NRL Fantasy player watch: Matt Scott
Matt Scott admits end is 'imminent'
Matt Scott, FRF, $503,000
The Kangaroos front-rower returns to the Cowboys' side almost as a new recruit after a long injury lay-off, but will the 32-year-old still be the player he once was when it come to NRL Fantasy, presented by Youi?
Scoring potential: 4/5
Scott is one of the few players who has made an NRL Fantasy century, smashing out 105 points against Manly back in Round 12, 2015. He was a monster that day, scoring two tries, busting eight tackles and making 39 of his own, but by the end of that season he still averaged a steady but unspectacular 43, 1o-points fewer than his 2014 mark.
In 2016 he scored 36 points a game and last year he suffered a season-ending ACL injury in round two after scoring 49 in round one. He's hardly a try-scoring machine so you wouldn't expect another 100-point effort from him, but a return to mid-40s numbers isn't out of the question.
Reliability: 3/5
There are a couple of concerns for Scott's Fantasy prospects. The first is fitness – whether he can return to something near his best following an ACL injury.
The second is internal competition – he's no longer the undisputed leader of the Cowboys pack, with superstar lock Jason Taumalolo ($914,000) and new signing Jordan McLean ($525,000) both coming off big seasons in 2017.
Taumalolo is unlikely to match his massive stats of last year with Scott back and McLean at the club, but if the workload is split evenly between them all three could see their Fantasy numbers drop a little.
Value: 3/5
Scott will start the new season with a break-even of 34, and he's always scored more than that over the course of a season. But unless he can regularly hit the mid-40s he won't rise in price enough to be considered a genuine cash cow.
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