NRL Fantasy 2021 Part 29 - Everyone scores 1000 edition

filthridden wrote:Olam is quietly carrying on his form from the back end of last year and averaging 44 so far.
Really surprised I haven't heard his name mentioned in these threads. Same price as Momo who a lot of people seem quite keen on.

If I needed a centre it’s Olam, Rapana, Herbie in that order. The only reason I would swap is that something makes me feel Olam is a single brain explosion away from torpedoing some blokes head into the ground. I don’t think he’s a thug, just kinda plays without fear for himself or others.

I was listening to the Talking League podcast, and the boys had 2020 champ Tom Vaughan (I like that Ray Stone) on as a guest. 

The main takeaway I'd like to discuss was Tom's approach to trading. I'm paraphrasing here, but Tom shared that his approach is to always go for points first, and cash generation second. He discussed things like getting in keepers ASAP, because falling too far behind in points will make it too hard to recover. 

I'm interested in your thoughts as all more experienced players than I: Have you guys found making up ground (on the leaders) is harder at the backend of the season, even if you've banked a bunch of trades? Do you like to max-trade early to get as many keepers as possible, and death ride injuries towards the end? Or would you play it safe, milk cows for all their worth, and maximise team value?

Snatchpato wrote:I'm interested in your thoughts as all more experienced players than I: Have you guys found making up ground (on the leaders) is harder at the backend of the season, even if you've banked a bunch of trades? Do you like to max-trade early to get as many keepers as possible, and death ride injuries towards the end? Or would you play it safe, milk cows for all their worth, and maximise team value?

I guess there are a number of ways to skin a cat, plus there is a fair amount of luck. You can't really predict when a new cow will turn up, but they turn up regularly.

Personally I think the whole "you have to trade hard in the first month" is a bit of a myth.

I think I'd typically prioritise fixing scoring 17 over cash generation in 18-21 but its often about timing as well.

Snatchpato wrote:I was listening to the Talking League podcast, and the boys had 2020 champ Tom Vaughan (I like that Ray Stone) on as a guest. 

The main takeaway I'd like to discuss was Tom's approach to trading. I'm paraphrasing here, but Tom shared that his approach is to always go for points first, and cash generation second. He discussed things like getting in keepers ASAP, because falling too far behind in points will make it too hard to recover. 

I'm interested in your thoughts as all more experienced players than I: Have you guys found making up ground (on the leaders) is harder at the backend of the season, even if you've banked a bunch of trades? Do you like to max-trade early to get as many keepers as possible, and death ride injuries towards the end? Or would you play it safe, milk cows for all their worth, and maximise team value?

Last season wasn't a normal season with no byes. He also got VERY lucky by picking a bench hooker(currently averaging less than 20 just quietly) who turned into a starting caliber player rather than a 30 odd guy that would have seen him slide down the rankings.

It's better to be lucky than good

ShadowSabre wrote:

Wait, does that mean us Kiwis now have to wait till 7pm? ¡Ay, caramba!

Nah we do daylight saving too

Snatchpato wrote:I was listening to the Talking League podcast, and the boys had 2020 champ Tom Vaughan (I like that Ray Stone) on as a guest. 

The main takeaway I'd like to discuss was Tom's approach to trading. I'm paraphrasing here, but Tom shared that his approach is to always go for points first, and cash generation second. He discussed things like getting in keepers ASAP, because falling too far behind in points will make it too hard to recover. 

I'm interested in your thoughts as all more experienced players than I: Have you guys found making up ground (on the leaders) is harder at the backend of the season, even if you've banked a bunch of trades? Do you like to max-trade early to get as many keepers as possible, and death ride injuries towards the end? Or would you play it safe, milk cows for all their worth, and maximise team value?

Just my opinion, but I would take advice from a winner last year with a grain of salt, where bye planning didnt matter.

But I see some logic in trying to get as far ahead as possible points-wise.

Do think that with no byes it meant there was a lot less strategy in who to get in and when and how much cash etc you needed. Was more a build as strong a team as possible as fast as possible season last year.

Chewie wrote:Cashflow update:
Round 1: +233
Round 2: +533
Round 3: +602
Round 4: +536

Teddy was the only player in my team who lost cash (-20k)
Some of the early cash making slowing down as some underpriced keepers start getting closer to their actual price. Also I didn't get the 80k bump from Papenhuyzen.

Looking for Walters, Schuster, and O'Sullivan to keep the cash generation flowing next round.

Is there a way of seeing this on the website/App or having you manually totaled these up each round?

multiple.scoregasms wrote:

Last season wasn't a normal season with no byes. He also got VERY lucky by picking a bench hooker(currently averaging less than 20 just quietly) who turned into a starting caliber player rather than a 30 odd guy that would have seen him slide down the rankings.

It's better to be lucky than good

Bloody Starling!!

Who was the other joker I traded in that got dropped and never seen again?! They even traded in a guy to stop playing him?

