{"id":547644,"date":"2026-03-18T04:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547644\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T04:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:34:21","slug":"nrl-supercoach-2026-pod-play-of-the-week-round-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547644\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL SuperCoach 2026: POD play of the week round 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Point of difference selections (PODs), strategies and plays are a really important part of any SuperCoach player\u2019s season, whether it is chasing H2H matchup wins or climbing the overall ranks week to week.<\/p>\n<p>It is always important not to make too many POD plays, but you will always need some to be successful \u2014 balance is key.<\/p>\n<p>Each week when reviewing the NRL matches for a round there will undoubtedly be POD players in the top dozen scores, and several POD plays like benching a high-owned player or captaining someone few are considering.<\/p>\n<p>This week\u2019s POD play of the week focuses on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/rugby-league\/st-george-illawarra-dragons\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dragons<\/a>\u2019 CTW option Valentine Holmes, who could deliver massive upside at his low ownership with a favourable run of games for SuperCoaches coming up.<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/rugby-league\/news\/nrl-supercoach-2026-pod-play-week-round-2\/65f169ed7d8a32825687872a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NRL SuperCoach 2026: POD play of the week round 2 and beyond<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Valentine Holmes\" image_resolution=\"16:9\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2214331744.jpg.webp.webp\" title=\"Valentine Holmes\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"image-credit\">          Getty Images    <\/p>\n<p>Valentine Holmes \/ CTW \/ $734,200 \/ 6% owned<\/p>\n<p>Holmes has been one of the most electric attacking threats in the NRL when fit, and with goal-kicking duties, he remains a high-value SuperCoach option.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, Holmes produced a 75-point SuperCoach scoring average, again placing him among the elite CTW keepers for the year, anchored by a strong 44 base + power scoring average and a net of almost 11 SuperCoach points per game just from goal-kicking.<\/p>\n<p>While a 55-point scoring floor is high for a CTW, Holmes only crossed for six tries in 2025, his lowest total in three years \u2014 and he has already scored two tries in just two games in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>With scores so far this season of 54 and 94, he has remained solid as a rock for SuperCoaches, and his upside ceiling \u2014 with a career-high of 150 points \u2014 could see him go on a strong run shortly.<\/p>\n<p>Much of Holmes\u2019 success will depend on how well the Dragons can compete, but the lack of quality team performances in prior years has not significantly watered down his SuperCoach output.<\/p>\n<p>The Dragons are about to hit a draw from Round 3 that is arguably better than any team in the NRL for SuperCoach purposes.<\/p>\n<p>While this week\u2019s away game against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/rugby-league\/parramatta-eels\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eels<\/a> is not ideal, given the Eels\u2019 recent improvement, they still have outside backs who are susceptible to letting in points.<\/p>\n<p>It is, however, the draw after Round 3 that coaches should salivate over, with an away game against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/rugby-league\/gold-coast-titans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Titans<\/a> followed by home matches against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/rugby-league\/north-queensland-cowboys\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cowboys<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/rugby-league\/manly-warringah-sea-eagles\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sea Eagles<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When you consider the draw, Holmes\u2019 attacking output, and the fact he is a proven elite CTW option currently owned by only 6.5% of SuperCoaches, it is quite astounding he has not garnered more interest.<\/p>\n<p>While he is an expensive investment, it appears to be a calculated one at his ownership level for a player with a high floor and a fantastic ceiling.<\/p>\n<p>For more NRL SuperCoach content from the NRL Allstars Podcast make sure to subscribe and get content from: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/@nrlallstarspodcast?si=vCV8l_Nn2J8L9zDM\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2NXePrR6bPIyBG2wTfEsVj?si=5e4ae83aea44436f\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Spotify<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/au\/podcast\/nrl-allstars-podcast\/id1355577452\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">iTunes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Point of difference selections (PODs), strategies and plays are a really important part of any SuperCoach player\u2019s season,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-547644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}