The 2021 NRL Grand Final promises to be one of the best of all time. With both teams having beat each other in 2021 and so many wonderful storylines that will play out on Sunday night, it’s going to be a riveting 80 minutes of rugby league. Draftstars have gone all out for the NRL Grand Final, with a $75,000 guaranteed prize pool for their main contest, including a $7,400 first prize. If you’re new to daily fantasy sports (DFS) you can also enter free or $2 entry contests and if you’re an experienced player they also offer ‘High Roller’ competitions as well as ‘Head To Head’ contests.
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Panthers v Rabbitohs, $75,000
Sunday 3/10, 7.30PM
This year’s grand final promises to be an epic. Most betting sites have the Panthers as four point favourites, however media experts are torn on how this game could go. In a DFS contest with such a big prize pool, it’s crucial that you build your line-ups around what you think is likely to happen in the game.
The Panthers have been dominant over the last two seasons. Nathan Cleary has arguably been the best player in the game during that time. They have a young team that’s felt the pain of losing a grand final twelve months ago. The way they got humiliated in the first half against the Storm last year would make them wary of making sure they don’t repeat that against a Rabbitohs team who are excellent in attack.
The Rabbitohs have made the preliminary finals over the last few years but haven’t made the Grand Final since they broke their premiership drought in 2014. They beat the Panthers in week one of the finals, were well rested going into their game last weekend against Manly, which they won easily. While the Panthers have Nathan Cleary, Brian To’o, Dylan Edwards & Viliame Kikau under injury concerns, Souths only have Adam Reynolds with his groin injury from last week.
We’ve seen what Cody Walker can score in a dominant finals display and it wasn’t great. Are you willing to take the risk of copping a score in the 30s if it’s a typically tight grand final at his $13,880 price tag?
Value Plays
Isaah Yeo is our pick of all the players in the 2RF position who are good value in this contest. He’s the Captain of his club, has played close to 80 minutes in each of the 3 finals & his DFS form (67) is the second highest in this contest behind Nathan Cleary. He was on fire when they played the Rabbitohs in week one of the finals, scoring 76 points including 49 tackles.
Jaydn Su’A & Liam Martin are both rated 10/10 in our value ratings. They are projected to score around 45, however their form is around 7 points below that and with both players having to contend with stacked forward packs. If you don’t have the salary cap space to pick Yeo, Su’A & Martin are great value options around the $9,000 range.
We think Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo & Brian To’o are all excellent picks. If you select two or three of them, you’re going to be short on salary cap space. This is why we think Apisai Koroisau is a good value pick. They’re both relatively good value so the fact that Koroisau is $2,070 cheaper locks him in as our suggested pick at HOK.
The CTR position has a few good value options also, but Kurt Capewell is our pick of the bench. If you have a strong inclination towards which team will win, then you can take the risk of choosing one of the outside backs in this position. However, the security of Capewell’s scores at CTR is definitely appealing. At $10,020, a player who is projected to score 43 and who has scored 64 & 54 in the last two weeks playing in the forward pack should almost be a lock in your team.
Fade Options
Cody Walker. He took on much of the long range kicking early in the game due to Adam Reynolds’ injury, scored two tries & had 100 run metres in a dominant display and still only scored 53 points last week against Manly. We have him projected to score 50 points. At his $13,880 price tag, we don’t see how most people would be able to fit him in. In the HLF position, you have a premium option in Nathan Cleary at $17,520 with a ceiling range of 124 or the value option in Jarome Luai who would do his job for you even if he gets close to his projected score of 36. We’ve seen what Cody Walker can score in a dominant finals display and it wasn’t great. Are you willing to take the risk of copping a score in the 30s if it’s a typically tight grand final at his $13,880 price tag?
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