Ando 2024

@Welshy Lock that in I reckon, never a bad time to get Yeo. MID is an absolute wasteland and he's probably most consistent player in the game. Perfect byes too for an Origin player, that's why I got on him RD14.

Does this mean you still get Hynes prior to RD19?

Ando wrote:@Welshy Lock that in I reckon, never a bad time to get Yeo. MID is an absolute wasteland and he's probably most consistent player in the game. Perfect byes too for an Origin player, that's why I got on him RD14.

Does this mean you still get Hynes prior to RD19?

Will need to run the numbers mate

I want Hynes next week 100% if not this weekend

@Welshy Hynes should be bottomed out after this week, waiting a week definitely not a bad play if you have 17 green dots. Fa'alogo has been switched to the run on side

My team for the week:

JMK
Yeo Plath Fainu
Aitken Blore
Hynes Galvin
Drinkwater Weekes Tedesco
Hands Matto Sharpe Fa'alogo
Fifita Latrell Garrick Wighton

That bench makes for some miserable reading

Ended up fiddling around too much and missed Hynes in and stuck with Aitken Cappo

Not a world ender but frustrating

Currently on Talau - Yeo with 1 trade but have some time to debate that idea

@Welshy Worked out a masterstroke for you! Talau > Yeo in a single trade is huge.

Round 17

Round Score: 761
Overall Rank: 1,002nd

Trades

Twal > Matterson
Carrigan > Hynes
ITB: 50k

Starting 17

JMK (12) - Killed any hope of holding ground this week in the rankings, likely going to be a trade if out long term
Yeo (47) - Will take a 47 after starting on the bench
Plath (65) - Continues to score well, glad I picked him up when I did in a tough MID position  
Matterson (46) - Big risk play but his offloads meant he got a respectable score, if he can average 45+ and stay fit I will be happy
Aitken (57) - Got some kind updates, look forward to the time I can lock him into CTR position rather than EDG
Blore (45) - Looked like he did his knee before Half Time so will take the score but pretty underwhelming after scoring a try
Hynes (c) (108) - FOMO meant I went early, his price going to keep plummeting and he looked poor in real life
Galvin (44) - Respectable score in a team that didn't score until the 79th minute
Kiraz (34) - It's clear he isn't a full back, think I will be looking to upgrade once we get the extra trades
Iro (38) - Still averaging 40+ for a centre but likes to avoid the big attacking plays
Drinkwater (24) - Stinkwater is back, such a stupid play getting sin binned, another poor POD score
Tedesco (75) - Glad I picked him up last week, the only really shining light this week along with Plath
Fa'alogo (36) - Pretty sure he was on 32 at HT so pretty underwhelming in the end, hoping he plays this week against the Tigers
Hands (21) - Too many missed tackles and lost a chunk of minutes to Martha
Fainu (39) - Similar to Galvin I will take his score in a side that got beaten convincingly
Sharpe (23) - Dud score but made another 40k, need Ponga to stay away for at least another 2 weeks
Weekes (47) - Had a shocker of a performance but saved his score with a brilliant try, another that will be going RD20

EMG

Garrick (DNP)
Mitchell (DNP)
Wighton (DNP)  
Fifita (DNP)

Summary

More rank loses again this week and no more trades for 2 weeks. Two of my bigger pods Drinkwater and JMK absolutely shitting the bed.

Ended up grabbing Hynes so I had a solid captaincy option the next 3 weeks before we get the extra trades but it's going to be the wrong call unless he gets a banner in the next 2 weeks. Going off his real life performance I think the chances of that happening are very slim. 3 players on the bye this week, Hands will slot in for JMK although he is looking like he will need to be traded.

