NRL Supercoach 2026 Round 26 Wrap: 5 Things We Learnt


<p>To start with, congratulations to any and all H2H finals winners over the weekend, whether it be classic or draft leagues. </p>



<p>Hopefully plenty of cash was won, and plenty of bragging rights secured.</p>



<p>Of course, knowing it was H2H finals week, the footy gods made sure to sprinkle in a little bit of everything.</p>



<p>From multiple 40+ point attacking surges to send-offs, injuries, captaincy flops, and big upsets, round 26 did not disappoint on the drama front.</p>



<p>So let&#8217;s get into it! And it would be rude not to start with the unexpected highest scorer of the week by a country mile and a half&#8230;</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>1. Sir Cameron Murray Masterclass</strong></h3>



<p>174 points. Yes, you heard that right. </p>



<p>Mind you, Murray&#8217;s highest Supercoach score of the season heading into Saturday&#8217;s game was 87.</p>



<p>It felt as though the Supercoach community had reached a consensus that the Bunnies were going to pile on the points against the Titans, playing for their spot in the top 8.</p>



<p>I don&#8217;t think anyone expected them to pile almost all of their points on straight down the middle.</p>



<p>2 tries, 3 linebreaks,7 tackle breaks, and 2 try assists, an unheard of statline from a lock forward. </p>



<p>Murray&#8217;s performance had a little bit of everything as he continued to carve up a lackluster Titans defence all afternoon.</p>



<p>Keaon Koloamatangi was another who benefitted from this, getting on the end of a beautiful Murray short ball.</p>



<p>Who doesn&#8217;t love a good ball-playing lock?</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>2. Herbie: the gift that never stops giving</strong></h3>



<p>Death, taxes, and Herbie Farnworth being an absolute Supercoach stud.</p>



<p>A massive matchup against Robert Toia and the rock-solid Roosters did not faze Herbie at all, as he marched to yet another Supercoach century.</p>



<p>102 points with one try, zero linebreaks, zero try assists, and zero linebreak assists. Truly freakish stuff.</p>



<p>He has now overtaken Sua Fa&#8217;aologo as the overall top point-scorer in Supercoach this season, with 1973 total points at an average of 89.7.</p>



<p>One of the only players that I picked in my starting side and have not traded out all year.</p>



<p>I am sure the majority of you are in the same boat. The definition of a set-and-forget.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>3. The Collapse of Cronulla</strong></h3>



<p>Just a month ago, Cronulla were on a 5-game win streak, battering teams for fun. </p>



<p>People in the media were labelling them Premiership contenders, and with a cakewalk schedule upcoming, they looked primed to fire.</p>



<p>Fast forward to now, the Sharks have lost 3 of their last 4. Their only win was a narrow victory over the Titans, and their losses have been against the Dragons, Raiders, and Eels. All bottom-6 sides.</p>



<p>Now this is a classic question of causation vs correlation, but since Braydon Trindall went down injured at the start of the Raiders&#8217; game, they have struggled mightily.</p>



<p>From a Supercoach perspective, Nicho Hynes has been the biggest loser, with a 4-round average of just 64. </p>



<p>Not only that, I believe that in every single one of these weeks, he has been the most-captained player by Supercoach managers.</p>



<p>Unfortunately, it was not fourth time lucky for Hynes&#8217; captainers this week.</p>



<p>From a Supercoach perspective, we know Trindall excels without Hynes, but unfortunately it doesn&#8217;t appear to go both ways.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>4. Caution: mass restings incoming</strong></h3>



<p>Take a look at the NRL ladder. The top 2 are already locked in; the top 4 are already locked in, and the top 8 are already locked in.</p>



<p>This is why the majority of leagues set their settings to have Grand Final week in round 26, because round 27 is shaping up to be an all-time dead rubber.</p>



<p>Now, predicting which teams will rest and which teams won&#8217;t is anyone&#8217;s guess. But all I am saying is, be prepared for Team Lists tomorrow afternoon.</p>



<p>For all those overall players out there, hopefully you have kept a trade or two up your sleeve to try to navigate the carnage. Even then, a boost may not even save you this round.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>5. We are living in a 2RF world</strong></h3>



<p>The four top scorers in round 26 were all 2RFs: Murray, Laban, Tino, and Ola.</p>



<p>When looking at the season and filtering for players who have played 15+ games. 2RFs make up 6 of the top 20, more than any other position.</p>



<p>In fact, there are 13 2RFs who have played 15+ games this season, with an average of 70+. Once again, more than any other position.</p>



<p>More teams are starting to use their back rowers as focal parts of their attack, especially up against smaller opposition halves, and this is leading to attacking opportunities galore for many of these 2RF options.</p>



<p>Further,  a lot more lock forwards are getting big minutes in the middle and producing insane base stats per minute. Think the Couchman twins, Alex Twal type.</p>



<p>Even though they don&#8217;t quite have the high ceilings of your halfbacks and fullbacks, 2RF has been the most lucrative scoring position in Supercoach this season.</p>



<p>Good luck picking your starting 2RFs next season&#8230;</p>


NRL Supercoach 2026 Round 26 Wrap: 5 Things We Learnt

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