Captains Call: Round 2
Welcome to the second edition of Captains Call for 2018.
What a round that was. A few upsets in there if the Tigers beating the Roosters and the Warriors who had to travel over 10,000kms to get to Perth, beating Souths. We also had a few very close games that went right down to the wire with Titans hitting the front against the Raiders with less than a minute to go and the Knights getting on top of Manly in golden point. If every round is going to be like that then we are in for one hell of a season.
There were a few interesting things to take out of that weekend NRLCEO wise in terms of players minutes and work horse tries. Just remember, even though some of the regular workhorses didn’t get one last week. For example McInnes, Kaufusi and Gallen to name a few. It usually takes a couple of weeks for things to settles down.
It was very hard to find players minutes this week but if you managed to find them you will be hoping for improvement from certain players e.g. Peats with 40 minutes, Bromwich with 46, Murray with 26, Packer with 36, Waerea-Hargreaves with 39, Cordner with 57, Gallen with 46 and Buhrer with 33. I’m sure as the weeks go on these will start fixing themselves and we will see most of these players playing bigger minutes.
Lets look back on last week and I chose four of the five well. Tedesco was a big disappointment though managing a big doughnut. He did bomb a certain try when all he had to do was catch the ball. Feldt got a try and line break which is a decent return. Gillett managed his standard work horse in a very disappointing Broncos team. Jake Trbojevic had a huge game without it being huge NRLCEO wise. He did get a workhorse but was only 19 meters off a double with 12 runs and 56 tackles. Interesting to note he also had 19 passes which obviously hampered his ability to get that double, lets hope its not a sign of things to come. The best this week was Whitehead who worked his way to an easy work horse and crossed the line for his first try of the season.
Lets preview five more for this week so don’t forget to vote or leave a comment.
Paul Gallen – safe bet
There is no was Gallen isn’t starting this week. He will also play at least 60 minutes. Last year when Gallen had scores of zero he backed it up with score of eight and nine and it wouldn’t surprise me if he does that this week.
Andrew McCullough – safe bet
Started off the bench last week in what was a disaster for the Broncos, Thaiday was terrible. That won’t happen this week, McCullough will play close to 80 this week after on 46 minutes last week where he still managed 40 involvements. In what will be a tough game for the Broncos, McCullough will get an easy work horse and may even send one of the Broncos big boppers over for a try.
Jake Friend – safe bet
While its early in the season, Friend is still a safe bet for a work horse as he will make 50 tackles. Don’t ever expect a double out of him although does get the rare try assist. As the season goes on it wouldn’t surprise me if Radley starts taking minutes off Friend as the Roosters look a lot more dangerous when Radley is on and running the ball.
Suliasi Vunivalu – risk and reward
Although the Tigers had a good win against the Roosters I can’t see them backing it up against the Storm. Vunivalu was out done by his fellow winger but still managed to cross for one last week. Add Slater into the mix and it could be a handful for Vunivalu this week.
Bevan French – risk and reward
Its not often French goes too many weeks without scoring and I expect that to end this week. He averages one a game against Manly and Eels have never lost against Manly when French has been playing. Eels will come out firing after their loss to the Panthers and French will get more involved.
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Adam Hewat
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