2016 NRL.com Fantasy thread part 3

Random wrote:List of available leagues:

@Random, what are you doing posting here and not making your draft pick for the 9s comp

Feline wrote:Any thoughts on Tim Simona this year,

Seems to be priced well for his potential and finished last year with a bang.

What happened in the middle of the season though?

While his scores can fluctuate, I would expect him to push closer to a 40ppg average. He was averaging 39 points per game in his last 5 games last year so he can do it. (He is priced at 30ppg.) Which a ten point upgrade is worth looking at. He wont have big Pat Richards on the wing this year, and he was one of the better Try-Assisting centers this past year. Which means if a rookie gets on his outside they will be worth looking at. It also should be noted that without the outside threat of Richards, he may be more inclined to take on the line and he has definite potential to burst through that line.

He also has a particularly easy opening draw with the following draw Warriors@Home, Manly@Home, Titans - Away, Eels@Home, Sharks@Home, Knights - Away. Only 2 away games in his first 6 games and they are against Titans and Knights. He also averages 40 points when playing the Warriors so he will get great Week 1.

Done. Also I am so confident in Simona being a beast this year I selected him for the 9's. Also Taylor has wraps on Addo-Car and his speed. Having him outside of Simona will make them such a deadly combination.

Milchcow wrote:
On Knights pack, apparently Korbin training in 2nd row now. Might play a bit of both from the bench, especially with his brother out

If Bhana does get a decent role he is one to watch, was a big workhorse in his 20s days. Although that doesn't always translate (eg Brendan Santi)

We're so light in the prop department that it would be insane to move our best forward to the 2nd row.

[quote="Loomer"]Thoughts on these players please:

McQueen Don't see much upside going to the Titans but going from clubs linked with pharmaceutical to street substances may help  
T-Rex Contract year, priced well. Minutes? Will 2016 be the year he runs onto the ball    
Sue I think he has good upside if taking up a lot of the lock work.
Lawrence Steady for CTR's given most people looking at very cheap options here
Lew Brown (also what happened to Leary?)Another steady CTR option, if only we all knew how the Manly pack rotation & minutes plays out
Api (is Parcell really going to rotate HOK?)Isn't Api battling injury to be back for 1st rounds. Watch & see for these two guys for me

badbetter wrote:

Thanks. Surely McQueen will see increase in minutes?

Loomer wrote:


Thanks. Surely McQueen will see increase in minutes?

Good point with that pack...mmm McQueen v Rochow (McQueen would appear to be more of a POD)

Hey all - another old Sportal user here and pretty impressed with what you've done here.

Obviously a ton of things will change between now and TLT, but looking at some of the teams posted here a few things jump out at me:

1. The Segeyaro/Peats combo is just asking for trouble, given they are probably next in line for their respective states in Origin (Peats especially) and both have been injury prone recently.

2. With everyone so keen on DCE, Thurston could be a brilliant POD at only a few bucks extra.

3. Centre looks a good position to try something a bit different - I see the appeal of Lafai and Hurrell, but there's plenty of other players in the same price range who are just as capable of filling the same role (Leilua, Simona, Hopoate, Mata'utia for example).

4. If the Roosters do end up running with Hastings and Nikorima for an extended period, is anyone worried it might pan out like Brooks/Moses last year and they get hammered with negative stats each week?

Chris McQueen is priced at about 34 average, in games he played 70+ minutes he averaged close to 40. Certainly not the worst bet if you are looking for value around that price and think he'll get minutes at the titans.
2 tries from 12 games in that average, but even discounting them he gets a healthy 37 average.
Averaged 68 minutes overall last year

In 2014 Tony Williams averaged 39 (discounting a couple of games where he started at five-eighth)
Priced at average of 29. If you believe the "contract year" hype then he is very tempting. If he just keeps doing what he's been doing for the past couple years then not so much.


Sauaso Sue
Played 23 games last year. Played 50+ minutes in 13 of them and in those games he only went below his priced average of 36 twice. If you think he'll get an expanded role in the team then he looks like good value. With Joe ledwards reportedly struggling with injury/fitness I think he might be good to start the year.

Lewis Brown - if he gets consistent big minutes at 2nd row then he will at the worst hold his value and provide consistent scores at centre.

White Lightning wrote:This is my team atm. I've gone for the balanced approach to get a strong 17. I don't know how many h2h games I've lost as my 16th & 17th man were crap.

Smith (C), Peats
Woods, Ah Mau, Trbojevic (nuffie)
M. Cooper, Ma'u, Rochow, Tapine (Ualesi, Whitchurch)
DCE, J. Reynolds, Hastings (Taylor/J. Nikorima)
Auva'a, Copley (Henry, MCK)
Ferguson, Slater, Mann (Gutherson, Anderson)

Hookers & frf pretty standard.
2fr - could be JDB instead of Cooper whoever starts at lock. Ma'u played 80 mostly last year & this year will be on the same edge as Jennings & Semi. I can see other teams focusing so much on Jennings & Semi on defense that Ma'u will get plenty of short balls leading to line breaks/tries. Ualesi is there as some guy on a forum who goes down to the Eels trainings said he's lost about 10kg, looks commited & could be a smokie in the 17 for round 1.
hlf - gone with 2 recognised hlfs for balance
ctrs - all I want from my centres is for each to score around 25-30 & anything above this will be a bonus
wfb - Ferguson locked in for me. Same for Mann as looks like he'll be f/b. Slater could easily become Gordon or Mansour.

