Weekly Wrap: Highs, lows and shocks, Rd 21


<p>More injuries, more suspensions and still no trades!&nbsp;</p>



<p>2021 will see most sides dead set limp into the final four weeks after a weekend where we were hoping to build on, left us looking for band aids to stop the bleeding.</p>



<p>Crichton and Lodge are set to spend time on the sidelines whilst Hynes needs to be traded and Cleary looms large!</p>



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<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hefty charge sheet from yesterday&#39;s games. Angus Crichton (3-4), Matt Lodge (2), Kane Evans (1-2), DWZ (1), Capewell (1), Koroisau (1) and Sipley (1-2) the players facing time out. Five further monetary fines, two of those to Evans <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NRL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NRL</a></p>&mdash; Chris Kennedy (@CKennedy80) <a href="https://twitter.com/CKennedy80/status/1424201164875173893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>What little we can do with so little trades? Don’t be too disheartened trying to field a solid 17, I think everyone is in the same boat and it&#8217;s one that needs Marine Rescue to come save us.</p>



<p>The draw opens up a bit for every side apart from Parramatta and with the head-to-head finals upon us we will be putting an offer out to the Supercoach Gods for a less eventful month for injuries and suspensions to get us home.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Good luck to all in their finals matchups this weekend! Check out the podcast and other articles from all the SC Playbook contributors (Yes even you Spy) to hopefully set you apart from the rest!&nbsp;</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>KNIGHTS v BRONCOS</strong></h2>



<p>We were able to see what KP brought to owners for the final run home and it looks somewhat promising! Although he didn’t tear up the defence like we hoped, he combined well with Pearce and set up two tries to finish the night with 71. The Knights take on the Sharks, Bulldogs, Titans then Brisbane again so scores could be high!</p>



<p>I warned everyone about the worst of Best and it was on show on Thursday. He barely saw any ball and only managed 27 and picked up a shoulder injury. He should still be named on Tuesday but there’s worrying signs.</p>



<p>Good news too for Barnett owners with Fitzgibbon picking up an injury (Sorry Lachlan if you are reading this, Supercoach purposes only) and appears to have played his last game for 2021 meaning more minutes. He bagged a much needed try to score 78.</p>



<p>Brisbane’s late season surge has been off the back of Fanitesi Niu with the early season cheapie firing at the back end of the year to give Brisbane fans some hope heading into 2022. He finished with 84 and is available in the CTW position, something I overlooked last week..</p>



<p><strong>Minute Watch – </strong>Barnett 56,&nbsp; Watson 51, Haas 69, Riki 80</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>RAIDERS v DRAGONS</strong></h2>



<p>With the benching of CHN, owners were left with a tricky decision to play the form back-rower or not. He unfortunately was only given 23 minutes which is just awful news going forward. His PPM in his time was good but with Young, Whitehead and Tapine, I can’t see him breaking back into the 13 or playing big minutes. He now is a must trade and for those with trades running low, it&#8217;s one we can ill afford.</p>



<p>Jack Bird didn’t really fire at fullback and will most likely head back to the centres next week and partner Zac Lomax who is only owned by 4% of teams for those looking for a POD to potentially set their side apart. He cost the Overlord a neat $45K this time last year so he owes us all.</p>



<p><strong>Minute Watch – </strong>Young 80, CHN 23, JDB 76</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>EELS v RABBITOHS</strong></h2>



<p>Well that line I had through the Eels just got darker! We all wrote them off on Wednesday when my mate Gutho turned up to training with a rats tail..&nbsp;</p>



<p>Thankfully someone with more brain cells than him told him it was probably a bad idea and he then shaved the whole lot off. But like his rats tail, the Eels premiership chances ended up in the bin.&nbsp;</p>



<p>He was quiet and didn’t have much impact from the back only scoring 36 points meaning he’s only scored over 60 once in the past five weeks.</p>



<p>Reed Mahoney popped his shoulder again from the looks of it (I know all too well) and will be missing for the remainder of 2021. A crushing blow for the Milwaukee Talkies.</p>



<p>But for Souths it appeared like another training run. Cody Walker and Co are treating the back end of the year like an oppose session with Josh Mansour the beneficiary this week with a monster 171! Fingers crossed AJ returns next week to peg back some of those missed points for us.</p>



<p><strong>Minute Watch – </strong>Paulo 59, Papali’i 69, Murray 69, Arrow 42</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>WARRIORS v SHARKS</strong></h2>



<p>The mere thought of the Sharks playing finals footy seems to have spooked them, dropping back-to-back games with this one against the Warriors one they should have won.</p>



<p>Josh Curran was enormous for the Warriors and will be a very popular player come season 2022. He banged out a huge 111 in a massive boost for owners struggling with numbers this week whilst Euan Aitken in his second game in the back-row found the line again, finishing with 89.</p>



<p>Matt Lodge appears to have another date with the judiciary which makes me feel like banging my head against a wall. He missed last week due to a suspension, backs up this week with a solid 75, now is set to miss two matches. The only silver lining out of that is that maybe AFB gets more minutes?</p>



<p>Reece Walsh scored his third&nbsp;100+ score for the year and you could do worse than have him partner Turbo for the next four weeks! The Warriors have a soft run of teams that don’t like defending.</p>



<p>Kane Evans should get rewarded not suspended for putting one on Will Chambers’ chin. I didn&#8217;t have a problem with him running his mouth when he was the starting centre for Australia and the Maroons and playing for Melbourne but now with no rep footy and playing for the Sharks, I&#8217;d be keeping my mouth shut.</p>



