Welcome to Quick Tap, the new weekly segment from Talking League where we have a look at how TLT impacts your NRL Fantasy Team. Each week, we’ll go through the teams playing and look at the players of interest.
Titans v Cowboys, Thursday 7.50pm at Cbus Super Stadium
Titans:
· The only real fantasy asset of interest here is probably Jayden Campbell. At $568k, he’s priced a tad below that 45+ average we would expect from him and given the dearth of quality WFBs he looms as a decent option for this bye round.
· Toby Sexton has hit the radar of late due to his turn in fantasy scoring since the abovementioned Campbell returned in round 10. At $511k, he’s undervalued and should he retain control of the team, he will be a high 40s average down the stretch. Note that his tackles were boosted by the wet weather in rounds 10 and 11 so don’t expect 55+ every week.
Cowboys:
· Both Reuben Cotter and Jeremiah Nanai are in the Queensland 17 and are a DNP for Fantasy. Due to their low BEs, holding both before re-assessing after Origin 1 is a prudent move. Ideally Nanai owners hold for 2-3 more price rises before attacking the best round 17 player that they don’t yet own.
· Reece Robson owners shouldn’t be concerned with the presence of Jake Granville, as my namesake played out the 80 with Granville spelling Cotter for the final 15. I’d expect similar with the returning Jason Taumololo, who rewards his owners with a round 13 score. With a massive BE, Lolo will be a nice enabler when he bottoms out in the low 500s as an 18th man option.
· Most of the other ins to the 17 aren’t worth a look except for Jamayne Taunoa-Brown, who could be rewarded with extra minutes across the origin segment as Cotter is likely managed. Capable of good PPM, JTB is a high-risk option that isn’t worth it for anyone closer to 10 trades than 20.
Panthers v Bulldogs, Friday 7.55pm at BlueBet Stadium
Panthers:
· There were no real surprises in the Panthers that were selected for the Blues. With a poor score last week, Stephen Crichton may be a sellable asset for those with a large WFB contingent. Like the Cowboys, none of the ins to the 17 are worth a look.
Bulldogs:
· The headline absence for the Dogs is Tevita Pangai Junior, which is unfortunate for the almost 12% of coaches inside the top 5k that hold him. Given his status as a keeper is questionable, he is dispensable although coaches with large origin contingents may hold him for their round 14 numbers before sending him packing.
· Matt Burton is a fantastic option for your C or VC tile this week and the same could be said for Josh Jackson who despite a low-tackle game last week is dependable.
· Max King paused his price drops last week with a stellar PPM effort; he’s another that may dispensable after this week.
· Raymond Faitala-Mariner gets the start this week and whilst is a nice price, he is probably too early in his return to be worth a purchase for those running low on trades.
Sea Eagles v Warriors, Saturday 7.35pm at 4 Pines Park
Sea Eagles:
· Reuben Garrick put in a stellar effort in round 12 and is interesting at $611k. Garrick averages 48.8 at fullback with half of that being base (run metres, kick defusals and goalkicking) which means I couldn’t talk you out of buying him.
· Even with Josh Schuster moving to 6, I can’t see any of their forwards being of value to coaches.
· Jason Saab has timed his recovery perfectly to be fit for round 13. As a result, coaches that have used him as a cheap loop for several rounds can look forward to a 15-point boost to their score.
Warriors:
· Tohu Harris has bottomed-out at $682k and is a season-long keeper plus captaincy option for this round. I’ll leave it at that.
· There’s no real other new buys in this Warriors team but Euan Aitken remains a season-long keeper at Centre and Jazz Tevaga will probably peak in price in round 15 before being a sell candidate for a round 17 player.
Raiders v Roosters, Sunday 4.05pm at GIO Stadium
Raiders:
· Xavier Savage has bottomed out and with his low BE will bounce back up in value. You’d probably need a setback in CNK’s recovery for him to be a viable money-maker and trades to get him back out.
· Adam Elliott continues in slow-burn mode and due to him being the cheapest of your mid-rangers (and DPP) will probably be a hold for a couple more weeks.
· The more concerning Raider is Tom Starling, who logged just 25 minutes this week. At this stage of the game, the potential lost cash doesn’t outweigh the round 13 points so holding for at least one more round is a sensible idea.
· Trey Mooney is expected to make his debut this week, but remember the Raiders are without Josh Papali’i due to origin commitments.
Roosters:
· Absolute scenes as Josh Corby….I mean Billy Smith gets a game! There’s plenty of time for him to do a Santiago Canizares and drop a bottle of aftershave on his foot to be ruled out before kick-off.
· Angus Crichton owners are the real winners with his non-selection for Origin. At $723k, Crichton is still decent value as another captaincy option this week.
· Nat Butcher’s move to 13 should just be as a result of SST’s shift to cover Collins at Prop, but it does open the door for Sitili Tupouniua to have a blinder and pinch that right edge spot back. With most of the value sapped out of him in the past two weeks, I’d be careful purchasing him this week.
· Luke Keary’s 5-round average of 52 is close to what we can expect from him down the stretch. Personally, I’d rather pay the extra ~$70k for Dylan Brown next week but I wouldn’t talk coaches out of acquiring Keary.
Be sure to check out Tuesday’s pod as TK was joined by Corby and Kyle to talk all things Round 13