2018 NRL.com Fantasy Thread part 43

wolfking wrote:Mearcats, not sure if we have discussed it, but what's your thoughts on Kikau now moving forward being pushed back to the bench?  With Murray, Rein, Griffin, Maloney etc. this is something we all didn't need.

Kikau is well n truly a hold. Most definitely it's not something that fantasy coaches needed but is it the best thing for the Panthers? I also think it may be a good thing for Kikau. He came into the season as a relative freshie and quickly got promoted to the starting side. The holy grail for footy players. That for a new and young bloke can precipitate a bit of complacency.

I think it'll be good for Kikau. It shows/tells him that he ain't outta the woods yet and that he needs to prove his worth for the team. And I think that little fire up his arse will be enough to fire him up for this week. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean he's a hold for the long term, especially considering his erratic scores off the bench in times passed, but for this week at least I feel he'll be ok.

Welshy wrote:
If he is using Maloney and his defence as a cause for not picking him then going with Moses he is duller than he sounds

Maloney's defence is bad for fantasy because he gets uo quick to force play and slaps/duves around at tackles without actually giving any advantage to the attacking team. Moses's defence is just bad.

Probably going to trade in Crichton even though think he's likely for SOO. Cordner/Frizz/Turbo should be locked as NSW back row, between Crichton and Wade Graham for bench 2rf and Wade hasn't got much time to show form and fitness.

It's a funny story. Super league meant any player alligned with a super league club was banned from Rep footy. Because broncos, bulldogs and raiders where among SL clubs a lot of quality players where excluded. Nsw wasn't so badly effected, but queensland were impacted dramatically. Come the selection discussion, queensland were severely rooted. They had no halves, so Jason Smith, a back rower, was picked at 5-8 and the rules were bent to allow PNGs Adrian Lam in as half. They had no hooker, So Wayne Bartrim, a lock, became a makeshift hooker. They managed to get to 16 players, but couldn't find one more player. So a gold coast rep said 'we have this young kid, Ben Ikin, he goes ok' so coach Fatty Vautin goes 'that's good enough for me'.

That leads to the infamous story about when the team got together at the hotel for the first time. A skinny scrawny Ben Ikin gets in the lift with Fatty to go to the first team meeting. As they got to the floor Ikin went to follow Fatty to the team meeting only for fatty to put his hand up and say 'sorry kid, only players past this point'. Ben ikin had to reply 'um Mr Vautin I'm Ben Ikin, I'm in your team'.

Makes Queensland winning the series 3-0 all the more amazing.

Saw this on reddit and with all the origin talk going on saw it appropriate to share.

rhinoceroo wrote:

Maloney's defence is bad for fantasy because he gets uo quick to force play and slaps/duves around at tackles without actually giving any advantage to the attacking team. Moses's defence is just bad.

Probably going to trade in Crichton even though think he's likely for SOO. Cordner/Frizz/Turbo should be locked as NSW back row, between Crichton and Wade Graham for bench 2rf and Wade hasn't got much time to show form and fitness.

Love Crichton and on my list, infact praying he gets the origin nod, so I can justify keeping Murray around for R13 and a potentially larger role. Would give adequate time to work out his role in the bunnies pack moving forward

sajjos wrote:It's a funny story. Super league meant any player alligned with a super league club was banned from Rep footy. Because broncos, bulldogs and raiders where among SL clubs a lot of quality players where excluded. Nsw wasn't so badly effected, but queensland were impacted dramatically. Come the selection discussion, queensland were severely rooted. They had no halves, so Jason Smith, a back rower, was picked at 5-8 and the rules were bent to allow PNGs Adrian Lam in as half. They had no hooker, So Wayne Bartrim, a lock, became a makeshift hooker. They managed to get to 16 players, but couldn't find one more player. So a gold coast rep said 'we have this young kid, Ben Ikin, he goes ok' so coach Fatty Vautin goes 'that's good enough for me'.

