GreenSchist Team Post

Thought I would give this a crack, even though I'm a bit late to the party.

Firstly, a brief introduction.
I initially got into Fantasy NRL back in the early 10's, back when Corey Parker and Cam Smith were God Tier and even the likes of Gallen reached must have status. My Sportal name at the time was OreBaron. Not sure if anyone was around at that time or remembers me. Unlikely I ever had a Top 500 finish.
I owned (and got burned by) Teddy during his Rookie season, which I believe may have been my final season of Fantasy. In part this is likely due to the fact it coincided with the dark years of Warriors fandome, but also cause I just didnt have access to watching much league due to it not being a hobby of my then girlfirend (now wife). In that time I have been heavily into my Fantasy NBA, which still takes up a large chunk of my spare time and viewership.
Fast forward to today, and I have got back into League, in large part due to the males on my wife's side of the family being very passionate about it. Naturally, if I was gonna start watching games again, I had to check out the current state of business with Fantasy!

My initial team (bold are no longer in my squad):
Grant
Haas, Murray, Carrigan
Fifita, Hopgood
T.Boyd, A.Doueihi
HSS, Alamoti
Miller, Warbrick, Talau

Tapine, E.Katoa, Ford, Trindall

Preston, I.Katoa, Blore, Doorey

Team make-up pre Rd 1 was determined by two main points:
1. Established Guns and cash generation
2. Don't waste money in the shit show that is WFB/CTR. It takes way more than just preseason to figure out which players are firing in their roles.
Grant, Haas and Murray were the established guns. Everyone else was a dart throw on a player I thought had room to generated cash.

My strategy since then has been simple and stems from the mistakes made during the early years.
1. Do not second guess myself. If an asset smells rotten, it probably is so ditch it quick;
2. Make cash and make it fast. Essentially take a risk and don't wait too long to let cash cows pass you by, even if it means trading out established players;

Rd 1 - Overall Rank/Score = 1571/864;
Post round trade/s:
OUT: Tapine, Blore
IN: Cartwright, BMM
CAPTAIN: Murray (66 points)

Tapine's role and 45 points weren't exactly what I had in mind when I picked him. The reduced minutes and lack of attacking stats, when combined with Sticky, I really didn't see much room fro growth, which as mentioned earlier, was my priority early on. Plenty of chance to bring him back in for Origin. I think Blore copped a multi week HIA and Cartwright was obvious after his Rd 1 80 min performance. I had witnessed and been a part of his Party's before.
BMM was a monumental misjudgement.


Rd 2 - Overall Rank/Score = 238/1715;
Round rank/score = 2361/851
Post round trade/s:
OUT: Boyd, Talau
IN: SJ, Walsh,
CAPTAIN: Hopgood (85 points)

SJ and Walsh both passed the eye test and looked to have roles which would translate to points. Might have jumped the gun on outting Boyd but no regrets with those two moves.


Rd 3 - Overall Rank/Score = 75/2582;
Round rank/score = 2079/867
Post round trade/s:
OUT: HSS, Doueihi
IN: Burton, Lemuelu
CAPTAIN: Hopgood (35 points)

Burton looked to be bottoming out and Lem was a decent cash grab with a chance to guarantee some much needed points in my center position. Doueihi turf toe and uncertainty about role going forward meant he was an easy out. Captain… rough pick here. Got too caught up in last weeks score rather than choosing the proven guns.


Rd 4 - Overall Rank/Score = 10/3597;
Round rank/score = 2095/1015
Post round trade/s:
OUT: Carrigan, Doorey
IN: Hosking, Brailey
CAPTAIN: Grant (51 Points)

Hosking looked like a must have cow, even if it was only a 2-3 week deal the $$ would be valuable. That meant someone needed to go to fund the trade, so unfortunately Carrigan was surplus to requirements - He would have been an out over Origin anyway. Got lucky here as Carrigan shit the bed with a 35 point effort.
Brailey looked like another bottomed out mid tier player who I could potentially ride up and trade to an established gun. Good trade, although hindsight suggests this trade has backfired.


