Despite the absence of three superstar fullbacks it was a massive week for Fantasy scoring, with 19 players scoring 70 or more – including one young gun who climbed to the top of the Fantasy rankings in 2019.
Winners
Anthony Milford's mid-season switch to fullback hasn't quite resulted in a win yet for Brisbane but it did produce his best Fantasy score of the year, with the star playmaker finishing one point short of the century with 11 tackle breaks and 580 kick metres (that's 62 points from two stats) in a 90-minute draw with the Warriors. He's on track to become a dual position player after round 18 as well.
Milford's score narrowly edged out another huge effort from a tackle-busting fullback, with Penrith No.1 Dylan Edwards (96) producing easily his best game of the year.
Payne Haas now has the best Fantasy average of any player in 2019, with his 87 including a try against the Warriors taking him past Jason Taumalolo (who was typically strong with 60).
Warriors duo Jazz Tevaga and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck both scored 82, with RTS breaking the NRL record for most run metres by a player in a game (367).
There were also monster scores for Warriors hooker Issac Luke (86), Manly back-rower Curtis Sironen (84) and Raiders rake Josh Hodgson (80), although Hodgson ended the game early with a knee injury.
Get Caught Up: Round 17
Losers
Several teams were caught short when Origin stars Tom Trbojevic and James Tedesco joined the injured Kalyn Ponga on the sidelines, forcing trades at a time when they're at a premium.
While those three are set to return this week one player who may be out of action is Raiders star Nick Cotric, who was sent off for a dangerous throw on St George Illawarra's Tim Lafai. It's the first send-off of the season, costing Cotric -12 points in that moment (2 for the penalty, 10 for the send-off) and possibly resulting in a suspension.
Elsewhere, Sharks centre Bronson Xerri (23) once again found himself filling in on the wing due to injuries in Cronulla's outside backs – Josh Dugan (8) and Josh Morris (9) – while rookie half Dylan Brown (12) had three errors and no attacking stats in the Eels' win over the Tigers and Storm super-sub Ryan Papenhuyzen's price tag has slipped by $60k after scores of 20 last week and 5 this week.
NRL Fantasy team of the week
- Dylan Edwards 96
- Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 82
- Shaun Kenny-Dowall 77
- Will Hopoate 76
- David Nofoaluma/Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 73
- Anthony Milford 99
- Connor Watson 76
- Payne Haas 87
- Issac Luke 86
- Leeson Ah Mau 59
- Curtis Sironen 84
- Jazz Tevaga 82
- Brandon Smith 72
- Josh Hodgson 80
- Cameron Smith 75
- Cameron McInnes 74
- Jake Friend 73