With me only have 8 trades I am going to use 4 for upgrades and save 4 for injury. I will need to work out which 4 need to go, currently got too many WFB's so it should be 4 of the following:

Kiraz - more than likely stays in the team as he is averaging 47 and has good job security
Fa'alogo - if he can find a way to stay in the Storm team then again there is a good chance he sticks around
Weekes - definitely going as soon as RD20 comes, has managed to save his scores too many times with freak plays
Sharpe - will want to cash him out once he becomes a red dot, hoping for 2 more weeks of cash gen before then
Garrick - worried he ends up on the wing which would make him a trade, if he stays at centre or moves to full back I will hold
Hands - shouldn't miss 8 tackles every week and is my HOK cover but good might be have to go in RD20 with 4 on the bye
JMK - will depend on how serious his injury is but doesn't sound promising, there aren't really any standout hookers to pick up

From the lists I think Weekes and Sharpe are 100% sells and the others will have to see how it plays out. Weekes and Sharpe will go for a gun MID and cash out, Watson on the menu?

JMK will have to go for a HOK if needed, interesting to see who plays hooker for the Dolphins if he it out long term, that could be a nice cash down.

Then the above trades will hopefully leave enough cash in the bank to upgrade Kiraz/Garrick/Fa'alogo straight to Cleary. That's my rough plan, with the way this season has played out I am pretty sure it will all go horribly. Team for this week is pretty gross:

Hands
Fainu Yeo Matto
Fifita Blore
Hynes Galvin
Kiraz Iro
Drinky Latrell Teddy
Fa'alogo Wighton Weekes Sharpe Garrick - 4 of the 5 here, couple of loops set up
JMK Aitken Plath

Hynes performance last week hasn't filled me with confidence so think I may take a punt on a POD captain, thanks for reading. Words of encouragement welcomed because last few weeks have been rough.

If you're hanging around the top 1,000, you're doing better than most this year. 17 this week and 12 next week should allow you to gain ranks too.

No point in planning too much for round 20 yet, but fingers crossed your cows make you a bit more cash between now and then.

@Jele Thanks mate, I appreciate your efforts. I think having 12 next week is pretty optimistic, I think it'll be more like 10 with Fifita/Sharpe/JMK all unlikely.

Round 18

Round Score: 978
Overall Rank: 876th

Trades
ITB: 50k

Starting 17

Hands (28) - Too many missed tackles to get any decent score
Yeo (59) - So consistent, glad he’s in my team
Fainu (38) - Will take that score in a team that got thumped
Matterson (53) - If he can repeat that score every week I’ll be more than happy
Fifita (56) - Solid score and glad he missed Origin
Blore (33) - Dud, wish he wasn’t in my team
Hynes (52) - My worst trade ever playing this game. I had been so set on waiting on RD21 as well
Galvin (56) - Continues to churn out good scores without a huge KM base 
Kiraz (52) - Will be a keeper now so need to hope he stays on the right wing
Iro (42) - Another +40 score
Drinkwater (54) - Great score, still not confident in him every week 
Tedesco (97) - Been a brilliant pick up these last 3 weeks
Mitchell (c) (140) - Was really happy with the 80 at FT, scores found a way to dud him 10 points lol
Fa’alogo (36) - Good score to say he only played half the game. Need him to start or he’s a trade 
Wighton (67) - Brilliant score, about time!
Garrick (69) - Glad I held him after the HIA game, absolute gun for a pure CTR
Weekes (46) - Once again saves his score with a huge play but he is going to have some really low scores  

EMG

Sharpe (11)
JMK (DNP)
Aitken (DNP)
Plath (DNP)

Summary

So the Hynes trade massively backfired. Lost a boat load of cash, reduces my RD19 numbers and another trade burnt. Looking forward to this season being over. 

No trades so not much to say.

Once we get the 8 trades I’ll have to work out who goes out of Latrell, JMK, Hynes, Fa’alogo, Sharpe, Hands, Weekes and whoever else gets injured…

11 players this week so will no doubt fall out of the top 1k. Will have to learn from this for next year, burning trades to field a full team during Origin isn’t worth it. The 11 shitto’s are as follows:

Hands
Matto Plath Fainu
Fifita Aitken
Galvin Wighton
Iro Garrick
Sharpe

Fucking sucks about Hynes mate. It was tough enough for me to resist grabbing him the past couple of weeks (and I was switched off from footy, besides having Galvin/Brown), but for you having an open half spot Rd 19, there's no way I wouldn't have grabbed him too. I know you were looking at Nikora, so just makes it extra brutal in points/trades/cash in hindsight, but in normal circumstances, Hynes scoring his average and not getting injured, it was the right call.

