It was a pretty good week to stick with the obvious captaincy choices while a couple of hard-working front-rowers dominated the pointy end of the weekly scores.
Winners
Sunday's slog-fest between Newcastle and Canterbury played into the hands of hard-working middle forwards, with David Klemmer pumping out a huge 82 to be the Fantasy player of the week. Big Klem made 57 tackles and close to 200 metres with zero demerits in his side's shock loss.
A try in that game pushed opposition prop Aiden Tolman (81) to the second-best score of the round while in-form Eels prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard (79), a try-scorer himself, netted the third-best tally of round 11 with another big-minute stint.
Manly playmaker Cade Cust (77) earned an unlikely spot among the best weekly scores courtesy of a try and an assist against the Cowboys.
Get Caught Up: Round 11
Cam Smith (75) continued his excellent form and Cam McInnes (74) was back to his dominant ways, including a spell at hooker as the Dragons injuries mounted. The pair were the best of the likely captaincy options, ahead of Jason Taumalolo (69) and Payne Haas (64).
Melbourne's big win over Brisbane was good news for Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen (both 73) while Newcastle's poor team showing didn't stop Mitch Barnett (76), Kalyn Ponga (74), and Jacob Saifiti (72) joining Klemmer among the best Fantasy performers of the week.
Raymond Faitala-Mariner (73), Tohu Harris and Harry Grant (both 70) rounded out the week's 70-plus scorers.
Match Highlights: Titans v Panthers
Zac Lomax (69) continues to be the best option at centre, Isaah Yeo's (69) minutes bounced back, Kurt Mann (68) was excellent, Ben Hunt (67) was on track for an even bigger score before having to shift to halfback, Tino Faasuamaleaui (67) hit a season high, Jamal Fogarty (66) got his price rises re-started while Tom Starling (45) and Bayley Sironen (40) did okay as cash cows.
Losers
Ryan Matterson (5) suffered an early HIA against his former club Wests Tigers in a game coaches expected him to put up a big performance in, and no doubt cost plenty of head-to-head league wins.
Adam Clune's (4) price rises have hit a wall with the Dragons halfback long odds to back up for the short turnaround after failing an HIA.
Newcastle's hooking dramas were bad news for Fantasy coaches with Andrew McCullough (23) likely gone for the season due to a first-half hamstring tear. Jake Friend (34) and James Fisher-Harris (30) also had unusually quiet games and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's low-scoring season continues.
McCullough assisted from the field
There were also some potential blow-outs on the cards with the NRL's top sides playing the cellar dwellers in four separate games, leading many coaches to take a punt on wildcard captains.
Many punted on James Tedesco (57) or Nathan Cleary (59) with disappointing (though not disastrous) results compared to the more regular captaincy picks.
Round 11 team of the week
- Kalyn Ponga (74)
- Ryan Papenhuyzen (73)
- Zac Lomax (69)
- Hymel Hunt (64)
- Jahrome Hughes (73)
- Jeremy Marshall-King (69)
- Cade Cust (77)
- David Klemmer (82)
- Cameron Smith (75)
- Aiden Tolman (81)
- Mitch Barnett (76)
- Raymond Faitala-Mariner (73)
- Tohu Harris (70)
- Reagan Campbell-Gillard (79)
- Cameron McInnes (74)
- Jacob Saifiti (72)
- Harry Grant (70)