2016 NRL.com Fantasy thread part 42

Re Semi. I was watching the "Back Page" tonight & there is only 1 flight left for him to board from Suva in order for him to make the last training run & so far he's not on it. So if he's not on it he won't play.
Also Foran has been stripped of the captaincy & been fined because he hasn't been going to his reabilitation/councilling sessions as he was ordered to do. In others words he's been sitting around doing nothing & not keeping his end of the bargain. He must be really messed up the poor guy.

wolfking wrote:If Semi is gone I'm thinking;

Lolo --> Copely (ugh!)
Semi --> Merrin

then Parcell to Friend next week.  Don't want Copely but he plays 18.

Do you really want to be stuck with Copley as an a.e. You'd be better off going to a nuffie because in reality he'll only score 10-20 points in round 18.

StuDogg101 wrote:With Parcell not named and Friend et al not impressing at the moment I'm seriously considering running FRF, 2RFx2 and HLF as my 4 reserves in my final team. A Parcell downgrade plus what I have in the bank would easily fund whichever 2 forwards I like over the next couple of weeks.

this is really an intruiging idea that i hadnt considered.... is it really so crazy?

Stinkbug wrote:
this is really an intruiging idea that i hadnt considered.... is it really so crazy?

My shopping list was going to be Friend, Merrin or Fifita, and a half (DCE or JT probably)

However now that I've thought about it, I could get Merrin AND Fifita instead. Cleary is going well so could very well be a keeper, but I could still upgrade him if so desired. My team would then be

Smith
JBrom, Graham, Fifita
Surgess, JTrbo, James, Cartwright, Merrin
Hunt, SJ, Cleary
BJ, Holland
Teddy, Munster, Barba

Gutherson would be next in line for a downgrade if I decided to upgrade Holland. I might also want Walker over Barba. Basically just trying to think about as many different scenarios as possible.

StuDogg101 wrote:With Parcell not named and Friend et al not impressing at the moment I'm seriously considering running FRF, 2RFx2 and HLF as my 4 reserves in my final team. A Parcell downgrade plus what I have in the bank would easily fund whichever 2 forwards I like over the next couple of weeks.

You say friend isn't impressing.

He still has a 5 game average of 53.
It is admittedly a couple of points shy of playing an extra FRF/2RF instead. But I like the flexibility of having a backup hooker in case Smith goes down.

I am looking at Rein instead of Friend, his recent form is slightly better, so have to see if he can maintain it for the run home.

Also whilst looking at 5 game averages, Jason Taumalolo currently 2nd behind Ryan James for second rowers. If you want a POD and don't want Podene you could do worse.


edit: Taumalolo isn't really a POD. More people own him than own Ryan James (or Fifita, Merrin, Gallen to name a few)

The NFL model is the way to go. Teams have to submit daily reports on players and their chance of playing using standardised terms like Probable, Questionable, Out ect. If someone is injured and no report made then doesnt play they are fined, if listed as Probable but then dont play this needs to be justified or can be fined.

So 2 weeks ago no-one had any idea Munster was even injured, he should have been listed as out and maybe at best questionable (though naming as questionable and then being out for 3 weeks could take some explaining)

I can't believe it.... but I'm actually considering upgrading Guth -> Inglis as my keeper come Rd 19. I'd love someone else but I'm just not sure the timing will work out or I'll have the cash at the time. Here's my thinking

Teddy has bottomed out (at least if he is going back to scoring at what you'd hope) and is almost 30K more before any rises (which does feel like its definitely worth it, I'm just not sure I can find that 30K, struggling to find cash for Inglis as is).
Walker I've missed, more expensive than Teddy and a lower BE.
I could gamble on Rapana coming good again as he may be well priced by then and the Raiders do
TTrbo... eh can't bring myself to consider him whilst not playing FB, even if he goes ok I'm not sure its keeper lvl.

It seems bonkers, but as I'd like to keep Cleary and bring in in Hardaker as my 18th man, I might just have to go with it.

Having too many forwards making it very hard to get Merrin

Maybe just wait till Rd19 when Carty is a dual half and do it that way haha

Bren wrote:
300 points behind the leader after round 1 doesnt mean you cant win the comp. The players you have can bounce back the following week to even it out. Point is judging a side after their round 1 score is ridiculous unless it was a noob who didnt do any research whatsoever.

Well you can do all the research in the world but then you get Lichaa/Segy both going down injured first round along with Benry. There's 3 trades there alone without trying to work out what to do with Ah Mau who you planned on getting more minutes.
Kane Evans in the same boat, expected more from him early.

So you are probably right, guess I am a noob

No Munster means I have to play Gutherson (or S'ua or Copley if I feel like a risk)

But otherwise getting to full strength. Which sadly for me is not as strong as some other teams so all I can do is keep plugging away and hope for a good run with injuries.

By the way, the rules currently state that we get 2 trades next week (when 8 teams play), and 3 trades the week after (when 12 teams play)

I'm expecting that is wrong and we'll get the 2 trades next week, but I suspect there's a few people around who'd be happy for us to get the trades as listed.

Milchcow wrote:

You say friend isn't impressing.

