NRL Fantasy Scout, Wicky & Kyle Bedford will be bringing you the most important news every week to help you with your NRL Fantasy teams!

This week, we cover our key players to buy, hold & sell + recapping how our teams went in Round 9 & key notes from all 16 teams playing this week.

Buys/Ones to Watch/Holds/Avoids/Sells

Buys

Scott Drinkwater (WFB, $706K)

• With Papenhuyzen being out, many people will be looking for a replacement WFB, and we think Drinkwater is one of, if not the best replacements
• The Cowboys have no byes up until Round 16 which is very handy, as well as having a super soft draw of Titans, Rabbitohs and Tigers in the next 3
• He also potentially will get the goal kicking over Origin when Holmes is away
• Drinkwater went on a crazy run around this time last year – hopefully he can do it again

Reuben Garrick (CTR/WFB, $588K)

• Garrick continues to impress, pumping out 66 pts last week. With Origin approaching, He’s a solid option with the handy CTR/WFB DPP
• See the breakdown from last week’s article below:

“Garrick’s price has just bottomed out after his 3 min, 0 pointer in Round 5. He looks to be underpriced and a handy pickup for the upcoming bye period. Not including the 3 minute game, Garrick has averaged 49.8 at CTR (2023+2024).

This does however include a 100 pointer. We think a 45 average is realistic. The kicker here is Garrick will likely play fullback when Turbo is in the Origin side. This could be anywhere between 2-4 games.

At FB, Garrick’s average jumps up to 50. Garrick also has the DPP which in very valuable during the bye period.”

Briton Nikora (EDG, $634K)

• Nikora has gone under the radar a bit, but we think there’s quite a lot of value there
• Nikora had a quiet start to the season, getting sin binned in Round 2 which then led to a 2 game suspension
• As a result, he dropped over 100k on his starting price, but now his price is starting to go back up in the opposite direction
• He has scores of 58, 40, 59 and 58 in his last 4 games, and with Sharks playing in major bye Rounds 13 and 19, he can provide great bye coverage – as well as being a borderline keeper

Tyran Wishart (HLF/WFB, $307K)

• Lots to like about Wishart here. Hughes is out for the next 2-3 weeks. When Hughes is back, Munster will then go to Origin
• It is very public knowledge that Munster is not fully fit, so we think there’s a very good chance he gets rested at the very least once throughout the Origin period
• Add this with Hughes and Papenhuyzen’s ongoing issues, Jonah Pezet doing his ACL (thus making Wishart the only backup half) as well as Fa’aologo not being fully fit either, we think it’s very possible that Wishart could feature heavily over the next 10 weeks or so
• At the very least, he’ll be playing in Rounds 10, 11, 12 and 16 – even if that’s the case he provides good scores/good coverage over a tricky period
• Only real downside is that he plays off the bench in some games, and then halts all his money making – but we think his main upside is in his scoring potential as opposed to any cash gen, so just keep that in mind when/if buying
• At only $307k and with HLF/WFB DPP, very low risk high reward play here. 57.5 avg when playing halfback (albeit 2 game sample size)

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Ones to Watch

James Tedesco (WFB, $576K) 

• Tedesco’s price has bottomed out and it’s likely this is the cheapest he’ll be all season
• However, it’s worth waiting until RD13 to see if he’s picked in Origin or not
• If he isn’t, then he’s close to must-have. If he is, then there are probably better options around

Ryan Matterson (MID/EDG, $522K)

• Matterson has been named on the edge again which is a good sign, however Carty and Tuilagi are both on the bench
• If Matto can cement a solid role, he would be a great pickup for the Origin period and a potential keeper. Keep a close eye on his role this week

Siliva Havili (HOK/MID, $398K)

• Havili has taken the lock spot with Murray out injured. He has a breakeven of 48 so worth waiting, but Havili could be a decent value option
• He’s priced at 30 and has a decent PPM, so a 50+ minute role would be great here. But absolutely just a watch for now

Dion Teaupa (HLF, $230K)

• Teaupa gets Hawkins’ spot in the halves after going down with injury. No need to rush him in here
• Give yourself a week of two to see how he goes. Trades are too valuable to be jumping in early this time of year

Holds

Ethan Strange (CTR/HLF, $444K) 

