Final word: Round 2 trades, captains, POD plays


<p>Like all, I was pumped to see the footy back in Round 1, with plenty of food for thought coming out of it for Supercoach.&nbsp;</p>



<p>For the first year in a long time I went into Round 1 with very little confidence in my side and that probably showed up in my scoring.&nbsp;</p>



<p>A score of 831 and sitting in 72,570<sup>th</sup> place after Round 1 would normally be deflating for me, but I’m confident that I can work my way up the rankings with some solid strategy and aggressive early trading. </p>



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



<p>You’ll hear a lot of advice from Supercoach experts to stay patient and not “blow up” your team after Round 1.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I agree that if you feel strongly about a player before Round 1 that didn’t subsequently come out and perform well you shouldn’t push the panic buttons.&nbsp;</p>



<p>However if you were unsure of that player and then he came out and you saw something that gave you a fair indicator he wouldn’t score well Supercoach wise moving forward, by all means back that judgment and trade them out.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I am doing just that this week because I always believe in trading aggressively early in the season if you’ve seen something in Round 1 that helps you predict how players will score.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Personally I’m prepared to use up to 6-9 trades and 2-3 boosts in the first three weeks if I feel it’s necessary.&nbsp;</p>



<p>No matter what your strategy, after what we saw in Round 1 this season of Supercoach it is going to keep us on our toes like no other I feel.&nbsp;</p>



<p>If Supercoaches can successfully zig when the majority zags then it could be the defining moments of the season. </p>



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



<p>Lots of chat around the Supercoach traps that it would be crazy to trade Brendan Piakura and to a lesser extent Jason Taumalolo but I disagree.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Sure if you felt strongly before Rd-1 that Piakura and Lolo were players that would go well and make money and you still believe that then by all means stay the course.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In my situation Piakura was my last 2RF picked and I was a bit sketchy on him as an option.&nbsp;</p>



<p>To be fair the HIA is not his fault but the reality is it will be tough for him to not have a high breakeven heading into price changes and my focus early on this year is making money.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Also with the Arrow injury Tallis Duncan will get his crack at the Souths 2RF spot and is great value. For this reason I’m looking at trading Piakura to Duncan.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I set my team with Flegler as my FRF but as it was such a tricky position I changed my mind and actually went to Lolo.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Needless to say I wasn’t confident in that decision and it proved to be a bad mistake.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Lolo is a red pen job. If a coach is resting a player 21 minutes into a season he either has fitness or injury issues and/or has lost faith in his ability to play decent minutes. I’ll be trading Taumalolo straight to Terrell May.  </p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Best Value Propositions </strong></h2>



<p><strong>Ben Trbojevic </strong>– Where does Josh Schuster fit into this rejuvenated Manly side? Still an element of risk to Burbo but I think the way he played in the opening game if he can keep getting time he’s great value for money.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Morgan Smithies – </strong>Again there are probably a few question marks around retaining his starting spot and minutes when Whitehead and Horsburgh return, but he’s going to be very hard not to have Smithies.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>PODs &amp; Super PODS</strong></h2>



<p>Here’s the players I’ve identified as PODs (Point of Difference players – less than 10% owned) and Super PODS (less than 2% owned) that should be on your radar:&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>PODs&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Tallis Duncan – </strong>news coming out of the Rabbitohs is that Jai Arrow is out for a minimum 4 weeks and maximum the whole season. I’ll take 4 weeks of Duncan in the run-on side with 60-80mins.&nbsp;</p>



<p>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Terrell May –</strong> the Supercoach Spy would be grinning with joy as he has been high on May all the way leading up to the first game. With Leniu out for 8 weeks I think you can feel confident May gets a minimum 40mins per game and with his PPM that’s probably all you need. He won’t be a POD for long of course, but hopefully he knocks out a strong score this week before the masses jump on.</p>



<p>3.    <strong>Luke Metcalf –</strong> owned by just 3.4%, Metcalf’s stock will rise considerably if he can post a 50+ Supercoach score v the Storm this weekend. Heavily attack reliant, but clearly with an increased role with SJ just steering the ship it can be done.</p>



