NRL Fantasy 2021 Part 4 - Praying that nobody gets hurt

If Burton doesn't go to the Dogs reckon they'll have to play Hopoate at 6 because Barrett must surely know Lewis and Wakeham aren't first grade halves.

Milchcow wrote:

One of the big differences you'll notice between mtb and the collective, is that he often saves trades in the first few weeks when everyone else is running around like a madman trading anyone who did well in the first week or so.

Part of this might be correlation instead of causation. The better your starting team is, the less urgent it is to change it after every week. Someone who has a solid round 1 team can sit on it, but someone with a team full of PODs is going to have to try and trade good players in at some point.

Or just select the right good PODs that everyone else needs to trade to.

There is definitely an element of the rich get richer if you started with the right team.

Another guy I am going soft on is Jackson Ford.

There's not a lot of sample size because he's mostly played as a middle, but when playing on the edge he has 1 really good score and a few low ones.

Assuming he starts on an edge, what sort of scores do people expect, and what is your reason for that?

Milchcow wrote:
Another guy I am going soft on is Jackson Ford.

There's not a lot of sample size because he's mostly played as a middle, but when playing on the edge he has 1 really good score and a few low ones.

Assuming he starts on an edge, what sort of scores do people expect, and what is your reason for that?

He is not filling me with a lot of confidence. How many minutes did he play in the trial for his 20 fantasy points? I would prefer Gilbert if not injured. I expect around 40s with the odd try to push him up in 40-45 average. About what Jayden Su'a did last year.

What do people think of the below players?

Taniela Paseka

Jamayne Isaako

Iron Mike wrote:What do people think of the below players?

Taniela Paseka

Jamayne Isaako

Aloiai is getting the AFB role and minutes, not Paseka

Adam Elliott is confirmed as the player involved in the Lichaa altercation, but the club is saying he isnt a person of interest for the police.

Iron Mike wrote:

He is not filling me with a lot of confidence. How many minutes did he play in the trial for his 20 fantasy points? I would prefer Gilbert if not injured. I expect around 40s with the odd try to push him up in 40-45 average. About what Jayden Su'a did last year.

Probably need to see whether Bird in the "backrow" means edge or lock. I think Bird would be best at edge but who knows what Griffin meant..

Dragons probably need someone like Bird in the middle because outside of Vaughan they are pretty "samey" with lawrie kerr alvaro poasa, and macca is as one dimensional as they come

Milchcow wrote:

One of the big differences you'll notice between mtb and the collective, is that he often saves trades in the first few weeks when everyone else is running around like a madman trading anyone who did well in the first week or so.

Part of this might be correlation instead of causation. The better your starting team is, the less urgent it is to change it after every week. Someone who has a solid round 1 team can sit on it, but someone with a team full of PODs is going to have to try and trade good players in at some point.

I had a terrible year last year but was top 50 three years from the previous four, with a down year in the 400s, and the big differences were 1) max trading and chasing my own tail early on because of Covid (and a couple of bad selections), 2) lack of bye rounds.

Every other year I've sat on trades and had enough to properly plan and kill the byes and made up hundreds of points there because I could trade out a CS9 or Ted to a bye gun and bring them back in after, or bring in a first bye half a couple of weeks before Origin and trade them up to a second bye keeper half in Round 17 or whatever. And (Matt), you don't need full bye teams. 12/13 good scorers will be well above par. Maybe more for the second because the second bye is more important than the first, seeing as most of those players will be in your team for the next eight rounds. So if your plan is to get a strong 17 for the first bye, your season is going to be fucked from then on.

To have enough trades to do that you do need to be patient. Fix obvious errors quickly after round two or three but then sit for a few weeks bar injury or 100% clear cows. (Of course you can't do that if you have eight obvious errors.)

my tv broke wrote:

Probably need to see whether Bird in the "backrow" means edge or lock. I think Bird would be best at edge but who knows what Griffin meant..

Dragons probably need someone like Bird in the middle because outside of Vaughan they are pretty "samey" with lawrie kerr alvaro poasa, and macca is as one dimensional as they come

I'd be worried Bird would get broken in the middle, although that's also kind of the worry anywhere.

Merrin, if he could roll back the years, adds an extra dimension with his ballhandling, but there's a pretty big "if" there and haven't heard anything about him from the Dragons preseason.

mattnz wrote:A current NRL player has reportedly been involved in a ‘love triangle’ fight with former Bulldogs hooker Michael Lichaa.