Hopefully get through Rd 20 without more injuries.. fucking laundry list with Latrell, JMK and Hynes already

Ando wrote:Round 18

Round Score: 978
Overall Rank: 876th

Trades
ITB: 50k

Starting 17

Hands (28) - Too many missed tackles to get any decent score
Yeo (59) - So consistent, glad he’s in my team 
Fainu (38) - Will take that score in a team that got thumped
Matterson (53) - If he can repeat that score every week I’ll be more than happy 
Fifita (56) - Solid score and glad he missed Origin 
Blore (33) - Dud, wish he wasn’t in my team 
Hynes (52) - My worst trade ever playing this game. I had been so set on waiting on RD21 as well
Galvin (56) - Continues to churn out good scores without a huge KM base 
Kiraz (52) - Will be a keeper now so need to hope he stays on the right wing 
Iro (42) - Another +40 score 
Drinkwater (54) - Great score, still not confident in him every week 
Tedesco (97) - Been a brilliant pick up these last 3 weeks 
Mitchell (c) (140) - Was really happy with the 80 at FT, scores found a way to dud him 10 points lol
Fa’alogo (36) - Good score to say he only played half the game. Need him to start or he’s a trade 
Wighton (67) - Brilliant score, about time!
Garrick (69) - Glad I held him after the HIA game, absolute gun for a pure CTR
Weekes (46) - Once again saves his score with a huge play but he is going to have some really low scores  

EMG

Sharpe (11)
JMK (DNP)
Aitken (DNP)  
Plath (DNP)

Summary

So the Hynes trade massively backfired. Lost a boat load of cash, reduces my RD19 numbers and another trade burnt. Looking forward to this season being over. 

No trades so not much to say. 

Once we get the 8 trades I’ll have to work out who goes out of Latrell, JMK, Hynes, Fa’alogo, Sharpe, Hands, Weekes and whoever else gets injured…

11 players this week so will no doubt fall out of the top 1k. Will have to learn from this for next year, burning trades to field a full team during Origin isn’t worth it. The 11 shitto’s are as follows:

Hands
Matto Plath Fainu
Fifita Aitken
Galvin Wighton
Iro Garrick
Sharpe 

Hey mate I know the feeling being over the season too but chin up mate you’re still around the top 1k mark you should be proud of that. Some like me usually top 1k are languishing at the 7-8 mark which is shit compared to you. The carnage is jist bonkas this year mate next level.


Out of that list I think obviously sell the top guys you have too. Maybe not a total disaster if you hold Weekes and Hands either. But sadly I think Trell, JMK, Hynes, Fa’alogo and Sharpe have to go then hold 3 trades for injuries mate.

In previous years your strategy has been fine mate just unlucky with all these injuries. 

Do not give up mate we will both ride it out.

Round 19

Round Score: 530
Overall Rank: 1,402th

Trades
ITB: 50k

Starting 17

Hands (41) - A respectable score after being able to cut down the missed tackles
Fainu (44) - Keeps slowly chugging away with decent scores in a team that continues to get pumped
Plath (35) - Looks like he's not going to be that good of a scorer playing hooker
Matterson (30) - Turns out he can't repeat those scores, has he ever missed that many tackles?
Fifita (c) (124) - A standard score for him
Aitken (5) - Another keeper injury
Hynes (DNP) - Thanks for ruining my season Nicho
Galvin (43) - See Fainu comments, seems to be picking up more KM which is a good thing
Wighton (58) - Was close to selling a few weeks back so glad he has been able to repay the faith
Iro (61) - Great score although feels like it could have been more
Sharpe (30) - Happy enough with the score but has turned out to be a dud trade after Ponga's early return
Mitchell (DNP) -
Garrick (59) - Similar to Wighton, hopefully can continue this form to the end of the season

EMG

Weekes (DNP) -
Kiraz (DNP) -
Yeo (DNP) -
Blore (DNP) -
Fa'alogo (DNP)
Tedesco (DNP)
Drinkwater (DNP)
JMK (DNP)

Summary

Another week, another injury to one of my keepers. I'll be burning all 4 trades this week so I can play 16 but playing short again means more rankings loss. There's a good chance I burn all 4 next week too just so I can end this season, it's not enjoyable anymore.