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<p><strong>Super PODs&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Sam McIntyre</strong> – Many thought and hoped that Thomas Mikaele would slip into the number 17 jumper when Coen Hess had his season-ending injury in the trials. The man who has filled the void however is McIntyre and he’s a workhorse. 46 points in 47 minutes! Sure those minutes were inflated but in that rotation I think he probably gets a minimum of 25-30 minutes each week and with that he’s still going to make you money to eventually use on someone better.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Close Watch</strong>&nbsp;</p>



<p>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Tommy Talau</strong> – Saab is out for a reported 6 weeks and possibly more. Jaxson Paulo was very underwhelming in his debut game for the Sea Eagles. Talau could take this opportunity and never look back! Cheapie Alert!!</p>



<p>2.    <strong>Josh Kerr </strong>– Played 40mins exactly. Let’s take away the try and linebreak. Kerr still scored 49 in base and base attack (offloads &amp; tackle breaks) – that’s elite in anyone’s language. Close watch. </p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>ROUND MATCH-UPS </strong></h2>



<p>Early in the season it’s hard to get bearings on where teams are at, but with the upsets from Rd 1 and the nature of the competition I do expect some bounceback games this week.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I expect Warriors, Knights, Souths, Broncos and Panthers all to come out with an increased sense of purpose and energy.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The two most underwhelming teams in Round 1 were the Titans who will be getting absolutely punished by Des Hasler and his staff in the Bye week and the Dolphins.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I can’t remember the last time, if ever, I’ve seen a team drop their starting halfback and centre after one round of competition.&nbsp;</p>



<p>That’s what has happened at the Dolphins to O’Sullivan and Tesi Niu.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I can’t say I’m surprised because the defensive efforts and reads on that left edge for the Dolphins were nowhere near NRL standard.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Alarm bells are ringing a bit though! If I’m the Dragons we are going right a heap on Sunday to test out the new combo of Aitken-Averillo-Katoa-Bostock.&nbsp;</p>



<p>For that reason I like the Dragons right side players like Ben Hunt, Sua, Bird and Lomax to have a big game and score well.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Also as I mentioned before Jaxson Paulo was ordinary for Manly in their Las Vegas game. I fully expect Joey Manu and Dom Young to test out Manly’s left edge defence. </p>



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



<p><strong>Nicho Hynes</strong> – Gets the match-up against the Bulldogs who were brave but hardly inspiring. To be fair Hynes 1<sup>st</sup> round performance didn’t exactly inspire much confidence either so fading him for captain may be a good option also. Vice-captain maybe just in case he goes beserk?</p>



<p><strong>Kalyn Ponga</strong> – there is light showers forecast for Townsville on Saturday arvo, but if it can stay dry I quite like Ponga returning to his old club on a fast track against the Cowboys. The Cowboys defence in their big win against the Dolphins was a little loose.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Turbo/Teddy </strong>– it’s a day game at 4 Pines Park so there’s sure to be some attacking footy if the weather holds up. Roosters have the defensive edge, but Manly’s attack was humming round 1 in Las Vegas so an intriguing match-up looms.</p>



<p><strong>Zac Lomax </strong>– Matches up against the Dolphins and there should obviously be some bounceback factor there after a dismal Rd 1 effort vs the Cowboys, but something seems a bit off at the Dolphins and their roster despite getting stronger appears to have some serious holes in it all of a sudden. Lomax might have found his best position. </p>



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



<p>$100 to bet with a week.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Lock ($65)&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>Knights +13.5 and Warriors +13.5 @ $2.22&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Plays ($15 each)</strong></p>



<p>Dom Young &amp; Joey Manu 2+ tries combined @ $3.40</p>



<p>Jack Bird &amp; Zac Lomax 2+ tries combined @ $4.80</p>



<p><strong>Hail Mary ($5)&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>Knights win + Warriors win + Roosters Win + Dragons win @ $28</p>



<p>18+ only. What are you really gambling with? For support, call 1800 858 858.&nbsp;</p>


Final word: Round 2 trades, captains, POD plays

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