Crucial Fantasy calls to make: Round 3
With the smoke having settled a little after the opening two rounds, plenty of owners will be using both their available trades this week as they look to strengthen their squad.
The fourth most owned player in Fantasy, Nathan Cleary is out on a bye and will be a sell for some on the back of a poor showing last week, while a Bulldogs rookie has emerged as one of the top cash cow prospects and is named to start again.
Crucial Fantasy calls for Round 3
The Cobbo conundrum
In his two games this year, one at fullback and the other on the wing, Selwyn Cobbo has averaged a mere 18 Fantasy points, and he is heading for a substantial regression from last year.
The obvious difference is his lack of dynamic plays so far in attack, with no tries or line breaks and just three total tackle busts. That will change at some point, because he's too good for it not too, but the heavy role Reece Walsh appears set to play in Brisbane's attack is the real worry for Cobbo owners.
Walsh was involved in just about everything in last week's win over the Cowboys, and outside of his assist for Kotoni Staggs, much of it came down the left side where he appears more comfortable attacking. That creates a real risk of Cobbo being the forgotten man on the right flank.
That could all change with left wing Corey Oates out for up to two months now, but given Cobbo has already dropped $88k in value, it might better to jump off now before the damage potentially gets much worse.
Walsh makes his mark
Captain Hopgood
He's the hottest player in Fantasy right now after starting the season with a pair of scores above 80, and J'maine Hopgood is an excellent choice as captain this week no matter who else is in your team.
He has proven he can earn elite scores even when his minutes change (they reduced from 84 in Round 1 to 71 in Round 2) and he's managed to do it despite missing 12 tackles across both games, resulting in plenty of demerits.
It may be a different story from next week, when Ryan Matterson returns and Hopgood potentially gets shunted to an edge or loses minutes in the middle, but for Round 3 he's an excellent bet as captain and yours truly will be handing him the 'C' for the second week in a row.
Is it worth jumping on Preston?
Bulldogs rookie Jacob Preston excelled in his promotion to the starting forward pack in last week's win over the Storm, scoring the opening try and playing 76 minutes on his way to a Fantasy score of 62, which now has him sitting on a break even of -12 heading into Round 3.
His points per minute shot through the roof after a modest score of 18 in 52 minutes in his debut a week earlier, and even without his dynamic stats last week he had 50 points just from tackles, run metres and tackle breaks.
Preston opens the scoring
He is set to start again on Sunday against the struggling Wests Tigers, so should have opportunities to generate attacking stats again, and with Tevita Pangai Jr not due back until Round 5, Preston should keep a spot in the 17 for the next little while and make plenty more cash.
I especially like him as a cash down option this week if you've got an underperforming player who is losing money and needs to go.
Fantasy Draft free agent of the week
Good luck tackling him
Because he started the year injured, Storm centre Justin Olam was left undrafted in most leagues, with lesser Fantasy CTR prospects taken because they would be fit to go in Round 1.
But now that he will return in Round 3, he's worth a look in your free agent pool. Olam's style of play lends itself to Fantasy, with plenty of tackle breaks, and, in the past at least, opportunities for try assists and four-pointers of his own.
CTR is a tricky one to get right in draft, so why not throw out another line and hope Olam rewards you?
