The Fantasy King: Round 25

More of the same. That is what we are destined to be dished up following the announcement of the new TV rights deal. And while I’m sure Nick will discuss at greater length the gutlessness of the ARLC in ignoring this opportunity to forge ahead with a new and better way of presenting this great game to Australia and the world, from a fantasy standpoint it’s particularly disappointing. It essentially means that for the foreseeable future we’re stuck with the frustration of byes and player availability issues which routinely cripple the fantasy competition. And when well over a third of the year is so affected it is to the eternal detriment of NRL fantasy as a concept. Well, I guess now it’s over to Supercoach and Dream Team to come up with better ways of running the competition. I’m not holding my breath though. Here’s this week’s action:

Backs on Fire

It’s a funny old weekend of fantasy when all Supercoach century makers are backs. Throw Brett Stewart into the mix and five of this week’s top ten scorers wear 1-7. Okay, my man Ben Te’o is technically a forward but you know what I mean. Speaking of Te’o, my fears last week proved unfounded, and he still carved up despite the return of Corey Parker. With Alex Glenn also coming into the mix this weekend that could change but I’m not going to write him off given the form he’s in.

There was a backline centurion at the Panthers too, but not the one you might expect. Michael Gordon, fantasy wizard and my pick of the week last round, had an unfathomably meagre haul. The man he replaced at fullback this year however, Lachlan Coote, absolutely destroyed it. He was instrumental in Penrith’s narrow victory and capped off a month of good fantasy form with a well deserved century. As for Gordon, I’m at a loss. Will he score some points this week? Who knows. I’m kind of hoping he doesn’t, as that will mean he starts at a ridiculously cheap price next year. He’s likely to be an absolute steal regardless, depending on the Sharks’ plans for him.

The Usual Suspects

It wasn’t just the backs scoring however, as there were points on offer everywhere. Gallen and Parker are both back to their best, while Nate Myles is in rare form. Thurston, Woods, Fensom and Burgess were just a few of the big guns who came out firing. The only disappointment was Nathan Hindmarsh, who I of course named captain. Thanks Hindy. With so many points on offer it’s no wonder scores were high across the board. Even with my captaincy fail I still managed my best score for the year.

Hooker Horrors

In what must be a crushing blow to anyone who held on to him through his lengthy suspension, Isaac Luke has been dropped for this weekend’s match. There have been indications all season that Maguire’s opinion of the niggling kiwi is less than stellar, and this came to a head on Saturday night when Luke was given less than a full half of game time. Nathan Peats is obviously the big winner in this scenario, and scored heavily at times during Luke’s judiciary-enforced absence.

Then there’s Robbie Farah’s broken hand. Certainly not what I needed at this stage of the year with zero trades remaining. He has said he’s determined to make it back this season, and depending on how the Tigers do against the Roosters I think there’s a chance he’ll get rushed in for round 26, the fantasy Grand Final. Maybe wishful thinking on my part, but if the Tigers find themselves in a win-and-in situation come the final regular season game he might be required to play through the pain.

That said, if you have the trades, he, like Luke, is a must sell. There’s no use leaving trades in the bank with every head-to-head contest sudden death, and there’s plenty of great replacements in the likes of Aaron Woods, Sam Burgess, James Graham and of course Mitch Rein, who had yet another great game. I’ll say it again- he WILL be in the top tier of fantasy hookers next year.

The Out of Coal Train

What has gone wrong with big Dave Taylor? After a run of great scores I had him earmarked as about to take that next step and become a true fantasy stayer. Since I made that pronouncement he has been practically useless. I mentioned that it was good to see an improvement in his work rate, but it seems of late that work rate has come at the expense of the attacking points he could usually be relied upon for. He made 33 tackles (mitigated by 5 missed tackles) and had 12 hit ups against the Sharks, but no line breaks, no offloads and obviously no tries or assists. I’m just hoping he can turn it on against the Eels this weekend. They’re no longer the pushovers they’ve been for much of the season, but at his best Taylor will run through them all day. We’ll see how that pans out.