That leads to the infamous story about when the team got together at the hotel for the first time. A skinny scrawny Ben Ikin gets in the lift with Fatty to go to the first team meeting. As they got to the floor Ikin went to follow Fatty to the team meeting only for fatty to put his hand up and say 'sorry kid, only players past this point'. Ben ikin had to reply 'um Mr Vautin I'm Ben Ikin, I'm in your team'.

Makes Queensland winning the series 3-0 all the more amazing.

Saw this on reddit and with all the origin talk going on saw it appropriate to share.

awesome

Mearcats wrote:

Interestingly,if he was available for QLD do you think he'd be picked?

I don't think he would at this stage.

Also by no means do I think this should mean he should be able to. The rules are the rules, but for mine if I'm a NSW selector he's blacklisted. He made the bed and now he can lay in it.

Mearcats wrote:

Kikau is well n truly a hold. Most definitely it's not something that fantasy coaches needed but is it the best thing for the Panthers? I also think it may be a good thing for Kikau. He came into the season as a relative freshie and quickly got promoted to the starting side. The holy grail for footy players. That for a new and young bloke can precipitate a bit of complacency.

I think it'll be good for Kikau. It shows/tells him that he ain't outta the woods yet and that he needs to prove his worth for the team. And I think that little fire up his arse will be enough to fire him up for this week. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean he's a hold for the long term, especially considering his erratic scores off the bench in times passed, but for this week at least I feel he'll be ok.

Cheers mate. Everything you said makes total sense. Will hold for this round and hopefulyl he can come on and tear it up like he did early season. I have JFH though too, so really nervous about his minutes now.

Mearcats wrote:

What problems do you have Bird Watcher? I'll see what I think...

I posted it before SOO talk cropped up. Go back to post 273 on page 14.
And not a problem, just a discussion point.

No no Fittler was part of the City Origin coaching staff when Moses was the 4th pick half after everyone else withdrew. Definitely worked with him before and knows what he's capable of.

Yeah pretty laughable to suggest NSW should have been dominating last year.

Qld had Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Jonathan Thurston for 2 of 3 games.
It's the greatest spine we will ever see in Rugby League, but apparently those plucky blues and their eager new attitude were favorites to subdue it simply because they should have wanted it more.

One of the biggest advantages in Rugby League is playing consistently with the same team. Even just a key injury or two can visibly disjoint an NRL side for a few weeks and make them susceptible to an upset. Having the caliber of playmakers Queensland did for so many years in one thing (the delicious oxymoron of having three or four "once in a generation" players comes to mind), but their insurmountable advantage came from their cohesion. Playing such regular football with each other (not only the spine of "the Big 3" playing for Storm, but adding JT and Inglis and co. playing routinely in Queensland and Australian teams), versus New South Wales cobbling together a new side each time of whoever was playing hot so far that season, and sending them out to get beaten by a well oiled machine. Once Queensland's ball got rolling, it was never going to stop until those players all retired (or injuries such as Cronk being out in 2014 and giving a series reprieve for the blues). They all just knew each other's games too well and play so cohesively that in the later years it was almost a farce to think you could stitch together a group of young hopefuls and beat them. No matter how determined or hungry they were.

More bloody SOO talk I'm not interested in. This is a fantasy thread.
https://www.nrlfantasyfanatics.com/t461-qld-state-of-origin-2018-thread for north of the border.
and the rest of us https://www.nrlfantasyfanatics.com/t543p220-nsw-origin-side-2018

Sorry but.

code delta wrote:More bloody SOO talk I'm not interested in. This is a fantasy thread.
https://www.nrlfantasyfanatics.com/t461-qld-state-of-origin-2018-thread for north of the border.
and the rest of us https://www.nrlfantasyfanatics.com/t543p220-nsw-origin-side-2018

Sorry but.

