by WT Winfield Wed May 10, 2017 1:55 pm
Warriors wrote:
Given the uncertainty around hookers over the byes is Sione Katoa worth a cash out in the 2nd row. DPP HOK/2RF, could be starting hooker if Wallace gets injured. Allows you to trade between hooker and second row guns over origin, if you were contemplating trading Smith out over origin, you could use him to go smith to gallen/graham/surgess etc in week 12. Then you could upgrade a second rower when its time to get smith back? I will look into the merits of this for my own team. Panthers finish their byes in round 15 at which time origin 3 could be a dead rubber, more injuries etc and NSW could pick a few Panthers. Cleary, Peachey, Wallace.
I hadn't really looked at Katoa. Owning Leota has made me view the Panthers as a bit unstable in their selections, much like Souths.
Leota, Browne, Kikau, Akauola, CHN and Katoa with 1 game so far all playing musical chairs each week.
You're right that they don't have much HK coverage though if Wallace is out for origin/injury.
Not sure I'd count on the injury to him specifically though. He's been pretty solid over the years, but had his 2014/15 seasons cut short with an ACL injury. He closed out 2015 with 13 games and played every game last year.. I wouldn't be opposed to him playing origin though.
As for Cam, I'm a garbage H2H player, so I won't be looking to trade him before the R12 bye. However I can definitely see the merits in it with him having to back-up Friday night vs. the Knights in R13, and then missing Rds 15, 18 and 19 by the looks of it.. Holy fuck, yeah he's gonna miss out of a tonne of points this season.
Tying that back in with Katoa, I'd probably wait and see if Wallace gets picked for origin and possibly go Cam to Katoa and use the cash on other bye friendly players maybe? My total points bye planning is kinda ass and I specifically avoided Eels/Rabbits because of bad H2H byes, so my thoughts aren't too strong on what the optimal strategy for this period would be.