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 13 & key notes from the 14 teams playing in Round 14.
Buys/Ones to Watch/Holds/Sells
Buys
David Fifita (EDG, $919K)
- Fifita is a Fantasy gun and looks to be a great pickup for the bye period as he’s not playing Origin. If you can afford it, it looks like a good move
Brendan Hands (HOK/HLF, $273K)
- Hands has again maintained the starting spot, with Lussick still in the reserves. With Brad Arthur gone, this may be a change that sticks
- Hands scored 55 last week, and is clear value if this 80 min role sticks. With most people on the lookout for a hooker, he looks pretty appealing this week
Kelma Tuilagi (EDG, $357K)
- Tuilagi is in nice fantasy form, scoring 48 and 54 in the last 2 weeks
- Lane is now playing through the middle, which is good for his minutes
- The only real threat here is Matterson, who we don’t really know when/if he’ll be back as he deals with concussion issues
- At $357k he represents incredible value, but there is a bit of risk there
Jacob Preston (EDG, $660K)
- Preston was impressive last week, scoring 83 and playing 80 mins finally. He looks set to play 80 mins or close to it at least whilst Kikau is out, which provides him with some nice value
- The only real issue with Preston is that a lot of people own a lot of Bulldogs assets already, and with their Round 15 bye coming up, it might be hard to add another
Alex Twal (MID, $576K)
- We are really big on Twal here. With IPap and Bateman out long term, and Klemmer suspended for the next 3 weeks, Twal looks set for massive mins
- We are projecting around 55 mins as a minimum, with 60 being very realistic. The fact he’s at prop instead of lock doesn’t change anything in our eyes
- The Tigers bye schedule is also incredible, having just one bye left for the season which is all the way in Round 26
- Twal has had around a 1 PPM for pretty much his entire career, so as long as he gets 50+ mins he’s value
- Across his entire career, when playing 50+ mins, he averages 54.6.
Jahrome Hughes (HLF, $746K)
- With Munster out, Hughes look to have some real value. Across his entire career, in games at halfback WITHOUT Munster, he averages a very impressive 61.1
- Games WITH Munster his average is only 49.7. Lot to like here with no real downside
Samuela Fainu (MID/EDG, $479K)
- Fainu has locked in the 80 minute edge spot at the Tigers and still looks to have a decent amount of value
- He provides great coverage for the bye period with DPP and a great bye schedule, so is a fairly safe pickup if looking for some extra coverage for the coming weeks
- He has been shifted to centre in a number of games – in the only 2 games where he’s played the full 80 purely at edge he’s scored 44 and 53
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Ones to Watch
Alex Seyfarth (MID, $400K) / Justin Matamua (EDG, $280K)
- With so many outs in the Tigers forward pack, there’ll likely be a couple guys that become pretty good options
- Add to this their nice bye schedule, we think give it a week and pickup whoever looks good
Latrell Mitchell (WFB, $719k)
- Latrell has been pretty strong from a Fantasy standpoint since coming back in Round 10, with scores of 52, 80 and 57
- Off the back of a win against the Eels, and with Wighton and Walker in the halves, Souths could be set for a turn of fortune
- Bit of risk here however with a potential Origin recall on the horizon given Sua’ali’i’s suspension. Probably best to wait and see until we have more clarity on the situation
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Holds
Nicho Hynes (HLF, $1.004M)
- After Hynes and NSW’s performance during SOO1, we think there’s a very good chance Hynes is not selected for the next 2 games for NSW
- Add that to the fact that trades are just so valuable, it’s going to be very hard to sell him and then trade him back in later down the line – likely looking at 3 trades minimum
- You can sell if you’re flush for trades – but there aren’t many people in that position
Blaize Talagi (CTR/WFB, $411k)
- With Simonsson being ruled out for the season, Talagi finds himself back in the starting side, this time at centre
- He has also been given WFB DPP, which makes him even more appealing. Still has a low BE so very nice option going forward for those who held/hold
Sells
Sam Hughes (MID, $440K)
- Hughes is now going backwards in price after scoring 10 pts last week, and has a very high BE. Sell before he drops more
Reece Walsh (WFB, $664K)
- After suffering a serious concussion in Origin, Walsh will now miss Rounds 14, 15, and then 16 and 19 as well
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Team Recaps
Kyle – Baby Face Leota
RD 13 Score – 721
Overall Rank – 491
General Thoughts
A pretty solid week for me apart from the low scores to Hughes, Salmon and Mikaele.
Was able to field a full side so saw a nice rise in ranks.
Trade Thoughts
Will look to make sure I can field a full 17 players this week. To do this I’ll likely be selling Strange, Crichton and Cotter (if he doesn’t play).
I may also opt for a 4th trade to sell Hughes. Some likely trade candidates are Fifita, Grant, Hands, Twal/Latrell. I’ll have to decide who to bring in over the next day or two.
Alessandro – NRL Fantasy Scout
RD 13 Score – 736
Overall Rank – 3760
General Thoughts
Great week for me, moving up a lot of ranks. Aitken captain was great, Drinkwater, Weekes, JMK and Atkinson all had really good scores.
Hughes and Salmon were the only real disappointments. Pretty happy with the direction in which the team is going.
Trade Thoughts
Extremely tough week on the trade front, have told myself I’m “set on trades” about 4 times now.
At this stage I’m somewhat settled on a 3 trade move of Strange, Hughes and Armstrong to Fifita, Hands and Twal.
Though who knows if I’ll still be settled in a few hours. Ideally would like to trade mid round based on whether Cotter and/or Armstrong are out, but with Twal and Fifita playing early in the round my hand is pretty forced.
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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