Rd 5 - Overall Rank/Score = 3/4668;
Round rank/score = 434/1071
Post round trade/s:
OUT: Hopgood, Cartwright
IN: Cleary, Sele
CAPTAIN: Haas (73 Points)

I'm writing this before Monday nights Eels game, so no idea how this plays out. It could show that I traded both players out well before their peak.
The justification is that it allowed me to get Cleary, who went on to score a 100


If you've read this far, thank you and I hope I haven't bored you.
I'll post next weeks plans up shortly.

Chur

This is a great write up mate. Looking forward to the continued story.

Awesome stuff. I feel you on the BMM trade, made the same mistake.

Wish I had opted for SJ and kept Boyd, so from my perspective you made the right call.

We have made very similar moves, I have selected poor Captains comparatively.

Good luck going forward.. the winning strategy so far.

Thank you for sharing. It is always interesting to see how other people play.

Great read, shame you didn’t have the C on Cleary this week buddy!
Your trades seem ahead of the game, keep up the great work!

Thanks for the initial feedback team.

Rd 6 -
Overall Rank/Score = 3/5641
Round Rank/Score = 1065/973
CAPTAIN: Haas (77 Points)
Team Value = $12.647m

Pretty good round this week. Unable to crack 1000 for the third week in a row, although that could have been very different if I had followed the crowd and captained Cleary! Lesson learnt, he will be Captain Chin here on out. 30 points total from Alamoti and Warbrick hurt and had me worried early on.
Hopgood out looks like the right call, especially as it allowed a Cleary trade. Carty played well but same old story - someone had to go to supply the cash needed. Sele did what I expect and good to see him keep plodding along. Should continue to generate cash with the news Tatola is out for about a month.

Looking to the future, I'll be maxing out my trades with an eye towards Origin and the big Bye rounds.
This will bring my total trades saved this season to 0!

Brailey + Trindall + Alamoti --> Bird + Teddy + Weekes

Before everyone starts yelling at me to save my trades, hear me out.
Both Brailey and Trindall or obvious sells. My next obvious sell is Warbrick. If I look to cement my WFB/CTR positions whilst also keeping an eye on Origin period, then Bird and Teddy are great options. Bird has great bye coverage, while Teddy is near his basement price and will be a keeper through to season end.

Bird plays 13, 14, 15,17, 18, 19
Teddy 14, 15, 18, 20

In order to get both those players in, I need to switch Warbrick for Alamoti. Not a big deal, as in my forward projections Alamoti is excess to requirements during the Origin bye period (I have both Bird and Lemuele). Round 16 remains an issue for Centers but I can fix that at the time. I still need WFB/CTR coverage which I intend to fix before Round 9 when I trade out Warbrick.
This also leads into why I'm picking Weekes. He's the perfect Turbo cover. He'll start at FB Round 13 and 16, and possibly even 14, 17 and 20 if Turbo is rested during the Origin period.

With no urgent tradeouts (fingers crossed for no further injuries), I can reduce my trades over the coming weeks until Round 13.

Weeks 8-13: BMM + Warbrick OUT, Crossland + (cheap CTR cover) IN
Week 9: Grant OUT, Robson IN
Week 13: Murray OUT, Tohu IN
Week 13: Burton OUT, Matterson IN

Leaves me with some extremely good coverage over the Origin bye period.
Plan is to keep Haas through Origin but I could easily trade him out for someone like D.Brown/Moses or another bye friendly gun.
My preliminary team come Round 13 would be (players in bold are playing Round 13:

Robson
Tohu, Matterson, Sele
Ford, Hosking
I.Katoa, SJ
Lemuele, Bird,
Walsh, Miller, Teddy

Cleary, Haas, Fifita, E.Katoa
Crossland, Weekes, Preston, CTR cheapy

That gives me 12/13 spots filled with minimal planning.
Crossland obviously isn't a lock and I still need to sort out Round 19 Hooker cover (Round 16 as well if I don't go Crossland and he doesn't get dual position).

That essentially takes me to Round 15 with only burning an additional 5 trades on top of this weeks. Not sure what the target is for trades in hand at that point of the season but have to think I'd be around average. Just need to be disciplined from here on out.