Current injuries:

JMK
Latrell
Aitken
Hynes

Current shitto's:

Sharpe
Fa'alogo
Matterson
Weekes
Blore

So 8 trades left and 9 players I don't want anywhere near my team. Out of all those Blore is likely a hold, hoping Munster can help unlock him but all of the others are trades. Currently thinking about just trading the injured players and then limping home with the shitto's:

Hynes > Cleary
Aitken > Koloamatangi/Murray
JMK > Watson
Latrell > Curran/Randall

I'd prefer Curran over Randall but think I need the HOK coverage. If I knew Watson would get DPP then that would make things a lot easier. I am playing with 16 regardless this week so could just play a HOK short.

Kolo / Murray I am struggling to split, I want whoever plays #13 moving forward but the 89k saved allows me to get Grant next week for Weekes in 1 trade.

I don't really care at this point but if anyone has anything they'd like to add I am all ears.

Hey mate don’t give up try not to do 4 and 4 maybe go 4 this week 2 next week and hold 2 for injuries.

Maybe you’ll have to hold Matto and Blore they are green dots. We all have players we don’t want but have to hold.

On Grant I think he will be managed at the back end.

Getting C. Watson is a good shout.

Chin up mate you’re doing better than so many don’t give up now. You’ll need 2-3 trades the last 5 weeks for injuries. You’re still doing better than many of us. I’m ranked at 5.4K but I won’t give up.



Randall I’m not as keen on with Joliffe back soon. I prefer Curran.

Murray and Keaon is a tight call.

Hard to know if C Cleary is the right call this week isn’t it?

Round 20

Round Score: 798
Overall Rank: 1,831rd

Trades:
Hynes > Cleary
Latrell > Watson
Aitken > Koloamatangi
JMK > Randall
ITB: 34k

Starting 17

Hands (DNP) - Forced to play a man short due to stupidity of picking Matto when I forced Hynes back early
Watson (31) - Lowest score in a long time but sin bin and game time at centre is going to cause that
Plath (32) - Another dud score at HOK, will hold as he is playing 80 mins, just needs to cut out the missed tackles
Fainu (36) - Starting to lose confidence in playing him in the 17, however continues to get 80 minutes
Fifita (c) (112) - A solid score but wish I'd captained the chin
Koloamatangi (59) - Good addition, Murray out another week should hopefully mean more time in the middle
Cleary (76) - Good to have him back only lost 25k which I'd call a success
Galvin (70) - Think I say this every week but what a player he is
Wighton (53) - Continues to rack up pretty good scores, no complaints
Garrick (53) - Absolute gun at CTR, again glad I kept him after the HIA game
Drinkwater (39) - In hindsight I wish I had not rushed him in when I did
Tedesco (30) - His first low scoring game since trading him back in
Kiraz (50) - Love his scores when he plays on the right wing, would love a 50 AVG in the run in
Weekes (29) - Definitely don't want to be playing him in the starting 17 moving forward, serious lack of base
Fa'alogo (12) - Just thankful he got that try but he's probably an urgent trade unless Papy gets injured with 3 minute appearances
Randall (44) - Pretty annoying score when I could have just traded in Starling
Blore (72) - Finally a huge score, hoping he can finish the season strong now Munster is back

EMG

Matterson (DNP)
Hands (DNP)
Iro (DNP)
Sharpe (DNP)

Summary

To say I basically played with 15 players I am pretty happy with the score and only lost a few hundred places, not many players on the bye next few weeks so I am hoping to make some in roads to the top 1,000. I usually excel during the Origin period but this year has been an absolute disaster, lessons learnt for next year!

