NRL Fantasy teams analysis – Round 10: Magic chaos

It’s Magic Round in Brisbane but chaos in NRL Fantasy land with injuries, suspensions and shock axings across the league.

Wests Tigers: Pure Fantasy chaos here. Cash cows Jake Simpkin and Stefano Utoikamanu and rookie winger Zac Cini are out of the 17, with Jacob Liddle the new starting hooker, Tommy Talau on the wing and Jock Madden and Shawn Blore joining the bench. Adam Doueihi is now in the centres with Moses Mbye joining Luke Brooks in the halves.

Cini’s axing isn’t a shock after his horror -1 score on the weekend but the absence of Simpkin and Utoikamanu will hurt a lot of teams, while Madden and Blore may turn out to be cash cows but are risky buys while they’re on the bench.

Brooks (42 points last week) looks to be the big winner from the reshuffle, with Doueihi (103) having dominated the long kicking duties of late.

Knights: Unchanged, with Connor Watson again set to come off the bench as he did last week. Watson has been a quality scorer this year – even when coming off the bench – but his 40-minute stint was the least amount of game time he’s had in 2021 and coincided with Mitch Barnett moving to lock with Lachlan Fitzgibbon taking a 65-minute edge role.

It doesn’t make Watson an urgent sell just yet but he could be one to keep an eye on (though he could still be a handy round 13 scorer for overall points). Meanwhile Kalyn Ponga (66) scored almost 60 points in the second half alone against the Raiders last week as Tyson Frizell (71) claimed a season-best score.

Sea Eagles: Martin Taupau returns at prop, bumping Sean Keppie to the bench and Zac Saddler out of the side. Taniela Paseka is named despite copping a head knock last week.

Tom Trbojevic (100) is in the form of his life, with an astounding five tries, eight try assists and nine line breaks in just four games so far. At this rate he’s still good value at $663k if you’re in the market for a keeper WFB.

Jason Saab (62) is cashing in on Manly’s recent success of late while Josh Schuster (38) appears to have reached his peak price for now, with a break even around 50.

Broncos: Pat Carrigan (ACL) is out for the rest of the season and is replaced at lock by Tom Flegler, while Jake Turpin is the new captain and John Asiata joins the bench.

Payne Haas (76) made a season-high 44 tackles against the Cowboys and is back to his best – and could potentially get even more game time with Carrigan sidelined – while Flegler (56) should get a substantial increase on his 35 minutes per game in the No.13 jersey, where Carrigan averaged 55 minutes.   

Bulldogs: Corey Allan (shoulder, 1-3 weeks) and Lachlan Lewis are out injured and Kyle Flanagan drops to the reserves, with Nick Meaney moving to centre, Tuipulotu Katoa on the wing and Brandon Wakeham into the halves.

Dylan Napa and Renouf Atoni join the starting pack with Ava Seumanufagai and Corey Waddell benched.

Luke Thompson (69) is averaging 56 points per game this year while Atoni (66) is averaging 56.5 across his past four games, including two tries.   

Raiders: Ryan Sutton (elbow), Joseph Tapine (knee) and Jordan Rapana (hamstring) are out while Josh Hodgson is named to make his return via the interchange. Semi Valemei is named on the wing, Hudson Young at lock and Ryan James on to the bench.

Josh Papalii (63) is averaging close to 57 across his past five games while Starling (63) can expect to his scores and game time drop with Hodgson back in the side. Bailey Simonsson (46) finally grabbed his first try and decent price rise of the season in the loss to Newcastle.

Sharks: Jesse Ramien (fractured eye socket, 4-6 weeks) is sidelined so Josh Dugan returns to the side. Andrew Fifita also makes his return via the bench in place of Billy Magoulias.

With Ramien sidelined and one-time cash cows Matt Moylan (6) and Chad Townsend (9) struggling for points, there’s not a lot on offer Fantasy-wise at Cronulla right now.

Rabbitohs: Adam Reynolds returns along with Taane Milne, replacing Dean Hawkins and Steven Marsters in the backline. Liam Knight starts at lock with Jai Arrow reverting to the bench, and Hame Sele replaces Patrick Mago on the interchange.

