NRL Fantasy teams analysis: Round 15

Big names across the NRL have been named to return this week but a few stars will be missing through injury and suspension.

Here's all the key NRL Fantasy talking points heading into round 15.

NRL Fantasy team news

Wests Tigers v Rabbitohs, Thursday 7.50pm at Bankwest Stadium

Wests Tigers: Josh Aloiai replaces Ben Matulino at prop, Chris Lawrence starts in the back row, Michael Chee-Kam moves to the interchange and Elijah Taylor joins the bench. Blues 18th man Ryan Matterson is averaging almost 60 Fantasy points from his past three games. Alex Twal has jumped in value by $124,000 this season but he's still a decent buy option as a dual position FRF/2RF with an average above 51 who will play in round 16.

Rabbitohs: Braidon Burns, Adam Reynolds and George Burgess return, with Kyle Turner and Tevita Tatola dropping to the bench and Adam Doueihi, Tom Amone and Rhys Kennedy out of the 17 (Kennedy has made a mid-season switch to Brisbane). Damien Cook and Cameron Murray both had quiet games following Origin I but have an extra couple of days to recover from Origin II. Dean Britt has a break even of -7 and a price under $300k, but his game time is likely to dry up in a couple of rounds when Souths have all the Burgess brothers available again.

Dragons v Cowboys, Friday 6pm at WIN Stadium

Dragons: Tim Lafai returns at centre, Blake Lawrie starts in the front row and Jeremy Latimore replaces Jai Field on the bench with Korbin Sims on the interchange and Lachlan Maranta dropping out. Cameron McInnes could lose $100k in value in the next five or six weeks after his injury-affected 9 last round. Reece Robson benefited from the extra game time after McInnes's head knock in that game to score 46 and has a few decent price rises ahead of him.

Cowboys: Former Storm fullback Scott Drinkwater lines up at No.1 after a mid-season switch, with Jordan Kahu replacing Enari Tuala in the centres and Michael Morgan returning to the halves. Kurt Baptiste is out with a season-ending ACL injury, Jordan McLean returns in place of the suspended Josh McGuire, Shane Wright starts for Coen Hess (leg) and Reuben Cotter and Corey Jensen join the bench. Jason Taumalolo came down to earth a little with 53 last round but still averages an excellent 64.3 for the season. Morgan has scored better than 60 twice in his past three games.

Roosters v Storm, Friday 7.55pm at Adelaide Oval

Roosters: James Tedesco returns, bumping Joseph Manu to centre and Mitchell Aubusson to the bench. Lindsay Collins joins the interchange with Poasa Faamausili and Sam Verrils dropping out. Angus Crichton has averaged 55 in his last three games and could be hitting the kind of Fantasy form he was known for at the Rabbitohs.

Storm: No changes for Melbourne. Cameron Smith's best score of the season (77) came against this week's opponents the Roosters in round 6. Ryan Papenhuyzen has scored better than a point a minute – sensational numbers for a backline player – but remains stuck on the bench with Jahrome Hughes at fullback and Brodie Croft at halfback.

Titans v Sea Eagles, Saturday 3pm at Cbus Super Stadium

Titans: Jai Arrow is set to miss 6-8 weeks with an ankle injury and is a sell. Jai Whitbread and Will Matthews start in the back row, with Tyrone Peachey benched. Young prop Moeaki Fotuaia has scored 50, 57, 47 and 51 in the past four games, having averaged just 32 points a game before that. He has played at least 55 minutes in each of those last four games (including 80 last start following Jai Arrow's injury) after averaging 34 minutes per game in the first eight rounds.

Sea Eagles: Apisai Koroisau and Jack Gosiewski are out, with Manase Fainu at hooker and Brendan Elliot and Corey Waddell joining the bench. Tom Trbojevic will be hot property after his 100-point effort in round 14, with his break even back to 42. Daly Cherry-Evans hasn't had a tackle break since round 6 and is no longer kicking goals, scoring 45 and 36 since returning from injury.

