NRL Supercoach | Clem’s Captains, Round 11 Skippers


<p>Let’s just call it now:</p>



<p>We’re all Captaining Cleary.</p>



<p>Well, 77% of the Top 10% are.</p>



<p>… but we’ll get into that soon, because it’s better than LEGO and it’s finally here!</p>



<p>And you can literally feel the joy in the air from where I’m sitting, waiting for my flight to Caxton Street … because NRL Christmas has arrived, and it’s LITERALLY the best weekend of the year.</p>



<p>I can hear the famous&nbsp;song&nbsp;now:</p>



<p><em>“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!</em></p>



<p><em>There’ll be many beers ‘a flowing</em></p>



<p><em>And hearts will be glowing</em></p>



<p><em>When the Caxton is near…”</em></p>



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<p>Now this will be a short and sweet article (by my essay-standards anyway), so we can launch into the Captains and then launch into the Magic Round spirit, but first let us give a shout out to the happy SuperCoachers who brought in Marzhew for his almost chart-topping score of 207 and those savvy Coaches who brought in Isaako for his 3 tries and FOUR linebreaks!</p>



<p>And there were 19 tons last week, friends. NINETEEN! </p>



<p>Unheard of levels, and if this is a teaser for the Round that is to come, well, what a magical round this will be!</p>



<p>The Friday Beers went up 8 (I kid you not – EIGHT) places to sit in 1859 place overall – and after 2 weeks of red arrows, we’ll take our eight places and be thankful for them.</p>



<p>Now this week we’re just going to jump straight into our Captain of the Round, and that is, of course:</p>



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



<p>And forget&nbsp;Safe as&nbsp;Haases. We’re introducing a new term – Captain Obvious.</p>



<p>And this week, 77% of the Top 10% of coaches are Sir Captaining the most obvious Captain Obvious of all Captain Obviouses to ever exist.</p>



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<p>Because friends.</p>



<p><strong>Nathan</strong> <strong>Cleary</strong> is playing the Dragons in the last game of Magic Round. And I repeat. Cleary is playing the Dragons, and this is not a drill.</p>



<p>The same Dragons who are yet to win a game (I’m not trying to start a rumour, but did they really beat the&nbsp;Bye?)</p>



<p>The same Dragons who had NINE tries put on them last Saturday, including FIVE to Big Greg the Leg.</p>



<p>The same Dragons who have had&nbsp;about 50 billion points put on them already this season,&nbsp;and I’m not even exaggerating!</p>



<p>And while there is obviously the huge risk of resting when the score is 100 Nil at half time, there is also a little thing called the Dally M that surely SURELY must be on Nathan’s mind.</p>



<p>Last Sunday, Cleary put on his sixth ton for the season as he broke the Raiders&#8217; hearts, ripping them apart with a try, 2 try assists, 2 line breaks, and 2 line break assists.</p>



<p>I repeat – Captain Obvious. </p>



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



<p>Let’s stick with the final game of the round&nbsp;and look at another option for those who like to go a little against the grain.&nbsp;</p>



<p>And life was good as a Jenkins owner up until Round 8 when the Panthers forgot to go left.</p>



<p>SIXTEEN tries in his first 7 games – a hot streak of doubles, until the Knights killed his streak and&nbsp;owners’ dreams, and we&nbsp;were brought down to earth with a spate of scores under 50.</p>



<p>But fellow Jenkins holders, our patience is about to be rewarded. Our time has come!</p>



<p>And may I present to you this week’s Pod Captain:</p>



<p>Milky Jenkins.</p>



<p>Up against the Dragons and on the same side as last week’s 5 Try Massacre, aka Greg Marzhew – this could be a bloodbath for non-owners and a beautiful reward for those of us who stuck strong.</p>



<p>And the beauty for owners who’ve stuck strong is that the spat of low scores and the emergence of&nbsp;Isaako&nbsp;and the aforementioned Greg, means the hoards of coaches we were anticipating would jump on this game are jumping onto those two instead – and there are even coaches who believe this Round is the PERFECT time to jump off Jenkins too.</p>