Snatchpato wrote:I was listening to the Talking League podcast, and the boys had 2020 champ Tom Vaughan (I like that Ray Stone) on as a guest. 

The main takeaway I'd like to discuss was Tom's approach to trading. I'm paraphrasing here, but Tom shared that his approach is to always go for points first, and cash generation second. He discussed things like getting in keepers ASAP, because falling too far behind in points will make it too hard to recover. 

I'm interested in your thoughts as all more experienced players than I: Have you guys found making up ground (on the leaders) is harder at the backend of the season, even if you've banked a bunch of trades? Do you like to max-trade early to get as many keepers as possible, and death ride injuries towards the end? Or would you play it safe, milk cows for all their worth, and maximise team value?

I'm not an experienced player, but I think points over cash is a good principle to prevent sideways or even backwards trading.

But I'd also say last year was the perfect storm for a more aggressive approach - 5 less rounds, no byes/origin management to consider, etc. Even then, plenty of fast starters still crash and burned and some slow starters still finished really high up the ranks.

I think it's a very complicated question and a good one to discuss though.

He also said since 2014 he's only missed the top 500 once, which is a pretty good record so while definitely taking his (and everyone's) advice with a grain of salt, it's not like it's his first good result ever.

multiple.scoregasms wrote:

Last season wasn't a normal season with no byes. He also got VERY lucky by picking a bench hooker(currently averaging less than 20 just quietly) who turned into a starting caliber player rather than a 30 odd guy that would have seen him slide down the rankings.

It's better to be lucky than good

Haha Ken Oath it is. I traded Starling out the week before Hodgo got injured haha. Ripppp

Snatchpato wrote:
I'm interested in your thoughts as all more experienced players than I: Have you guys found making up ground (on the leaders) is harder at the backend of the season, even if you've banked a bunch of trades? Do you like to max-trade early to get as many keepers as possible, and death ride injuries towards the end? Or would you play it safe, milk cows for all their worth, and maximise team value?

My best ever finishes in fantasy have come down to 3 things. Good bye planning, picking the right POD's and a lot of luck.

To do that I generally burn through a lot of trades early and it means late in the season you've got to hold on for dear life. In 2019 I got through the last month or so with just 1 trade which I used in the last round.
In 2020 I ran out of trades a month out from the end of the season and it absolutely destroyed my ranking as one week I had only 13 fit players taking the field.

Snatchpato wrote:He also said since 2014 he's only missed the top 500 once, which is a pretty good record so while definitely taking his (and everyone's) advice with a grain of salt, it's not like it's his first good result ever.

It would be good if fantasy had a season performance history like Premier league fantasy.

Obviously luck is a huge aspect of winning, but getting too the pointy end year-after-year is predominantly skill.

Just some notable performances from some "NRL" players currently in NSW cup over the weekend:

J.Leilua - 1 try, 2 linebreaks, 2 try assists, 118 metres.

CHN* - 2 tries, 1 try assists, 141 metres

Horse* - 150 metres, 1 try, 1 linebreak

*Raiders won 60-20 over Newtown

I've banked 2 trades so far.

I was set on not making any trades this round but after an hour of staring at my team this morning, I ended up trading Liddle/Fuimaono to Moses/O'Sulliovan. I reckon these trades will allow me to score an additional 30 points and generate $200k+ cash as opposed to my current team. But I've reversed these trades since because I'll still be burning 2 trades. I'm still on the fence about this and keen to hear others think.

On another note, I think Blake Green will be a decent round 13 pick. He's $500k and will be doing most of the kicking till Pearce returns. Reckon he is good for a 55+ average. Still has a BE of 54 this round. So if I decide to save trades this round, I'll see how he goes next round and upgrade either Liddle or Fuimaono to him.

Liverpool_Bulldog wrote:

Bloody Starling!!

Who was the other joker I traded in that got dropped and never seen again?! They even traded in a guy to stop playing him?

Chris Randall? Jai Whitbred?

Snatchpato wrote:
Haha Ken Oath it is. I traded Starling out the week before Hodgo got injured haha. Ripppp

I'll give an actual answer to your questions on how I approach full season long strategy once I get a bit of time in the next couple of days

StormTrooper96 wrote:Just some notable performances from some "NRL" players currently in NSW cup over the weekend:

J.Leilua - 1 try, 2 linebreaks, 2 try assists, 118 metres.

CHN* - 2 tries, 1 try assists, 141 metres

Horse* - 150 metres, 1 try, 1 linebreak

*Raiders won 60-20 over Newtown

Having CHN. Horse and Guler in your reserve grade pack is crazy forwards depth.

multiple.scoregasms wrote:

I'll give an actual answer to your questions on how I approach full season long strategy once I get a bit of time in the next couple of days

That'd be awesome mate cheers! No pressure of course, but I'll very much appreciate it.

StormTrooper96 wrote:

Chris Randall? Jai Whitbred?

Bloody Randall is the one. Absolute scumbag*

*probably not an actual scumbag