NRL Fantasy 2024 Part 2 - We've all been waiting for Weekes

now tuipoloto has been granted a release from manly contract & he's free to negotiate a new deal at a new club & he's been talking to the dragons

Could open the door for Talau to start, desperately need more CTR options

Cleary will be in my team. Hynes won't be. Ive given this 20 seconds of thought. Hope this helps

I reserve the right to re-visit this decision post TLT

I've been thinking about Kini / Campbell, assuming Brimson seems locked in at CTR.

I would have thought it would make much more sense for Campbell to be a utility rather than Kini, an actual utility, while Kini is an out-and-out FB.

It could be worth chucking in Kini early as an 18-21 who will not lose money (if he does play 14) and could fill a spot at a pinch and when the inevitable injury/erratic form of Campbell hits ride the wave

SandroTilocca wrote:Could open the door for Talau to start, desperately need more CTR options

Wouldn't Jaxson Paulo get a run over Tupou?

The Dolphin Conspiracies wrote:

Wouldn't Jaxson Paulo get a run over Tupou?

i saw a tweet that paulo is amazing those at manly training with his speed but this must be a click bait thing cause i watch all his games & he's not express pace just run of the mill speed...

Not having Hynes at HLF with CLEARY can do amazing things for your team

Lussick
Haas (VC) Harris Cotter
Wong Piakura
Schuster (DPP) Cleary (C)
Iro Strange
Cobbo (DPP) Papenhuyzen Tedesco

B. Smith (DPP) Faitala-Mariner (DPP) Curran (DPP) Flanagan
Weekes (DPP) J. Cartwright (DPP) Cotric (DPP) Kini

SandroTilocca wrote:Could open the door for Talau to start, desperately need more CTR options

How would Talau starting create another option for CTR in fantasy

The Dolphin Conspiracies wrote:Not having Hynes at HLF with CLEARY can do amazing things for your team

Lussick
Haas (VC) Harris Cotter
Wong Piakura
Schuster (DPP) Cleary (C)
Iro Strange
Cobbo (DPP) Papenhuyzen Tedesco

B. Smith (DPP) Faitala-Mariner (DPP) Curran (DPP) Flanagan
Weekes (DPP) J. Cartwright (DPP) Cotric (DPP) Kini

Nice looking team.
Not so sure about your centres though, 2 rookies who may or may not get a run.

White Lightning wrote:

i saw a tweet that paulo is amazing those at manly training with his speed but this must be a click bait thing cause i watch all his games & he's not express pace just run of the mill speed...

Playing on the wing outside Turbo is a nice position.

The Dolphin Conspiracies wrote:Not having Hynes at HLF with CLEARY can do amazing things for your team

Lussick
Haas (VC) Harris Cotter
Wong Piakura
Schuster (DPP) Cleary (C)
Iro Strange
Cobbo (DPP) Papenhuyzen Tedesco

B. Smith (DPP) Faitala-Mariner (DPP) Curran (DPP) Flanagan
Weekes (DPP) J. Cartwright (DPP) Cotric (DPP) Kini

My current team is very similar to this.

mattnz wrote:

My current team is very similar to this.

Dagnabbit! Back to the drawing board then

The Bludger#2 wrote:

Nice looking team.
Not so sure about your centres though, 2 rookies who may or may not get a run.

I am pretty confident that both will get a run. In any case, it's not likely I am going to be able to do anything about it until the trials of at least TLT. I think this is one of the things that is going to be hard with the Split Round one. There is going to be more guesswork about the cheapies playing in the second half of the week.

I think I like this though. Should help separate the field early on a little

The Dolphin Conspiracies wrote:

I am pretty confident that both will get a run. In any case, it's not likely I am going to be able to do anything about it until the trials of at least TLT. I think this is one of the things that is going to be hard with the Split Round one. There is going to be more guesswork about the cheapies playing in the second half of the week.

I think I like this though. Should help separate the field early on a little

It’s why you’re better off heading into TLT with more expensive CTRs that will start and then downgrading if we get lucky. Your only expensive player that won’t be locked out is Tohu by time of TLT part 2

Strange is much closer than Iro. I think Iro chat purely came off Amateurs putting him in predicted team with no evidence. Strange and Weekes is just a shootout in trials

My tentative team list is looking like this right now:

Lussick
Curran Cotter Hopgood
Schuster Piakura
Cleary Hynes
Cotric Burbo
Pappy Campbell Arthars

Fogarty A.Crichton Hughes Knight
Flanagan J.Cartwright Vailea Willison

A bunch of those are likely going to change with trials and TLT, particularly all of the centers (Burbo/Vaileacould be one of Weekes or Strange and move arthars into that spot if need be).
3 absolute keepers looking for value from everyone else (and Fogarty and Cotter may turn keepers).

