The three-time wooden-spooners are full of optimism after a terrific recruiting drive, with a combination of young talent and experienced veterans joining the club along with the blockbuster signing of Mitchell Pearce. The Knights already had a few strong NRL Fantasy options in the form of young guns Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Mitch Barnett, but now look like a crucial club for coaches hunting for a bargain.
Mitchell Pearce on life as a Knight
Fantasy gun: Mitchell Pearce
While Pearce's move to Newcastle is great news for the Knights it's also good news for NRL Fantasy coaches, with Pearce one of the elite Fantasy halves in 2017. Had he moved to the Sea Eagles he and Daly Cherry-Evans may have split the playmaking duties and effectively cancelled each other out as genuine NRL Fantasy options, but instead Pearce could take on even more responsibility at the Knights after already dominating at the star-studded Roosters. Pearce ranked second in the league for kick metres last season and first for line-break assists, and while his former half partner Luke Keary did some kicking in general play his new likely partner Connor Watson did barely any – registering just 65 kick metres for the season (coming in one of two starts at five-eighth). That suggests Pearce should cash in on kick metre points along with his usual steady numbers for run metres, tackles and assists.
Value buy: Kalyn Ponga
Newcastle's prized recruit is a star in the making but only had limited game time as a back-up fullback at the Cowboys this year, including an injury-affected game on the wing in his last appearance for North Queensland. He scored -4 in that game to drag down his starting price but in his previous six games he had averaged an excellent 49. If he can match that at the Knights he'd be great value, and also a potential keeper.
Wildcard: Connor Watson
Watson is making the switch from super-sub at the Roosters to starting five-eighth at Newcastle, and the increased role will almost certainly lead to more NRL Fantasy points this season. He averaged 27 points per game in 2017, but in the six games when he played the full 80 minutes he scored 42 points a game. Only two of those matches were at five-eighth – in Round 12 and 13, scoring 19 and 36 – but the potential is there for Watson to earn some big price rises in his first year at Newcastle.
2018 NRL Fantasy player prices
Mitchell Pearce: HLF, $824,000
Lachlan Fitzgibbon: 2RF, $669,000
Jamie Buhrer: 2RF, HOK, $659,000
Mitchell Barnett: 2RF, $655,000
Aidan Guerra: 2RF, $638,000
Brock Lamb: HLF, $571,000
Tautau Moga: CTR, $559,000
Kalyn Ponga: WFB, $552,000
Daniel Saifiti: FRF, $521,000
Danny Levi: HOK, $519,000
Sione Mata'utia: 2RF, CTR, $512,000
Jacob Lillyman: FRF, $495,000
Nathan Ross: WFB, $488,000
Herman Ese'ese: FRF, $472,000
Shaun Kenny-Dowall: CTR, WFB, $441,000
Luke Yates: 2RF, FRF, $425,000
Josh King: FRF, $412,000
Connor Watson: HLF, HOK, $401,000
Slade Griffin: 2RF, HOK, $382,000
Jacob Saifiti: 2RF, FRF, $364,000
Chris Heighington: 2RF, $358,000
Sam Stone: 2RF, $354,000
Tyrone Amey: FRF, $321,000
Ken Sio: WFB, $307,000
Jack Cogger: HLF, $256,000
Pat Mata'utia: CTR, $228,000
Cory Denniss: WFB, $228,000
Dylan Phythian: WFB, $228,000
Tom Hughes: WFB, $212,000
Jack Johns: HLF, $212,000
Christian Hazard: HLF, HOK, $212,000
*2018 salary cap: 9.4m. Fantasy squad size: 21
