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 8 & key notes from all 16 teams playing this week.

Buys/Ones to Watch/Holds/Avoids/Sells

Buys

Kaeo Weekes (HLF/WFB, $278K)

• Weekes looks almost a must-buy this week after a 42 pointer in a 40-0 loss
• He has taken Fogarty’s spot as the 7, taking the goal kicking as well as majority of the kick metres
• Weekes kicked for 423m, compared to Strange’s 60m. Great signs for Weekes who should be able to put up some solid scores and make a stack of cash if this continues

John Bateman (EDG, $642K)

• Bateman played in the 13 jersey last week, where he played 80 mins and scored 60 points, which is great signs for his prospects going forward
• It seems like he’s going to play a lock/edge hybrid role – last week he played edge after Papali’i went off
• It obviously would be better if he played 80 through the middle, but the key thing is that he’s getting 80 minutes regardless – looks like a really good pickup
• MID DPP would really be handy, but alas he should get it in the Round 14 DPP Updates pending he’s still playing there

Jeremy Marshall-King (HOK, $669K)

• JMK has been one of the few consistent hookers so far and looks to be slightly underpriced
• The main point of value here are his fixtures, playing in all major bye rounds (R13, R16, R19)
• For overall players, he may be a handy pickup for the upcoming Origin period, especially if you need to sell one of Lussick, Cheese, Api etc

Reuben Garrick (CTR/WFB, $547K)

• 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

Follow @NRLFantasyScout on Instagram!

Ones to Watch

Jayden Brailey (HOK, $490K)

• Brailey has started to put out some 80 min performances which are good signs for his Fantasy scoring
• However, it’s worth noting the last couple games may have been increased mins due to injuries
• Round 7, Ponga and Jenkins got injured, causing major reshuffles with Crossland playing in the halves. Round 8, Jed Cartwright and Jacob Saifiti got injured, causing Crossland to play purely in the middle
• We aren’t sold on Brailey being an 80 min player just yet, so would suggest holding off for now
• He’s not necessarily a bad option if he plays our projected 65 mins, but you’ll need him playing 80 mins to become a real solid buy

James Tedesco (WFB, $570K)

• Price starting to bottom out, if there’s any indication he won’t be selected for Origin then he could be a great pick up. Wait and see for now though

Want to chat about the NRL with 4,000+ like-minded sports fans? Come join Wicky’s free Discord community!

Holds

Ethan Strange (CTR/HLF, $446K) 

• Strange had a down score last week, which sort of is to be expected in a 40-0 drubbing
• Had 6 MT’s and 3 Errors, cut those out and he would’ve got 32
• Still a good player who should average in the high 30’s, and provides good cover for both CTR and HLF

Chevy Stewart (WFB, $264K)

• Ricky has said he’s just resting him, and that he’ll return to the team after the bye. Still has money to make

Join Wicky’s NRL Fantasy League!

Avoids

Max Plath (HLF/MID, $611K)

• Plath has seen inflated minutes over the last couple weeks due to injuries. We think a 55-60 minute role is likely in the short term which may see him average about 50 points
• This gives him about 70k of value which probably isn’t enough
• He does give good bye coverage, but it’s likely we see the Phins go back to playing 2x 80min edges soon + the return of Flegler which would most likely see Plath’s mins take a hit again

Jaimin Jolliffe (MID, $674K)

• Jolliffe has been killing it lately, but it’s important to look at whether we think this is sustainable and if he still has enough value to be a good buy
• Jolliffe has possibly had some inflated minutes due to injuries and HIAs
• It’s possible that a healthy side sees Randall play some middle minutes, or David Fifita starting could steal another 20 minutes from the pack
• At the moment Jolliffe looks to have a 60 min role. If he was to average 55 Pts in 60 mins, he’d have about 65K of value, which isn’t huge
• So you’d only really be looking to buy if you think he’s a keeper. We just think there’s enough uncertainty and not enough value to stay away for now

Trai Fuller (WFB, $513K)

• Fuller has looked electric, but Hammer is due back in round 11, which would see Fuller lose his spot. As good as he’s looked, he looks like one to avoid

`David Armstrong (WFB, $267K)

• Armstrong looked good with a 50 on debut, but it was made known that Sharpe is the 1st choice Ponga replacement (set to return in the next week or two)
• It’s possible Armstrong can keep the spot if he plays well, but we don’t think it’s worth the risk

Sells

Terrell May (MID, $620K)

• May looks to have gone back to a 30min role off the bench. If this continues, he will lose a heap of cash
• After dropping 49K this week, he is definitely a sell

Joey Lussick (HOK, $511K)

• We thought maybe Lussick could still score well with Hands on the bench as he did earlier in the year, but it appears not after scoring 27 in 53 mins. He is now a sell unfortunately

Clint Gutherson (WFB, $536K)

• Gutho out for 4-5 weeks after undergoing minor knee surgery. Easy sell

Tom Chester (WFB/CTR, $408K)

• Chester has a hamstring injury and is out for a month
• He is an okay hold if able to return by RD13, but there’s no guarantee that will be the case. With a couple decent cheap options popping up, look to move him on

Api Koroiasu (HOK, $594K)

• Koroisau has now put up 5 bad scores in a row. His price is falling drastically. He can maybe turn it around but I’m not sure I’d be willing to take the risk given his BE

Team Recaps

Kyle – Baby Face Leota

RD 8 Score –  961

Overall Rank – 273

General Thoughts

Fairly happy with the team again. Hynes is doing the goods and my trade ins (Tohu and Weekes) did well.

There seems to always be some clear sells to get rid of, so will look to do that again, while keeping origin in mind when deciding who to trade in.

I’ve managed to scrape out a few extra points the last couple weeks with my loops which are always handy. I would’ve played Chester over Weekes if I was unable to loop so pretty happy with the extra 25 pts there.

Trade Thoughts

I have $479k in the bank and will look to trade out some of the poor performing players this week before they lose too much cash.

Looking at selling May, Lussick and one of Chester/Strange/Cotric.

The trade ins will probably be JMK, Garrick and Bateman.

I need a hooker to replace Lussick and Garrick also provides some extra WFB/CTR depth after losing Chester.

Alessandro – NRL Fantasy Scout

RD 8 Score – 886

Overall Rank – 14547

General Thoughts

Another week, another poor score. Not much going right for me currently.

Traded in Chester, Hynes and Fainu last week. Chester got injured and is now out for a month, Hynes killed it (very happy about that trade + captaining him), and Fainu got sin binned and only got 28.

The frustrating thing is that I was originally trading in Weekes, but reversed it mid round and got Fainu instead, which cost me an extra 14 points.

Lots of issues in my team that need to be fixed in the coming weeks.

Trade Thoughts

This week my main conundrum is in terms of hooker. Both Koroisau and Lussick are sells, and there aren’t really too many stand out options.

Probably going to go with JMK, as I really like his bye schedule, though in reality he is pretty much the best of a bad bunch.

Not a fan of Jayden Brailey, so will not be getting him until I see him play 80 without injuries occurring.

Weekes is pretty much a must buy this week, and then also will be getting in Bateman or Garrick probably. 

Have lots of sells, will probably sell May, Gutho and Koroisau this week, and hold Lussick, just in the very rare case he somehow is back to 80 next week.

Chester and Burbo are also likely to be sold in the near future. 

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.

 

If you want to follow more of our NRL analysis throughout the season or any of our other work at Wicky, please reach out via email or on social media.