Supporters League Finals Preview

After 23 rounds of the regular season it’s time for finals in the four Supporters Leagues!

As we know in the NRL, no one remembers the Minor Premier, so it’s all on the line for the next four weeks. We follow the same McIntyre Finals system for these competitions to once again replicate the NRL as much as possible.

Remember it’s not just bragging rights on the line in these competitions. The winner of each league will receive an NRL jersey from the team of their choice to wear loudly and proudly.

So thank you to all 64 teams who competed in this years Supporters Leagues, but now it’s time to turn our attention to the top eight in each competition as we preview Round 1 of the finals.

Supporters League I

He’s probably the most successful public league NRLCEO of all time, but he just keeps choking in his own private league each year –  Coach Mig will be hoping his Broncos will go all the way in this league and it’s hard to argue against it. He’s the only one to crack 1,000 points for the year but has only cracked 50 points once in the last six weeks. He’ll be taking on Coach Incudan’s Tigers who has a very strong Tigers backline coupled with a forward pack of Aaron Woods, Michael Lichaa, Jack De Belin, Bryce Cartwright, SST and Elijah Taylor. Fortunately for Mig the Broncos play the Eels in real life with nothing to play for and therefore should sneak home in this one.

The Bulldogs and Titans both finished on 13 wins out of a possible 20 rounds to be split only by for and against on the table. They last played each other in Round 8 with the Bulldogs winning comfortably 44-29, but this is the finals – anything can happen! This is Bulldogs coach AC’s only NRLCEO team which means all his focus on this very squad. I worry for his squad though with Josh Dugan’s last try assist 502 days ago, Blake Ayshford out of the starting line-up and Cameron McInnes dropped by the Bunnies. Coach Bona is the Titans CEO and also one of the original founding members of NRLCEO so he is one of the six most experienced CEOs in the game. Despite having only two Titans left in his squad (Ryan James and Zeb Taia) he has recruited expertly to have Cameron Munster, Suliasi Vunivlau, Josh Mansour and Nathan Cleary for a quality background all round. I’m tipping the Titans to win 1-12.

In the first knockout final, the Roosters are high on confidence at the right end of the year scoring over 50 points in the last two weeks. Coach Skeeny is pinning his hopes on the consistency of Jake Friend and Boyd Cordner, but I worry for him as he doesn’t have a recognised kicker. The Raiders on the other hand are lead by experience CEO Nute who is into his sixth season. They have been winning thanks to the kicking boot of Jarrod Croker, but this week won’t be as easy against the Storm. I’ll tip the Raiders in a very tight game.

In the last knock-out game the Eels finally have something to play for this season and they take on the Sharks for a place in the next round. Coach Matthew works for a building company, but his NRLCEO team the Sharks has been building nicely all year too. He’s been averaging just over 50 points per game for the last four rounds so is finding form at the right end of the season. His Sharks dominated side looks quality with a sprinkling of Marika Koroibete and Daniel Tupou alongside Valentine Holmes. The Eels will hope to welcome back Semi Radradra who won the title for the Eels team in last year’s inaugural Supporters League, but unfortunately Tyrone Roberts has lost the kicking duties at the worst possible time. Sharks to win 13+.

Supporters League II

Congratulations to the Cowboys for taking our the Minor Premiership in this competition by a massive eight points on the table and with an outstanding points differentials of +400! The Cowboys coach Deano is one of the six CEOs from the very first NRLCEO competition over 15 years ago! You wouldn’t believe it but taking them on is another one of the original CEOs, Rock Hudson. Their rivalry extends 15 years but with Latrell Mitchell, Bevan French, Konrad Hurrell, Michael Morgan, Johnathan Thurston, Jake Granville and Dale Finucane, I can’t go past the Cowboys in this one.

