Team Tracker 2K23 / Shady2K

ROUND 20 WRAP

Trade OUT: Bula + Haas + Lemuelu
Trade IN: Talau + Fa'asuamaleaui + Tago

HOK: Grant

Just pulls attacking stats out when he needs to save his score, I guess?

MID: Fa'asuamaleaui | Hopgood | Harris

Decided to trade out Haas given he misses two rounds, and get in a MID that plays the rest of the season. Had Yeo here before news came out that a resting was likely, so opted for Tino as the 'gun' option. Had slightly reduced minutes and Eels had two in the bin when he came on (meaning less base for the early part of his stint) so a good enough score, considering. Hopgood still got good minutes with a full pack, so that's promising. Harris had the flu, apparently, but has put his hand up as trade fodder given their upcoming bye too.

EDG: Nikora | Papali'i

Yet another junk attacking stat for Nikora and IPap got saved by an attacking play as well (hate watching him though).

HLF: Hynes (c) | Johnson

Junk time sin bin for Hynes but doesn't matter since everyone has him, and SJ still gunning it.

CTR: Tago | Ramien

Now then... happy days! Opted to flick Lemuelu for Tago for the attacking upside and fun factor and he delivered for his first game with a massive 97 (before any late changes). Lemuelu still got a good score for owners, but still a big points upgrade. Ramien went good in a flogging.

WFB: Drinkwater | Manu | Ponga

Happy with this lot, all pretty highly owned.

INT: Cherry-Evans | Robson | Loiero | Hands

DCE solid, Robson meh, Loiero solid (19th man at this point), Hands outstanding.

EMG: Talau | Horsburgh | Tedesco | De Belin

Chose Talau as the cash-out option purely for team balance. With Bula/Lemuelu on the way out, the CTR/WFB DPP was the most appealing even if he's a shitto. Obviously Harrison Graham appears as the best scorer, but another HOK doesn't help me much for squad balance. Will welcome back the other three in the EMG to the starting side next week.

$236k ITB / 5 trades left

Score: 1039 / Rank: 342

Potential targets:

- Probably similar to most for the run home. Mostly set with my squad. I'll aim for the below and probably have 2-3 trades for the run home. Really aiming for:
- Cleary: assuming he's back next week with the rest of the Origin contingent, up against the Bulldogs. Safe play is wait as he's returning from a hamstring and a 100 BE but he could go massive in that game.
- Fifita: low score this week helps with his price, but still clearly the best EDG option.
- Murray: really appealing at $654k. Could work as a downgrade from Harris or Hopgood, potentially. I started the season with him at $904k, so this is an absolute steal.

UPDATE

News today that Tino is suspended for 3-4 weeks. And I lost Haas for him...

So Tino will be straight back out and a wasted trade. Treading very thin now, so will need to make some cuts. In this case, it seems I'll be missing out on Fifita

I can actually still get Fifita, but requires an additional trade (Hopgood to Fifita) but that seems unnecessary

Will instead to Tino + Robson (the most underwhelming of the rest) to Cleary + Murray. Leaving me with 3 trades for injury/suspension and $49k bank for the run home

FINAL TEAM

Grant
Horsburgh | De Belin | Harris
Nikora | Papali'i
Hynes | Cleary
Manu | Tago
Drinkwater | Ponga | Tedesco

Johnson | Hopgood | Cherry-Evans | Murray
Loiero | Ramien | Hands | Talau

Ando wrote:This depends on how much you want Murray but you could afford this:

Tino > Cleary
Tohu > Fifita
Robson > Cotter

I don't hate it! You'd think Cotter will finally play more than 30 minutes a game

Murray is pretty much the best Cleary enabler if I only do 2 trades. Will ponder this, thanks mate

Edit: Can also do Loiero to someone 379k and under, instead of trading out Tohu

Ando wrote:

379k is the exact figure I have for a cash out. Options are Piakura, Kris, SSmith and HGraham.

Cowboys have a chance of pushing the top 4 so you'd think Cotter see's an uptick in minutes from here on out.

