NRL Fantasy teams analysis: Round 20

The Fantasy head-to-head league finals are just around the corner so it's time for your team to hit full strength.

There are some big-name returns this week while at least one club has swung the axe.

• Round 20 NRL team announcements
• Casualty Ward & Late Mail: Round 20 

NRL Fantasy team news

Wests Tigers v Cowboys, Thursday 7.50pm at Leichhardt Oval

Wests Tigers: Michael Chee Kam has been named in an unchanged 17 despite being hospitalised following a head knock against the Knights. Robbie Farah grabbed a try on the way to 66 points in his 300th NRL game. Alex Twal only scored 36 off the bench but encouragingly he did play 51 minutes – just five below his season average.

Cowboys: Michael Morgan returns, bumping John Asiata to the bench and Corey Jensen out of the side. Jason Taumalolo scored 57 in 75 minutes last week – his worst score this season when playing more than 65 minutes.

Warriors v Raiders, Friday 6pm at Mt Smart Stadium

Warriors: Kodi Nikorima is back, with Chanel Harris-Tevita the bench utility and Adam Keighran dropping out. Jazz Tevaga went off early last week with an arm injury but is fit to play this week. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck scored 50 last week – even with a potentially match-winning try assist turning into an error with a forward pass decision – and has a six-game average of 61.

Raiders: Canberra are unchanged. John Bateman is in super form, scoring 68, 55 and 88 in his last three games.

Broncos v Storm, Friday 7.55pm at Suncorp Stadium

Broncos: Matt Gillett returns in place of the suspended Tevita Pangai jnr, while Tom Flegler is back at lock, Joe Ofahengaue moves back to the bench and Keenan Palasia drops out. Anthony Milford has a three-game average of 70 after last week's 68, while Payne Haas (63 last round) has become the most reliable Fantasy captaincy option. Patrick Carrigan (54) has become an excellent late-season cash cow, David Fifita is coming off scores of 65 and 59 in two 80-minute performances and Matt Lodge scored a season-high 78 against the Titans.

Storm: Suliasi Vunivalu returns on the wing in place of Sandor Earl. Extra time helped Cameron Smith get to a respectable 55 last round, even if it was a dip in form after three straight 70+ efforts.

Sea Eagles v Knights, Saturday 3pm at Lottoland

Sea Eagles: No changes for Manly although Apisai Koroisau is closing in on a return after being included in the reserves. Expect Manase Fainu's scores to take a hit when Koroisau is fit. Daly Cherry-Evans has a three-game average of 65 and looks a good upgrade option if you're losing patience with Mitchell Pearce's numbers, while Jake Trbojevic now has two scores above 65 in the past three weeks after making 69 tackles against Melbourne. Tom Tbrojevic should get some attacking chances against the Knights, Warriors and Tigers in the next three rounds.

Knights: Nathan Brown has rung the changes: Jesse Ramien, Danny Levi, Herman Ese'ese and Jamie Buhrer are out; Hymel Hunt moves to centre, Kurt Mann is on the wing, Mason Lino is at five-eighth, Connor Watson starts at hooker, Lachlan Fitzgibbon returns and Jacob Saifiti and Aidan Guerra join the bench. Watson is the big winner of that reshuffle. Kalyn Ponga was brilliant with 80 points last week and has avoided any charge for the incident that saw him sin-binned late in the contest against the Tigers, while David Klemmer (59) and Watson (57) both scored well in that game. The real concern is the Fantasy form of Mitchell Pearce, who has a five-game average of 34 including just 24 last week (including 20 points from kick metres). He needs attacking stats to get back up to the 50s, and while they could be hard to come by this week the Knights do have games against the Eels, Cowboys, Tigers and Titans coming up.

Bulldogs v Panthers, Saturday 5.30pm at Bankwest Stadium

Bulldogs: No changes for Canterbury. Will Hopoate has a three-game average of 51 but isn't in the top bracket of Fantasy centres. 

Panthers: Unchanged. James Fisher-Harris has a four-game average of 63. Nathan Cleary's 38 in the loss to Canberra was his lowest score since round 4, with only 89 kick metres (he made 407 the previous week). Brent Naden's golden run of scoring came to a halt with 5 against the Raiders.

Sharks v Rabbitohs, Saturday 7.35pm at PointsBet Stadium

Sharks: Andrew Fifita returns after a one-week suspension but he'll do it via the bench. Elsewhere Matt Moylan is back, with Josh Dugan shifting to centre and Josh Morris to the wing. Wade Graham also returns, bumping Kurt Capewell to the interchange. Blayke Brailey, Billy Magoulias and Ronaldo Mulitalo drop out. Shaun Johnson is in season-best Fantasy form, averaging 65 in his past three games after making 76 on Thursday night.

Rabbitohs: The return of Sam Burgess means Ethan Lowe goes back to the bench alongside Liam Knight, with Jaydn Su'a and Dean Britt dropping out of the 17. Damien Cook and Cameron Murray both made 55 last week, while Adam Reynolds has scored more than 50 in each of his past five games.

Roosters v Titans, Sunday 2pm at Sydney Cricket Ground

Roosters: Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is suspended again and Siosiua Taukeiaho and Boyd Cordner have calf injuries, with Isaac Liu and Zane Tetevano starting up front, Angus Crichton in the second row and Nat Butcher and Poasa Faamausili joining the bench. James Tedesco has four scores above 80 this season, with three coming in his past seven games, and he's definitely capable of doing it again against the Titans. Latrell Mitchell could also go large after being kept fairly quiet by the Bulldogs last week for 31.

Titans: AJ Brimson (hip), Dale Copley (knee) and Leilani Latu are out with Brian Kelly and Ryley Jacks returning to the starting side and Brenko Lee onto the bench. Nathan Peats has become a late-season cut-price keeper option, playing 80 minutes in the past two rounds for scores of 63 and 60. If he can keep that up he's very good value at $510k.

Dragons v Eels, Sunday 4.05pm at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium

Dragons: Jeremy Latimore and Pat Kaufusi replace Josh Kerr and Matt Dufty on the interchange. Cameron McInnes made 59 tackles last week for 55 points while James Graham scored 59 in 72 minutes at lock last week (making 60 tackles) and has been named there again.

Eels: Michael Jennings' return bumps Ethan Parry out of the side, with Brad Takairangi shifting to the wing, while Shaun Lane is back in the second row, Marata Niukore goes to the interchange and Oregon Kaufusi drops out. Mitch Moses is in incredible Fantasy form – he's scored 65 or better in his past five games and hasn't scored below 55 in a game since May. After some injury struggles early in the year Nathan Brown is his old self again, scoring a season-high 67 with sensational base stats (51 tackles and 186 metres in 68 minutes).