NRL Fantasy 2021 part 6 - Return of the Party

Rabbits21 wrote:Is Egan gonna go well or is he gonna be last years Levi? Predictions?

I’m starting to warm to him.

On the talking league podcast a few weeks ago the assistant coach said they're building up to Egan playing 80. He said he probably won't play it every gamegame, but Egan has been working hard in the off-season on conditioning to get to where he can play 80. 

I think he's very under the radar.

Rabbits21 wrote:Is Egan gonna go well or is he gonna be last years Levi? Predictions?

I’m starting to warm to him.

Locked into my squad, one of the auto picks mentally. A risk, but promising upside.

Thoughts on Kennedy at Fullback for 8 rounds if Johnson is out for awhile? I know he has some woeful FB scores in him though, but surely he wants to keep the position so will want to deliver from the start.

RandomSil wrote:Thoughts on Kennedy at Fullback for 8 rounds if Johnson is out for awhile? I know he has some woeful FB scores in him though, but surely he wants to keep the position so will want to deliver from the start.

He had 2 scores ABOVE 20 in the last 8 rounds (all in 80 mins). Saying he has woeful scores in him is an understatement, with a 2, 7, 9, 13, 14, 15 in 80 mins at FB

No thanks

I think if you're looking for beneficiary of SJ being out, it would be Townsend getting extra KM and probably GK. But like Hoy with Ponga, no real confirmation on the time SJ is out

A DT article has Arthur suggesting big minutes for Paulo. Does this, and Parra’s great draw, trump Twal?

The Pascoe Fiasco wrote:A DT article has Arthur suggesting big minutes for Paulo. Does this, and Parra’s great draw, trump Twal?

Curious, can you paste quotes?

The Pascoe Fiasco wrote:A DT article has Arthur suggesting big minutes for Paulo. Does this, and Parra’s great draw, trump Twal?

Someone mentioned this the other day - castelcrag sweerhearts maybe? Puts him in the mix. Seems like there’s a load of 50ish MIDs who could go be slightly undervalued. Going to be hard guessing the right one

The Pascoe Fiasco wrote:A DT article has Arthur suggesting big minutes for Paulo. Does this, and Parra’s great draw, trump Twal?

I've learnt lesson with JFH last year that good draw doesn't equal better scores for forwards

Usually means less tackles

my tv broke wrote:

Curious, can you paste quotes?

That is beyond my capabilities I’m afraid. It is on the Supercoach site though. I’ll try to quite something. They are very excited by it over there. “We need him on the field for as long as possible” -Arhurs.

This is the gist of it re Paulo

“He is a real down to earth character but we know that he can be an enforcer and that is what he needs to be for us,” Arthur said.

“He is a very good player. He is big. He is strong. He is mobile. And he is happy to do the tough stuff.

“He can play some pretty stuff for you but he also knows all the effort areas we require from him.

“And the key for ‘Junes’ moving forward I reckon is we need him on the field for as long as possible.

“So he needs to be able to keep quality but do it for longer periods. Like real big minutes.

“He can do 60/65 minutes standing on his head.

“But I want some real big minutes out of him this year.

“I don’t think we need to play him for 80 minutes but I’m sure if we had to call on him for 80 he is smart enough to know how to get himself through it.”

Re the Papy debate (and risk of making it worse), it strikes me everyone mostly agrees.  Paraphrasing:

MattNZ 1:  “I had reasons at the time that I thought were valid.  And I’d probably do the same again”.

Everyone else:   “That call backfired ‘cos Papy caught fire after that”.

MattNZ: “yeah, but refer to point 1”.   I think MattNZ knows and agrees it backfired.

ANYWAY, within that long back and forth, a few helpful fantasy tips came out for me:

1:  Players in new positions take time to settle. Give them time. Melbourne don’t spend much time in attack at training, so changes to personnel in the backs especially will take time to bed down.  I assume similar at other clubs, so general rule is to be forgiving of slow starts to new positions.  (Hughes new to half last year also had slow start, and was someone I traded out way too early)

2: Overlay that general rule with the eye test.  This is equally (more) important.

3: Listen to opinions of the experts around here to test your own eye test!  (I nearly sold Papy when MattNZ did - with my eye, I keep seeing the near misses and thought that he didn’t quite have the strength of a Teddy /RTS to break through - and that he may have been “worked out” by the opposing teams. But I held on after digesting and considering other views).

Looks like Horse has had a real fall from grace, bench for the lower grade team. Bears side looks really strong.

Jumping Marlin wrote:Re the Papy debate (and risk of making it worse), it strikes me everyone mostly agrees.  Paraphrasing:

MattNZ 1:  “I had reasons at the time that I thought were valid.  And I’d probably do the same again”.

Everyone else:   “That call backfired ‘cos Papy caught fire after that”.

MattNZ: “yeah, but refer to point 1”.   I think MattNZ knows and agrees it backfired.

Summarises it perfectly, happy to end the discussion on this note.

I have noticed a bit of Jackson Ford dissing here but from the way it seems, he is a starting EDG/MID who should play big minutes and is around 8 to 10 points undervalued. Am I missing the downside?

I don't rate him much as a player but as a cash cow, I am thinking he is a good thing.

PS Paulo is in my team at the moment. I think it is a bit of a risk but I am going on gut feel. I think he is in for a big year and extra minutes but I could be wrong

PPS Looks like my POD has been unmasked. No drama, the more the merrier

Rabbits21 wrote:Is Egan gonna go well or is he gonna be last years Levi? Predictions?

I’m starting to warm to him.

Averages 46 as an 80 minute starter. Has some sub 40 scores in two of those 80 minute games which is concerning.

However given this is probably his first season where he is locked in as the primary hooker I think he can up that average a little.

easytiger wrote:

Just on coaches adapting plans, I've been reading the Cam Smith autobiography (don't particularly recommend it so far) and he says of the Melbourne Storm:

We're not a side that will let the opposition score twenty while we score 24.
Out mindset: 'We'll keep you to ten, and we'll score twelve'.
As soon as Craig took over, three-quarters of our training was on defence.

He elaborates further in following chapters, but basically it seems (coach Bellamy) focuses heavily on defence and defensive patterns across the preseason and early rounds, the attack patterns gets honed as the season progresses (and especially so when there are major rule changes).
I recall Smith also mentioning that the spine would try and work out attack patterns themselves over the course of the season and bring these to Bellamy, who would sometimes say no, but would often rubber stamp it.

Basically, it's quite within Melbourne's season strategy to start small, simple and highly structured and then gradually adapt/improve their attack (not forgetting that half the spine were having their first preseason as the incumbent half and fullback - Hughes & Papenhuyzen).

And this is Melbourne, the masters of it, let alone league in general.

Bought into the hype and grabbed the book hey ! Just jokes.

Suaalii try, a bit greedy, ran through the defender instead of passing to the open winger

Suaalii already has a try and a try saver in the first 15 minutes. Wow

mattnz wrote:Suaalii try, a bit greedy, ran through the defender instead of passing to the open winger

Why pass when you can do it yourself lol

Atleast we know Mattnz can go 10 rounds if ever we have a FFFN (Fantasy Fanatics Fight Night)