The Fantasy King: Round 21
By Mick Adams
There was carnage everywhere in Round 20. Between injuries and suspensions most fantasy players will be struggling to field a competitive team this weekend. Way too many to list here, so be sure to check out relevant websites before selecting squads and making trades. Keep an eye out for the late mail too, as even among players named there are doubts. I will be monitoring the situation closely right until lockout as there is uncertainty all over the place.
As such, most of the talking points this week relate to the negative side of fantasy. In this week’s shame corner:
Todd Carney
Staggering. I didn’t see the Sharks game on Sunday, so when I checked my score later and saw that Carney had come out with one solitary Supercoach point, I assumed he must have been carted off injured. I later checked the match reports and various casualty ward lists and was perplexed when I couldn’t find his name anywhere.
Turns out he just had an absolute shocker of a game. And with the wheels seemingly coming off at the Sharks after successive losses to teams in the bottom half of the competition (preceded by the draw with the 14thplaced Roosters) Carney’s form dip is troubling both to Sharks fans and Fantasy players. Carney needs to be setting up tries and kicking goals to be an effective fantasy player. Gallen’s return to the lineup this weekend should obviously help matters, and you would think they will account for the Panthers easily enough on Saturday night, but with some difficult matches to come they run a chance of missing the eight altogether if they can’t turn it around. As a Dragons fan who takes delight in any Cronulla misfortune, that would be great. As a Carney owner in a team besieged by injuries, it would be catastrophic. Up, up, Cronulla!
The King is Dead?
We will wait and see how Gallen comes back from injury, but Corey Parker’s long reign as fantasy’s premier player is seemingly over. Gallen has thoroughly outperformed him this season, and Parker’s output post-Origin has been quite disappointing. Obviously that’s all relative, and you’d take a 75 from most players week to week. But Parker is held to a different standard, and by that standard he’s had a poor year. He hasn’t cracked a ton once this season and is no longer a lock for captain each week. Additionally there is an injury cloud over him despite being named for the Broncos game on Monday night, so he is a definite no as captain this week.
His reign may be over, but he is still going to get good scores every week and the meagre hauls he’s been getting should mean that he will start at a very affordable price next year. And since everyone owns him anyway you’re not really missing out if he doesn’t get a great score. It just makes the captaincy choice crucial, and it’s a gamble wherever you look. Cameron Smith has been so-so, Fensom and Hindmarsh up and down. Farah has been good but had his score affected by shifting to the halves to alleviate the Tigers’ injury woes on Monday night, and given that seemingly half their team is ruled out or under a cloud, this could continue to be a factor. Possible captaincy bolter is James Graham, who has been named to start this week after coming off the bench for most of the year.
Travis Burns
Looking at his stats, he was actually on his way to a half decent score until the brain explosion that will unquestionably end his season. I mainly wanted to mention him as in one of the few things I got right this year, I suggested after round 6 that Burns owners sell him to maximise on their investment, fearing he was not good enough to keep his scores up. That round 6 price point turned out to be his peak, and he has been steadily on the decline since, falling nearly 100k from that high. And yeah, I could fill a whole column on things I’ve got wrong this year, but I just wanted to make the point. Go me.
Feleti Mateo
Damn you Feleti. I had promised myself to make this column a Mateo free zone after oscillating between praise and damnation for the Warriors second rower in the first half of the season. I removed him from my squad midway through the year, tired of the subpar scores week to week. He has carved up pretty much every week since then, and is second only to Paul Gallen in Supercoach centuries this season. To make matters worse I sold him for well under what he’s currently worth. Damn him.
Konrad Hurrell
Quiet in his return from injury. With Simon Mannering out for at least a week, Hurrell owners will be desperate for a return to the form he has been in for much of the past couple of months. I don’t need this shit Konrad, just score some bloody points on Saturday.
