NRL Fantasy 2024 Part 6 - The only time I make a thread this year

Flanagan is give me TMM vibes from last year, but carrying him on the bench does allow me to shift Boyd. I reckon it’s Flanagan + Lussick or Boyd + Mikaele

Anyone else looking at not starting with Burbo?

Best case scenario for him looks like 1 round with decent minutes, then a 50 minute starting role, with Schuster coming off the bench from R2.

The other scenarios look to be significantly worse.

Shady2K wrote:Any concerns for Hopgood if Matto is on the bench?

With: 59 in 64 min
Without: 66 in 71 min

Does it make Murray/Haas the better choice in this case

I'm okay with letting Haas/Murray/Carrigan go through to the keeper to allow more flexibility next week. If I end up with any gun forward, it's gonna have to be Hopgood. Even if he's short of the others at MID, I can take solace in Hopgood being one of the best EDG players this year.

Decent chance I end up with no guns though.

mattnz wrote:Anyone else looking at not starting with Burbo?

Best case scenario for him looks like 1 round with decent minutes, then a 50 minute starting role, with Schuster coming off the bench from R2.

The other scenarios look to be significantly worse.

I hate having him in my team but that is absolutely not best case scenario. Best case scenario is that he holds the starting jersey while Schuster continues to carry minor injuries

Aardvark wrote:I've got a nagging suspicion that Mikaele is that guy that tears it up in the trials (despite giving no indication he was a terror previously) and then becomes a 20 min bench prop who is in and out of the team week to week. Payton loves Granville.

my tv broke wrote:

haha yeah there are a few players every year that trial well against reserve graders and then fade away during the week in week out.

Yeah he only scored a brace in the juniors, only 1 try in the super league, and none in the nrl, except for the trial game.
I'm not keen on getting a bench MID like Mikaele or Willison

Chewie wrote:



Yeah he only scored a brace in the juniors, only 1 try in the super league, and none in the nrl, except for the trial game.
I'm not keen on getting a bench MID like Mikaele or Willison

Mikaele scored 61 in the first trial without any tries, in a reserve grade team against Broncos starters.

You are getting a 1 PPM guy without tries. Not relying on them to score well.

mattnz wrote:Anyone else looking at not starting with Burbo?

Best case scenario for him looks like 1 round with decent minutes, then a 50 minute starting role, with Schuster coming off the bench from R2.

The other scenarios look to be significantly worse.

250k starting backrower available at centre with his main competition for minutes coming in off an undercooked pre-season - is there an argument against that?

I'm cool with giving Burbo a miss for Rd 1. Rd 2 is two weeks later, so if he holds the spot and seems decent, I might jump on for like 12-15k more than his starting price. Bench looks like he's in for 40-60 mins again.

Lchy wrote:

250k starting backrower available at centre with his main competition for minutes coming in off an undercooked pre-season - is there an argument against that?

Are you happy with him in your team if he is back to the bench in R2 or 3 for a guy that they are paying $800k per season to play on that EDG.

Schuster will be eased in off the bench the first few weeks

mattnz wrote:

Are you happy with him in your team if he is back to the bench in R2 or 3 for a guy that they are paying $800k per season to play on that EDG.

Schuster played 3 of the first 11 games last year due to a calf injury (that he aggravated this pre-season)

If he comes in and forces Burbo out then you put strange at Ctr and trade Burbo to a missed cow. If he doesn’t come in then Burbo will make $150k easy with reasonable scores in a tough position. Feels like an easy hedge tbh

Rabbits21 wrote:Schuster will be eased in off the bench the first few weeks

Yep, thats why best case is a 50 minute role for Burbo.

If you compare Burbo and Kini, they have pretty similar concerns for job security, with the preferred guy likely to be starting by R3 or R4.

mattnz wrote:

Are you happy with him in your team if he is back to the bench in R2 or 3 for a guy that they are paying $800k per season to play on that EDG.

Technically, they are paying him 800k a season to play in the halves - but that did not really work out... he is like a poor mans Carty and still has to go through his difficult period

Lchy wrote:

250k starting backrower available at centre with his main competition for minutes coming in off an undercooked pre-season - is there an argument against that?

The argument is that he is not very good and only making the top 30 to keep his brothers happy

mattnz wrote:

Are you happy with him in your team if he is back to the bench in R2 or 3 for a guy that they are paying $800k per season to play on that EDG.

For the 77th time…. People are picking him and willing to live with what comes of it.

Lchy wrote:

Schuster played 3 of the first 11 games last year due to a calf injury (that he aggravated this pre-season)

If he comes in and forces Burbo out then you put strange at Ctr and trade Burbo to a missed cow. If he doesn’t come in then Burbo will make $150k easy with reasonable scores in a tough position. Feels like an easy hedge tbh

Sounding like Weekes is still ahead of Strange for the 6 jersey.

mattnz wrote:

Mikaele scored 61 in the first trial without any tries, in a reserve grade team against Broncos starters.

You are getting a 1 PPM guy without tries. Not relying on them to score well.

I've got him in my team ATM but my expectations are tempered by both his history and Todd Payton's history

Also (not in response to this comment) while stinky bench mids aren't glamorous, in the absence of an alternative, I'd rather have someone with a guaranteed 20-30 mins a week who can crawl up $100k in value from base value over 10 weeks than another flaky winger. You have to fill those EMG positions with someone.

The Dolphin Conspiracies wrote:

Technically, they are paying him 800k a season to play in the halves - but that did not really work out... he is like a poor mans Carty and still has to go through his difficult period

They had already signed Brooks to play 6, when they offered him the extension to play EDG.

mattnz wrote:

Sounding like Weekes is still ahead of Strange for the 6 jersey.

According to who?

It's not the best case scenario let it go lol