you are probably already considering 2022. Job security may be an issue though of course.

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Bulldogs v Sharks

The final match of the round and it was Shaun Johnson and his hamstrings that was the main talking point.

The Sharks half had scored a solid 61 before succumbing to a hamstring complaint and if that didn’t happen, he was on track for a big score.

Back to the rehab room he goes unfortunately. What it does though is allow a number of Supercoaches out there who own Johnson to move on to Cleary if he is named this weekend. If not may I suggest Sam Williams as a stop gap?

Talakai finally repaid some faith in owners scoring a try and notching up 81. After his past six weeks I doubt many would have played him so it would have been a frustrating way to end the week.

Luke Thompson was enormous in the defeat scoring a season high 116.

That also included a sin-bin which lost him 8 points. Many out there have him and he has shown why the Dogs were so keen to get him over here and settled a couple years back.

Weekly Wrap: Highs, lows and shocks, Rd 19

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