Round 16 Dream Teams
Round 16 Team of the Week
The Knights may not be an attacking powerhouse but Nathan Ross sure is! So you’d be crazy to either leave him out of your team (I’m looking at you Hamish Neale) or have him only score half points on your bench (g’day Paddy). In both of those situations the Ross Dog owners ended up losing as he scored 18 points – the highest score of the week. His three tries, two line breaks and 227m double metre eater gave him his best ever NRLCEO score and his tenth try of the year.
Meanwhile I backtracked on my decision to captain Jarryd Hayne earlier in the week in my Legends of League competition and it cost me a win too. I had a hunch that Hayne would score well again on return to his home suburb and I should have gone with my gut as he scored two tries, had a try assist, two line breaks, a line break assist and a 161m metre eater.
Matt Gillett tore my Raiders apart with a masterful wide running back rowers performance netting him two tries, two line breaks and a workhorse for 14 NRLCEO points. It is his equal highest NRLCEO score along with the 14 points he scored in Round 11 2016 and Round 16 2015.
Lastly, it’s worth tipping our collective hats to old Jason Nightingale. The Dragons back three specialist scored his 99th, 100th and 101st NRL tries in his 236th NRL appearance. That low ratio of a try ever 0.42 games surprised me actually but the Dragons have had some lean years. Well done nonetheless Gypsy.
Here is the rest of the Team of the Week:
- Jarryd Hayne (15)
- Nathan Ross (18)
- Konrad Hurrell (12)
- Matthew Wright (12)
- Jason Nightingale (14)
- Gareth Widdop (13)
- Daly Cherry-Evans (10)
- Felise Kaufusi (9)
- Michael Lichaa (8)
- Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (6)
- Matt Gillett (14)
- Curtis Sironen (10)
- Wade Graham (11)
Points based on: Tries (4), Workhorses (4), Double Workhorses (8), Metre Eaters (2), Double Metre Eaters (4), Try Assists (2), Line Breaks (1), Line Break Assists (1), 40/20s (1), Field Goals (1), Sin Bins (-2) and Send Offs (-4).
Overall Dream Team
I watched with excitement as I thought Jordan Rapana was about to cross for his 15th try of the year in 15 game but unfortunately it was off a forward pass and his night never got much better than that. Aside from a left flank break away for 70 metres it was a quiet night for the MVP and he was only able to add three points to his overall tally.
I caught glimpses of the Dragons v Knights game and it looked like it was end to end stuff. The defence often looked like Under 20’s standard and so it was no surprise to see Gareth Widdop carve up the Knights with four try assists, three line breaks and two line break assists giving him 14 points and a place back in the overall Dream Team. His battle with Cody Walker for the top five-eighth has been interesting to watch as it see saws regularly.
After Felise Kaufusi crossed for his seventh try of the year and his 12th workhorse, he jumped past last week’s hero Angus Crichton for a spot in the back row in the Dream Team. This pushed Josh “Moose” McGuire into the second top spot for the front rowers despite scoring zero points and missing his first workhorse of the year.
Here is the Dream Team at the conclusion of Round 16 (with total points in brackets):
- Tom Trbojevic (80)
- Suliasi Vunivalu (77)
- James Roberts (83)
- Tim Lafai (84)
- Jordan Rapana (114) – MVP
- Gareth Widdop (80) – NEW
- Shaun Johnson (71)
- Paul Vaughan (89)
- Cameron McInnes (80)
- Josh McGuire (74) – NEW
- Sam Burgess (88)
- Felise Kaufusi (95)
- Paul Gallen (104)
Points based on: Tries (4), Workhorses (4), Double Workhorses (8), Metre Eaters (2), Double Metre Eaters (4), Try Assists (2), Line Breaks (1), Line Break Assists (1), 40/20s (1), Field Goals (1), Sin Bins (-2) and Send Offs (-4).
JB
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