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 10 & key notes from all 16 teams playing in Magic Round.

Buys/Ones to Watch/Holds/Avoids/Sells

Buys

Tolutau Koula (CTR/WFB, $458K)

• Koula has won the fullback jersey, with Turbo set to be out for 7-9 weeks
• In 4 games at fullback, he averages 73.3, with his lowest score being 49. He looks a near must-have

Tyran Wishart (HLF/WFB, $338K)

• Wishart was a solid buy last week, but still looks a good option if you missed out
• Hughes is expected to return in round 12 (but may be given an extra week with the bye the week after)
• It’s likely Munster won’t back up from Origin games too, giving Wishart more potential games
• We expect him to get R11,14,16,17 + possibly R12. This should be enough to make around 150k along with the handy bye coverage

Briton Nikora (EDG, $634K)

• With Bateman out, lots of people will be looking for replacements, and Nikora looks like the perfect candidate
• Provides really good bye coverage, with Sharks playing in both Round 13 and Round 19
• Still good value, but this is probably the last week to buy before his price increases and he’s back to fair value. Has a BE of 36 this week

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Ones to Watch

Max King (MID, $648K)

• Max King is averaging 47.3 so far this season, and we believe he has the potential to solve a lot of people’s MID issues
• The main concern is his minutes, and they appear to be quite inconsistent, ranging from 42 mins all the way up to 60 mins
• When playing 50 or more minutes this season, his averages jumps up to 51 ppg
• The Bulldogs pack is pretty much at full strength now, so we need to see how many mins he gets with all the forwards in the rotation. Wait and see for now

Jack Cole (HLF, $230K) 

• Cole has been named as Nathan Cleary’s replacement, which normally would make him a great buy
• However Brad Schneider picked up an injury in NSW cup last week. The exact timeframe hasn’t been announced yet, but the word is that it’s a minor PCL injury, so he should be back in a few weeks
• Too risky to jump on Cole when Schneider is the likely back-up when he’s healthy. Wait for more news

Ryan Matterson (MID/EDG, $531K)

• Matterson has again been named to start on the edge. Cartwright is named on the bench, after withdrawing last week
• Keen to see how the minutes plays out. If Matto can even get 60-65 mins he’ll likely be a good option, and then over the Origin period he should get decent mins with RCG, Paulo and Hopgood all maybe playing for their respective states

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Holds

Max Plath (HLF/MID, $640K)

• Plath has been ruled out this week due to a concussion but is likely to return next week
• He provides great cover for the Origin period, playing every major bye round
• The worry with Plath was his minutes dropping when Flegler returns, however news has come to light that Flegler may miss the rest of the season

Kai Pearce-Paul (EDG, $650k)

• Given how valuable trades are, Kai Pearce-Paul is a hold at this stage despite being named on the bench for the second successive week
• Frizell is in major doubt this week, so there is still a chance KPP comes into the starting side
• He also plays in Round 13, which is another key consideration to take into account
• The talk is that KPP’s workload is being managed, so hopefully he gets his starting role back soon

Shaun Johnson (HLF, $832k)

• Only out for 2 weeks, still a gun. Hold given the current trade situation

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Avoids

Daniel Atkinson (HLF/WFB, $326K)

• Although he’s just scored an impressive 62 pointer and looks set to make 100-150k, there is quite a lot of risk here
• Trindall has been named on the extended bench after seemingly being allowed to play. Look to pickup Koula / Wishart instead

Taine Tuaupiki (WFB $457K) / Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (WFB, $632K) / Te Maire Martin (HLF, $420K)

• Shaun Johnson is ruled out with a pec injury which has seen a shakeup in the Warriors spine
• However, SJ is expected to return in R14 which would likely see everything revert back to normal

Keano Kini (WFB, $278K) / Chris Randall (HOK/MID, $571k) / Sam Verrills (HOK, $376K) / Erin Clark (HOK/MID, $488K)

