Lone Scout's NRL Fantasy Q&A: Round 9

James Tedesco is on fire, reliable cheapies are hard to come by and a few value front-rowers have become available ahead of this week's games.

Trades won't last forever this NRL Fantasy season so you need to make them all count from here on in.

With the shortened season, there is no point in waiting.

This week's big questions

Is Teddy up against the Cowboys this week a legitimate captaincy option? I have been running with McInnes or Haas but Teddy could go bananas with Cowboys defence.

From Adam Landers

James Tedesco could indeed go massive against a struggling Cowboys team – he did just rack up 82 points against the Storm and has a couple of scores above 90 this year.

But then again he also has scores of 30 and 34 to his name (the second was injury-affected) and even the most consistent fullbacks still have quiet games in Fantasy occasionally.

By comparison, Payne Haas's lowest score this year is 52 and Cameron McInnes's is 66.

You want your captain to be able to deliver a guaranteed big score, with the potential to go massive, so Tedesco still seems a risk to me when you've got the other two in your squad. It's a risk that could pay off, sure, but it could also backfire.

I'd only consider it if you're a big underdog in your head-to-head match-up and need to take a gamble or two to win.

What are your thoughts on the best available cashout options for this week?

From Ngāsti Whārt

Assuming Anthony Seibold doesn't pull some surprising moves at fullback this weekend Tesi Niu looks once again to be the best cashout of the week at $212k and capable of at least scoring 30s at fullback for Brisbane.

After that, it's hard to find players with good job security and a sub-$250k price tag this round.

Kai O'Donnell gets his debut for Canberra off the bench but his game time is a mystery at this stage, Tom Eisenhuth costs just $222k but could go back to very few minutes when the Storm are full strength (see more on him below), Souths bench forward Bailey Sironen only has one decent score to his name and that includes a try, and Connelly Lemuelu starts in the centres this week but could drop out when Justin O'Neill is fit.

The best of the sub-$300k cash cows are probably Jai Field (who scored 64 last week and should get a few more games with Mitch Moses now not due back until round 12-13), Tigers forward Sam McIntyre (who played 46 and 35 minutes off the bench before copping a head knock early last week), and Beau Fermor, who has his own risks.

Is Beau Fermor likely to keep his spot and be a good cash out/cash cow?

From Kai Spence

Fermor has had a bit of a strange start to his NRL career already, getting his debut in place of injured second-rower Kevin Proctor last week, making two line breaks in a terrific first-half performance, then leaking several missed tackles in the second half before being named in the centres on Tuesday.

He's already jumped $40k based on his 56-point effort against the Sharks and his break even is in the negatives, but if he stays in the centres all year his scoring is likely to slump.

If he's seen as a second-rower he's likely to be a backup behind Proctor, who is due back soon.

He'll make some short-term cash and is a chance of being a quality cash cow if he can keep a spot and produce decent scores but he's too risky for me this week.

Is Jazz Tevaga a good pickup?

From David Booth

I'll be waiting to see how he goes this week. Tevaga has been a great scorer for the past couple of years, exploding in the second half of 2018 and averaging 55 when playing 50+ minutes last year.

He's on the bench this week and is capable of playing big minutes at lock (where he scores better than when he's used at hooker) so the best move is to wait a week and see if he can break into the starting side in No.13 for round 10 before snapping him up.

Thoughts on Bradman Best? Is he still a keeper? His performances have dropped away a bit lately.

From Rich Martin

It's pretty clear that, like most centres, Bradman Best relies on tries for big Fantasy scores. He started the season with doubles in two games (for scores of 65 and 87), scored a try in his third (46) and then hasn't scored in his last two (28 and 30). He's not going to score tries every week, but he's also not going to go try-less for the rest of the season either.

If you've bought him, I think you should hold onto him now. The Knights are a top-eight team this season so will get a lot of wins, and a hard-running centre like Best will get his fair share of tries. And for outside backs a score of 30 without a try isn't bad at all – he did go close to doubling Kalyn Ponga's score on the weekend.

Is [Blayke] Brailey a hold or sell, starting to put up some good numbers?

From Ryan Eddington

Absolutely a hold. Blayke Brailey has scored tries in his last two games which have bumped his scores up to 62 and 69 (he was averaging less than 40 before that) so his price is likely to jump by around $50k in the next couple of weeks.

Is Ryan Sutton now a keeper given the Raiders' injury toll?

From Andrew Alan Wilkinson

This question came in before Tuesday's team lists were announced, which revealed that Raiders lock Ryan Sutton was actually demoted to the bench despite an excellent 67-point effort in 56 minutes last week. Joe Tapine is named to start this week.

Despite that, Sutton is now one of the senior forwards available to Ricky Stuart with Sia Soliola (facial fracture, finals), Emre Guler (ankle, round 17-19), Corey Horsburgh (foot, round 20) and John Bateman (shoulder, indefinite) all sidelined. He should get decent game time, but it's very rare for a bench forward to be a Fantasy keeper so he'd need to get back into that starting side to be worth a shot.

It's time for JTB and Clune to go and I need a FRF. RCG's minutes are up. Is he the real deal this year?

From Richard Rodden

Reagan Campbell-Gillard looks like a risk to me. Two weeks ago he had his biggest score ever – 84 in 78 minutes in Parramatta's extra-time win over Canberra, in which the Eels had two players go off with HIAs. And last week he scored 50 in 57 minutes against North Queensland. So far, so good.

The problem is before those games he had two scores in the 40s and four in the 30s. He's had big scores in the past and still not been a Fantasy keeper; last year he had three scores in the 50s and still averaged 38. And at $603k he's not particularly cheap for a risky scorer.

If you're in the hunt for front-rowers around that price Martin Taupau costs just $20k more and is a proven 50-point player, Luke Thompson costs $50k less and you can see how he performs for the Bulldogs in his first game this week, and for $200k less you could grab Jaimin Jolliff who has earned a starting spot at the Titans and scored 50, 30 and 51 in the past three weeks.

Do you think Tom Eisenhuth is set for increased minutes like on the weekend or is that a one-off?

From Johnny Conley

Tom Eisenhuth looks great value on the fact of it with a price tag of just $222k after scores of 37 and 39 in the past two weeks, but the problem is his game time appears to be tied to – strange as it may seem – Cameron Munster.

Eisenhuth got very limited minutes in the early rounds (8, 3, 6, 6) when Munster was fully fit and Brandon Smith was used effectively as a bench forward, then in round 7 when Munster was injured, Cameron Smith moved to the halves, Brandon Smith moved to hooker and the Storm needed to use another forward when Kenny Bromwich went off with an HIA.

Eisenhuth came on and played 29 minutes, and he played 35 last week with Brandon Smith starting at hooker.

With Munster set to return soon after being named in the reserves this week, either Eisenhuth has proved his value as a 30-minute bench forward and will retain the role, or go back to limited minutes with Brandon Smith going back to the forward rotation.

It could be the former, but if it's the latter then you can probably expect his scores to go back to what they were early in the season.