NRL Fantasy player watch: Cameron Smith
2018 NRL Fantasy is now open
Cameron Smith, HOK, $917,000
He's the best player in NRL Fantasy, but is Cameron Smith worth his huge price tag in 2018?
Scoring potential: 5/5
At the business end of the NRL Fantasy, presented by Youi, season, you want to have as many 50+ scorers in your team as possible. For Cameron Smith, a score of 50 is a disappointment. The undisputed king of Fantasy, Smith averaged 62 points a game in 2017, with just two scores below the half-century mark.
His scoring actually improved in the finals series, with a 53 and a 65 followed by a sensational 101 in Melbourne's grand final win over North Queensland. His all-round game is tailor-made for Fantasy, with run metres, kick metres, assists, goals, the occasional tackle break and 40 tackles per game. And he doesn't make mistakes.
Reliability: 5/5
He's now 34 years of age but there has been no evidence Smith is slowing down, and with the new NRL schedule this season he's only guaranteed to miss just a single round due to Origin duty.
The simplest decision you could make when picking your NRL Fantasy squad would be to pick Cameron Smith at hooker, make him your captain (earning double points), and pretty much leave him there all year.
Value: 2/5
The one downside? That whopping $917,000 asking price. Smith is the most expensive player in Fantasy, just ahead of Jason Taumalolo, and with a break-even pushing 63 he'll need to perform strongly from round one to avoid losing value. If you pick a cheaper No.9 you'll have a lot more flexibility when filling out the rest of your squad, but you'll also likely miss out on the best captaincy choice there is.
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