The Bulldogs CEO, known only as 337, will be pretty confident of progressing to the next stage after losing only five matches all year. The only problem for them is they don’t have a kicker! Connor Watson has been giving the kicking tee this week, but unless SST gets run over on the way to the game he won’t kick. The Roosters, coached by JP from Wagga Wagga, pinched this position from my beloved Raiders after the whistle last weekend. They needed a post game upgrade for James Fisher Harris from 39 to 40 involvements to knock me from 3rd to 7th! So I know how good they can be. 21 points from Nathan Cleary last weekend got them to this position, but JP won’t be happy Aiden Guerra got the chop and he’s had to madly scramble for a new face. John Sutton is the desperate choice. The Dogs are my pick in this one.

The Eels and the Storm have been fluctuating between 4th and 10th all season, but the Eels made it into 5th and the Storm just snuck into the eight on points differential. This is a tight one to call! The Eels CEO Bish will be hoping to welcome back Semi Radradra this week and will hope that Michael Gordon can knock a few over against the Broncos this weekend too. Despite finishing lower on the table I like the Storm to win this game. If they can score some points against the Raiders then I think Cam Smith, Cooper Cronk and Cam Munster will get Josh home.

The last match up here is the most important one to me. Sometimes Tantasy Podcast guest Brett (or Britt) is the Warriors chief and his squad is in red hot form scoring 50+ in the last three weeks. Instead of relying on the Shaun Johnson roller coaster he has Dylan Walker with the kicking tee and a quality backrow in Bodene Thompson, Simon Mannering and Elijah Taylor. My own Raiders have grown a few legs over the last few weeks as the Raiders hit their straps and captain Jarrod Croker has scored points in the dozens each week. I’ll be at Canberra Stadium on Monday Night and hoping my real Raiders get up but if Vunivalu or Chambers score I won’t be crying. Obviously I’m backing myself in for this one.

Supporters League III

This competition saw the Storm, coached by one of the few female CEOs Mel B, finish with the highest points differential of all four leagues – +546! With that in mind they go into the finals as red hot favourites. The team looks unstoppable with the Melbourne stars alongside suprise packages Ben Barba and Joey Leilua. They haven’t lost since Round 15, but interestingly their only other loss was to their opponents in this game. I hear these two have known each other since high school, so there will be a big rivalry in this one. Roosters coach JP (who also finished 3rd in the second Supporters League after adopting his brothers team) is obviously a very talented CEO. Once again he relies on the mid-season pickup of Nathan Cleary to kick him to glory and up against the Knights this weekend he’ll be confident. I don’t think the Storm will lose to him twice this year though.

The Cowboys battled with the Storm for the Minor Premiership all year and just fell away at the end of the season when JT was out. Coach Troy is in his first year of NRLCEO and has not only finished second here but also won over $200 on SuperDraft so far too! He claims it’s luck, but I think it has to be more than that. On the other side of the coin, Tigers CEO Nors has been up against it for the mid part of the year. While the Tigers started with a bang, they really fell off the radar mid year and points were hard to come by. He was quick off the mark to pick up Jarryd Hayne recently too. I’ll actually tip the Tigers to pull an upset in this one, but not by many.

The Raiders were unlucky to finish three spots below the Warriors in this one as they actually scored more points than the Kiwis over the whole year, but as we know head to head is the name of the NRLCEO game. Coach Pokerface86 is the Warriors mastermind, but I worry for his chances when he has named Peter Wallace as goal kicker – he hasn’t kicked a goal since Round 14 this year. He relies heavily on his backrow of Bodene Thompson, Simon Mannering and Isaah Yeo to score tries to win. Raiders CEO Russ is one of the most die hard Raiders fans you will ever meet. He blogs for the Raiders website and owns the most lime green suit you’ve ever seen. Unforrtunately for Russ his Raiders come up against the Storm in the NRL which will likely mean a low scoring game. This one is a 50/50 call but I’ve tossed a coin and the Warriors came up.