I feel I have 3 trade out candidates but with only 4 trades remaining I want to use 2 maximum:

Weekes (582k) - The most expensive asset but have a feeling his DPP will be handy in the run in so think I want to hold
Sharpe (364k) - Could potentially hold as a red dot and use to loop when I have no players on a bye but will be risky running a 20 man squad
Fa'alogo (456k) - Unless Papy is injured he needs to go as bench appearances are going to cause his value to plummet

Looking at the following trade combinations:

Weekes > 616k - this would be Dylan Brown but then I'm stuck with 2 duds and limited WFB cover for Teddy and Drinky's upcoming byes

Weekes & Fa'alogo > 1072k - gives me more money to play, is RTS finally an option? I could go RTS and Carty but then I have a dead spot in the team with Sharpe

Sharpe & Fa'alogo > 854k - this could be Dylan Brown and someone who is 244k, someone like Jake Tago is my only option but his job security is minimal. Do the Warriors name a rookie full back?

Current team pretrades is actually in ok shape, so any trades made would be luxury upgrades on players that are surplus to requirements, will have to see what TLT brings before making any decisions:

Randall
Yeo Kolo Watson
Fifita Blore
Cleary Galvin
Iro Garrick
Drinkwater Teddy Kiraz
Wighton Plath Fainu Matto
Hands Weekes Fa'alogo Sharpe

Thanks for reading, operation Top 1k finish is on, thoughts and ideas welcomed!

Casey McLean might be cashout you could use and have “psuedo” WFB cover if Garrick has late games (haven’t looked at schedule)

(Per page 1 of main thread and NRL Physio podcast he could have good run in Panthers team with Alamoti and JMcLean out 6 weeks)

@Camo123 A cheap Panthers outside back would be perfect, Casey is only a CTR currently though.

After a long hard think about trades I've decided to just use the 1 this week trading Weekes to either Curran or Dylbags.

The fact Fa'alogo is going to plummet in price is pretty irrelevant as I don't have the trades to get him out and you never know Papy could easily go down which would see him get another run.

DPP's cover the upcoming Byes and I'd rather have 3 trades in hand when my Keepers inevitably go down.

Currently thinking Dylbags he averages 55 playing with Asi and has the higher ceiling. Looks like Curran's 76 against the Warriors was a bit of an outlier. But then again Parra are absolutely terrible.

At least holding Sharpe means I can loop Fainu/Matto/Plath

Round 21

Round Score: 1,062
Overall Rank: 1,523rd

Trades:
Weekes > Curran
ITB: 7k

Starting 17

Watson (40) - As soon as I trade him in he doesn't play more than 60 minutes, typical!
Yeo (70) - Back to doing what he does best
Koloamatangi (74) - Big score again, glad I jumped on even if it was a little bit late
Matterson (59) - Should score well if he continues to play in the #13 jumper, a 50 AVG would be nice in the run in
Fifita (66) - Pretty much what we expect, such a gun
Blore (44) - Got some late updates to give him a respectable score, hoping Munster back will open up some attacking stats for him
Cleary (c) (224) - #1 Fantasy Rule back in full force
Galvin (43) - An ok score but the Tigers are pretty bad, think there will be big scores and low scores
Wighton (61) - A Last 3 AVG of 57, thank the lord I didn't trade him out
Iro (47) - Doing what he has pretty much done all season, was hoping he'd score more with a Try
Drinkwater (46) - Lack of Kick Metres
Tedesco (62) - Back to going big after a down week last week
Kiraz (72) - My only player left from the starting squad and will remain to the end
Randall (45) - Thought he would have got a big uptick after his late TA but it wasn't to be, good squad player to have though
Curran (35) - Pretty dud score but hoping he can bounce back next week in a tighter game
Plath (64) - Glad I kept the faith, another 80 minutes which is promising
Garrick (10) - Another HIA which was my only real downer of the week but luckily he is highly owned

EMG

Fainu (27)
Hands (41)
Fa'alogo (1)
Sharpe (DNP)

Summary

All in all a really good week and a move up the rankings, hopefully I can keep this momentum up.

Pretty happy with the make up of the squad, but it will be tested with 1 player on the bye next few weeks so will be looping Hands/Fainu into the 17th spot, both have shown they can score well on their day but also shown they can have a shocker.

Holding Fa'alogo hasn't been ideal, but his value has plummeted to the point where it's probably not worth trading him out now. Sharpe being named again is nice although I can't see him scoring that well on the wing unless he jags a few tries.

