NRL Fantasy 2023 Part 3 - Trials by Combat

That dogs left side looks great on paper. Surely a good coach is going to be able to shut it down when the other side is mostly rubbish

Snatchpato wrote:Any thoughts on this team? 255k ITB to upgrade/downgrade pending TLT.

Guns: Grant, Haas, Tapine, Cleary, Doueihi

Spoiler:

Not a bad side, I really don't rate AKP though. He averaged 32 last season in ressies, despite scoring 25 tries. Plus he's likely only getting the 3 games or whatever Kelly is out for, but even if he had the whole season he doesn't exactly scream fantasy gold to me

manlybeaver wrote:Thoughts on my current team

Cheese
Haas cotter Harris
Garner hosking
Cleary Burton
Hss Alamoti
Teddy turbo perham

Loiero uto tmm doorey

Sloan talau Luke blore

Garner & Hosking together won't last past TLT with Martin
No Boyd is quite interesting - seems like a pretty slam dunk cow despite potential JS issues
EMG looks pretty bare given quite a few early bye players in squad (Turbo, 4x Panthers, 2x Roosters)

manlybeaver wrote:Thoughts on my current team

Cheese
Haas cotter Harris
Garner hosking
Cleary Burton
Hss Alamoti
Teddy turbo perham

Loiero uto tmm doorey

Sloan talau Luke blore

Looks good, a much more balanced team than most, with Teddy and Turbo in WFB.

Not sure you can get Blore if Seyfarth is the preferred starting EDG, as appears to be the case.

Unless Martin is out longer than expected, you can't have both Hosking and Garner. Hopgood would have to be my first picked, should turn one of them into him.

Luke as the only back up HOK looks very light. You could be getting a 15 when Roosters have their bye. Boyd looks like one of the best value pick ups and provides cover at HOK. Could be a good option to balance out the team.

Talau, (25 average at CTR, high chance of injury or getting dropped), Luke (12 average in 26 minutes off the bench), Blore (16 average off the bench), could easily result in very little if any cash generation. Also means you are running light when players have their byes, you really need a decent top 19 to have decent bye/injury/suspension cover.

mattnz wrote:
I am picking Tapine over him for a few reasons. Haas has a better supporting cast this season, Taupau provides a solid 45 minutes off the bench. Carrigan is fully fit, so they don't need him playing huge minutes. 

Tapine has less competition for minutes with Sutton and Elliot gone. The move to lock is an encouraging sign for more minutes as well. Raiders fall apart when ever he isn't on the field, so they need to maximise his minutes. Can also keep him all season without needing to trade him out and only misses 3 games all season.

He'll score a couple of 40s in a row and you'll trade him to Murray Taulagi.

Milchcow wrote:

What are you basing JDB's 80 minutes on?

For the trial they've named a 13 man bench, and De Belin isn't even in the 24man squad. Seems a bit of a leap to go from that to having him play 80 minutes (which he never did last year)

Although I agree DeBellend will in no way play 80, he isn’t named because he’s out with a calf strain. Is due to return round 2.

rhinoceroo wrote:

He'll score a couple of 40s in a row and you'll trade him to Murray Taulagi.

As long as he is getting 50+ minutes each week, I won't mind a couple of 40s mixed in with the 90s.

If you treated bellend like a guy coming back from a long injury lay-off instead of being a bellend you’d have to think his minutes go up. In my mind he’s still clearly the best player in that pack

mattnz wrote:
Agree, if he starts this year like he finished last year, you will be bitterly disappointed 22, 39, 42 and 30 .... or if he starts the season like he did last year with 1 score over 45 in the first 7 rounds. He had a purple patch in the middle of the season, but surely he is a great opportunity to wait until he has had a run of poor scores, to pick him up at $550k, like you could last season, after starting at a similar price to what he is now.

Outside of a pairing of Cleary/Hynes, who do you go to? I'm assuming Burton is being picked for dogs on paper improvements, potential but more importantly price.

Hughes? Brimson? Douhei is more expensive but also similar situation re: doggies.

Mulvy wrote:

My latest has Haas, Tapine and Cotter.

Is that with Cheese at hooker?

Welshy wrote:

Don't agree start of season sorry.

Burton, Cotter and Mahoney not at this stage mate for me

All average under 55.

