Supporters League Grand Final Previews
It all comes down to these four games now. After expanding this from one league last year to four this year it has been a lot of fun to see how each competition has panned out. From 16 teams we are now down to two who are vying for an NRL jersey of their choice.
So let’s get into the previews and look at who might win each head to head. We interview each of the CEOs in the finals and have also listed their predicted line-ups.
Supporters League I
Broncos
Ladder Position: 1st
How long have you played NRLCEO? Part of the original NRLCEO competition in 1999
How many NRLCEO titles have you won? Champions League winner, 4 time Wally Lewis Legends of League titles and three time 6’Some Cups (the founding NRLCEO competitions)
Is this your first NRLCEO Grand Final? No. Been in over 15 Grand Finals!
Why will your team win? Better pack, better backs, more coaching skill!
Who is your most important player? Anthony Milford. If he fires, I win. Simple.
Who is your captain for this week and why? Josh McGuire. Due a big game, still on a nudey run and playing against the Rooters with nothing to play.
What have you got to say to your opponent? You’re playing with the big boys now and you’re out of your depth son.
Roosters
Ladder Position: 5th
How long have you played NRLCEO? Three years
Not available for comment
Likely Match-ups
| Broncos | Roosters | |
| Darius Boyd | 1 | Latrell Mitchell (k) |
| Jorge Taufua | 2 | Kevin Naiqama |
| Justin O’Neill | 3 | Waqa Blake |
| James Roberts | 4 | Blake Ferguson |
| David Fusitua | 5 | Jordan Rapana |
| Anthony Milford | 6 | Connor Watson |
| Ben Hunt | 7 | Mitchell Pearce |
| Josh McGuire (c) | 8 | Jared Waerea-Hargreaves |
| Andrew McCullough | 9 | Jake Friend (c) |
| Dylan Napa | 10 | Danny Wicks |
| Greg Bird | 11 | Boyd Cordner |
| Mitch Barnett | 12 | Luke Lewis |
| Corey Parker (k) | 13 | Aidan Guerra |
The Broncos are run by arguably the most successful NRLCEO of all time. Despite the fact it’s taken him six Grand Finals to finally win his own private competition again, Mig has dominated the public leagues for five years now. He’s got the titles to prove it too. He knows the site back to front and he knows his players back to front. His team is full of quality and know how to pass the 50 point mark with ease.
It was an extremely good effort for this Roosters team to make the Grand Final despite the NRL team finishing third last, but I think they’ve met their match here. They’ve scored 57 points or more in the past five weeks, but this is a Grand Final. Things are different. They’ll need a big night from Latrell Mitchell’s boot and a double workhorse from Friend to be competitive.
Broncos to win this one 13+ and add to the multiple titles he already has.
Supporters League II
Broncos
Ladder Position: 4th
How long have you played NRLCEO? Part of the original NRLCEO competition in 1999
Not available for comment
Cowboys
Ladder Position: 1st
How long have you played NRLCEO? 15 years. Part of the original NRLCEO competition in 1999
How many NRLCEO titles have you won? Two Legends of League competitions and the 6’Some Cup in 2011
Is this your first NRLCEO Grand Final? No
Why will your team win? They have the best coach
Who is your most important player? Ethan Lowe
Who is your captain for this week and why? Bevan French
What have you got to say to your opponent? N/A
Likely Match-ups
| Broncos | Cowboys | |
| Josh Hoffman | 1 | Latrell Mitchell |
| Kyle Feldt | 2 | Bevan French (c) |
| Justin O’Neill | 3 | Shaun Kenny-Dowall |
| James Roberts | 4 | Tom Opacic |
| Josh Addo-Carr | 5 | Antonio Winterstein |
| Tyrone Roberts (k) | 6 | Michael Morgan |
| Ben Hunt (c) | 7 | Johnathan Thurston (k) |
| Josh McGuire | 8 | Daniel Alvara |
| Andrew McCullough | 9 | Jake Granville |
| Daniel Saifiti | 10 | Sam Thaiday |
| Matt Gillett | 11 | Ethan Lowe |
| Jamie Buhrer | 12 | Dale Finucane |
| Aidan Guerra | 13 | Gavin Cooper |
After virtually zero banter from both of these teams it’s hard to come up with a good preview. Very disappointing effort from two blokes who were in the original NRLCEO competition back in 1999. Too busy for a preview, but not too busy to pick teams.
I’m tipping the Broncos 1-12.
