NRL Supercoach | Clem’s Captains, Round 8 Skippers


<p>The SC app has spoken, and it doesn’t matter how you sort the Coaches&#8217; Choice section.</p>



<p>There’s a new Captain in town, and&nbsp;<strong>James Tedesco</strong>&nbsp;is him.</p>



<p>And&nbsp;if&nbsp;you’re not Captaining him,&nbsp;it’s because&nbsp;you’re going to take on one of the great&nbsp;deathrides&nbsp;on Saturday&nbsp;arvo, or&nbsp;you’re Vice Captaining&nbsp;him and getting ready to loop.</p>



<p>My mum doesn’t even play SuperCoach, and I’m pretty sure she’s downloaded the app just so she can put the armband on Sir Teddy for his salivating match-up against the Dragons.</p>



<p>And it’s no surprise 30,515 people have traded him in so far this week, because if you don’t have him in your team for this game, it could make, or more likely break, you and your season.</p>



<p><em>(Obviously,</em> we must mention the 7 people who have decided that the Dragons are going to play Couchman Ball with the twins reunited and the great Rouchman back in the team, and therefore<em> this is The Perfect Week to trade Teddy out.)</em></p>



<p><em>Admittedly, I do feel a slight affection for the person who has traded him out for </em><strong><em>Brandon Smith</em></strong><em> – your penchant for </em><strong><em>Cheese </em></strong><em>is nothing short of admirable my friend</em>.</p>



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<p>And&nbsp;the great Accumulator of Points, Sir Teddy,&nbsp;did his thing&nbsp;last&nbsp;Sunday&nbsp;arvo, when he whacked out a&nbsp;casual&nbsp;ONE HUNDRED AND&nbsp;SIXTY-TWO&nbsp;vs Newcastle, much to the delight of new owner, the SC Spy.</p>



<p>And honestly, I am just so happy for the Spy; and the entire Friday Beers team and I held a special Roosters v Newy viewing on Sunday arvo at the Community Hall (sans Mark, who was playing of course), especially to manifest a Teddy points-fest for Spy after he popped in an application to join our team. </p>



<p>Which, flattered as we were, was politely declined, and instead, we gave him some Premium SC Playbook Support Group encouragement along with the special Manifestation Circle and Crystals Experience Package for the Roosters game.</p>



<p>We love to see a friend do well… so when he rang to thank me, of course, I told him it was my absolute pleasure.</p>



<p>Now all that’s left to do is for me and Timmy to finalise the invoice for Sunday (noting this was an after-hours callout), and Spy, you should receive that invoice in the mail soon.</p>



<a id='-Vnl9sRDQ5puzubYrj2nvQ' class='gie-single' href='https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2271974601' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;' rel="noopener">Embed from Getty Images</a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'-Vnl9sRDQ5puzubYrj2nvQ',sig:'XVOKKUSJ2c9thtjrYVq3w4y-lOXTXoBXi9zqmJAS9V0=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2271974601',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});</script><script src='//embed-cdn.gettyimages.com/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async></script>



<p>As I&nbsp;said,&nbsp;it’s&nbsp;my absolute pleasure.</p>



<p>And the Friday Beers are on the up, friends, and honestly, it’s starting to get slightly suspicious because we’ve cracked the top 500, which is basically unheard of for us this early in the season. </p>



<p>But we won’t ask questions; instead, we’ll give a special prayer of thanks to Captain<strong> </strong><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Latrell</strong></span>, who piled on 4 tries vs the Dragons and whacked 354 points onto our final score – you are a Sir and a Gentleman friend.</p>



<p>And just quickly, how is this for some Mario Kart 64 sibling rivalry at its best – my baby brother is beating me by literally 2 points! That is 2 tackles, sir! After 8 weeks of scoring and vastly different players for most of the season &#8211; HOW has this mathematical improbability occurred?</p>



<p>But this isn’t a maths lesson, so let’s move on to physics instead, and the laws of physics tell us that there are two possible Captains of the Round this week, so let’s skip all the way to Saturday’s game and take a closer look at:</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Sir James Tedesco</strong></h3>



<p>And we’re just going to repeat the info from the intro:</p>



<p><strong>If</strong><strong>&nbsp;you’re not Captaining him, it’s because you’re going to take on one of the great&nbsp;</strong><strong>deathrides</strong><strong>&nbsp;on Saturday&nbsp;</strong><strong>arvo</strong><strong>, or you’re Vice Captaining him and getting ready to loop.</strong></p>



<p>Because 162 points last Sunday. A try, 3 try assists, 3&nbsp;linebreaks, a&nbsp;linebreak&nbsp;assist… about a thousand tackle busts… and just wow.&nbsp;</p>



<p>A vintage&nbsp;<strong>Teddy</strong>&nbsp;performance that makes you scared not to have him in your team.</p>



<p>And now he’s playing the Dragons in the great ANZAC Day clash at Allianz.</p>



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<p>The Dragons &#8211;&nbsp;the&nbsp;same team who have lost their first 7 games for the season, the same team who have had 203 points&nbsp;put on them so&nbsp;far this season&nbsp;and hold the&nbsp;unenviable title of the worst&nbsp;points differential,&nbsp;the same team who have&nbsp;had 35 tries scored against them this season…</p>