<p><strong>Minute Watch –</strong> AFB 55, Tevaga 39, Lodge 52, Curran 80, Nikorima 47, Talakai 75</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>ROOSTERS v PANTHERS</strong></h2>



<p>The canapé or entrée to the Melbourne-Manly game didn’t disappoint with the Panthers showing life without Cleary is still good.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Matty Burton tore the Roosters apart and gave Bulldogs fans something to smile about.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Burton was superb finishing with two tries, four goals and a stack of assists to notch up 134 .&nbsp;</p>



<p>It did however come with some heartache for me as I left him in my non-playing reserves so having 137 on your bench leaves you feeling pretty deflated.</p>



<p>Teddy shapes as a must-have now with some softer games coming up. He scored 92 in a well beaten side and picked up 22 of those in tackle busts. Expect some more attacking stats in the coming weeks as the Chooks fight for a top four spot.</p>



<p>What won’t help them or the 33% of teams that own him is the looming suspension to Angus Crichton!&nbsp;</p>



<p>He’s set to miss three weeks after the Roosters decided to take the early guilty plea on his charge which is the last thing people with no trades needed. </p>



<p>He shaped as the must-have back-rower for the end of the year, now you will be looking at close to $600k sitting on your bench. He may cost a few in the top 1000 some spots.</p>



<p>And hasn’t the fall of Jarome Luai been concerning! He was the must-have five-eighth this time last year, now you’d be better set having Jake Averillo in your 17…</p>



<p><strong>Minute Watch – </strong>SST 42, Radley 80, JWH 12, Martin 76, Kikau 61</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>SEA EAGLES v STORM</strong></h2>



<p>I said some ridiculous things on the podcast about this match but I was excited! And I was right in a sense, it turned out to be a cracking match!&nbsp;</p>



<p>Manly aren’t too far off the benchmark and pushed Melbourne for 80 minutes. The shout of golden point fell flat but if that bloke in the yellow jersey in the middle kept his whistle away, who knows?!</p>



<p>It&#8217;s also a funny feeling when six of your 17 players are fronting up in this match. I was painfully hoping Harry Grant and Jahrome Hughes would have quiet games, whilst also hoping they’d score 100+.</p>



<p>Reuben Garrick knocked out 110 to go with last week’s 110 after a lean month prior. He will surely finish the season as the leading Supercoach scorer and he has a very good run home. If you don’t have him it&#8217;s going to be tough viewing!</p>



<p>Tommy Turbo was busy without crossing the line as Melbourne contained the great man pretty well. He still managed to score 87 whilst his fullback counterpart Nicho Hynes was only given 45 minutes!&nbsp;</p>



<p>A dagger for owners who held for that extra week. He has dropped some cash over the past month but now he has to be moved on. Here’s to the 2021 Supercoach cheapie of the year!</p>



<p>Harry Grant will only get more and more minutes and will be the top hooker for the run home, but you don’t need me to tell you that.</p>



<p><strong>Minute Watch – </strong>Schuster 80, Taupau 49, B Smith 66, Grant 58, Papi 35, Hynes 45, Welch 52</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>BULLDOGS v TIGERS</strong></h2>



<p>The Adam Doueihi fan club led by the Spy would have been eager for this one.&nbsp;</p>



<p>He was a popular captaincy choice for many with a weekend of tough matchups and whilst his score of 86 wasn’t huge, it was on par with the rest of the popular choices so no complaining for owners.</p>



<p>Doueihi has had a massive five weeks, averaging a tick under 103 and he has another game against the Bulldogs to come. He seems to be carrying the Tigers so hopefully the pressure doesn’t get too much for him as the Tigers chase their never ending quest to finish 9<sup>th</sup>.</p>



<p>David Nofoaluma was a COVID Officer’s dream yesterday as he practiced his social distancing on the football barely getting involved as the Tigers shifted their focus to the wing of Ken Maumalo.</p>



<p>Minute Watch &#8211; Blore 80, Twal 56, Leilua 80</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>TITANS v COWBOYS</strong></h2>



<p>I&#8217;m starting to warm to the idea of David Fifita coming off the bench.&nbsp;</p>



<p>His impact after the first 20 has been up and down in recent weeks but I feel his impact would be the same in 80 minutes as it is in 56 so we are not missing out on much.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The issue is obviously his ceiling is likely reduced although he did knock out a 134 in 50 odd minutes against the Dragons only three weeks ago.&nbsp;</p>



<p>He takes on Souths and Melbourne in the next two weeks so the Titans and owners will be hoping for more 80 minute performances. But I’ll say this.. anti-POD anyone?</p>



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<p>Brian Kelly continued his try-scoring form and would have won a few owners some head-to-head tussles with a score of 75.</p>



<p>The move to the edge for Jason Taumalolo was a failure as he was unable to break 40 with Todd Payton running out of answers on how to use his premier forward which comes as a surprise as he was a contestant on Australia’s Brainiest kid according to IMDb.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I’m no NRL coach but surely putting him at lock and letting him touch the footy as much as he can will surely help the Cowboys?</p>



<p>Val Holmes impressed on his return with 87 and is available at that all too fragile CTW position. I mean that’s if you have trades to burn..</p>



<p><strong>Minute Watch &#8211; </strong>Taumalolo 80, Fifita 55</p>


Weekly Wrap: Highs, lows and shocks, Rd 21

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