We're one round into a competition that has been overshadowed by coronavirus, but NRL Fantasy marches on with a host of good value buys making strong starts to the 2020 season.
Round 2 team news
Bulldogs v Cowboys, Thursday night at ANZ Stadium
Bulldogs: Jake Averillo replaces Kerrod Holland (knee) on the bench in the only change. There weren't many big scorers in last Thursday's grind against Parramatta but low first-up scores for Jeremy Marshall-King (34), Joe Stimson (24) and Brandon Wakeham (21) is still a little concerning. All three will need to add more in attack while ideally cutting down on missed tackles to get their scores back on track – but none are must-trades just yet. Marshall-King had lower scores at starting hooker last year and still averaged 43 in that role, and likewise Stimson averages 41 as a starting second-rower despite scoring in the low 20s before.
Cowboys: Josh McGuire returns at prop with John Asiata moving to the bench and Corey Jensen bumped to 18th man. Jason Taumalolo was his typical self with 63 points in 73 minutes against Brisbane, while Val Holmes (46) scored a try on his Cowboys debut and dual-position cash cow Scott Drinkwater (45) performed strongly with two try assists. Coen Hess (28) played the full 80 but had seven missed tackles and will be a sell for a lot of Fantasy coaches this week.
Dragons v Panthers, Friday night at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
Dragons: He scored 43 with a try and a couple of try saves but after coughing up a few errors at the back Zac Lomax has been bumped from fullback to the wing after a single game, with Matt Dufty to wear the No.1. Mikaele Ravalawa is out with a thigh injury. Tyrell Fuimaono starts for the suspended Tariq Sims with Jacob Host added to the bench. Tyson Frizell (57), Paul Vaughan (56), Ben Hunt (53) and Blake Lawrie (53) all produced big numbers – with Lawrie's score coming purely from base stats (45 tackles, 141 metres).
Panthers: Viliame Kikau is named to start with James Fisher-Harris reverting to the bench. Billy Burns replaces Jack Hetherington on the interchange. Api Koroisau (84) and Isaah Yeo (78) were the highest-scoring players of round one, with Koroisau a must-have player after earning a whopping $62,000 price boost. Yeo is a trickier option – he hit career-highs for run metres (170) and tackle breaks (7) in that game and played 80 minutes at lock after an injury to Zane Tetevano (and with usual 80-minute man Viliame Kikau coming off the bench). He'll continue making short-term money but is unlikely to score that highly again any time soon. Nathan Cleary had a monstrous 571 kick metres in his 68-point game and is a great buy.
Broncos v Rabbitohs, Friday night at Suncorp Stadium
Broncos: Tevita Pangai jnr's four-game suspension and the absence of Alex Glenn (hamstring) and Joe Ofahengaue (suspension) means Jamil Hopoate starts in the second row, with Ethan Bullemor joining the bench. There were a lot of happy Fantasy coaches on Friday night with uber-popular duo David Fifita (76) and Payne Haas (73) going off against the Cowboys, with both playing the full 80 minutes. Pat Carrigan (52) lived up to expectations as well and will be a gem of a buy, while Jamayne Isaako (63) was outstanding at fullback after being a late replacement for Jack Bird (ACL, season). Isaako had flown under the radar a little ahead of round one and looks set for more big price rises at this stage.
Rabbitohs: Souths are unchanged. Adam Reynolds scored 69 points including a try against the Sharks but the more eye-catching score was arguably Tevita Tatola's 57 in 51 minutes. He's a potential front-row gun if he can make a habit of those kinds of numbers. Liam Knight (45) was solid if not quite living up to the early hopes of his Fantasy owners, Ethan Lowe had a try and an assist in his 45 and Jaydn Su'A was underwhelming with 29 in 69 minutes.
Cook backs calls to play on but says family comes first
Warriors v Raiders, Saturday afternoon at Cbus Super Stadium
Warriors: Patrick Herbert and Peta Hiku are back in New Zealand with Adam Pompey and Adam Keighran named in the backline. Cheapie Eliesa Katoa is promoted to the starting pack with Isaiah Papali'i benched. Katoa (43), Jamayne Taunoa-Brown (35) and Wayde Egan (33) all grabbed solid scores in the loss to Newcastle but the Warriors face a very uncertain immediate playing future beyond this week so I'd be wary buying any of them for your Fantasy team at this stage.