60+ is your half GUN
56+ is your MID GUN
55+ is your Hooker GUN

No where near atm those 3.

Can’t have out and out guns everywhere mate and have a nice enough balanced side.

If Burton GK I see no reason why he can’t avg 56-58 he’s gonna score more tries and attacking stats too and potentially kick more goals.

Cotter avg 56 last season first 10 rounds. I think he will be even better this year. I may still get Haas we will see.

To me having a stronger 16th-18th man is more important this year as well as being able to rely on a 19th man when needed. So yeah squad depth gonna be crucial.

Who are we all going at hooker? Currently I have Mahoney.

I could go Cheese and Boyd in the 14 but my concern is Roosters have a bye round 4 and if Boyd is dropped around that time which could happen if the Titans lose a few games then I’d be left with no hooker.

Initially I had Robson but downgrading to Mahoney allows me to get a second middle gun. And I liked what I saw from Mahoney the other night not rushing out of the line, running the ball a bit and playing at the line.

mickspicks wrote:

Outside of a pairing of Cleary/Hynes, who do you go to? I'm assuming Burton is being picked for dogs on paper improvements, potential but more importantly price.

Hughes? Brimson? Douhei is more expensive but also similar situation re: doggies.

Boyd and TMM are my halves depth after Cleary and Douehi.

mickspicks wrote:

Outside of a pairing of Cleary/Hynes, who do you go to? I'm assuming Burton is being picked for dogs on paper improvements, potential but more importantly price.

Hughes? Brimson? Douhei is more expensive but also similar situation re: doggies.

Drop down to cheaper and spend the money elsewhere

Rabbits21 wrote:Who are we all going at hooker? Currently I have Mahoney.

I could go Cheese and Boyd in the 14 but my concern is Roosters have a bye round 4 and if Boyd is dropped around that time which could happen if the Titans lose a few games then I’d be left with no hooker.

Initially I had Robson but downgrading to Mahoney allows me to get a second middle gun. And I liked what I saw from Mahoney the other night not rushing out of the line, running the ball a bit and playing at the line.

JBrai smokey

Rabbits21 wrote:
Can’t have out and out guns everywhere mate and have a nice enough balanced side.

If Burton GK I see no reason why he can’t avg 56-58 he’s gonna score more tries and attacking stats too and potentially kick more goals.

Cotter avg 56 last season first 10 rounds. I think he will be even better this year. I may still get Haas we will see.

To me having a stronger 16th-18th man is more important this year as well as being able to rely on a 19th man when needed. So yeah squad depth gonna be crucial.

Wasn't he GK last season mate? I think adding 6-8 additonal points of scoring based on "he’s gonna score more tries and attacking stats too" is just a wild stab. He scored 6 last season which I'd guess is at the upper end for a half already?

All the elite, top level halves kick the piss out of the ball, it's where you can safely add easy ponts onto an average when a player changes teams or roles etc. Burton already kicks the piss out of the ball so no additional there.

I think he goes around 51-54 personally, so i'm still looking at him

Haas - dont see him playing any more than 60 ish mins unless there are in game injuries. First 30 and last 30.  They were pretty clear on that at various times last season and not sure why it would change.

Carrigan is the big dawg now. Flegler Jensen and Taupau decent support, with Hetho to return

mickspicks wrote:

JBrai smokey

Massive 2021. Finsihed 2022 really strong. Don't mind it at all

mattnz wrote:
I am picking Tapine over him for a few reasons. Haas has a better supporting cast this season, Taupau provides a solid 45 minutes off the bench. Carrigan is fully fit, so they don't need him playing huge minutes. 

Tapine has less competition for minutes with Sutton and Elliot gone. The move to lock is an encouraging sign for more minutes as well. Raiders fall apart when ever he isn't on the field, so they need to maximise his minutes. Can also keep him all season without needing to trade him out and only misses 3 games all season.

Taupau barely got a solid 45 minutes when he was a gun mid.

I doubt he plays 45 all season, aside from circumstances like in-game injuries

my tv broke wrote:Haas - dont see him playing any more than 60 mins unless there are in game injuries. They were pretty clear on that at various times last season and not sure why it would change

I'm thinking something like:
Haas 60
Carrigan 60
Taupau 40
Flegler 45
Jensen 35

That would make up all the required MID minutes, without even requiring a 3rd bench MID. No need for huge Haas minutes at all.