Damien Cook (50) was the only notable scorer in South’s 50-0 thrashing at the hands of Melbourne.

Roosters: Drew Hutchison (fractured ribs, punctured lung) joins the Tricolours’ ever-growing casualty list, with Lachlan Lam returning at five-eighth.

Sitili Tupouniua returns in the second row, with Nat Butcher shifting to the bench and Tuku Hau Tapuha out of the 17. Victor Radley (HIA) is named at lock.

Butcher (82), winger Matt Ikuvalu (82) and fill-in hooker Ben Marschke (53) were the team’s top Fantasy scorers last week, with Sam Walker (32), James Tedesco (34) and Angus Crichton (36) all kept quiet against Parramatta. All three of those guys remain holds, although non-Tedesco owners will be able to pick him up for a steal after the Origin period.

Cowboys: No changes. After two scores in the 30s, Jason Taumalolo (84) exploded back into Fantasy relevancy for the first time this year with a dominant 71-minute display against Brisbane, and suddenly looks an intriguing pick-up at a $101k discount on his starting price.

Warriors: Ben Murdoch-Masila returns in place of Bayley Sironen in the second row in the Warriors’ only change. Reece Walsh remains on the bench.

Tohu Harris (73) remains Mr Reliable in this team while Josh Curran (56) continues to be a high-scoring moneymaker. Walsh (23) had a try and a try assist in a 26-minute cameo off the bench in the loss to Manly. Although his game time remains a concern, coach Nathan Brown hinted the rising star could be used more effectively. 

Eels: Dylan Brown (three weeks) and Marata Niukore (two weeks) are both suspended, with Jakob Arthur named at five-eighth and Waqa Blake returning at centre.

Nathan Brown is back at lock, Shaun Lane will come off the bench, while Ray Stone joins the interchange with Haze Dunster and Keegan Hipgrave dropping out. The selections of Arthur and Stone are still subject to NRL biosecurity approval.

Mitchell Moses (64) and Isaiah Papali’i (56) keep going strong while Ryan Matterson (70) is available at a $115k discount on his starting price and could be a good buy on an edge at $692k – despite a concerning history of head knocks.

Storm: Some big guns on the sidelines for Melbourne this week – Cameron Munster (foot sprain) and Harry Grant (hamstring) have both copped two-week injuries and Brandon Smith is suspended. And Ryan Papenhuyzen’s return isn’t guaranteed either – he’s named in the reserves at this stage and could be a late inclusion.

Ryley Jacks starts at five-eighth, Kenny Bromwich is the new hooker, Tui Kamikamica moves to the second row and Dale Finucane starts at lock. Hooker Tyson Smoothy and Tom Eisenhuth join the bench.

Josh Addo-Carr (85) scored a stunning six tries last week while Christian Welch (39) is losing money at the moment and is a sell for those who still have him.

Dragons: Mikaele Ravalawa returns for Mathew Feagai on the wing, while Poasa Faamausili replaces Junior Amone on the bench.

Matt Dufty (78) is coming off his best score of the season against the Bulldogs and has now scored eight tries in nine games, while a try helped Paul Vaughan (66) to his best score of the year as well. Jack Bird (50) didn’t get across the stripe but had a very strong game anyway with 170 metres, four tackle breaks and four offloads.

Titans: Unchanged. David Fifita (76) and value buy Jamal Fogarty (69) continue to impress, while Mitch Rein has bounced back from a poor start to the season to reel off scores of 52, 69 and 46 in the past three weeks. Brimson is still $119k cheaper than he was at the start of the season if you’re looking for a cut-price option at the back.

Tyrone Peachey (39) has now scored tries in each of his past three games.

Panthers: Paul Momirovski is no guarantee to return this week after only being named in the reserves. Liam Martin replaces Kurt Capewell (head knock) in the second row and J’maine Hopgood joins the bench.

Api Koroisau has dropped $117k from his starting price and still has a high break even – he’s yet to score 50 this year but made 49 in his first 80-minute game of the season on the weekend and could be a bargain ahead of the first major bye round.

After a below-par (by his standards) 61 in round 8, Nathan Cleary bounced back with 88 points against Cronulla.