Piakura probably the best one of that lot you'd think as a loop option if he remains starting. Riki out til R26 according to casualty ward

ROUND 21 WRAP

Trade OUT: Fa'asuamaleaui
Trade IN: Cleary

HOK: Grant

Hookers suck, no junk attacking stats for him this week.

MID: Horsburgh | De Belin | Harris

Solid all around. Harris concerning minutes but had great PPM this week.

EDG: Nikora | Papali'i

Very average here with Nikora having an off week.

HLF: Hynes (c) | Johnson

Hynes with a late surge to get a decent score as (c) and SJ gunning it, but on the bye next week.

CTR: Manu | Ramien

Manu solid and Ramien went way above expectations. Tago was a late out so he filled in very well this week.

WFB: Drinkwater | Ponga | Tedesco

Great having WFBs that are key attacking pieces in their team. Teddy is actually a bit of a POD so that helps too.

INT: Cleary | Hopgood | Cherry-Evans | Robson

Not the best score from Cleary but too scary to not bring in this week. Hopgood solid and DCE with a cracker. Annoyed with Robson, had pencilled him out to Murray all week but decided to be conservative and it's cost 35 odd points and potentially can't afford the trade next week with the price changes now.

EMG: Hands | Loiero | Tago | Talau

Wish I played Hands over Robson but it is what it is. Tago a late out as mentioned.

$71k ITB / 4 trades left

Score: 1022 / Rank: 266

Potential targets:

- Can't afford Robson to Murray in one trade (still mad at myself for not doing it last round) so will need a cash-out regardless of whether I bring him in or Haas. If I go Haas, the cash-out (Loiero out) will need to be someone around the $330k mark which are all absolute duds that I don't trust playing in a pinch. Murray on the other hand... I can trade Loiero out to anyone $517k or under. And guess who's exactly $517k? Brandon Smith. Risk with injury blah blah but he has good DPP, he's fun, and I didn't jump on mid-year and get burnt like everyone else did. 99% doing this trade.

Ando wrote:I quite like those trades tbf, I think the 0k ITB is a sign.

Robson > Smith replaces your HOK cover and Smith is a boom/bust player you could loop
Loiero > Murray is as much as an upgrade you can get

The Bunnies are going to need Murray on the pitch for as long as possible if they want to finish the season strong and play finals footy.

Lock it in!

Yep pretty much locked in for me! Only 2 trades for emergencies and don’t have Haas or Fifita so will be deathriding them for the year, but if last round is anything to go by - they’re not necessities

ROUND 22 WRAP

Trade OUT: Harris + Robson
Trade IN: Murray + Garrick

HOK: Grant

Started well here with one of his attacking weeks.

MID: Horsburgh | Hopgood | De Belin

Horse got reduced minutes for some unknown reason. Hopgood great with a try, and JDB great despite a controversial sin bin. He's facing 3-4 weeks out unless Dragons fight the charge (and win) so he may be a trade-out.

EDG: Nikora | Papali'i

Nikora got moved to CTR hence the lower score, and IPap did ok.

HLF: Cleary (c) | Cherry-Evans (vc)

Chose the right (c) option with a Cleary 101, and DCE got about par - expected more out of him though.

CTR: Manu | Ramien

Manu terrible, just not involved. Ramien got moved to the wing so got an ok score, considering.

WFB: Drinkwater | Ponga | Tedesco

Drinky's first low-ish score for a while, Ponga did great again, and Teddy low like Manu - Roosters were all sorts.

INT: Hynes | Murray | Garrick | Loiero

Luckily didn't captain Hynes - awful score. Good score from Murray first up, so happy with that trade. And Loiero stood up in the absence of SJ. Garrick got an ok score but expected a lot more. Had the option of him or McInnes during the week and chose Garrick for the attacking upside. McInnes then got 80 minutes and 85 points... but couldn't predict that. He benefited from Kennedy injury which threw out their rotation, otherwise history shows he plays around 50 minutes even without Finucane - so a bit unlucky here. Still considering McInnes for next week depending if JDB is out or not.

