There were some big scores across the board in NRL Fantasy this weekend, with a lot of popular buys getting the job done – but one Fantasy legend wasn't one of them.
Winners
Sharks trio Luke Lewis (89), Valentine Holmes (84) and Wade Graham (73) all got amongst the tries in Cronulla's record-breaking 62-0 win over the Knights in Newcastle and went big in Fantasy, as did in-form Storm forward Tohu Harris (81) and freakish Broncos five-eighth Anthony Milford (81).
Raiders stars Joey Leilua (79), Elliott Whitehead (77), Jordan Rapana (73) and Jarrod Croker (67) all impressed despite Canberra letting victory slip through their hands in extra-time against the Dragons, while Fantasy's most popular captain Cameron Smith starred once again with 76.
Other popular Fantasy buys Jake Friend (70), Dylan Napa (66), James Maloney (65), Sam Burgess (63), Semi Radradra (63), James Graham (59), Jesse Bromwich (58), Greg Inglis (57), Ben Barba (54) and Matt Parcell (53) also performed well this week.
Losers
The second-most popular captaincy option in Fantasy in Round 10 was Corey Parker, who finished with a very underwhelming 27 in Brisbane's rout of the Sea Eagles. There's no one reason why his score was so unusually low – he played a typical 57 minutes, but didn't make a huge impact in attack (no tackle breaks or offloads) and didn't have much to do in defence (19 tackles). He also handed goal-kicking duties over to Jordan Kahu, which effectively meant 10 fewer points than he would have otherwise scored. The goal-kicking is probably the biggest worry for Parker owners ahead of an Origin period which could also take a toll on his minutes.
Knights cash cow Jacob Saifiti suffered a suspected broken wrist and scored 2, and is a definite sell. Eels winger Clint Gutherson followed up last week's stunning 85 with a meagre 14, but that kind of fall from grace is going to happen once in a while for a winger.
Martin Taupau is in the Fantasy bad books after being hit with a grade two dangerous throw charge that is set to rule him out for three or four matches – which actually amounts to four or five rounds considering the Sea Eagles have a bye in Round 12.
Don't panic
There have been doubts from some quarters about Shaun Fensom's status as a Fantasy gun this year, and another mid-40s score (45) might convince some people to trade him out. I wouldn't though – he was scoring at a point a minute up until a shoulder injury hit late in the first half, and returned late in the game for a few more points. He's still a 50+ scorer when fit in my book.
Sub-par scores from Shaun Johnson (39) and Jake Trbojevic (38) are also nothing to worry about considering their recent scoring form, while Jackson Hastings (34) is probably worth holding for one more week but after $274,000 in price rises he's just about peaked in value.
