NRL 2020: NRL Fantasy winners & losers: Round 15

Author: Lone Scout NRL Fantasy guru
Timestamp: Mon 24 Aug 2020, 08:32 AM

A few more injury blows to key players marred what was otherwise a steady but underwhelming scoring round for Fantasy coaches, with halves dominating the best scores and one Eels star rebounding into peak form.

Winners

Ryan Matterson hit 86 – his second-best score of the year – to register the highest total of the round based on 54 tackles and five offloads, plus one handy line break. It was his second-best score of the year and his first really big haul since round nine.

Jack Wighton (81) bagged a double against the Titans while Jamal Fogarty (also 81) has cemented his spot as the second-best cash cow of the year after Harry Grant. He could have scored a fair few more were it not for a stunning try-saving chase from big Raiders prop Josh Papalii.

Liam Martin (77) gave Matt Moylan nightmares in Penrith's big win, Mitch Barnett (74) scored over 70 in an 80-minute performance for a second straight week to emerge as a serious point-of-difference option for the run home and Pat Carrigan (also 74) was immense in the absence of Payne Haas.

Get Caught Up: Round 15

Mitch Pearce (73) was on track for a big score even before Blake Green's horror injury and got there despite being sin-binned. Campbell Graham (73), Tom Dearden (72), Kodi Nikorima (70) and Brett Morris (69) each bagged plenty of attacking stats.

AJ Brimson (67) is averaging 62 since returning from injury and is still under-priced, while Nathan Cleary's 65 was the best of the obvious captaincy options (unless you were astute enough to take a punt on Carrigan in the under-manned Brisbane pack).

Papalii chases down Fogarty and saves certain try

Those who held Kyle Flanagan (59) were rewarded, Tom Starling (56) scored a welcome try, Latrell Mitchell (52) had one of his "on" games, and cash-down options Rhys Kennedy (39) and Kaeon Koloamatangi (38) were solid.

Losers

Calf injuries hobbled captaincy options Jason Taumalolo (30) and Api Koroisau (39), while Brandon Smith (54) scored well but could miss the rest of the season with a broken jaw.

Luke Thompson's (36) demotion to the bench was bad for his minutes, even though his scoring was impressive in his short time on field.

Luciano Leilua (44) recovered to an acceptable 44 after a demerit-laden start against the Roosters, but it was still a disappointment compared to his recent scoring spree while Alex Twal (45) got through a welcome injury return but played limited minutes.

Potential cheapie Star To'a (4) not only didn't score a try for the first time in his young career but was rubbed out by a HIA. Bayley Sironen (29) played the full 80 for the third time but couldn't capitalise.

A change in the Eels' forward rotation has really put a stop to Junior Paulo (36) and Reagan Campbell-Gillard's (22) scoring potential while Dylan Brown (38) was also quiet.