NRL Supercoach 2026 Round 20 Wrap: 9 Things We Learnt


<p>Well, that sort of sucked the wind out of everyone, didn’t it!</p>



<p>No one fired, everyone’s captain failed, 2 big injuries to come out of the weekend, trades are low, and we still have 7 Rounds to play!</p>



<p>We overcame the bye rounds, saw through the restings, but when everyone was back on board, and the Eels – The least Supercoach relevant side (Sorry Jack) was on the bye, we still couldn&#8217;t manage anything decent!</p>



<p>There are only 2 rounds from my calculations of H2H battles before finals, so now is the time to make a run, use those trades, or consolidate your position. Timmy hasn’t written back answering my question of “Does the SC Playbook in-house league have a top 19?”</p>



<p>Koula Than Kaeo scrounged enough points for a few green arrows, scoring 1240, moving well into the top 40000 (39481)</p>



<p>Turbo out for the 4<sup>th</sup> time this year&#8230;</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>1. Thursday night curse strikes</strong></h3>



<p>Not sure it&#8217;s Thursday night curse for Cleary, but anyone who put the captain on him that early in the week needs to have their head checked </p>



<p>Yeah yeah. Everyone says they&#8217;re the best option. Yada yada yada. I don&#8217;t care that something about Thursday night games frightened me!</p>



<p>And Cleary was no exception! Coming off the bye last weekend, he took on a resurgent Broncos, who, for the first time in 2026, remembered that they were the reigning premiers and put on a show. </p>



<p>The torrential rain didn&#8217;t help, and the Panthers were belted up front, scoring, but Cleary posted one of his lowest scores all year, running up only 38 for those playing at home, which turned out to be 76 for captainers.</p>



<p>For those out there who broke the bank and brought him in this week for the matchup, it would have been a tough Friday morning to wake up to. Those who have held off got out of jail again&#8230;and could potentially wait another week or so. Playing with fire, but it&#8217;s cold in Cooma at this time of year, so I quite like it.</p>



<p>But alas, we move on and set our sights on the eels next weekend. A side that notoriously gets up for the Panthers&#8230;are we staring down the barrel of three sub-62 scores in a row?</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>2. Whose driving this thing?!</strong></h3>



<p>Like the Captain of the Costa Concordia, it seems our captain(s) have abandoned ship! </p>



<p>The top five captaincy options in round 20 were Cleary, Farnworth, Nicho, Tommy Turbo, and TMM.</p>



<p>And only one of those scored more than 61!</p>



<p>And well, it worked out all right because no matter who you landed on, the damage was limited. </p>



<p>Those who waited all the way till 4:00 on Sunday afternoon with Farnworth would have breathed the sigh of relief with every other Captain falling by the wayside&nbsp;</p>



<p>We already know what Cleary did on Thursday, but Nicho couldn&#8217;t repeat last week&#8217;s heroics in a quiet performance against the Knights, scoring only 61.</p>



<p>TMM decided that the Dragons in NZ would be one of his tougher assignments for the year as he posted his lowest score since taking on the reigns.&nbsp;</p>



<p>There were 3.9% who landed on Ola, and well done to those&#8230;His 109 was his third 90+ score in a row, and had he not fumbled that ball late, he could have been looking at 120+. Lock and load for the run home, especially those Hudson Young owners.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>3. Achilles, Achillies, Achillies come down, won&#8217;t you get up off the roof </strong></h3>



<p>Queensland couldn&#8217;t stop him. The Rabbits were already having a tough time with him, so it was left to the Greek gods to overthrow Hudson Young.</p>



<p>Maybe there&#8217;s a bit of irony with the Odyssey (Different Warrior I know) being released, but he suffered an Achilles injury and is set to spend the rest of the year in a Nick Moon boot.</p>



<p>He was looking unstoppable, so maybe his mother also held him &#8211; maybe not in the river Styx, but in Lake Burley Griffin by the heels because there wasn&#8217;t anyone else who was going to hamper his run home.</p>



<p>Cruel blow for those who went with Hudson instead of a Lucas or Ola, who now have to use a trade to get rid of him.. cause we have plenty of those at this time of year.</p>



<p>With Young out now, if you wanted to zigzag on the Lucas and Ola trade (Brave, I know), Stewart from the Dragons has found his feet, scoring 110 on the weekend. Tino went 100 neat for his highest score of the year, and even Cam Murray looms as an option.</p>



<p>Noah Martin? Just don&#8217;t trade the real cheap one who&#8217;s currently playing for Yass in the Canberra Raiders Cup&#8230;Unless you want a nuff </p>



<p>Speaking of Achillies, it would be remiss of me not to mention Will Warbrick also suffered the same injury and looks to have his career cut short at the Storm. </p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>4. Tommy into Rehab</strong></h3>



<p>Tommy Turbo did his hammy again&#8230;</p>



<p>And just after looking good.</p>



<p>Rinse and repeat the previous 8 yarns I’ve had about it&#8230;Maybe like the Coffee card, his 10<sup>th</sup> visit to rehab is free?!</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>5. Are we ready for Reece</strong></h3>



