NRL Fantasy Winners & Losers: Round 26

A wrap of the best and worst Fantasy performances from Round 26 of the Telstra Premiership.

From Daly Cherry-Evans' 100+ effort, to a string of big scores from WFBs and an unfortunate injury to a Fantasy gun. 

Round 26 Winners

A starring role in the Sea Eagles' 42-24 win over the Bulldogs saw Daly Cherry-Evans dominant the scoring in Round 26.

The $798k HLF's 106 points put him 23 ahead of second-ranked Nathan Cleary, with the Manly skipper's big base stats from kick metres (18 points) and run metres (14 points) combining with a try, six goals and eight tackle breaks.

Cleary rewarded the more than a quarter of teams who captained him with an 83, despite the Panthers losing to the Eels, who had winger Maika Sivo score four tries on his way to 79.

Toafofoa Sipley almost doubled his season average by also scoring 79, with his teammate Tolutau Koula and Knights EDG/CTR Dylan Lucas close behind on 77.

Priced at just $362k, Lucas was the best value for money performer of the round.

WFB-eligible players occupied most of the next group, with Kalyn Ponga, Joseph-Aukuso Suaali'i, Jamayne Isaako, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Scott Drinkwater joining MID Cameron McInnes and CTR Dane Gagai in scoring in the 70s.

Round 26 Losers

Raiders veteran Jarrod Croker was bumped to the bench before kick-off and played just three minutes for a score of zero.

Fourteen other players registered single-digit scores last week, the most Fantasy relevant of which was Isaiya Katoa who is owned by 22 percent of teams.

CTRs Jesse Ramien, Seb Kris and Morgan Harper all struggled to 10 points.

The loss of Joey Manu – who plenty had invested in upon news he was moving to fullback – to a hamstring injury after just 23 minutes saw him score only 18 and he's now set to miss Round 27 as well. 

Round 26 Team of the Week

1. Kalyn Ponga (WFB, HLF) – 76 points
2. Maika Sivo (WFB) – 79 points
3. Tolutau Koula (CTR, WFB) – 77 points
4. Dylan Lucas (CTR, EDG) – 77 points
5. Joseph-Aukuso Suaali'i (WFB, CTR) – 75 points
6. Nathan Cleary (HLF) – 83 points
7. Daly Cherry-Evans (HLF) – 106 points
8. Toafofoa Sipley (MID) – 79 points
9. Brandon Smith (HOK, MID) – 62 points
10. Toby Rudolf (MID) – 68 points
11. Corey Waddell (EDG, MID) – 69 points
12. Elliott Whitehead (EDG) – 65 points
13. Cameron McInnes (MID) – 70 points
14. Jamayne Isaako (WFB) – 74 points
15. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (WFB) – 73 points
16. Scott Drinkwater (WFB) – 72 points
17. Dane Gagai (CTR) – 70 points