3 trades left so will be holding this week as I can field a reasonable side and no real trade out targets after Matto decided to step up last week:

Watson
Yeo Kolo Curran
Fifita Blore
Cleary Galvin
Iro Wighton
Drinky Teddy Kiraz
Randall Matto Plath Garrick (Loop)
Fainu Hands Sharpe Fa'alogo

Hopefully another strong week and can make another climb up the rankings.

Round 22

Round Score: 971
Overall Rank: 1,307th

Trades:
No Trades
ITB: 7k

Starting 17

Watson (51) - Will take the 51, annoyingly played the last 10 minutes at centre to cover Manu's sin bin where his points stalled
Curran (42) - Luckily came back on after looking crooked to get an ok score, woulda been better grabbing Dylbags however
Yeo (58) - Super consistent as always
Matterson (46) - Another good real life performance in the #13 jersey, hopefully keeps that role
Fifita (52) - A Pretty quiet game by his standards
Koloamatangi (54) - Low minute game by his standards, hopefully not a sign of things moving forward
Cleary (c) (158) - Back with a bang!
Galvin (43) - Not sure if it's worth trying to upgrade him, has scored 43 in 3 of the last 4 games
Wighton (40) - No complaints for a CTR's score really
Iro (56) - Pretty amazing how he just continues to churn out the points he does as a pure CTR
Drinkwater (69) - Unfortunately won't play the Tigers every week!
Tedesco (29) - Another low game for him, felt like he was close to some big plays that kept getting pulled back
Kiraz (45) - Just wasn't in tackle breaking form, everything else was good especially the OFH
Randall (52) - Pretty much what I got him in for although the score was saved by a good late play
Fainu (61) - Needed a good score from him, can't see it continuing however
Plath (64) - Once again glad I kept the faith, seems to have a an 80 minute role locked up
Hands (52) - Pretty impressive performance, wasn't expecting it, was able to loop him in via Fa'alogo over Blore

EMG

Blore (42)
Sharpe (32)
Fa'alogo (DNP)
Garrick (DNP)

Summary

Bit of a strange week, only really had a poor score from Teddy (29) but then didn't have many huge scores outside of Cleary, Drinky and Plath. It was enough for a couple of hundred rank gain but not enough to crack the top 1000.

I'll call that a success however after using no trades and I feel like I will be holding my 3 trades again this week as nothing really stands out and we still have 5 rounds remaining, current line up:

Randall
Curran Yeo Matterson
Fifita Kolo
Cleary Plath
Iro Wighton
Garrick Drinky Kiraz
Galvin Blore Fainu Hands
Fa'alogo Sharpe Teddy Watson

I could potentially look at upgrading 1 of Galvin, Blore or Fa'alogo but these seem like absolute luxuries especially when I see the options of who I'd bring in with only 7k in the bank...

Galvin > Grant/Murray = Grant scoring hasn't been that great outside of last week and Murray doesn't scream buy playing on an edge
Blore > Munster = a bit of a POD play and Blore clearly isn't going to play 80 minutes moving forward
Fa'alogo > Asi = Sua is a dead spot and Asi has been kicking the piss out of the ball so fixes up the EMG for looping purposes. Playing the Panthers doesn't fill me with confidence though

Not sure any are the slam dunk trades I'm looking for so more than likely hold.

Yeah I think holding is the play. Galvin or Blore out feels too luxurious, though Munster at that price for Blore would be tempting. Would want Munster averaging 60 and Blore 45 to feel worthwhile though I think and I reckon there'll be at least a couple of obvious no-brainer trades by season's end that would cover those points with less risk.

I think I'll lock in May to Carrigan leaving 3 trades also. Was entertaining Isaako to someone cheapish if he's injured, but think I'll hold for now regardless. Gray, Asi, Leiataua and McLean chucked on the watchlist, but none really improve the 17 this week or immediate future sans carnage.

Fa'alogo to Asi or McLean is probably where I'd go if trading, but maybe waiting for a 230-250k player to offload him to would be better if Pap doesn't get injured.

I like Haumole over Murray too, but I'm hoping Galvin can hit another couple of 60-70 scores to go with the 43s and be alright. Would rather punt Curran over him tbh.