Keepers (in my team already) for the run home would include:
Robson?
Matterson?
Tohu?
E.Katoa?
Fifita
Preston
SJ
Cleary
Bird
Miller
Walsh

Maybe add Haas to that list?
That's 11-12 players I don't need to worry about trading out/in for the stretch home, which has me feeling pretty go at this point

I don't need to do anything crazy, just keep fielding a team and stay the course.


Hope that wasn't too long and convoluted to follow.
Any and all advice/critiques welcome!

Kia Kaha

TLT all but confirms my trades.

OUT: Trindall + Brailey + Alamoti
IN: Bird + Teddy + Weekes

Grant
Haas, Murray, Ford
Fifita, E.Katoa
Cleary (C), SJ,
Bird, Lemuele
Miller, Walsh, Teddy

Preston, Hosking, Burton, Sele

I.Katoa, Warbrick, BMM, Weekes

Rd 7 -
Overall Rank/Score = 1/6449
Round Rank/Score = 5158/808
CAPTAIN: Cleary (56 Points)
Team Value = $??

Absolutely amazed that I'm sitting in Top spot after 7 weeks. Full credit to the collective brains from all the contributors on this forum. Not sure how long it lasts, but I'm enjoying the journey and feeling blessed.

Trade ins this week were:

Brailey + Trindall + BMM for Tedesco + Couchman + Luke

Despite three absolute flops of trade, my initial trade assessment isn't really worth worrying about after one round. I was able to offload 3 players that weren't scoring and weren't generating any cash, so low risk in that regard.
A poor scoring week, however that looks to be the case for everyone. Cracking the 800 mark seemed to be difficult for a lot of people. A disappointing Cleary as captain doesn't appear to have affected my rank too much due to following the mob and the majority of the Top 1000 captaining him, although I wish I had just kept the C on Haas for the extra 20 points.

[Tedesco - 36 Points] Disappointing performance from Teddy, although still managed to effortlessly get to 36 points. Obviously not what I brought him in for but I'm not judging the trade on a single performance (or even the season to date). Teddy will remain in my team for the remainder of the season, barring injury, so I'm happy to ride the mediocre performances in the hope that there will be a few 70+ weeks.

[Couchman - 13 Points] Appeared to be an obvious pickup for position 18-21 for most teams, due to the apparent established role and low BE, with the hope of keeping the cash gen ticking upwards. Anthony Griffin needs to be fired.

[S.Luke - 23 Points] Made a mistake in playing him in my 17, but that was largely due to my uncertainty in playing Warbrick, Couchman, I.Katoa and Sele in that spot. Turns out I could have chosen 3 of those 4 for better production.
Luke was a late inclusion, over B.Smith. Ultimately it came down to the low cost and ultimately reduced risk associated with that. The $150k I saved from that switch can be better used elsewhere in my team.
Next week I should hopefully be in a position where i can keep Luke in Emergency and just let him generate cash and only play when my starting Hooker has a bye. Not having an option to Loop is hurting me a bit atm.


Plan going forward is to try and save some trades, with the only trades I make pre Round 13 being part of Origin bye planning. No fires in my team that require immediate attention.
At some point over the next few rounds, I'm looking at the following:

Trade Out
Burton
Warbrick
Grant
Alamoti
Murray

Trade In
Bird
Robson/JMK
Tohu
Matterson
Moses

Ford and E.Katoa are on watch, and it may be worth trading them out once they've looked to peak. I had thought they might have potential as season long keepers, however the inconsistency is not something I'm all that keen on dealing with week in, week out. Ford will be valuable over Origin, so hopefully he holds his starting spot in the Warriors, despite looking a bit rough the past few weeks. E.Katoa to a more consistent Frizell could be on the cards.

This low scoring and erratic week does have me considering a couple of sideways trades to lock up a higher floor for some players.
A Burton and E.Katoa trade to Moses and Bird does seem tempting and helps with my bye coverage....
At this rate, I wont have any trades left come Origin!

Good to see a few more Fanatics jumping up the rankings. Think there were three of us in the Top 10 overall, pre the Sunday games!!