I must admit I’ve got a slight bias in this last knock out game. Sharks CEO Dan has been a great friend to the site promoting our game heavily on Twitter, organising many competitions and writing about us on Zero Tackle. He’s pinned majority of his hopes on his beloved Sharks with eight Sharks making up his starting line-up. Remember, you only had to draft six at the start of the year. Unlike their domination of many teams this year, the Sharks take on local rivals Dragons where they haven’t scored more than 30 points in their last eight games. Broncos Coach Cabeman has only just snuck into the finals in both his private league and this Supporters League, but that’s enough. He needs his Broncos to fire against the Eels and if they do he can win this easily, but I still think the Sharks will take the chocolates in this one.

Supporters League IV

I see a few familiar faces in this first match-up. Bulldogs CEO Sheriff is one of our live scoring legends who goes above and beyond to help out the site and so I’d really like to see him do well in this competition. He claimed the Minor Premiership by just one point over the Warriors but only lost five games all year. His side is stacked with quality as Semi Radradra, Kevin Naiqama, Elliott Whitehead and Jamie Buhrer sit alongside the quality Bulldogs Curtis Rona, Moses Mbye, James Graham, Aiden Tolman and Josh Jackson. His opponent is one of the members of UV2RL, which is the competition of NRLCEO bloggers the Workhorse Watcher and Five Metre Gap’s Hamish. Coach Czerny has taken his fantasy Eels to a level his struggling real life club could only dream of. He’s lucky he got to keep Nathan Peats, he just had to change his colours. I think the Dogs will take this one 13+ but the Eels will live to fight next round.

The Warriors were unlucky not to top the table in this one after tying their second last game with the Bunnies. Their Coach Ambrose has been around the site for a few years in the Tookey Cup and I’ve seen his name on the SuperDraft leaderboard a few times too. He only has four Warriors left and funnily enough none in the backline, but Tom Trbojevic, Will Chambers, Bevan French, Greg Inglis and Michael Lichaa more than make up for it. They will be hard to beat, but the Storm are a chance to turn it on against the Raiders and therefore rack up the points for Coach Jamie. I worry for his team though with a few gaps in his line-ups. I’ll tip the Warriors 13+.

This first knock-out game is an intriguing battle. The Broncos are on a decline and the Knights are on an incline, but they still probably end up at about the same level. Broncos Coach Cara is one of only three female CEOs in these Supporters Leagues and one of two who made the finals. She was dominating early in the season with four 60+ scores in the first eight rounds including 94 in Round 7! But as the Broncos lost form in the NRL, her scores dropped down to 30s and 40s. Knights CEO Jez has done and incredible job to be the only CEO to get the Knights into a finals series in these Supporter Leagues. He’s also the most vocal NRLCEO of all, so he’ll let you know about it! You want to know how he did it? Not a single Knight left in his team. He’s traded extremely well to get Jack Wighton, Konrad Hurrell, Dylan Walker, Paul Gallen and Matt Gillett. I’m actually tipping the Knights to win this week, but I don’t want to hear about it!!

The last knockout game of them is a dilemma for me. On one hand you’ve got my beloved Raiders, represented by NRLCEO addict Coach Rocky7st who plays in four competitions. On the other hand is my old Uni pal and Moneyball Podcast semi-regular Rhys representing the Cowboys. Early on in the year it looks like Rhys had this competition in the bag, but his past seven scores have all been below 50 points. So he’s out of form, but never discount Jonathan Thurston and he also has Joey Leilua and Will Hopoate. The Raiders are the form side in this contest with their last three scores 49 or more, but up against the Storm this week will make things hard. Luckily they have Cameron Munster and Suliasi Vunivalu to balance things in their favour should the Raiders get a touch up. With that in mind, I’m backing the Raiders in a close one.

So now that the regular season is over, it’s time to crown our overall Club Champions based on the combined tables of all four leagues.

Congratulations to the North Queensland Cowboys

With 58 wins overall, they were five points ahead of their nearest rivals.

Here is the overall Club Championship for those of you following at home:

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JB

A Founder of NRLCEO. Jamie spends far more time on running the site than his own team and is therefore a perennial struggler, much to the delight of his mates. He is a former Bears, now Raiders tragic. A rangy lock who avoided running the ball at all costs, he once tackled (flopped on) John Hopoate. Web geek by day, web geek by night.

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