Raiders 2019 NRL Fantasy guide

The Raiders have mixed things up a little after an underwhelming 2018 campaign, with Blake Austin and big men Shannon Boyd and Junior Paulo exiting the club and two new English forwards arriving.

In the past, Jordan Rapana has been arguably Canberra's premier Fantasy player but this season the best value will come from their new-look forward pack.

Here are three players worth considering for your 2019 NRL Fantasy team:

Josh Papalii

Kangaroos international Papalii has never averaged 50 points across an NRL Fantasy season but he's on track to do so in 2019 after thriving at lock last year.

After starting 2018 as an edge forward before spending a couple of weeks coming off the bench, scoring just 37 points a game in that time, Papalii was first named in the No.13 jersey in round eight and averaged an excellent 54 from then on.

If he continues that trend he'll be an underpriced keeper in 2019, with a break even of 49.

John Bateman

The successful signings of Englishmen Elliott Whitehead and Josh Hodgson has encouraged Ricky Stuart to look to the Super League again, with Wigan duo Bateman and Ryan Sutton bolstering a forward pack that will be missing heavyweight props Shannon Boyd and Junior Paulo in 2019.

Sutton will fill one of the front-row spots but Bateman – an 80-minute second-rower for England in their recent series win over New Zealand – is the more likely Fantasy gun. With a break even around 40 in round one he has the potential to make the kind of impact Whitehead did when he arrived in the NRL in 2016.

Emre Guler

Guler showed plenty of promise in 2018, a hulking prop who averaged 25 Fantasy points in 29 minutes of game time in his first NRL season.

He's been re-signed in the off-season and has plenty of upside if gets a starting spot and/or his game time lifts to around 40 minutes a match – although that will likely depend on the performances of Bateman and Sutton.

Raiders player prices & positions

Josh Papalii $734,000, 2RF
Joseph Tapine $730,000, 2RF
Josh Hodgson $658,000, HOK
John Bateman $593,000, 2RF, CTR
Nick Cotric $561,000, WFB
Jordan Rapana $531,000, WFB
Jarrod Croker $527,000, CTR
Elliott Whitehead $525,000, 2RF
Joseph Leilua $517,000, CTR
Sia Soliola $515,000, 2RF, FRF
Ryan Sutton $511,000, FRF
Siliva Havili $500,000, HOK
Jack Wighton $477,000, WFB
Luke Bateman $456,000, 2RF
Aidan Sezer $389,000, HLF
Dunamis Lui $377,000, FRF
Sam Williams $347,000, HLF
Michael Oldfield $307,000, WFB
Emre Guler $292,000, FRF
Ata Hingano $228,000, HLF
Brad Abbey $228,000, WFB
Jack Murchie $228,000, FRF
JJ Collins $228,000, FRF
Royce Hunt $212,000, FRF, 2RF
Sebastian Kris $212,000, CTR