Wicky, NRL Fantasy Scout & Kyle Bedford bring you all the late mail for Round 1 of the NRL in 2024! We’ll try to run you through which sides of the field halves, second rowers, centres and wingers will be playing and covering any late outs due to injuries/HIAs etc. Everything you need for your NRL Fantasy, NRL Supercoach, Tipping or Punting efforts.
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Dolphins v Cowboys
Sun 10/3, 4.05pm
Structure for edge v edge analysis – Half, 2nd Rower, Centre, Winger
Dolphins Left
O’Sullivan, Lemuelu, Niu, Bostock
Dolphins Right
Nikorima, F Kaufusi, Farnworth, Isaako
Cowboys Left
Dearden, Luki, Holmes, Taulagi
Cowboys Right
Townsend, Nanai, Laybutt, Feldt
Knights v Raiders
Thu 7/3, 8pm
Both sides are likely to be 1-17 with Cogger likely spending some time at hooker for Crossland and Starling likely role sharing with Levi. The Raiders’ attack wasn’t great in 2023 and they had an unusually high % of tries scored through the middle.
Ponga prefers the left edge in attack but the Raiders left edge did struggle in defence in 2023 so the Knights right should also get some opportunities today!
Structure for edge v edge analysis – Half, 2nd Rower, Centre, Winger
Knights Left
Hastings, Lucas, Best, Marzhew
Knights Right
Gamble, Frizell, Gagai, Tuala
Raiders Left
Strange, Young, Hopoate, Savage
Raiders Right
Fogarty, Hosking, Timoko, Cotric
Warriors v Sharks
Fri 8/3, 6pm
Both sides are likely to go in unchanged. The Sharks left edge was their weaker edge while Matt Moylan was there for most of last season. If you think this will continue even with Trindall there – Berry and DWZ on Johnson’s right edge might be the way to attack any DFS lineups/multis etc.
Structure for edge v edge analysis – Half, 2nd Rower, Centre, Winger. Anyone in bold – we’re unsure of. Capewell usually plays left 2nd row and Ford had that role for the Wahs last season.
Warriors Left
Metcalf, Ford, RTS, Montoya
Warriors Right
Johnson, Capewell, Berry, DWZ
Sharks Left
Trindall, Wilton, Talakai, Mulitalo
Sharks Right
Hynes, Nikora, Ramien, Katoa
Storm v Panthers
Fri 8/3, 8.05pm
Cam Munster has officially been ruled out. This likely means Pezet, Chan, Meaney and Coates will be defending together on the Storm left. That’s 3/4 players who are either rookie and/or didn’t defend on the Storm’s left edge last season!
Alec Macdonald has been named for the Storm’s feeder side as well so there could be some late changes in their forward pack. Blore and Bradley are their 18th and 19th men – a big watch to make sure Joe Chan does start in the final team updates an hour before the game for all Fantasy and SuperCoach players! Blore and Bradley are both capable of playing in the 2nd row.
Edit – Meaney’s playing right centre so we’ve updated accordingly.
Structure for edge v edge analysis – Half, 2nd Rower, Centre, Winger
Storm Left
Pezet, Chan, R Smith, Coates
Storm Right
Hughes, E Katoa, Meaney, Warbrick
Panthers Left
Luai, Garner, T May, Turuva
Panthers Right
Cleary, Martin, Tago, To’o
Eels v Bulldogs
Sat 9/3, 5.30pm
Structure for edge v edge analysis – Half, 2nd Rower, Centre, Winger
Eels Left
D Brown, Lane, Harper, Simonsson
Eels Right
Moses, Cartwright, Penisini, S Russell
Bulldogs Left
Burton, Kikau, Crichton, Addo-Carr
Bulldogs Right
Hutchison, Preston, Kiraz, Wilson
Titans v Dragons
Sat 9/3, 7.35pm
Update 9/3 – Lawrie is OUT. Faitala-Mariner has been named on the edge with Eisenhuth moved to lock.
Structure for edge v edge analysis – Half, 2nd Rower, Centre, Winger. Any players in bold – we’re unsure of, we’ll have more clarity after Round 1!
Titans Left
Foran, Fermor, B Kelly, Khan-Pereira
Titans Right
T Boyd, K Haas, AJ Brimson, Sami
Dragons Left
K Flanagan, Su’A, Suli, Lomax
Dragons Right
B Hunt, Faitala-Mariner, J Bird, Ravalawa
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.