NRL 2024, NRL Fantasy, cash cows, best buys, Fantasy guide, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Nicho Hynes, Braydon Trindall

Author: NRL.com
Timestamp: Sat 27 Jan 2024, 08:01 AM

The Sharks gave us the best player in Fantasy last season and there's little reason to think that won't be the case again in 2024.

Nicho Hynes shook off a calf injury that caused him to miss the first three rounds to dominate the Fantasy scene last year, finishing with a whopping 74.1 average per game, and it's hard to look past him as the best bet to top the scoring again.

While the roster is basically unchanged outside of Matt Moylan departing – which should open up a permanent spot for $458k HLF Braydon Trindall – a couple of roles will change from the end of last year and there are some traps to avoid as a result.

Trindall bags a double

The biggest of those is Cameron McInnes, who finished 2023 as a big-minute starter but will likely go back to the bench, while it would pay to be cautious with new recruit Billy Burns too. He was an 80-minute player at the Dragons and built up to his current $600k tag with some big scores, but at Cronulla – where Teig Wilton and Briton Nikora will start – his role will be drastically reduced.

The big gun

We've already sung his praises in this article, and here's why. Hynes will probably score around the same as Nathan Cleary in 2024, but unless there's a big change under new coach Michael Maguire, he won't play Origin, which is a huge plus for his Fantasy prospects and puts him ahead of his Panthers counterpart. The Sharks have the best draw in the NRL this season according to strength of schedule data, so they should score plenty of points, with Hynes the main beneficiary of that given he will set up the majority and their line breaks and tries, plus kick goals.

Every Nicho Hynes try assist of the 2023 season

The bargain

If you're looking for cash cows, this isn't the club for you. While the pickings are pretty slim when it comes to cheapies with value at Cronulla, one player possibly worth a punt is MID Thomas Hazleton. He is unlikely to get a start but will probably be on the bench, and if his game time can be consistently in the mid 30s – as was the case for most of his last month in 2023 – then he should jump up above his starting price of $397k pretty quickly.

Bye round outlook

Round 5, 16 and 20. A good bye schedule for overall players, with Cronulla talent set to miss just one of the major byes rounds and be available in Round 13 and 19 when plenty of players will have red dots next to them. By that same token it's not ideal if you're in a head-to-head league with no games during those rounds anyway. The Round 5 bye means it could be tempting to hold off on some Sharks players until Round 6.