🪄 Magic Round ShortCuts

Less scrolling, higher scoring

May 01, 2025

Welcome one, welcome all to the grand debut of SuperCoach ShortCuts – lovingly crafted for those who can't be bothered with 17 hours of footy podcasts and 38 tabs of player analysis.

We dive headfirst into the SC rabbit hole, so you can sit back, relax, and pretend you knew it all along.

🧠 What You Need to Know

  • Magic Round incoming – ShortCutters everywhere are fizzing

  • Suncorp pitch replaced – could play as sloppy as Caxton St Sat night

  • No crackdown – Abdo says bunker will chill (we’ll see)

  • Bye period and Origin looming – don’t overthink it...yet

Please, not this weekend

🔄 Ins and Outs

➡️ IN

  • KL Iro – Returns from injury (also moonlights as Indian cricket royalty) - also takes the crown for the shortest ever NRL name

  • Lachie Hubner – Back on the bench after a dome tap

  • Lyhkan King-Togia – Cheapie starting in 5/8, Ilias dropped

⬅️ OUT

  • Thomas Cant – canned

  • Mawene Hiroti – MCL gone

  • Latrell Mitchell – suspended (head went missing)

  • Sione Finau – axed for Corey Allan (?!?)

  • Josh Curran, Matt Burton, Sitili Tupouniua – suspended, various crimes

  • Casey McLean – dropped for refusing to pass the ball

📆 Fixtures

💰 Buy 🤝 Hold 🚮 Sell ⏳ Wait

ShortCut: 

  • Buy: Fermor*, Lucas*, Clark, Marzhew, Nicho, Kiraz

  • Hold: Cant, Gutho, Egan

  • Sell: Hiroti, Egan, Hubner, Grant

  • Wait: Derby, Lucas*, Kiraz

FLB

  • Gutho | Hold/Sell | 129 BE – looked like my grandad last week

  • Drinky | Soft Buy | Runs hot and cold, elite schedule - hardly leaves QLD

  • Teddy | Wait/Buy | GOAT, plays every major and mini bye

  • Papenhuyzen | Should’ve been bought last Christmas – 88% owned in top 10%

  • Ponga | Hold/Wait/Soft Buy/Dunno | Pedigree is there, already lost coin, rib cartilage issue?

CTW

  • Hiroti | Sell | Injured and Iro back

  • Fermor | Buy | Dual, -18 BE, bottomed out, *Origin?

  • Derby | Buy/Wait/Avoid | Low scores pre-last week, only if you need a cheapie - see below

  • Lucas | Buy/Wait | *Hamstring, strong base, minutes share on return

  • Kiraz | Wait | Origin risk

  • Marzhew | Buy | Beast – even in a dumpster fire

  • Tamale | Hold/Wait | Doing bits - maybe after Storm match

  • Jenkins | Hold/Sell | Will he get passed the ball now?

  • Garrick | Hold | Has the pedigree

Robert Derby’s season thus far

5/8

  • Campbell | Sell | Bad schedule upon return, a lot of coin

  • King-Togia | Buy | Cheap, Campbell replacement, low expectations

  • Brown | Buy | Campbell replacement

HLF

  • Hynes | Buy | Cheap, POD, be prepared to be disappointed

  • S. Smith | Too Late | Possibly in hooker rotation

  • Cleary | Buy/Nah | Bye/Origin coming but a gun

  • Hughes | Buy | Safe

  • Savala | Meh | Dual, cheap for a reason, would be in 2RF if he came in

2RF

  • Cant | Hold/Soft Sell | Dropped, but won’t leak cash

  • Lucas | Buy/Wait | Hamstring, strong base, minutes share on return

  • Fermor | Buy | Dual, -18 BE, bottomed out, *Origin?

  • Egan | Hold/Soft Sell | Peaked

  • Hubner | Soft Sell | Peaked, cash drop incoming

  • Savala | Meh | Dual, cheap for a reason

  • Horsburgh | Hold | Should have bigger issues than him

FRF

  • Clark | Buy | Huge work rate, increased minutes

  • Couchman | Buy | Work rate galore but expensive

  • Willison | Wait | Watch closely – playing on edge could boost him

  • Horsburgh | Hold | See above

  • Tino | Buy | Everyone else has him

HOK

  • S. Smith | Too Late/Dunno | Maybe? Chasing points

  • Watson | Soft Buy | Dual, but beware Origin

  • Starling | Sell | BE climbing fast

  • Grant | Sell | Hamstring return is a big question mark, Origin

  • Egan | Wait/Soft Buy | Injury-prone, best of an average lot for now

👀 The Watchlist

  • Lucas – Base, work rate, dual, post-hamstring wait

  • Fermor – Low BE, dual, bottomed out, Origin?

  • King-Togia – Starting HLF, upside, dodgy

  • Willison – Edge role boosts appeal

  • Hayes – if minutes increase, PPM (points per minute) is juicy

Harry Hayes PPM 👀 if mins increase while Sitili is out, could be a play

👨🏼‍✈️ Captain Obvious

ShortCut: Terrell May

The Safety: Terrell May

  • Set and forget

  • Huge minutes, huge floor

  • Wet/ripped-up track suits him

  • For the conservatives

The VC: Nicho Hynes

  • Good matchup

  • Increased output

  • Can be a flyer with a safer captain option in the back pocket

The Hail Mary: Kalyn Ponga

  • No one will go him and probably for good reason

  • Has to click at some point (surely)

  • Could be your VC if you want a safety net

Also fine: Papi, Drinky, Teddy, Cleary

Just do it

❌ Mr. X

Mr. X is dreaming of 6 trades this week with cheapies peaking and underperformers ripe for the axe.

On the block: Grant, Nicholson, Hubner, Jenkins, Campbell, Toia
Current rank: 4642 / 166510

Trades

  • In: R. Smith & D. Brown

  • Out: Grant & Campbell

  • VC: Nicho Hynes – going for a slight POD

  • C: Terrell May – for the first time this year

He considered dropping Jenkins or Hubner. Both stay for now. Jenkins keeps his spot thanks to McLean “Gluehands” being gone. It’s a farewell run. Hubner’s benched but will look to remove next week. Fermor is a legit upgrade. Whispers about Origin, but we’ll see what next week brings.

Mr. X held trades last week due to a lack of decent targets. Sometimes doing nothing is the move. Last week was a rare moment of restraint... this week? Trigger pulled.

🎬 Final Play

That’s a wrap for the debut edition of SuperCoach ShortCut – hope you enjoyed it.

A little earlier next week thanks to the regular programming returning - Thursday kickoff.

Keep it simple: Upgrade cheapies. Lock in your guns. Forget about them.

Origin looming but we’'ll cross that bridge when we need to.

Until then – may your cheapies rise, and your premiums stay upright.

✂️ SCSC

Enjoying the ShortCut? Flick it to a mate drowning in SuperCoach chaos.