Knights v Broncos, Saturday 5.30pm at McDonald Jones Stadium

Knights: Sione Mata'utia starts for the suspended Mitch Barnett, with Josh King joining the bench. David Klemmer and Aidan Guerra have been included among the reserves and could play. Kalyn Ponga is likely to play despite managing a cork from Origin II. Danny Levi remains on the sidelines, giving Connor Watson another run at hooker where he's been posting some big scores lately. Mitchell Pearce's scoring hit a roadblock in the loss to Melbourne, with a season-low 16 points.

Broncos: Payne Haas missed Origin II with a hamstring injury but he's named to start this week in good news for Fantasy coaches. Jamayne Isaako is out, with Richie Kennar starting on the wing, while Andrew McCullough returns to the starting side and Jake Turpin is benched. Joe Ofahengaue replaces Jaydn Su'A on the bench. Anthony Milford is a strong bye-round option as a mid-50s scorer who will play in round 16. Patrick Carrigan ($243k) is a cashout option who could also get good minutes in round 16 when Brisbane lose their Origin forwards, although he's likely to go back to lowish scores off the bench after that.

Eels v Raiders, Saturday 7.35pm at TIO Stadium, Darwin

Eels: Dylan Brown is back at five-eighth while Brad Takairangi replaces the injured Michael Jennings (knee) in the centres. Jaeman Salmon moves back to the bench with Ray Stone (ankle) out. Mitchell Moses has scored 68.7 a game in his last three, but traditionally is a pretty inconsistent Fantasy scorer. Try-scoring sensation Maika Sivo has once again kicked along his price rises and is now averaging an impressive 41.7 for the season.

Raiders: Josh Hodgson's return from injury means Siliva Havili is bumped to the bench, although with a break even of 18 Havili isn't an urgent sell. Sebastian Kris starts in the centres for Nick Cotric (ankle) while Corey Horsburgh joins the bench with Tom Starling and Emre Guler dropping out. Jack Wighton's price has jumped by $209k this season. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad's price dropped by $42k last week and he's a sell now unless you plan on holding him for the rest of the season.

Warriors v Panthers, Sunday 4pm NZT (2pm AET) at Mt Smart Stadium

Warriors: With Tohu Harris (knee) and Issac Luke out, Jazz Tevaga starts at lock with Nathaniel Roache and Leivahu Pulu joining the bench. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck put a halt to his price drops with an impressive 70 against the Titans last round and is shaping as a quality scorer for next week's bye round.

Panthers: Nathan Cleary is set to miss a month with an ankle injury, although that's only three matches as he was going to miss round 16 anyway. You can get away with holding him for that time if you've got decent coverage, but if you're playing for overall points you could make a switch now to a round 16 scorer like Anthony Milford. Jarome Luai starts in Cleary's absence with Hame Sele joining the bench. Both Luai and James Maloney have break evens under 30 but neither is likely to make a ton of cash if Cleary only misses three games. Liam Martin and Ben To'o are proving to be quality cash cows.

Bulldogs v Sharks, Sunday 4.05pm at ANZ Stadium

Bulldogs: Nick Meaney is officially named on the wing after playing there last game, with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak at fullback. Jack Cogger returns at halfback, Michael Lichaa starts at hooker and Chris Smith is at lock with Nu Brown, Jeremy Marshall-King and Raymond Faitala-Mariner out of the 17. Canterbury don't have any players with a 50-point average this year. Aiden Tolman is the closest but has scored just under 40 points a game in his past three and is looking more like an 18th man option than a genuine keeper in 2019.

Sharks: Andrew Fifita will miss two NRL games due to suspension (including next week's bye round) but is a hold unless you're willing to burn two trades to trade him out and in again. Braden Uele starts up front, Jayden Brailey returns at hooker bumping brother Blayke to the bench, and Wade Graham starts with Kurt Capewell back to the interchange. Shaun Johnson was averaging 49 points a game before his hamstring injury in round 7, but scored just 21 in 80 minutes in his return game last round.