He still has a 5 game average of 53.
It is admittedly a couple of points shy of playing an extra FRF/2RF instead. But I like the flexibility of having a backup hooker in case Smith goes down.

I am looking at Rein instead of Friend, his recent form is slightly better, so have to see if he can maintain it for the run home.

Also whilst looking at 5 game averages, Jason Taumalolo currently 2nd behind Ryan James for second rowers. If you want a POD and don't want Podene you could do worse.


edit: Taumalolo isn't really a POD. More people own him than own Ryan James (or Fifita, Merrin, Gallen to name a few)

Maybe I should have added "impressing as much" lol I just think Fifita+Merrin is going to be just as productive (if not moreso) as Friend+Fifita or Friend+Merrin. I have no good reason why I want Fifita and Merrin instead of Mannering/Bodene etc to be honest lol I'd get Merrin this week solely for another body next week who would also double as a keeper.

It's true that having a backup to Smith is a good idea but I will still have trades to move him on if he does get injured (as long as he's not a late withdrawal on a Monday night game), and even if I have to play an AE I'd still have to play some average mofo if one of my other players went down anyway.

Is Semi and Parcell to Mansour and Friend a deluded idea?

Both play every round from here on out and while obviously Friend is a keeper, Mansours numbers and try scoring have improved over the last few rounds. Maybe worth a shot

What do you guys think

StuDogg101 wrote:

Maybe I should have added "impressing as much" lol I just think Fifita+Merrin is going to be just as productive (if not moreso) as Friend+Fifita or Friend+Merrin. I have no good reason why I want Fifita and Merrin instead of Mannering/Bodene etc to be honest lol I'd get Merrin this week solely for another body next week who would also double as a keeper.

It's true that having a backup to Smith is a good idea but I will still have trades to move him on if he does get injured (as long as he's not a late withdrawal on a Monday night game), and even if I have to play an AE I'd still have to play some average mofo if one of my other players went down anyway.

I think it depends on how your team is setup at the moment, and how any trades you have left.

If you were setting up a 'perfect 17' from scratch from the run in, you would probably just have 1 hooker. But limited trades and cash for many mean that the perfect 17 won't be attainable and they'll have to do the best they can.

Personally I'll have 2 scoring hookers. The potential loss of a couple of point is covered by flexibility. If Cam Smith cops an injury-suspension for the last few games after I've run out of trades, I'd rather replace him with my 18th best player than cop an AE for every game he misses

According to Josh Massoud, Semi did NOT make the flight back tonight and won't be at training Wednesday.

But then there is a comment on his twitter page from a guest stating he was on the same flight as Semi yesterday, so who knows what to believe.

https://twitter.com/josh_massoud


The fucker, kick him out of the NRL for good if he's not at training Wednesday.

To think I could've traded him to Teddy last week, really pisses me off.

Top 5 players for each position based on form over the last 3 rounds:
Hooker - Smith, Luke, Rein, Ennis, Lichaa
FRF - James, Fifita, Graham, Gallen, N. Brown
2FR - James, Mannering, Bodene, Taumalolo, Cartwright
HLF - SJ, Cleary, C. Walker, Norman, DCE
CTR - D. Walker, Hopoate, Holland, T-Trbo, Aitken
WFB - Munster, C. Walker, Radradra, Tedesco, Hopoate, T-Trbo (I put 6 as even though Munster is no. 1 he hasn't played for the last 3 games)

A couple of pod's there like Ennis, Taumalolo, Bodene & N. Brown.

Milchcow wrote:


I think it depends on how your team is setup at the moment, and how any trades you have left.

If you were setting up a 'perfect 17' from scratch from the run in, you would probably just have 1 hooker. But limited trades and cash for many mean that the perfect 17 won't be attainable and they'll have to do the best they can.

Personally I'll have 2 scoring hookers. The potential loss of a couple of point is covered by flexibility. If Cam Smith cops an injury-suspension for the last few games after I've run out of trades, I'd rather replace him with my 18th best player than cop an AE for every game he misses

I have 10 trades left which I think is probably average? FWIW this week I'm probably going to go Williame-NPR and Aloiai-Merrin and then reevaluate the Friend scenario next week (the plus side of this being that Parcell isn't changing in price and Friend is likely to continue to come down)

StuDogg101 wrote:

Milchcow wrote:


I think it depends on how your team is setup at the moment, and how any trades you have left.

If you were setting up a 'perfect 17' from scratch from the run in, you would probably just have 1 hooker. But limited trades and cash for many mean that the perfect 17 won't be attainable and they'll have to do the best they can.

Personally I'll have 2 scoring hookers. The potential loss of a couple of point is covered by flexibility. If Cam Smith cops an injury-suspension for the last few games after I've run out of trades, I'd rather replace him with my 18th best player than cop an AE for every game he misses

I have 10 trades left which I think is probably average? FWIW this week I'm probably going to go Williame-NPR and Aloiai-Merrin and then reevaluate the Friend scenario next week (the plus side of this being that Parcell isn't changing in price and Friend is likely to continue to come down)

I reckon 10 would be better than average Stu; 7 could be closer to the mark.