<p>Well, it might come as a shock to no one, but I own Tommy Turbo and now I&#8217;m looking at a fullback who is priced at around 550k, with a bit of proven Supercoach pedigree&#8230;</p>



<p>Looks like I&#8217;m ending the year with Reece Walsh!&nbsp;</p>



<p>Those who don&#8217;t own Turbo will either be watching on in frustration or smiling like the cat from Alice in Wonderland, depending on how the next 7 weeks with Reece Walsh go. </p>



<p>Recency bias has him as the best buy for the next 8 weeks, obviously based on what he did last year, but there is a world where he scores 30 against the Cowboys next weekend, they lose, and Brisbane can&#8217;t make the 8. He then ends the year priced at 450k, and I&#8217;m hoping for a 250 point performance against the Bulldogs in round 27 to make it worth my while&#8230;</p>



<p>It&#8217;s going to have to be Reece because looking at the fullbacks priced under 600k, it&#8217;s Hammer, Kennedy, Teddy, Weekes or Dufty&#8230;</p>



<p>Dufty&#8230;. </p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>6. Hookers making us all look bad</strong></h3>



<p>We keep coming back to it, but the hookers are now locked in for the run home? Are we set on Grant/ Brailey and Owen Pattie? </p>



<p>Pattie has been superb since landing the starting role at the Raiders, and with a sniff of finals, he looks like he could be the one to guide them there. </p>



<p>Since round 16, where he has played 55 minutes or more, he is averaging 71&#8230;there was a world 3 weeks ago where you had a choice of Brandon Smith or Alan Patty, and many of you would have chosen Smith. </p>



<p>He is looking better and better each week, but only on Saturday did the Supercoach points start to roll in. He&#8217;s still only at a tick over 300K but turned it through a bit more work on the weekend, scoring 68. </p>



<p>And those who have still got Pascoe would have hopefully played him for his 96! Picked up a double crashing over through some lazy Manly defence. </p>



<p>Those who still have him can probably sit tight and play him when required, which judging on Grant and Brailey in the last fortnight, it could be next week.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>7. Sit v Start now in play</strong></h3>



<p>20 Rounds, and we have now come to the point of the year where it matters who we sit out and who we play!</p>



<p>I had forgotten the lost art of playing the right man on a matchup, having put together the world&#8217;s worst supercoach side from me&#8230;</p>



<p>Leaving out a player like Willison seems unruly, but it&#8217;s at that time of the year when we seriously must think about who could go big, who might be ready for a rest, and whose minutes might get cut short.</p>



<p>Many thought Greg Marzhew wouldn&#8217;t score well against the Sharks, and you would have been right to think that, judging by his past 4 weeks, but he picked up a double and finished with 87, which is 50 more than we thought.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>8. Couches getting comfy</strong></h3>



<p>Team coming last, haven&#8217;t looked like scoring any tries all year, but running it back with both Couchman&#8217;s might be the smartest move yet!</p>



<p>Both Toby and Ryan had superb performances over in NZ, playing all bar 8 minutes, for a combined 178 points in a week where points were hard to come by.</p>



<p>Those who are running both can sit back and let the points roll in&#8230;Stewart too keeps pushing for inclusion in sides, but do we really end the year with 3 forwards from the Dragons? </p>



<p>Head and form says no&#8230;the data says yes.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>9. Minute Watch</strong></h3>



<p><strong>Panthers v Broncos</strong></p>



<p>Henry 26, Sorensen 36, Smith 46, Yeo 65, IPap 80, Willison 80, Haas 74, Carrigan 80</p>



<p><strong>Sharks v Knights</strong></p>



<p>AFB 32, Nikora 80, McInnes 40, Brailey 80, Lucas 80, Mooney 52, Manuleleua 80</p>



<p><strong>Roosters v Storm</strong></p>



<p>Whyte 51, Watson 44, N Butcher 80, Grant 80, Clarke 80, Stefano 51</p>



<p><strong>Raiders v Rabbits</strong></p>



<p>Pattie 61, Taps 42, Young 54, N Martin 80, Hosking 78, Keaon 66, Fifita 80, Duncan 80, Murray 70</p>



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<p><strong>Warriors v Dragons</strong></p>



<p>Egan 59, Laban 52, Clark 56, Leka 28, RCouch 72, TCouch 80, Stewart 75</p>



<p><strong>Bulldogs v Tigers</strong></p>



<p>Hayward 80, Preston 80, Kiks 51, May 61, Fainu (one who didn’t get binned) 80, Twal 53</p>



<p><strong>Titans v Sea Eagles</strong></p>



<p>Tino 62, Hau 66, Pascoe 80, Turbo 21, Paseka 55, Ola 80,&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Dolphins v Cowboys</strong></p>



<p>Kuli 80, JMK 56, Donoghoe 28, Plath 57, Luki 80, Mahoney 54, Nanai 80</p>


NRL Supercoach 2026 Round 20 Wrap: 9 Things We Learnt

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