Yeah nice balanced team, strong bench

Big Nick wrote:
2. With everyone so keen on DCE, Thurston could be a brilliant POD at only a few bucks extra.

4. If the Roosters do end up running with Hastings and Nikorima for an extended period, is anyone worried it might pan out like Brooks/Moses last year and they get hammered with negative stats each week?

Hi Big Nick, Just to comment on 2 of your questions

2. Thurston is $46k more than DCE. That's a reasonable amount of change. But if money was no object then JT would be a great bet

4. Jackson Hastings is a much better defender than Moses/Brooks, and the Roosters are a much better team. I have confidence he will produce useful scores. Jayden Nikorima is much more of an unknown and could do anything. Really we are waiting on how the Pearce situtation resolves before committing but he's just so cheap, and unless Te Maire Martin hits first grade early there may not be any other cheap options. And the extra cash from having him as an NPR allows the rest of your team to be so much better.

Milchcow wrote:

Hi Big Nick, Just to comment on  2 of your questions

2. Thurston is $46k more than DCE. That's a reasonable amount of change. But if money was no object then JT would be a great bet

4. Jackson Hastings is a much better defender than Moses/Brooks, and the Roosters are a much better team. I have confidence he will produce useful scores. Jayden Nikorima is much more of an unknown and could do anything. Really we are waiting on how the Pearce situtation resolves before committing but he's just so cheap, and unless Te Maire Martin hits first grade early there may not be any other cheap options. And the extra cash from having him as an NPR allows the rest of your team to be so much better.

Cheers for the reply mate - I'm leaning heavily towards a Thurston/3 cheaps combo at the moment but I am haunted by the Tigers debacle. I didn't see much of Hastings last year but am happy enough to pick him regardless, but I was a lot more confident in him before the Pearce stuff. I'm also worried we won't see Martin at all this year due to the presence of Will Smith and the potential for Peachey, Cartwright and Moylan to play in the halves if required.

Loomer wrote:


Thanks. Surely McQueen will see increase in minutes?

badbetter wrote:

Good point with that pack...mmm McQueen v Rochow (McQueen would appear to be more of a POD)    

Titans have Taia, Bird, McQueen and Paasi who can all play big minutes. Paasi averaged 60 mins in the last half of the season.

I personally rate Paasi more than McQueen. He really impressed me last season.

Paasi may have average 60 minutes to end the season, but he also averaged 5 missed tackles a game.

Take away his try and his average was a not that impressive 32.

Don't think he''l start over Taia/McQueen/Bird and not enough upside to me, even if he does start

Nikorima isn't even locked in for the Roosters halves spot if Pearce misses time. Much more likely option is Aubbo at 6 with a bench of Niko,Evans,Moa,Taukieaho

Big Nick wrote:Hey all - another old Sportal user here and pretty impressed with what you've done here.

Obviously a ton of things will change between now and TLT, but looking at some of the teams posted here a few things jump out at me:

1. The Segeyaro/Peats combo is just asking for trouble, given they are probably next in line for their respective states in Origin (Peats especially) and both have been injury prone recently.

2. With everyone so keen on DCE, Thurston could be a brilliant POD at only a few bucks extra.

3. Centre looks a good position to try something a bit different - I see the appeal of Lafai and Hurrell, but there's plenty of other players in the same price range who are just as capable of filling the same role (Leilua, Simona, Hopoate, Mata'utia for example).

4. If the Roosters do end up running with Hastings and Nikorima for an extended period, is anyone worried it might pan out like Brooks/Moses last year and they get hammered with negative stats each week?

Welcome. Quality profile pic there mate.

As for your thoughts on players,
1. Yes both should be next in line but that shouldn't scare you of picking them. Would need injuries anyway to get them a spot. And if you get into a position where you are so tight on trades that 12 weeks down the line you can't trade someone out for origin period you have bigger issues than them. Not picking someone because of Origin should be a reason 5/6 weeks into the season, not for the first week. I do agree with you about the injury risk though.
2. He's more than just a small upgrade though. Almost 50k which is the difference between a mid range gun like Mike Cooper/Wade Graham and getting someone like Surgess or Fensom. And I don't think JT has too much growth with his price already pretty high whereas DCE has obvious possible price rises.
3.Agree that there is a lot of options for PODs in the centres with many going for the cheap route here.
4. While JNiko could bomb, Hastings had shown enough fantasy potential in the past that he should do well enough to be a worthwhile pick. One of the main benefits of JNiko though is that his ownership is so high that if he struggles then you don't really lose out by gambling on him as everyone else is generally in the same boat

multiple.scoregasms wrote:Nikorima isn't even locked in for the Roosters halves spot if Pearce misses time. Much more likely option is Aubbo at 6 with a bench of Niko,Evans,Moa,Taukieaho

God damn it MS. Stop ruining our dreams of 3 starting halves under 150k with your stupid logic and commonsense

Milchcow wrote:
Paasi may have average 60 minutes to end the season, but he also averaged 5 missed tackles a game.

Take away his try and his average was a not that impressive 32.

Don't think he''l start over Taia/McQueen/Bird and not enough upside to me, even if he does start

I agree Paasi is not a Fantasy option and I do not think he will start any games.
My point was more that I do not see McQueen getting more minutes at the Titans.

Is Fensom well priced to start the season with?

Loomer wrote:Is Fensom well priced to start the season with?

I'm weary because of his broken arm and the mystery surrounding the minutes for the Raiders back row.