• Too much uncertainty regarding the Titans spine here – Weaver in the reserves and then Foran and Campbell are expected back next week. All avoids

Sells

Brendan Piakura (EDG, $376K)

• Piakura isn’t a prolific Fantasy scorer and he needs to be playing the full 80 mins to have any chance of making cash
• Unfortunately, this doesn’t look to be the case. After an 8-pointer last week, it looks like a good time to sell before he likely loses some cash

Corey Waddell (MID/EDG, $495K) 

• Waddell has been relegated to the bench in favour of Ben Trbojevic. This limits his scoring potential in the likely 20-30 minute role, making him close to a must sell

John Bateman (EDG, $659K) 

• Bateman has suffered a Pec injury that will see him sidelined for 8-10 weeks, making him a sell

Nathan Cleary (HLF, $860K) 

• Cleary has suffered a hamstring injury that will see him out until Round 19. Sell

Kulikefu Finefeuiaki (EDG, $477K) 

• He’s been named on the bench with Luki returning to the starting side
• After making a good amount of cash, it’s a good idea to sell before he begins to drop again
• However, with Nanai likely getting picked for origin, it’s okay to hold Finefeuiaki if you need a R13 EDG, at the likely cost of about 30K in price drops

Tom Trbojevic (WFB, $636K)

• Turbo is expected to miss 7-9 weeks with a hamstring injury, making him a sell

Team Recaps

Kyle – Baby Face Leota

RD 10 Score – 772

Overall Rank – 276

General Thoughts

A frustrating week with injuries to Hynes, Turbo and Bateman. Luckily Crichton did well as my VC in the absence of Hynes.

I traded in Drinkwater, Atkinson and Mikaele. The original plan was to go Wishart and S.Fainu instead of Atkinson and Mikaele, but news of Hynes out with Atkinson in a dominant role saw me make a late switch.

Mikaele in a starting role drew me in as I was in desperate need of a MID that plays R13. Unfortunately he’s back to the bench this week, but should continue to make cash before getting a better role in R13 with Cotter out.

Drinkwater was disappointing, but he’ll hopefully come good with some decent fixtures.

Trade Thoughts

I have plenty of trade-out candidates in Bateman, Turbo, Piakura, Waddell, KPP and Salmon.

At the moment the plan is to keep Salmon and Hughes as my R13 Mids. KPP on the bench is annoying as I was relying on him being one of my R13 EDGs.

I’ll most likely be forced into 3 trades again with all the carnage, I’ll just have to decide if I sell the injured players, or the guys about to drop in price.

My trade-ins are looking like Wishart, Koula and one of Aitken/Jolliffe/Nikora/AFB.

Alessandro – NRL Fantasy Scout

RD 10 Score – 774

Overall Rank – 11753

General Thoughts

Given the carnage that occurred last round, I’m fairly happy all things considered. Dylan Brown vice captaincy came in clutch.

Last week’s trade ins of Garrick and Drinkwater didn’t go exactly to plan, though they were somewhat offset by Wishart who was a very good move.

Bateman picked up a long-term injury which is very disappointing as he was looking like a great option. Piakura was the other major disappointment, losing minutes to Gosiewski and scoring just 8.

I am moving up the ranks slowly, will look to push in the coming weeks and go aggressive over origin. Bye planning is in full throttle.

Trade Thoughts

This week is a bit of a tough one, as I feel there’s quite a lot of sells however not too many buys.

Need to sell Piakura, Bateman and Waddell, with Salmon and KPP also potentially on the chopping block.

I don’t really want to sell anyone that’s playing Round 13 unless I absolutely have to, as I want a full team, so I’ll probably cop the price drops from Salmon and KPP and hold them.

In terms of buys, Koula is a must buy, but then not too sure on the other 2 people. Looking at Nikora, Aitken and Mikaele mainly, but not 100% sure.

My MIDS are super weak but I genuinely don’t like the look of any of the gun options. 

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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