NRL Fantasy 2019 thread part 7

Milchy wrote:

It is Albert Hopoate's birthday today, so we;ll find out on Saturday if he is considered any chance to start the season in number 1.

Fox Sports article yesterday claiming Brendan Elliott might get fullback spot to start the year. Not sure if that was fluff or actual inside knowledge

Happy Birthday Albert!

Iron Mike wrote:Has anyone thought of just plonking Taupau and Fifita at prop?

Yes, made those changes at the weekend.

Iron Mike wrote:I am also now seriously considering starting with Radley at hooker with Fifita and Taupau at prop. am I out of my mind?

Will Radley even start? You got SST, JWH, Friend, Crichton, Liu and Cordner. Unless I'm missing something.

Iron Mike wrote:Has anyone thought of just plonking Taupau and Fifita at prop?

Yes.

Milchy wrote:

Other than Zac Lomax, who are people worried about?

And with Lomax, if he doesn't make the team, another cheapie will, so the only real concern is if neither can cement a spot and they flip flop in and out of the team for the first few rounds.

Currently I have Bird as one of my centres which gives me a bit of concern, aside from that I haven't made up my mind about the 3rd WFB spot, I'm leaning towards CNK at the moment expecting 30-40 odd points.

I'll probably have 1 or 2 cheap WFBs in my EMG, maybe Ravalawa if he gets a starting spot

I've dropped Lomax

Iron Mike wrote:Has anyone thought of just plonking Taupau and Fifita at prop?

Have considered it multiple times. Only way it can work for me, currently, is if I downgrade to rookie halfs ( Brown + Keighran).

Playing Taupau and Fifita means that you have to sacrifice elsewhere, probably at halves and WFB,
And if you also want a gun hooker and back rower it probably means you have a lot of cheapies in your team, so you need them all to do well. Too many rookies fail to fire, and you'll be playing catch up from the start

Iron Mike wrote:I am also now seriously considering starting with Radley at hooker with Fifita and Taupau at prop. am I out of my mind?

Yep.
Who would your back-up hooker be?

Radley most likely won't play the 80 if he starts at lock. He may even come off the bench.
TLT may not even answer that question for you.

As for starting Fifita and Taupau. I tried it. Couldn't make it work into a team I was confident in. Too much $$$ in the FRF.

Chewie wrote:Currently I have Bird as one of my centres which gives me a bit of concern, aside from that I haven't made up my mind about the 3rd WFB spot, I'm leaning towards CNK at the moment expecting 30-40 odd points.

I've got Bird there, I'm not really that concerned about him to be honest. I think he'll score reasonably well, Broncos send a heap of attack down that side, I doubt that changes much, and he should make a few tackles helping Milford out. Despite the dumb Foxsports article after the trial, I thought he looked fit and hungry to play.

I've got CNK as my third WFB, its actually the '2nd' WFB that is giving me grief. Plenty of options around that 600k mark but probably only one that will be the stand out choice.

Mulvy wrote:I'm betting it was No worries who changed stinker tinker to stink finger?

Guilty

filthridden wrote:

Yep.
Who would your back-up hooker be?

Radley most likely won't play the 80 if he starts at lock. He may even come off the bench.
TLT may not even answer that question for you.

As for starting Fifita and Taupau. I tried it. Couldn't make it work into a team I was confident in. Too much $$$ in the FRF.

Radley won't play 80 wherever he starts (except maybe hooker in the event of Jake Friend getting injured)

If you get him its on the assumption of starting lock, and an average of somewhere around 40-45.
Anything more than that and I think you are getting a bit ambitious.

my tv broke wrote:

I've got CNK as my third WFB, its actually the '2nd' WFB that is giving me grief. Plenty of options around that 600k mark but probably only one that will be the stand out choice.

I had Watson penciled in for a bit, but after the trial match, I'm concerned he won't have much upside with less touches of the ball.

Had another look at Stimson, BE of 28 and now has the 80 minute role. Had 32 in a half of footy and running next to Munster so could see a lot of work down his edge. I have seen quite a few people jump off Stimson over the last few days but i see him hitting 45 each week and well underpriced. Stimson was my first pencilled in as soon as the season finished last year.

Chewie wrote:

I had Watson penciled in for a bit, but after the trial match, I'm concerned he won't have much upside with less touches of the ball.

Yeah, I did the same, although I'm wary of making too much out of a trial match. I think the concerns are genuine though, a lot of what Newcastle do will focus around the halves and edge backrowers, and getting early ball to Ramien. Ponga will be the main man.

The fullback data people are using to justify Watson, are with a Pearce/Keary halves pairing.

Is a Pearce/Pongs pairing going to rob him of that much ball? Certainly a possibility. Hard to make a decision on half a trial match. Hopefully this weekend tells us more.

I know their is a thread for it but given the Tapau/Fifita team talk I came up with this. Light on hooker and bench I know:

Radley
Fifita Taupau
Arrow Murray Stimson
Cleary Keighran
Holland Nikora
Watson Drinkwater Edwards

DFifita Burr Egan DBrown

BLawrie (if JDB suspended), Lomax, 2 x 212K (Xerri, A Hopoate, Allan etc)

my tv broke wrote:

Yeah, I did the same, although I'm wary of making too much out of a trial match. I think the concerns are genuine though, a lot of what Newcastle do will focus around the halves and edge backrowers, and getting early ball to Ramien. Ponga will be the main man.

I think Watson will still average around 40 odd points, but you'll get what you pay for

Iron Mike wrote:I know their is a thread for it but given the Tapau/Fifita team talk I came up with this. Light on hooker and bench I know:

Radley
Fifita Taupau
Arrow Murray Stimson
Cleary Keighran
Holland Nikora
Watson Drinkwater Edwards

DFifita Burr Egan DBrown

BLawrie (if JDB suspended), Lomax, 2 x 212K (Xerri, A Hopoate, Allan etc)

Pretty good, but banking too much on Radley. I wouldn't feel comfortable running with him as sole hooker. Although looking at the front row would make me smile.

StormTrooper96 wrote:Had another look at Stimson, BE of 28 and now has the 80 minute role. Had 32 in a half of footy and running next to Munster so could see a lot of work down his edge. I have seen quite a few people jump off Stimson over the last few days but i see him hitting 45 each week and well underpriced. Stimson was my first pencilled in as soon as the season finished last year.

Second player in team behind Murray for me this year. Not sure why you wouldn't have him.

my tv broke wrote:

Yeah, I did the same, although I'm wary of making too much out of a trial match. I think the concerns are genuine though, a lot of what Newcastle do will focus around the halves and edge backrowers, and getting early ball to Ramien. Ponga will be the main man.

I still see Watson as being a really hard runner of the ball when returning a kick, could nab a couple TB's off some tired defenders. I also think he is a very smart footballer and will be thriving off the late game ball around the ruck when the forwards are tired. BE of 40, could be 5 maybe 8 points underpriced. I think he will play a ponga/Turbo-esque style of fullback where he pops up in the halves at times as well.