EMG: Hands | Johnson | Tago | Talau

Looks like Hands is no longer useful with a hooker on the bench so he's a dead spot. SJ bye, Tago out (again ugh), and Talau a red dot.

$2k ITB / 2 trades left

Score: 949 / Rank: 252

Potential targets:

- Assuming JDB is suspended then he's an out, so McInnes is an easy swap.
- The cash from that lets me upgrade Hands to a better depth player, and looking at Cheese or Koroisau as I need a backup HOK for Grant if I'm going to use my final trade.
- Alternatively, can just do JDB to Tapine or Fonua-Blake as a like-for-like. Means keeping Hands in the EMG but saving a trade for another inevitable injury/suspension/rest.

ROUND 23 WRAP

Trade OUT: -
Trade IN: -

HOK: Grant

Solid enough again from him, more defensive than attacking stats this week.

MID: Horsburgh | De Belin | Murray

Great from Horse and Murray. Ended up holding onto JDB to take Ramien's 50 score, rather than my planned trade of JDB to Tapine. Tapine got low 60, so only a 10 point difference and lets me re-assess next round.

EDG: Nikora | Papali'i

Nikora somehow managed 50, but IPap got mid 30s before updates.

HLF: Cleary (c) | Johnson (vc)

Both got into the 90s.

CTR: Garrick | Talau

Garrick pulled out a decent score after a horrid first half. Talau was here to loop Manu, and left here after Manu got into the 60s.

WFB: Drinkwater | Ponga | Tedesco

Drinky only a slight disappointment in an otherwise gun WFB line.

INT: Hynes | Hopgood | Cherry-Evans | Tago

DCE the only disappointment of sorts here. Tago was out, yet again, so he's kinda been a dud trade - was here for the loop.

EMG: Manu | Loiero | Ramien | Hands

Manu played first and scored well, so took his score. Loiero was up next (and Tago was out) so I was actually able to loop both him and Ramien. Loiero got 41 and decided to take that (Manu subs in for Talau, and Loiero subs in for Tago). Last was Ramien, which I could take if I kept JDB (Hopgood on the bench subs in for JDB, then Ramien moves up). He got a 50 so decided to reverse JDB to Tapine to take the points on the board.

Decent score overall and only a slight drop, but missed out on some huge scores from popular players.

$2k ITB / 2 trades left

Score: 1116 / Rank: 255

Potential targets:

- Same as previous round really. Hands and JDB the trade options and can either use trades on both, or just JDB to a MID of choice at his price or lower.

ROUND 24 WRAP

Trade OUT: De Belin
Trade IN: Tapine

HOK: Grant

Started off the bench but got a decent score in a good win.

MID: Horsburgh | Tapine | Murray

Kinda eh all around here. Main mention is Tapine - intended him last week but held JDB so got him this week. Of my options between him, AFB and McInnes - I chose the lowest scoring one for this week. Classic

EDG: Nikora | Papali'i

Nice bounce-back from these two.

HLF: Cleary (c) | Johnson (vc)

Solid enough, Cleary went below expectations but everyone has him.

CTR: Garrick | Ramien

120+ from starting CTRs is pretty sick.

WFB: Ponga | Tedesco | Manu

Solid enough, the Roosters pair really dragged it out though with slow scoring.

INT: Hynes | Hopgood | Cherry-Evans | Loiero

Hopgood bad in an Eels loss but Loiero huge in a Storm win. Been really handy recently as a 19th man.

EMG: Hands | Drinkwater | Tago | Talau

$17k ITB / 1 trades left

Score: 992 Rank: 184 

Potential targets:

- With 1 trade left, I plan on holding until R27 to flick Hopgood. So just need 2 rounds of no long-term suspensions or injuries... please...

ROUND 25 WRAP

Trade OUT: -
Trade IN: -

HOK: Grant

Everyone has him as their main HOK so doesn't matter what he scores, I guess. But solid this week with a HIA.