<p>Forget about going left – because the&nbsp;tries&nbsp;are going to come left and right and up the middle – and there’s an excellent&nbsp;possibility Jenkins hits try number 20.</p>



<p>Pod Captain with Confidence. If it pulls off, it’ll be magic.</p>



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



<p>Now it’s time for our VCs, and there’s a pretty obvious VC playing the Cowboys on Saturday arvo.</p>



<p>And it’s&nbsp;<strong>Teddy</strong>&nbsp;– and he’s&nbsp;44%&nbsp;VCd&nbsp;in the Top&nbsp;10% for a reason.</p>



<p>The perfect entry into the Nathan Captaincy, Teddy is playing for an Origin spot, and a Teddy playing for an Origin spot is a scary Teddy not to have some sort of armband on.</p>



<p>Whacking out a 127 last week vs the Titans with 2 tries, a try assist, a line break, and a linebreak assist – he’s in some elite form.</p>



<p>A 3-round&nbsp;average of 106,&nbsp;3 tons in his last 4 games.&nbsp;4 tries in his last 3 games – playing the&nbsp;Cowboys who leak&nbsp;points just as&nbsp;well as they attack…</p>



<p>Teddy is a Captain any other day of the week when Cleary isn’t closing out Magic Round by slaughtering the Dragons.</p>



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



<p>Of course, you might be tempted by a slightly less popular VC route to get you ahead of the pack, and at only 14% VC&#8217;d, <strong>Kalyn</strong> <strong>Ponga</strong> is your man.</p>



<p>Because he’s back and he’s already showing non-owners what they’re missing out on.</p>



<p>140 points last week vs the Dragons &#8211; 2 try assists, 2 try contributions, a line break, and FOURTY-EIGHT points in try assists…</p>



<p>And now he’s playing the Titans, who haven’t won a game since they annihilated the Eels back in Round 6…</p>



<p>Kalyn Ponga as a VC is just too hard to ignore – he’s got my vote of confidence.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Your Other VCs</strong></h3>



<p>And&nbsp;now,&nbsp;because I’m sitting somewhere in the sky in the middle of Sydney and Brisbane&nbsp;on my Jetstar flight that is apparently running on fumes and prayers – and my&nbsp;laptop is literally on 10% battery, but I don’t dare drain anymore of this plane’s power by plugging it in&nbsp;– I’m going to quickly&nbsp;throw&nbsp;a few more VCs your way under the form of Other VCs.</p>



<p><strong>Herbie</strong> <strong>Farnworth</strong> at 7% VCd isn’t my favourite option vs the Bunnies tonight, but he’s an option if you’re looking to go a little left field of the pack. A 3-round average of 68 isn’t the most attractive of VCs, especially coupled with the fact that he’s only scored one ton this season, and that was a huge 134 vs the Panthers in Round 7. </p>



<p>Of course, you might be one of the millions jumping on <strong>Isaako</strong> and following his 178 points last week, you might like to take him for a little test run as a VC – just be warned that the Bunnies are not going to lay down and allow a try scoring frenzy.</p>



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<p>On the other side of the field, we have <strong>Latrell – </strong>and<strong> </strong>the fact that owners (including yours truly) jumped off in hoards last week when he was a late out, warrants a VC play for those who loyally stuck strong. Imagine VCing Latrell for his 5 millionth ton of this season tonight, and then having the absolute luxury of a Magic Round weekend with nothing to think about except your next beer at the Caxton… Pod VC territory.</p>



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



<p>I’m open to a pod VC play, but friends, you can’t look past the final game of Magic Round and the Massacre of the Dragons that is about to take place in front of a sold-out Suncorp.</p>



<p>Do what you will with your VC, but if you own Cleary, it is your very duty to Captain him. </p>



<p>And on that note – my laptop is about to shut down on me, so I’ll bid you adieu, and wish you the most beautiful weekend – and if you’re heading up to Magic Round…</p>



<p>LET’S GOOOOOOO!</p>



<p>See you on Caxton Street soon!</p>



<p>Clementine xxx</p>


NRL Supercoach | Clem’s Captains, Round 11 Skippers

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