Raiders: No changes for Canberra, with Corey Horsburgh and Joe Tapine switching second-row and lock roles to match where they actually played last week. Canberra were brilliant against the Titans especially in the first half of last week's win, with Jack Wighton (72) scoring 19 points in kick metres along with the obvious boost from tries (16) and line breaks (8). It was also a superb start for new halves partner George Williams (64, including two line breaks and five tackle busts). Horsburgh (59) and Emre Guler (55) are the two early standout cash cows in this line-up and will be popular buys this week.
Every try from Round 1
Roosters v Sea Eagles, Saturday night at Leichhardt Oval
Roosters: Angus Crichton returns in the second row with Sitili Tupouniua dropping out. There's still no sign of skipper Boyd Cordner. Props Siosua Taukeiaho and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves both hit 50s against Penrith but the standout Fantasy performer was probably dual-position centre Mitch Aubusson (49, with a try). Jake Friend scored 47 in 65 minutes with Sam Verrills replacing him at hooker for the final 15.
Sea Eagles: Manly are unchanged. A low-scoring grind against Melbourne – where the Sea Eagles didn't score a try – resulted in good scores for middle forwards Marty Taupau (56) and Jake Trbojevic (54) and busy halfback Daly Cherry-Evans (50) but nobody else. Danny Levi's 34 in 62 minutes suggests he may be priced pretty accurately this season while Tom Trbojevic's lowly 17 may be his worst score this season. Tom Turbo should still be among the elite WFBs this year but he's likely to lose more value in the short term.
Casualty Ward - Round 1
Sharks v Storm, Saturday night at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
Sharks: No changes. Shaun Johnson went completely under the radar all pre-season but reminded everyone how good he can be with 73 points against Souths including two try assists, while cash cows Blayke Brailey (45, +$22k) and Will Kennedy (39, +$27k) performed well. Jack Williams scored a decent 37 but encouragingly played 60 minutes at lock and has room for improvement considering he lost 14 points in demerits. Bench prop Toby Rudolph (30, +$18k) looks a sneaky cash cow option at under $250k.
Storm: Unchanged. With two try assists and 275 kick metres Jahrome Hughes (63 points) suddenly looks a possible keeper option at HLF or WFB. The kick metres is a big increase on last year but he also made a career-high 30 tackles against Manly which probably isn't sustainable in games when Melbourne win easily. Front-row cash cow candidate Tui Kamikamica (43, +$21k) outperformed the super popular Ryan Papenhuyzen (40) but the tackle-busting fullback will get some big scores this year.
Wests Tigers v Knights, Sunday afternoon at Leichhardt Oval
Wests Tigers: Paul Momirovski replaces Michael Chee-Kam on the bench in the only change (although Chee-Kam was a late inclusion in jersey 18 last week). Benji Marshall (63) and David Nofoaluma (63) were both excellent with three tries between them against the Dragons, while Alex Twal had 61 points in 53 minutes. Cash cows Luciano Leilua (52) and Billy Walters (50) were both early success stories – Walters' future in the No.9 is a little cloudy with the prospect of Harry Grant arriving still a possibility but he'll make quick cash in the meantime, and he could keep a spot in the halves with Luke Brooks expected to miss up to a month with a calf injury.
Knights: Newcastle are unchanged, although Sione Mata'utia could return after being included in the reserves. Try-scorers Kalyn Ponga and Daniel Saifiti (both 57) were the Knights' best in the win over the Warriors, with David Klemmer (49) typically reliable. Cash cows Kurt Mann (41, +$21k) and Gehamat Shibasaki (33, +$14k) both made solid starts to the season.
Get Caught Up: Round 1
Titans v Eels, Sunday night at Cbus Super Stadium
Titans: Brian Kelly starts in the centres with Tyrone Peachey moving to the bench. Moeaki Fotuaika returns via the interchange with Jaimin Jolliffe dropping out. AJ Brimson is again named among the reserves and could be a late inclusion at fullback. Stand-in fullback Philip Sami (71) was excellent in a losing side against Canberra but is set to lose the No.1 jersey in the coming rounds so is not a buy. The real value here looks to be Kallum Watkins (40) who had 152 run metres and four tackle breaks against the Raiders. Bryce Cartwright (41) had some forgettable moments in that loss but still posted a pretty strong score for his price tag.
Eels: No changes for Parramatta. Last Thursday's season opener was a real slog against the Bulldogs so expect some more free-flowing attack here. Mitch Moses may have only finished with 41 points but about 30 of those came in the second half and he could potentially go large against the Titans.