Supporters League III
Tigers
Ladder Position: 3rd
How long have you played NRLCEO? Three years
Not available for comment
Cowboys
Ladder Position: 2nd
How long have you played NRLCEO? First year
Not available for comment
Likely Match-ups
| Tigers | Cowboys | |
| Jarryd Hayne | 1 | Lachlan Coote |
| Josh Addo-Carr | 2 | Tuimoala Lolohea |
| Kevin Naiqama | 3 | David Fusitua |
| Curtis Rona | 4 | Shaun Kenny-Dowall |
| Jordan Rankin (k) | 5 | Nathan Ross |
| Mitch Moses (c) | 6 | Michael Morgan |
| Mitch Pearce | 7 | Johnathan Thurston (k) |
| Aaron Woods | 8 | Matt Prior |
| TBA | 9 | J. Waerea-Hargreaves |
| Tim Grant | 10 | Sam Thaiday |
| James Fisher-Harris | 11 | Ethan Lowe |
| Boyd Cordner | 12 | David Klemmer |
| Beau Scott | 13 | Gavin Cooper |
This smells like a Cowboys victory all over. CEO Troy has been kissed on the dick by a fairy all year winning our two SuperDraft $250 jackpots and finishing second in this competition – all in his first year playing on the site!
Tigers CEO Matt is in a rut. He’s throwing out the excuses already and his team is falling apart too. He also goes into this game without a hooker at this stage.
I can’t go past a Cowboys win 13+ but never say never.
Supporters League IV
Bulldogs
CEO: Sheriff
Ladder Position: 1st
How many years have you played NRLCEO? A long time… about 7 years!
How many NRLCEO titles have you won? 2 or 3 private leagues, but yet to make the big dance in the public competitions… A couple of Semi-Final appearances in public leagues.
Is this your first NRLCEO Grand Final? It is in the public leagues and I’ve been able to do it in two separate comps – the Supporters League and the Mal Meninga comp.
Why will your team win? My team is like a Bart Cummings Melbourne Cup horse… trained to the minute. The Warriors targeted the Caulfield Cup last week, and have peaked too early!
Who is your most important player? Isaac De Gois… with limited hookers available, he needs to be able pull out a workhorse this week for me to have a shot. Too many 35-39 games for him.
Who is your captain for this week and why? Jimmy Graham…Guaranteed at least 4 every round, with him getting his Double WH more times than not.
What have you got to say to your opponent? Stay home and save your money… that will be the only way you will be getting a jersey this weekend!!! Size mine up now. 3XL please.
Warriors
Ladder Position: 2nd
How long have you played NRLCEO? Six years since our first season on NRLCEO I think, one year off a couple of years ago, so five years total. This is my first public comp.
How many NRLCEO titles have you won? Two wins in our private comp over the four previous years I’ve played, a loss in a third, and another shot this year.
Is this your first NRLCEO Grand Final? Nah, three Grand Finals in four years, and one in both of my comps this year.
Why will your team win? It’ll have to be on the back of a firing backline. If Inglis, Turbo, French and Johnson can fire I can catch the Sheriff’s pack.
Who is your most important player? I think I’ll lay that squarely on GI’s head. The more tries he scores, the less tackles made by Tolman, Graham and Jackson.
Who is your captain for this week and why? I’m still undecided really. I don’t have a forward I can lay it on to score me the DWH I want, so I’ll lean towards Lichaa or Thompson.
Likely Match-ups
| Bulldogs | Warriors | |
| Kurt Mann | 1 | Greg Inglis |
| Kevin Naiqama | 2 | Aaron Gray |
| Tom Opacic | 3 | Will Chambers |
| Curtis Rona | 4 | Tom Trbojevic |
| Semi Radradra | 5 | Bevan French |
| Jack Bird | 6 | Gareth Widdop (k) |
| Moses Mbye (k) | 7 | Shaun Johnson |
| James Graham (c) | 8 | Ben Matulino |
| Isaac De Gois | 9 | Michael Lichaa |
| Aiden Tolman | 10 | Danny Wicks |
| Josh Jackson | 11 | Mitch Barnett |
| Elliot Whitehead | 12 | Bodene Thompson (c) |
| Jamie Buhrer | 13 | Simon Mannering |
The two top teams all year come head to head. It’s a perfect match-up. When I look at the team listings the Bulldogs look like they have the strength in the forward pack but the Warriors have a blistering backline. It really does sound like the two NRL clubs they are representing.
The Warriors are coming off a huge 89 points last week but the Dogs were no slouches either scoring 68. As the Dogs take on the Rabbits in real life I’m going to back the Dogs in this one 1-12.
Thank you all for playing this year and we hope all of you are back again next year!
– JB
JB
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