Captaincy Conundrum – Rd 17

  Señor Winning here to take you through your best captain options in Round 17…

So few games, yet so many potential captains. With the Origin players out (namely CP13, Gal and Cameron Smith), we don’t have any of the usual auto-captain choices to go with…So who’s it going to be this week? There are several good options.

Issac Luke – Projected score: 54

While that projected total might not look so appealing, don’t let it fool you. The Rabbitohs are coming up against a Penrith side without three of their best players. Luke knows how to break a tackle and can find the try line, and I predict he’ll be doing plenty of that on Sunday afternoon. It’s a fact: players score incredibly well when playing against this Penrith side, regardless of the result in the match. Hindy last week? 106. Hell, even HBK Steve Michaels scored 46 against them. I know he’s not playing 80 at the moment, but while he’s out there, he’s still performing well.

David Taylor – Projected score: 62

Let’s put it this way – I would not want to be marking up against this man on Sunday afternoon. Full of anger, he’ll be out to remind everyone what he can do. Might score a few tries, will definitely break the line at some point – all signs point to an appropriately giant score for this monstrous man. The only problem is, you might not have him in your team. If you do however, don’t hesitate to slap on that big ‘C’.

Nathan Hindmarsh – Projected score: 62

Anyone have this man as captain last week? Well done if you did. I’ve had him in my side the entire season (always do), and he’s hitting his straps at the right time of the season. At home, he’ll deliver the goods once again. I also found this interesting – will he get his first try since Round 21, 2010? Stranger things have happened.

James Maloney – Projected score: 65

Lots of you have locked Maloney into your halves for the rest of the season, and this round he could reward you with a big showing against a Cowboys side missing their Origin stars. His last three scores against the Cows have been: 50, 29 and 60, but remember they are hardly at full strength this round. If you think the Warriors will pump North Queensland, you could do far worse.

Konrad Hurrell – Projected score: 63

I’ve got a sneaking suspicion Thunder Thighs might produce another quality week here. He hasn’t played the Cows in his short NRL career, but is averaging 63 in his last five starts. Same as with Maloney – if you’re backing the Warriors to win big, TT will be among the scoring.

WILDCARD: Jeremy Smith – Projected score: 72

Smith is an interesting one. Picking up a lot of the work left by Gal, the stand-in Sharks skipper thrives during these sorts of weeks. The last time he played the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium was Round 21 last year. He finished up with a try, a line break, 40 tackles and 71 DT points. The Broncos won that game 46-16, but Smith still scored well. An interesting one.

Señor says… “I’m going with Issac Luke to get me home, with Hindmarsh VC”
Forget about me – who are you locking in this week? Have I missed anyone? Leave a comment below.