NRL Fantasy 2023 Part 10 - Look in my Eyes. I'll diagnose what ails you

Only the one trade for me this week.

Garner - HTF

How good is it to have the footy back by the way!

Garner to Hammer locked in, feel like I should do something with Cheese but I’m not sure what, at the moment looking at:

Bird - gets both basement CTRs out of my starting team, but playing Boyd means no cover at HOK
Harris - gets a gun in, still no cover at HOK
Mahoney - possible gun HOK? But still a wary about him after last season

rhinoceroo wrote:

If I bring in Bird, I'll have HTF and Bird in the centres and Thompson as WFB/CTR cover and I never fucking want to think about that position again this season unless Manu switches to fullback or 5/8th

*proceeds to still somehow spend ten trades on centre this year*

Meh I'm happy enough with my trash centres, don't even have cover for them. And with Butcher cleared I think a Butcher to Bird or whoever trade is off the cards. As far as centres go: Let it ride!

Yeah I'm leaning towards doing nothing now that Egan will play.

Back 5 is super dodgy with Turbo on his week off, I guess I'll loop TMM and Talau.

Tapine + I.Katoa OUT
MCK + Ilias IN

Not losing faith on Tapine but I need to free up cash for an eventual upgrade in the backs and he is excess to requirements (Hopgood, Murray, Carrigan & Haas all covering Mid).
This trade frees up $299k, which will go a long way to boosting my overall depth.
Fingers crossed Talau gets named tomorrow and no other injuries to my backline, as I have zero cover.

did i miss something with Jack Bird? Last Interview i saw with him was that hes playing 5/8th not lock (said it himself) and hes returning from surgery 4 which he had 5 weeks ago. Ben Hunt also said Bird had first shot at 5/8th..

Two things I would really think about at this stage of the season before making any moves

1. Swapping a cheap back for another cheapish back who had a good week (unless they are actually playing in the forwards )
2. Selling a forward with money making potential for a back who is at peak price and is not one of the elites (Val, Teddy, Latrell, Trbo)

Even if someone is shoring up your back five then you need to make sure you aren't just shifting the deckchairs by weakening another position & stifling your money making potential.

A caveat here would be if you went with five cheap backs and are playing AKP in your 17.

I'll need to see if Trindall and BS9 are playing, but if they are, looking at no trades which would be a first for me. I'll probably promote Doorey over May to the starting side though. I'd like to get Ford but no real trade out contenders. TLT will likely make a mockery of this post though.

Aardvark wrote:2. Selling a forward with money making potential for a back who is at peak price and is not one of the elites (Val, Teddy, Latrell, Trbo)

Would you count a Cheese to Hammer trade as that? I don't think Hammer's anywhere near peak price and his base seems much improved from the past whereas Cheese looks cooked and his team is struggling.

slats86 wrote:did i miss something with Jack Bird? Last Interview i saw with him was that hes playing 5/8th not lock (said it himself) and hes returning from surgery 4 which he had 5 weeks ago. Ben Hunt also said Bird had first shot at 5/8th..

Apparently Sullivan to play 5/8th, Bird said he doesn't want to be moved between positions, would like to play 13 all year.

https://www.zerotackle.com/dragons-make-call-on-starting-five-eighth-140361/

Find out tomorrow though

Holding Smith and re-assessing at his bye is reasonable to me. Unless he's hurt, which wouldn't surprise me after the Kaufusi shot (could hear him scream).

Thanks Mitchcow for the break evens.

Bethany_B wrote:

Would you count a Cheese to Hammer trade as that? I don't think Hammer's anywhere near peak price and his base seems much improved from the past whereas Cheese looks cooked and his team is struggling.

I would proceed with caution because they both have an NRL history which would indicate that those games were not the norm.

I think the Chooks were literally cooked as it was pretty warm here yesterday arvo and Smith copped both a hit to the head and a hit to the ribs so he looked out of sorts in the second half.

The Hammer played out of his skin but....it's their first game, it was at home with 30,000 people screaming for him & everything went right for them.

If you need a back, have hooker cover, aren't going to be forced to play a risky base pricer in your 17 anyway and feel comfortable with the move then go for it.

Edit : I don't think either are at peak price yet though to answer your question

Suppose it's possible Nicho is back

Khany wrote:Suppose it's possible Nicho is back

Word around The Shire is that it's at least one more week

Aardvark wrote:

I would proceed with caution because they both have an NRL history which would indicate that those games were not the norm.

I think the Chooks were literally cooked as it was pretty warm here yesterday arvo and Smith copped both a hit to the head and a hit to the ribs so he looked out of sorts in the second half.

The Hammer played out of his skin but....it's their first game, it was at home with 30,000 people screaming for him & everything went right for them.

If you need a back, have hooker cover, aren't going to be forced to play a risky base pricer in your 17 anyway and feel comfortable with the move then go for it.

I would be running the gauntlet at HOK with Boyd but I'm looking to buy Soni Luke in round 4 so he's one I can bring in to cover, and worst case I will have 188k bank if I do my 2 preferred trades (Cheese and AKP to Hammer and Carty Party), so I would have some room to move if I need a hooker right away.

I'm leaning towards going ahead with it given the hit to the ribs and the fact that even without attack, Hammer still would have got ~30 in base + power stats and made 20 runs so it's not like he fluked his way to a good score, but obviously there is risk to it. I'm more willing to accept risk in this situation since the rest of my team is doing fine, don't have any midrange duds like Uto or Garner and aside from AKP I don't really have any cheapies that are that bad (Talau and Alamoti weren't great but they did okay and I won't have to play either of them if I have Hammer)

I do think people are overreacting to HTF a bit. The Dolphins won't be that good/fired up every week.

Just for context, HTF also started with a 52 in round 1 last year (without a try) and followed it up with scores of 31, 23, and 9. Not sure I'd be trading him in if I didn't start with him.

What's everyone's thoughts on Nicholls?

Obviously he's not gonna get a try, LB and 4 TBS every week.

But a 50 minute role is pretty solid, averages 42 when playing between 40 to 50 minutes so should make a bit of quick cash.

mrbrownstone wrote:I do think people are overreacting to HTF a bit. The Dolphins won't be that good/fired up every week.

Just for context, HTF also started with a 52 in round 1 last year (without a try) and followed it up with scores of 31, 23, and 9. Not sure I'd be trading him in if I didn't start with him.

Not expecting 50s from him. But he looked light on his feet, and obviously been training to be ready for the offload. Can see that only as a positive, especially for those who have to play AKP/Alamoti/HSS/Talau.

[quote="Aardvark"]

Word around The Shire is that it's at least one more week [/quote

Im tapped out atm. Going to be tough to raise the funds]