Nice write up, like your future plans

Amazing rank king may it continue

Think tedesco will come good, has a nice run of games and roosters will improve

I own some bulldogs players and am jumping off them, too many one sided results and their injury toll seems like it will continue

Good luck mate

Congrats GS - you're absolutely flying.
I also brought in Teddy and Couchman this week as well - I don't feel too worried about either, Teddy is pure pedigree and Coachman looks a quality player - I'm sure he'll get the time in games to come. It's easy to regret timing, but sometimes waiting a week is more punishing...

Great to see that you are forward planning, it should hold you in good stread going forwards!
In the meantime, enjoy being numero uno - not many can say they've seen the view from the top of the mountain

Well done mate you should be very proud of sitting 1st it is a brilliant achievement you’re braining it.

Just on Grant I’m interested in why you might sell over origin? I think he will split mins with Bunt and Storm will be fighting for a spot in the bottom of top 4 and I feel they don’t have the luxury to really rest him. With him not playing massive mins in origin I’d expect he will be backing up as well just might get the odd early shower over this period but should still be playing big mins for the Storm.

easytiger wrote:Congrats GS - you're absolutely flying.
I also brought in Teddy and Couchman this week as well - I don't feel too worried about either, Teddy is pure pedigree and Coachman looks a quality player - I'm sure he'll get the time in games to come. It's easy to regret timing, but sometimes waiting a week is more punishing...

Great to see that you are forward planning, it should hold you in good stread going forwards!
In the meantime, enjoy being numero uno - not many can say they've seen the view from the top of the mountain

Thanks ET.
The bit that sold me on Couchman was his size and potential at only 19 years old. Hopefully that translates to more of a consistent role but agree that it's not time to panic yet.

Great to see you in the Top 15 as well. Awesome work!
I'll be keeping a close eye on you for the remainder of the season but wish you nothing but the best of luck and good fantasy fortune. 56 points is easy to make up over any round, especially those Origin byes.

Rabbits21 wrote:Well done mate you should be very proud of sitting 1st it is a brilliant achievement you’re braining it.

Just on Grant I’m interested in why you might sell over origin? I think he will split mins with Bunt and Storm will be fighting for a spot in the bottom of top 4 and I feel they don’t have the luxury to really rest him. With him not playing massive mins in origin I’d expect he will be backing up as well just might get the odd early shower over this period but should still be playing big mins for the Storm.

Cheers Rabs,
Yea Grant is an interesting one. I had originally, planned on keeping him but having looked at my bye planner, it's gonna be difficult to keep all of Haas, Cleary and Grant and generate enough cash to bring in the players I need for bye coverage.
I also was a bit concerned about rest over that period but you bring up a good point regarding the Storm chasing wins and not having the luxury of resting him.

Essentially, Grant would be questionable to play all of his games over that period. hose being Rds 14, 15, 17 and 18.
I would still need to find Hooker cover for Rds 13 and 19, due to Soni Luke/Panthers having byes on those rounds.

GarethEllisismyDad wrote:Nice write up, like your future plans

Amazing rank king may it continue

Think tedesco will come good, has a nice run of games and roosters will improve

I own some bulldogs players and am jumping off them, too many one sided results and their injury toll seems like it will continue

Good luck mate

Cheers Gaz, always appreciate your insight.

Bulldogs players are a bit of a concern, biggest for me being Burton.
Preston I'm quite keen to hold over Origin for his coverage. Likewise with Alamoti, more so due to the recent underwhelming performances from Lemuelu and whether he actually has a starting spot over that period.
After Origin, i don't think I want either of them.

OUT: Burton, E.Katoa,

IN: Manu, Bird

Will try and bank the third trade, with the idea of trading Warbrick and Alamoti to some decent cheapies over the next few weeks. Essentially I don't trust any of the cheap options atm and guys like Host and Crossland are annoyingly priced for cashout options. Had considered going Lemuelu to TPJ but not convinced TPJ is worth the risk or that it's indeed time to get rid of Lemuelu yet. This might become a bit clearer next week.

