The Telstra Premiership regular season has come to an end and so has the NRL Fantasy Classic competition for 2017, with Fantasy guns old and new firing on the final weekend of the campaign.
Here are the winners and losers from Round 26, plus the Fantasy team of the season.
Winners
Paul Gallen may be one of the game's elder statesmen but the Sharks skipper shows no sign of slowing down, powering his way to 97 points (without a try) in a massive performance against Newcastle on Sunday.
Gallen's epic 300-metre display edged him just ahead of Storm back-rower Tohu Harris, who scored twice on the way to 96 points this week.
Fantasy guns Tom Trbojevic (80) and brother Jake (69) both impressed in Manly's win over the Panthers while Jason Taumalolo (76) continued a stunning end to the season for the Cowboys, who have managed to hold on to a finals spot.
One-time cash cow Brian Kelly (75), Fantasy gun in the making Lachlan Fitzgibbon (73), Titans young gun Max King (71) and Sharks big man Andrew Fifita (69) also scored big in Round 26, while Semi wingers Radradra (60) and David Nofoaluma (66) both got amongst the tries.
Losers
Round 26 is notorious for late withdrawals (hence the reason for default head-to-head leagues playing their grand finals a week earlier) and this year's edition was no different, with the likes of Angus Crichton, Sam Burgess, Adam Reynolds, Wade Graham, Shaun Johnson, Elijah Taylor and Kieran Foran among those to be ruled out an hour before kick-off. The absence of Crichton and Burgess especially would have hit hard for those who missed the final Rabbitohs team lists.
In terms of scores, popular centres Jarrod Croker and Tautau Moga only managed 8 points each, Joey Leilua didn't fare much better with 19, Billy Slater was kept relatively quiet for 21 and Mitchell Aubusson scored 23 – taking his season average below the unofficial "keeper" cut-off of 40 points a game (the Mitchell Aubusson Rule lives!).
Fantasy Team of the Week
1. Tom Trbojevic (80)
2. David Nofoaluma (66)
3. Brian Kelly (75)
4. Will Hopoate (68)
5. Semi Radradra (60)
6. Tyrone May (57)
7. Kodi Nikorima (61)
8. Max King (71)
9. Danny Levi (65)
10. Andrew Fifita/David Klemmer (69)
11. Tohu Harris (96)
12. Jason Taumalolo (76)
13. Paul Gallen (97)
Interchange:
14. Lachlan Fitzgibbon (73)
15. Jake Trbojevic (69)
16. David Klemmer/Andrew Fifita (69)
17. Gavin Cooper (68)
Fantasy Team of the Season
1. James Tedesco (average: 52)
2. Jordan Rapana (ave 49.6)
3. Tom Trbojevic (ave 47)
4. Dane Gagai (ave 43.1)
5. Cameron Munster (ave 48.8)
6. Mitchell Pearce (ave 56.2)
7. Shaun Johnson (ave 57)
8. Paul Vaughan (ave 54.6)
9. Cameron Smith (captain, ave 62.6)
10. Andrew Fifita (ave 54.5)
11. Angus Crichton (ave 60.1)
12. Simon Mannering (ave 59.7)
13. Jason Taumalolo (vice captain, ave 62.4)
Interchange:
14. Jack de Belin (ave 58.8)
15. Paul Gallen (ave 58.8)
16. Andrew McCullough (ave 57.7)
17. Nathan Cleary (ave 55.9)
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