<p>…and now they’ve lost their coach too.</p>



<p>And barring a Manly-inspired miracle, where they come out and absolutely brain it post-coach-sacking, if you’re punting against the Roosters at Allianz on Saturday, you’ve either not watched any Dragons games this season, or you’re a Rouchman Disciple. </p>



<p>This is a clear case of don’t outthink the room. Whether it’s a VC or a Captain, Teddy&nbsp;is not to be overlooked this round.</p>



<p>I promise you that deathride won’t be a good time.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Nathan Cleary</strong></h3>



<p>And speaking of deathrides, next up we have the most popular Captain of the round at the time of writing:</p>



<p><strong>Nathan Cleary</strong>.</p>



<p>And let me tell you a little story.</p>



<p>So I put the VC on <strong>Turbo</strong> last round, which obviously meant A Great Decision. To keep the Captain on Latrell or go with the crowd and do a Nathan Captaincy, considering what seemed like the entire SC world had him as Captain, and if not, VC.</p>



<p>And so of course, I ran the gauntlet and kept it on Latrell, and I’m telling you right now, that first 40 minutes was the WORST deathride of my life &#8211; 99 POINTS – and I couldn’t even breathe from the depths of despair behind the couch.</p>



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<p>And then in the second half, a miracle! The Dolphins dominated! Herbie did more Herbie things!&nbsp;And Cleary finished the 85 minutes&nbsp;with a field goal and&nbsp;“only” 119 points.</p>



<p>What a relief, I have no idea how that happened, but we’ll take it!</p>



<p>*<em>I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that my flatmate Ellie and I sat on the couch in the second half holding crystals manifesting harder than we’ve ever manifested before for the Dolphins to win and Cleary not to touch the ball… I’m sure that played no part… I’m… ummm… sure…. insert side eyes emoji here.</em></p>



<p>But anyway, the moral of the story is a death ride isn’t fun, and whether he’s playing in 152% humidity in Darwin or playing the Knights in a juicy matchup on Sunday, a 93-point season average and four tons in his last 7 games says it all:</p>



<p>Cleary is always an&nbsp;option,&nbsp;and he can always hurt you.</p>



<p>Captain with confidence.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Your Vice Captains</strong><strong>&nbsp;and Other Pods</strong></h3>



<p>And we’re running out of words here, because the two best and safest options of Round 8 rightly commanded our full attention, but if we just take a second to cast our eyes elsewhere, there are a few interesting prospects if you’re looking to go against the crowd and potentially hit the ‘soar up the ranks’ button if it pulls off:</p>



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<p><strong>Nicho Hynes</strong><strong></strong></p>



<p>Fresh off a bye and playing the same Cowboys who seemed to suddenly come apart at the&nbsp;seams&nbsp;vs Manly last week – a Friday night VC on&nbsp;<strong>Nicho</strong>&nbsp;is looking like a play owners&nbsp;should consider.</p>



<p>Forget about the 50 points way back in Round 6&nbsp;and instead focus on his 91-point season average, his 3 tons in 6 games, and his glorious wet hair.</p>



<p>Now, I have done some weathergirling, and I know it’s not supposed to rain, but look, we’ve got really good at rain dances over the past few years, and if all else fails… there’s always the trusty tub of V05 Extra Wet Look Gel and a mercy dash up to Townsville…</p>



<p>… in fact, I had myself at glorious wet hair, and it’s a Prince Nicho VC into a Sir Teddy Captaincy for me… no verdict required.</p>



<p><strong>Latrell Mitchell</strong></p>



<p>Because how can you discount last week’s top scorer this round? Up against the Storm, who are not a defensive powerhouse right now, you’d like your chances with at least a <strong>Latrell</strong> VC.</p>



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<p><strong>Sua Fa’alogo</strong></p>



<p>But&nbsp;it doesn’t matter how bad the Storm’s defence is and how many games they lose if you own&nbsp;<strong>Sua</strong>, because Sua can’t stop scoring tries – 9 so far this season, and with 3 tons to his name and a season average of 97, could a sneaky VC on Sua be just the thing to make a break against the pack.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Verdict</strong></h3>



<p>I’m not game to deathride this week (last week was enough for me), and unless your balls are so big you carry them around in a wheelbarrow, your safest bet is to not outthink the room, follow the crowd, and give your armband to Teddy or Cleary. </p>



<p>VCs, you can go a little rogue on for that poddy thrill, and Nicho, Latrell, and Sua all look like likely options to preface a Teddy or Clearly Captaincy. Or you can just play it super safe and go VC Teddy into Captain Cleary, sit back, crack open a beer, and relax… your job here is done.</p>



<p>For the Friday Beers,&nbsp;Prince Nicho and Teddy are&nbsp;the new recruits&nbsp;this week, so we’ll mark their debuts with the VC and Captaincy.</p>



<p>And on that note, I hope you have a beautiful weekend. I’m heading to the Roosters game on Saturday, so for all you fellow Teddy Captainers, I’ll be manifesting live…</p>



<p>Clementine xxx</p>


NRL Supercoach | Clem’s Captains, Round 8 Skippers

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