The current player is a contracted Bulldogs star whose name will be revealed by police and the NRL Integrity Unit on Monday, according to reports.

One of their partners is believed to be at the centre of the dispute.

As interesting as the in-depth analysis and fantasy philosophy of the last few pages are, I really just want to speculate about the dirt.

There once was a public spat between Lichaa's missus and the ex-Mrs. Foran: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7880095/Kieran-Forans-ex-partner-Rebecca-Pope-hits-NRL-WAG-abusive-message.html

But Foran is now Manly, so it probably bares no relevance to this scenario.

Just funny to me that Michael Lichaa of all people is the centre of two different Housewives of NRL Stars style drama bombs.

rhinoceroo wrote:

I'd be worried Bird would get broken in the middle, although that's also kind of the worry anywhere.

Merrin, if he could roll back the years, adds an extra dimension with his ballhandling, but there's a pretty big "if" there and haven't heard anything about him from the Dragons preseason.

I was pretty keen on Merrin at this point last year, but luckily I avoided him, and he hasn't shown me anything in the past 12 months to suggest he can get back to his best.

Just thinking about the thread title. Appears we have another injured player over at Canterbury, just waiting on the integrity unit to release his name.

Milchcow wrote:

I was pretty keen on Merrin at this point last year, but luckily I avoided him, and he hasn't shown me anything in the past 12 months to suggest he can get back to his best.

I wasn't suggesting him as anything close to a fantasy selection, just thinking aloud on behalf of the Dragons. Agree he showed very little last year.

rhinoceroo wrote:

I wasn't suggesting him as anything close to a fantasy selection, just thinking aloud on behalf of the Dragons. Agree he showed very little last year.

Yeah, Merrin is cooked.

I'm hoping Poasa adds something. Otherwise we might need Bird to play in the middle in a Jazz/Watson/BSmith style role just to offer something different. Even if I think he's likely better suited to centre/edge.

Merrin showed so little that I completely forgot he was at the Dragons.

Iron Mike wrote:He is not filling me with a lot of confidence. How many minutes did he play in the trial for his 20 fantasy points?

I just had a look at the replay. He played the first half. Started on right edge and swapped to left edge after 28 mins when Sims went off.

I wouldnt take too much from it though, game looked slow, fair few stoppages, mostly ressie players etc.

my tv broke wrote:

Locked in for left centre Round 1.

I haven’t really seen anyone mention him. At 352k and DPP plus he averaged 33 at centre last year and priced at 26.

Not a bad option at all.

my tv broke wrote:Merrin showed so little that I completely forgot he was at the Dragons.



I just had a look at the replay. He played the first half. Started on right edge and swapped to left edge after 28 mins when Sims went off.

I wouldnt take too much from it though, game looked slow, fair few stoppages, mostly ressie players etc.

I watched bits and pieces, can confirm the game offered no real insights for the full season. Just a chance for some injured players to get a quick run, like Sims, otherwise was mainly players outside the top 30s

If you wanted Jack 'half' Williams he copped a nasty injury. Teig Wilton looked good - he might be the next Magoulias.

Rabbits21 wrote:
I haven’t really seen anyone mention him. At 352k and DPP plus he averaged 33  at centre last year and priced at 26.

Not a bad option at all.

I think he is as good an option as any of them, I guess it just depends on whether you think the Broncos will be competitive or whether they will be rubbish again. If Farnworth was locked in to left centre for the Roosters/Storm/etc he'd be extremely popular

robelgordo wrote:

As interesting as the in-depth analysis and fantasy philosophy of the last few pages are, I really just want to speculate about the dirt.

There once was a public spat between Lichaa's missus and the ex-Mrs. Foran: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7880095/Kieran-Forans-ex-partner-Rebecca-Pope-hits-NRL-WAG-abusive-message.html

But Foran is now Manly, so it probably bares no relevance to this scenario.

Just funny to me that Michael Lichaa of all people is the centre of two different Housewives of NRL Stars style drama bombs.

Appears Elliot flogged up Lichaa (to the point of needing surgery) for something related to a female (assume Lichaas gf)

https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/news_article?sq_content_src=%2BdXJsPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGZWJpenByZC5wb2xpY2UubnN3Lmdvdi5hdSUyRm1lZGlhJTJGOTM3NTcuaHRtbCZhbGw9MQ%3D%3D

Charge of common assault (DV), destroy or damage property (DV) and stalk/intimidate intend fear physical harm (DV).