NRL Fantasy winners & losers: Round 3

Raiders fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad celebrates a try.

Author: Lone Scout NRL Fantasy guru
Timestamp: Mon 1 Apr 2019, 08:32 AM

A couple of Raiders bargains went large as Tom Tbrojevic sparked the Sea Eagles back into action, and a new Fantasy favourite has been lost to injury.

Here are the big talking points from round 3.

Winners

Just how good is John Bateman? The Raiders recruit has already jumped $109k on his starting price this season after Fantasy scores of 60, 49 and 89 to start the season, with the Englishman wreaking havoc with a couple of line breaks and nine tackle busts on the right edge against Newcastle. He's quickly gone from gun "centre" to arguably one of the elite Fantasy scorers in any position.

Daly Cherry-Evans had a field day in Manly's romp over the Warriors, scoring 88, as the Sea Eagles looked a whole different team with the return from injury of a rampant Tom Trbojevic (85).

James Tedesco got his groove back after a quiet-ish start to the season with a couple of tries and 86 Fantasy points in the Roosters' win over Parramatta; Cameron McInnes played 80 minutes for the first time for the Dragons this season (and scored his first try) for 87; and Adam Reynolds continued his brilliant start to 2019 at the Rabbitohs with 80.

Top 5 Fantasy scorers: Round 3

On the cash cow front Maika Sivo produced the monster game his Fantasy owners were hoping he was capable of, scoring twice against the Roosters for 72 and a $75k price rise, while Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is playing like a keeper with 71 against the Knights.

Sharks rookie Briton Nikora was the week's biggest earner with another $81k boost taking his season earnings to $236,000 after three weeks. Dylan Napa has now scored tries in back-to-back games and jumped $63k in value; Tigers forward Luke Garner recovered from an injury scare to score another try and earn $52k; while Bateman (+$65k), Jack Bird (+$52k), Lachlan Burr (+$47k), Dylan Brown (+$46k) and Blake Lawrie (+$45k) were the week's other big moneymakers.

Losers

Another round, another batch of bad injury news. Breakout Bunnies star Braidon Burns (8) could be sidelined for some times after suffering hamstring and ankle injuries on Sunday night.

The Roosters lost Jake Friend (shoulder, 17) and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (rib cartilage, 38) to injuries, while the Sharks lost Paul Gallen (ribs, 26) and Matt Moylan (hamstring, 21) – an injury that could create an opening for highly rated rookie Bronson Xerri.

Matt Gillett (29) may have started the season with a great defensive effort but his scores have slumped since then and he could be a sell.

Kalyn Ponga (30) could find himself back at fullback soon after another underwhelming performance for Newcastle – the good news for Fantasy coaches being the fact his price has plummeted by $117k in the meantime.

It was another quiet week for a few popular cash cows (Adam Keighran 28, Jordan Kahu 23, Jacob Host 29, Thomas Flegler 15) but all four continued make some cash and are not urgent sells just yet.