Cairns and Tableland do battle

SUPERCOACH SOMETIMES you just have to say you were beaten by the better opponent. There’s certainly no shame in it.

Well, I’ll say that anyway after my SuperCoach finals campaign came to an end at the hands of Atherton’s James Jackson, who put on a masterclass in our semi-final.

He certainly made me pay for poor performances from my PODs Corey Norman, Jordan Rapana and Matt Moylan, who scored less for me combined than either Tim Lafai or Michael Morgan.

Leaving them on the pine was my biggest regret, maybe alongside making Jason Taumalolo my skipper rather than Simon Mannering, who has been a deadset hero for Gramsy’s Guns.

There are so many ifs, buts and maybes. I’ll retell the season of woe for next week.

But for now, credit to Up The Chook Pen and coach Jackson’s inspired choice of Cameron Smith as skipper and the right players as PODs.

It sets up a mouth-watering battle for the Far North – Tableland v Cairns – in the preliminary final this round.

Jackson takes on Gavin Stoter and The Pharaohs, who sat and watched from sea level last week, scoring 1248 points.

SuperCoach GOLD projections predict it to be a cracker as it stands.

The Pharaohs are predicted to hit 1185 points and I think that’s playing unders so I’m tipping him for the win. Up The Chook Pen is tipped to hit 1165.

It could all come down to captaincy choice.