NRL Fantasy winners & losers: Round 7

There were injuries galore and another new potential cash cow emerged in a mixed week for NRL Fantasy coaches.

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Winners

His Dragons may have lost at last but Ben Hunt enjoyed his best Fantasy score of the season, with a try and a dozen tackle breaks against the Warriors plus his usual base stats taking his score to 90.

Star Knights halfback Mitchell Pearce was the week's next best with 80 before leaving the field with a pec injury (more on that below), while Eels halves Corey Norman (77) and Mitch Moses (70) cashed in on their team's first win over 2018.

Back-rowers Jack de Belin (72), Ryan  Matterson (70) and Coen  Hess (70) dominated, as did Sharks fill-in Scott  Sorensen who scored 69 in his first game of the season for an instant $66,000 price rise. The man he replaced, Wade Graham, is due back from injury this week but he could hold a spot with Luke Lewis suffering a calf problem on Sunday.

Another cash cow on the rise is Titans hooker Mitch Rein, who earned a $53,000 price bump with a terrific 67-point effort in his first start in the absence of Nathan Peats. Issac  Luke starred for the Warriors with 62 and usual suspects Cameron  McInnes (67), Sam  Burgess (67), Viliame  Kikau (66), Andrew Fifita (66), Jai  Arrow (66), Damien  Cook (65) and Kalyn  Ponga (60) all impressed again.

Losers

Before we get to the low scores, let's just start with the injuries.

Pearce will miss around 16 weeks with a ruptured pectoral muscle suffered in his team's win over the Wests Tigers, with Connor Watson likely to return to the halves this week and Brock Lamb the other option.

Broncos hooker and Fantasy gun Andrew McCullough is out for 4-6 weeks with an elbow injury. Tohu Harris had a concussion in the Warriors' win over the Dragons and is in doubt for Wednesday's Anzac Day clash with Melbourne, as is Shaun Johnson who missed the weekend's game with a groin injury.

Luke Lewis picked up a calf injury having already been in doubt pre-game with a knee injury, the Cowboys have lost forward John Asiata for around three months with a pectoral injury, Storm prop Jesse Bromwich will miss the next few weeks with a knee injury, Jarryd Hayne re-injured his hip in his return for the Eels, and Elijah Taylor (concussion), Jacob Liddle (sternum) and Brad Parker (knee) also entered the casualty ward.

Then there's Sam Burgess, newly anointed a dual-position forward in Fantasy and returning from suspension, who is facing another stint on the sidelines of 2-3 weeks over a high shot on Canberra's Aidan Sezer.

Now to the low scorers. Jack Bird (5) didn't get anywhere his previous round's 44 playing at five-eighth for the Broncos, with the Storm forcing a season-high six missed tackles from him. Injuries wrecked the scores of popular buys Harris (8), Bromwich (9) and Hayne (17).

Dragons fullback Matt Dufty could only manage 13 in his team's first loss of the season, cash cows Robbie Rochow (15), Lachlan Croker (16) and Matt Lodge (18) are all sells, while Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (19), Daly Cherry-Evans (19) and Tom Trbojevic (21) were well below par.

Team of the Week
1. Kalyn Ponga (60)
2. Ken Sio (72)
3. Shaun Kenny-Dowall (62)
4. Will Chambers (62)
5. Josh Addo-Carr (60)
6. Mitchell Pearce (80)
7. Ben Hunt (90)
8. Sam Burgess (67)
9. Cameron McInnes (67)
10. Andrew Fifita/Viliame Kikau/Jai Arrow (66)
11. Ryan Matterson (70)
12. Coen Hess (70)
13. Jack de Belin (72)

14. Corey Norman (77)
15. Mitchell Moses (70)
16. Scott Sorensen (69)
17. Mitch Rein (67)