Team for Round 8:

Grant
Haas, Ford, Murray
Fifita, Hosking
Cleary (C), SJ
Bird, Manu
Teddy, Miller, Walsh

Preston, Alamoti, Lemuelu, I.Katoa

S.Luke, Couchman, Sele, Warbrick


Starting 13 is strong, meanwhile 14-17 will temporarily be understrength as I start to plan for the Origin byes. Should be able to strengthen this part of the roster by downgrading my Emergency's to emerging basement priced cows and upgrading the 15-17 spots (keen to hold Preston through Origin due to his coverage).

Finalising my week 8 trades.

Manu, JMK and Oloapu IN
Burton, Alamoti and Warbrick OUT

Couldn't pull the trigger on Dunster, Bula or Nikorima. Just zero upside and too much risk that I just get left with their low scores.
Seems to be a lot of chat about Oloapu getting a crack and the injuries and reshuffling of Burton at the Doggies has me intrigued. It might not happen this week but it looks like it will happen. All upside baby!

Captain Chin for a big one tonight.

Like these, good luck

Olaopu is a question of when not if

The others really aren’t too enticing

Rd 8
Overall Rank/Score = 4/7356
Round Rank/Score = 1706/905
CAPTAIN: Cleary (63 Points)
Squad Value = $13.04M
Trades Remaining: 20

A decent round score of 905, without being spectacular, manages to see me stick up near the front of the pack and only 40 points off the leader. Easy Tiger jumped up to 2nd overall with another stellar effort and I've just gotta say that I'm stoked to have another Fanatic up near the top!

Managed to avoid the disappointment of Host, in large part cause I never considered him as I already had Sele. JMK didn't do much but I'll continue to hold him until after Round 19.
Looks like I may have pulled the trigger on Burton too early and as with everyone else, probably should have traded out E.Katoa in his place. I get to wait another week on Oloapu to make his first First Grade appearance, although this is surely only a matter of time (J Reynolds is surely not the answer to the Bulldogs woes).

Trades this week are again going to be focussed solely on bye scheduling and planning, which means I'm gonna have to pass on players I would otherwise love to bring in (MoFo, Cheese, Cotter). I'm also gonna have to navigate the loss of Haas and Grant for the week, both of which I will be holding.
As such, I'm keeping it real simple:

OUT: E.Katoa + Murray
IN: Bird + JDB

Murray was always an out for me before Rd 13, so this just brings this forward a little bit. JDB can hopefully get within 10 points of where Muzza would this week, although I am expecting another tough low scoring week for Muz against a tough Bronco's side (made less intimidating by the loss of Haas).
Bird looks to still be making money, so it's now or never for my bye plan. He will be a hold through to the end of the season, rounding out my CTR rotation of Lem, Bird and Manu.
Considered bringing in Sipley for Couchman but this is the definition of sideways trading. If Couch continues to get minutes, he could plod himself to a serviceable 30 points come round 13 and make a small amount of money in the process (definite trade out Rd 14).

With two more planned trades before Rd 13, I should be able to field the following team for the first major bye round, while holding the likes of Cleary, Haas,Teddy, Fifita through Origin.


HOK   Marshall-King
Mid Couchman
Mid Sele
Mid JDB
Edge Ford
Edge Hopgood
Half Johnson
Half I.Katoa
CTR Lemuelu
CTR Bird
WFB Walsh
WFB Miller
WFB Drinkwater

Spoiler alert - I plan to bring in both Hopgood and Drinkwater as Origin cover

My team is feeling very generic but I figure there's plenty of time to change that after Origin.
As always, any thoughts and critiques are welcome

Full strength side - As of Round 8 (post trades)

Grant
Haas, JBD, Ford
Fifita, Hosking,
SJ, CLeary,
Bird, Lemuelu
Miller, Walsh, Teddy,

Manu, Preston, JMK, Sele

I.Katoa, S.Luke, Oloapu, Couchman

$162 ITB

Round 9 Trades locked in:

OUT: Murray, Grant, E.Katoa
IN: Hynes, Bird, Cheese

Will look to trade in Hopgood and Tatola (maybe JDB) over the next 2 weeks, hopefully flicking on S.Luke and maybe Hosking (if his reduced minutes continue and he's looked to plateau).

17 trades used, plan to enter Round 14 with 15 trades in hand.