MID: Horsburgh | Murray | Tapine

Murray probably a little underwhelming with his minutes but a nice bounce-back from the Raiders pair this week.

EDG: Papali'i | Nikora

IPap managing to string two good scores in a row but Nikora average - he was on track for a good score but just slowed down to a halt.

HLF: Cleary (c) | Johnson (vc)

Same (c) as 99% of people, and SJ highly owned with a lower score this week.

CTR: Garrick | Manu

Garrick was on 0 for the majority of the game so pulled a decent score - in doubt for next week but nothing confirmed just yet. Manu good score with a try and should be playing FB next week with Teddy out.

WFB: Ponga | Drinkwater | Tedesco

Gun all around once again, though Teddy out next week with a HIA. Not sure if he's out in R27 too, but with only 1 trade left I'll hold him with a chance of playing, and stick to the plan of Hopgood out in R27 who definitely isn't playing.

INT: Hynes | Hopgood | Cherry-Evans | Loiero

Gun three of four with Loiero back to Earth a bit, didn't get amongst the attack this week like he did last week.

EMG: Ramien | Tago | Talau | Hands

$17k ITB / 1 trades left

Score: 1050 Rank: 169 

Potential targets:

- Still holding onto this final trade for Hopgood's R27 bye. With Ted out, then Ramien will sub in with Manu moving to WFB. Murray will be out on the bye as well, so Loiero will likely get another run... or the ghost of Tago might finally return in a favourable match-up against a fragile Eels side.

ROUND 26 WRAP

Trade OUT: Garrick
Trade IN: Koroisau

HOK: Grant

All downhill from here... reduced minutes and probably injured for next week.

MID: Hopgood | Horsburgh | Tapine

50s all around, but Horsburgh likely suspended next week, and Hopgood on the bye.

EDG: Papali'i | Nikora

Couple more 50s here from the forward pack.

HLF: Cleary (c) | Hynes (vc)

Hynes late out and didn't have the depth to cover him.

CTR: Manu | Ramien

Manu injured and 50/50 for next week, and Ramien just bad.

WFB: Ponga | Drinkwater | Tedesco

Ponga injured for next week but the other two will hopefully suit up.

INT: Johnson | Cherry-Evans | Koroisau | Loiero

DCE tonned up which helped somewhat, and new recruit Koroisau delivering a 51 on debut is good.

EMG: Tago | Murray | Hands | Talau

Tago is turning out to be an F-tier trade after being out for 6 weeks now... played 15 this week and had a rank slide. Likely playing short again next week.

$43k ITB / 0 trades left

Score: 901 Rank: 248 

ROUND 27 WRAP

Trade OUT: -
Trade IN: -

HOK: Koroisau

Owned him for 2 weeks and gave me a 51 and 60, so that's pretty good.

MID: Horsburgh | Murray | Tapine

Murray fantastic but Tapine got reduced minutes for Ricky Stuart reasons and ruined him. Overall a very underwhelming pick from a few weeks ago.

EDG: Papali'i | Nikora

Couple of duds to end the year from these two.

HLF: Cleary (c) | Cherry-Evans (vc)

Both got in the high 90s as (c) options.

CTR: Tago | Ramien

Tago returned from the dead to only play 60 minutes... but Ramien did good.

WFB: Drinkwater | Tedesco | Manu

Drinky low score to end his otherwise great year and Teddy a good score to go return close to his starting price.

INT: Hynes | Johnson | Ponga | Grant

Mid 90s from Hynes, and red dots everywhere else.

EMG: Hopgood | Loiero | Hands | Talau

Played 12 green dots and ended on a positive not in the top 200 (before updates). My personal highest rank so I'm happy with that, but annoyed at how many points I left on the table with some coin-flip decisions gone wrong and a few blunders that could've easily been avoided or corrected. Overall happy with the year and some learnings to take away with the new bye system into next year with the aim of a top 100 finish  

$43k ITB / 0 trades left

Score: 790 Rank: 190