NRL Fantasy player watch: Jesse Bromwich
NRL Fantasy 2018
Jesse Bromwich, FRF, $534,000
Melbourne's star prop was relatively quiet by his usual high standards last year, making him a potential value buy in NRL Fantasy heading into the new season.
Scoring potential: 4/5
At the start of 2017, Bromwich was considered one of the safest bets in NRL Fantasy. He'd scored more than 50 points a game for the previous three years, putting him in the top bracket of Fantasy props.
But for whatever reason his impact dropped significantly in 2017 – he didn't hit 40 points in a game until Round 13, and would only make 50 three times in the regular season (he did notch 52 Fantasy points in the grand final).
Still, with more responsibility at the club following the departure of international forwards Jordan McLean and Tohu Harris, there's every chance Bromwich gets back to his form of old this year.
Reliability: 3/5
As the best forward in the Melbourne Storm pack, Browmich's job security is 100%, but whether he can be relied on to start producing big scores again is another question.
All his Fantasy stats dropped in 2017 – he didn't score a try until round 26, he made fewer line breaks, his run metres fell from 142 per game to 126 and his tackles dropped from 30 a game to 23.
But while a dominant Melbourne side charged towards a premiership in 2017, they look a little weaker this year – which is good news for Bromwich's Fantasy prospects.
The departure of Jordan McLean means the Storm have lost a prop who regularly contributed 100 metres and 25 tackles a game, and Bromwich will likely take on some of that extra workload.
Bromwich might also need to do more defending if the Storm are brought pack to the pack in their first season without Cooper Cronk.
Value: 3/5
Bromwich's price is based on last year's average of 36.5 – his worst Fantasy season of the past five years – and you'd expect the only way is up in 2018.
If he can get back to 50 points a game he'd earn big price rises as well as regaining his old status as a Fantasy keeper, but even a 10-point jump in scoring would make Bromwich a high-scoring cash cow.
Of course, if his numbers don't change from 2017 then he will be neither a keeper or a cash cow, and not really worth a place in your squad. So he remains a gamble, but if you believe last year was just a blip on the radar for Bromwich he's a gamble worth taking.
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