Crucial Fantasy calls to make: Round 8

A positional switch has made the already appealing Joey Manu a good buy this week, while we're starting to focus on the upcoming bye rounds as well. 

We also look over Kurt Mann as a possible cash-down option and discuss some of the value players likely to be floating around in your Draft free agent pools ahead of Round 8. 

Mann of interest

As we got our first look at the new Knights forward rotation without Jayden Brailey, Kurt Mann emerged as one of the main beneficiaries, with a 57-minute showing off the bench which saw him score 60 points.

This week he starts at lock, and at $521k with designation as a MID/HLF he is a really solid cash down option if you are looking to trade out one of your big money players for someone who can still be in your 17, while also allowing you to keep some cash aside for down the track. 

He isn't going to make a huge amount of money, but will increase in value by $80k over the next three weeks if he can average 50, and should keep getting big minutes now. 

This is the week to buy Manu

While his Fantasy form this year has so far failed to excite, Joey Manu looks like being a very handy player to have in your squad from this point on.

This week he plays at five-eighth, where he averages 69 Fantasy points in four starts, which includes a whopping 103 last year, making him not only a great player to have this week but a pretty good captaincy option too.

He probably won't keep the No.6 jersey for too long given Sam Walker seems to have been dropped as a wake-up call, rather than coach Trent Robinson suddenly realising Manu is the better option in the halves on a permanent basis, but that shouldn't be a deterrent for potential buyers this week.  

With Origin coming up, Manu is a good chance of getting some reps at fullback in place of James Tedesco, where he also scores very well in Fantasy, and at $607k, which is $123k less than he started the year at, you're getting a solid option at a decent price who can cover both CTR and WFB in your team. 

Starting planning for Rd 13

Rule changes for 2023 mean a change in approach is required for the bye rounds, which this year occur in Round 13, 16 and 19.

If you're only playing head-to-head and your league/s don't run on bye rounds then this won't matter for you, but for others it can make or break a season, so it's a good idea to forecast what your team might look like come Round 13 and start working out a plan. 

The first thing to remember is that under the new rules only those in your starting 13 will score points for you in the bye rounds, with your bench not contributing to your score for the round. That's an important factor if, for instance, you have three superstar halves, as you can only have two of them scoring points.

The other key thing to look at is which teams actually play over the bye rounds, with seven teams sitting out each of those rounds.

Fantasy draft free agents of the week

After he started his year with scores of 32 and 29, Jack de Belin was dropped from many teams who drafted him, while in other cases he was overlooked due to injury keeping him out of the first month. But having now worked his way into the Dragons' starting side at lock, and last week playing the full 80 minutes on his way to 67 points, he is a brilliant pick up if available.

If you need some CTR cover this week too, Morgan Harper is available in plenty of leagues and could have a big day out against the Wests Tigers on Sunday. He averages 46.3 this year, which includes a 61 back in Round 5.