Obbeats wrote:My tentative team list is looking like this right now:

Lussick
Curran Cotter Hopgood
Schuster Piakura
Cleary Hynes
Cotric Burbo
Pappy Campbell Arthars

Fogarty A.Crichton Hughes Knight
Flanagan J.Cartwright Vailea Willison

A bunch of those are likely going to change with trials and TLT, particularly all of the centers (Burbo/Vaileacould be one of Weekes or Strange and move arthars into that spot if need be).
3 absolute keepers looking for value from everyone else (and Fogarty and Cotter may turn keepers).

You'll certainly be needing some HOK cover for byes at the very least for the inevitable injuries/suspensions. I would have more confidence in the Raiders newbies than Burbo personally - who is useless even if he plays (off the bench).

Hughes is unlikely to make money playing low minutes of the bench at any stage of the season. The same is likely to be true for Willison. Vailea is quite expensive for someone who regularly posts single digit scores

The Dolphin Conspiracies wrote:

You'll certainly be needing some HOK cover for byes at the very least for the inevitable injuries/suspensions. I would have more confidence in the Raiders newbies than Burbo personally - who is useless even if he plays (off the bench).

Hughes is unlikely to make money playing low minutes of the bench at any stage of the season. The same is likely to be true for Willison. Vailea is quite expensive for someone who regularly posts single digit scores

I am anticipating a big role for Hughes. Kiraz when interviewed recently raved about him, says he is the fittest player in the club, including all the backs and can't believe what he is capable of. Also said Hughes wasn't 100% when he had an opportunity in first grade last season.

Given that the last 2 guys that were singled out by Gus in pre-season were King and Preston, he seems to be firmly in their plans for a big role for the season. His upside potential, with the ability to play huge minutes, with high PPM, could be a big miss if he gets a decent role and you don't select him.

This is the Kiraz interview, which will play at the time where he starts talking about Hughes. Later in the interview at time 47:37, he says that Hughes is the fastest in the whole team over 5 km, then continues to gush about him some more.

mattnz wrote:

I am anticipating a big role for Hughes. Kiraz when interviewed recently raved about him, says he is the fittest player in the club, including all the backs and can't believe what he is capable of. Also said Hughes wasn't 100% when he had an opportunity in first grade last season.

Given that the last 2 guys that were singled out by Gus in pre-season were King and Preston, he seems to be firmly in their plans for a big role for the season. His upside potential, with the ability to play huge minutes, with high PPM, could be a big miss if he gets a decent role and you don't select him.

Yeah, Gus mentioning him as a potential breakout is the big reason I have him in. He's apparently also the biggest body in the dog's forward pack, too, which is over all on the lighter side.

mattnz wrote:

I am anticipating a big role for Hughes. Kiraz when interviewed recently raved about him, says he is the fittest player in the club, including all the backs and can't believe what he is capable of. Also said Hughes wasn't 100% when he had an opportunity in first grade last season.

Given that the last 2 guys that were singled out by Gus in pre-season were King and Preston, he seems to be firmly in their plans for a big role for the season. His upside potential, with the ability to play huge minutes, with high PPM, could be a big miss if he gets a decent role and you don't select him.

This is the Kiraz interview, which will play at the time where he starts talking about Hughes. Later in the interview at time 47:37, he says that Hughes is the fastest in the whole team over 5 km, then continues to gush about him some more.

To paraphrase the interview "he is training the house down and he is pushing for a spot in the 17" Essentially - a rookie bench prop is a rookie bench prop. Even if they play 20 - 30 minutes they do not score enough to be worthwhile. I bet you have had loads of these players in your team before Matt. He would need to displace King, Knight, Curran, and Edwards to get a starting spot to be of value.

Fight the trap

The Dolphin Conspiracies wrote:

You'll certainly be needing some HOK cover for byes at the very least for the inevitable injuries/suspensions. I would have more confidence in the Raiders newbies than Burbo personally - who is useless even if he plays (off the bench).

Hughes is unlikely to make money playing low minutes of the bench at any stage of the season. The same is likely to be true for Willison. Vailea is quite expensive for someone who regularly posts single digit scores

I'm banking on Brad following through on his 80min hooker rhetoric and that Lussick (or Hands) will have made their cash by R9 Eels bye and I can upgrade HOK. If my HOK gets injured o just switch over to the other Eels hooker and make some more cash. I think my strat is going to be all in on cash generation. I'm thinking about this game like I would play Starcraft - early expansion. Might fall behind a little in early rounds, but focussing onto hitting the magic 15 million salary cap mark early.

In some modelling I did with last year's data it was possible to hit 15mill (or 14.6 I believe) by round 10. Most top players didn't hit that mark till quite a few rounds later. I am aware that is with optimal trades and that I almost certainly won't be able to do that without the benefit of hindsight, but I'm letting that goal inform my strat.