• Strange bounced back with a decent 35-pointer last week which has seen him hold his price
• It looks like his price has peaked which would make him an okay sell, however he does provide great cover for the RD13 byes at both CTR and HLF
• If you’re able to hold, you may find Strange is a handy player to have come RD13

Corey Waddell (MID/EDG, $495K) 

• Waddell had a rough 2nd half last week racking up plenty of demerits
• We believe he’s still a hold and should hopefully bounce back. As long as he continues to play 80mins, he’s underpriced

Brendan Piakura (EDG, $376K) 

• Piakura has been massively unlucky this year, with injuries to himself as well as injuries to those around him affecting him
• He has had to play centre in a few games, drastically decreasing his workload
• We’re still of the assumption that when he does actually play 80 mins at edge, he’s a low 40’s guy. Selling would be silly in our opinion, patience is key

Avoids

Sualauvi Fa’alogo (WFB, $394K)

• Papenhuyzen is expected to return as early as Rd 14, which would only give Fa’alogo 3 games at fullback
• At close to 400k, it’s a pretty risky move with such a short time-frame
• Adding to this, we don’t know if he’ll be a good fantasy scorer, even though he does look electric. Seems like a guy that could have really poor base

Trai Fuller (WFB, $562K)

• Hammer back next week, and now with Farnworth back at centre, he’ll definitely be playing fullback
• As good as Fuller’s looked, he’s on borrowed time

Sam Verrills (HOK, $384K)

• Randall at 6 is a strange one, but can almost guarantee it won’t be for long
• Campbell is back next most likely, which should push either himself or AJ to 6, Randall back to 9, and Verrills back to the bench

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Sells

Terrell May (MID, $617K) 

• May scored a 2-try 68 pts last round which hurt sellers. However if you still own him, count yourself lucky and look to jump off now
• With JWH, Leniu and Radley returning this week there just aren’t enough minutes to go around
• It’s likely May will be back to a 30-minute role which would see his price begin to plummet

Cameron Murray (MID, $726K)

• Murray is out for the next 6-8 weeks due to injury. Time to sell

Ryan Papenhuyzen (WFB, $573K)

• Papi is out for 4-6 weeks due to another injury. Also time to sell

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Team Recaps

Kyle – Baby Face Leota

RD 9 Score – 936

Overall Rank – 253

General Thoughts

Another solid week. Happy with the trade-ins of JMK, Garrick and Bateman who all performed well.

Waddell and Piakura were disappointing, but no need to panic there just yet.

Unfortunately Murray and Papi are sells due to injury, which will force me into another week of 2/3 trades.

I’m trying to keep an eye on the origin period byes with every trade I make, attempting to field a full side where possible.

Trade Thoughts

I need to bring in either 2x WFB’s OR 1x WFB & 1x CTR to field a full 17 this week.

I’ll sell both Murray and Papi, along with potentially Chester.

Some potential trade-ins are Wishart, Drinkwater and potentially Nikora, but I’ll likely lock in my trades later on in the week.

Alessandro – NRL Fantasy Scout

RD 9 Score – 885

Overall Rank – 13815

 

General Thoughts

Fairly average week, moved up ranks slightly but not by much.

Traded in Weekes, Bateman and JMK who all delivered very nicely, only disappointing thing was May scoring 68 a couple hours after I decided to sell him – was going to be a sell anyway this week so can’t stress too much about it.

Papi injury is devastating, not only from a Fantasy standpoint but also just generally.

Waddell and Piakura put up some poor scores but am not too concerned (yet anyway).

Everything else I’m fairly happy with, hoping to finally start getting some good fortune and moving up the ranks.

Trade Thoughts

Have got pretty lucky with Burbo being named, as I have a bit of a WFB/CTR crisis – if he wasn’t named I was going to have to buy 3 outside backs this week.

Also super happy I held onto Lussick, who looks set to play 80 mins again.

I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do this week – looking at buying either 2 or all 3 of Drinkwater, Garrick and Wishart. In terms of sells, Chester and Papenhuyzen will be going.

There isn’t really a 3rd guy I’m super keen on selling however. My options are Strange, Salmon or Waddell really, but they all either provide good bye coverage, positional coverage or I just think they have more points/money potential in them as well.

I do really want Wishart, but at this stage it’s looking like he’ll have to wait.

I always post my team and trades to my story before the round starts, so if you want to see what I do every week check out my page – @NRL Fantasy Scout on Instagram.

 

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