It's Wednesday the slowest day in fantasy land mate, chill

what's your question

code delta wrote:More bloody SOO talk I'm not interested in. This is a fantasy thread.
https://www.nrlfantasyfanatics.com/t461-qld-state-of-origin-2018-thread for north of the border.
and the rest of us https://www.nrlfantasyfanatics.com/t543p220-nsw-origin-side-2018

Sorry but.

That's why there is other threads. People should learn to use them.

How is everyone looking for the bye rounds this year? I haven't put much though into it, but actually being in with a shot this year means I probably should.

I'm looking alright for round 13, except for around 7 Origin possibilities who hopefully don't get their shot until game 2 or 3
I have 14 of my final team 17 already, but only 3 of those play round 17 and that includes Arrow who is an Origin possibility. There really don't seem to be many keepers who play round 17 (Smith, Johnson, umm... help?) Is everyone else just saying "fuck it, too hard" re: bye planning?

zorasdomain wrote:How is everyone looking for the bye rounds this year? I haven't put much though into it, but actually being in with a shot this year means I probably should.

I'm looking alright for round 13, except for around 7 Origin possibilities who hopefully don't get their shot until game 2 or 3
I have 14 of my final team 17 already, but only 3 of those play round 17 and that includes Arrow who is an Origin possibility. There really don't seem to be many keepers who play round 17 (Smith, Johnson, umm... help?) Is everyone else just saying "fuck it, too hard" re: bye planning?

I would rather have my final team on Round 13, than have half my final team until the end of round 17. So I have said fuck it to the byes.

luckynumber8 wrote:

I'd rather take Brimson but this new Eels guy could go alright. I got burnt by cogger so it's a gamble.

I reckon Brad Arthur is giving some up and comers some game time to break them in. I reckon Niukore will be on limited minutes as with Jaemon Salmon if he gets a run. Only use for a cash out and it is a bit early in the year to have a permanent red dot

No Worries wrote:

code delta wrote:More bloody SOO talk I'm not interested in. This is a fantasy thread.
https://www.nrlfantasyfanatics.com/t461-qld-state-of-origin-2018-thread for north of the border.
and the rest of us https://www.nrlfantasyfanatics.com/t543p220-nsw-origin-side-2018

Sorry but.

That's why there is other threads. People should learn to use them.

A reasonable amount of not-strictly-Fantasy talk is no problem on here; that has always been the case.

We have tried directing posters to the League threads in the past and it hasn't succeeded. The reason is this is primarily a Fantasy forum. The vast majority of people will post in non-Fantasy based NRL forums if they want to talk about Origin or Coaches etc. The vast majority of Fanatics are here to post about Fantasy and Fantasy related chat, which includes Origin selections.

I wish it was different CD and NW but it is not, so it is counter productive if anything to try to change that. Sorry, but all you will do is make people worried about posting in here. They won't go to the other threads; they are here for Fantasy talk. Again, sorry, but that is the reality of it.

I'd get complaints about filling this thread up with SoO talk in week two, but in week eleven when people are tossing up whether to bring in Crichton or Koro or Cleary or whoever, trying to divine SoO selections is pretty fantasy relevant.

rhinoceroo wrote:I'd get complaints about filling this thread up with SoO talk in week two, but in week eleven when people are tossing up whether to bring in Crichton or Koro or Cleary or whoever, trying to divine SoO selections is pretty fantasy relevant.

Hold on, is Koro playing Origin!?

I'm stuck with both Nicholls and Cogger as dead spots that don't look like anything is going to change with. Already have Brimson, think I'll swap Nicholls to Lamb but any thoughts on a cash out for Cogger? Worth going now to someone like this new Eels bloke or just wait for something else?

With those two plus SJ and Smith I've got four dead spots this week that I'm not happy with.

A slow burning cashout would be ideal as I'm running low on trades so whoever I bring in I probably won't flick until late in the year. I've got no centre cover so cover there would be good.

Think Toomaga might be the go.