10 NRL Fantasy stars to build your team around

Big guns in NRL Fantasy don't come cheap, but if you pick the right ones they are worth every cent and can make the world of difference to your side. 

Given they'll almost certainly factor into your week-to-week captaincy decisions, finding the ideal marquee players to build your side around now will likely save you trades, and heartache, during the season.

NRL.com takes a look at some of the leading contenders, listed below in alphabetical order.

10 NRL Fantasy stars to build your team around

Angus Crichton: EDG, $798,000

Despite Isaiah Papali'i being the best scoring EDG in Fantasy last year, Crichton comes with a little more certainty for 2023, simply based off the playmaking infrastructure around him.

If Crichton can pick up where he finished at the end of 2022, which included a last-three game average of 70.7 points per game, then he's a great pickup at $798k, which is $88k less than Papali'i will cost you to start the year. 

The Roosters' enforcer made 12 line breaks and scored six tries last year and should have plenty of the same opportunities this season, in a Roosters side which many are tipping to be a frontrunner.  

Cameron Murray: MID, $904,000

Very reliable in Fantasy thanks to most of his points coming from base stats such as run metres (2022 average of 120 per game) and tackles (2022 average of 40.3 per game). 

Murray also doesn't accumulate many demerits, with just 40 missed tackles (-80 Fantasy points) and 13 errors (-26 Fantasy points) in his 23 appearances in 2022. 

He gets his hands on the ball a lot when the Rabbitohs are on attack, which means he can set up tries and line breaks too, and when he gets a few of those he can easily hit big scores like the 94 he registered last year. 

Daly Cherry-Evans: HLF, $851,000

A player who has averaged 50 points or more in Fantasy in all but one season since 2013, DCE very rarely lets you down thanks to the large number of points he generates through base stats, along with his standing as Manly's key playmaker. 

The loss of Kieran Foran for 2023 - who will probably be replaced by Josh Schuster in the halves - means the Sea Eagles are likely to rely on Cherry-Evans more than ever, with almost all of the general play kicking likely to fall to the Queensland No.7.

While he is definitely a class below Nathan Cleary and Nicho Hynes in a Fantasy sense, Cherry-Evans is over $100k cheaper than either of them and a more than capable option if you don't want to commit such a large amount of your salary cap to the HLF position.

Damien Cook: HOK, $945,000

The best HOK in Fantasy last year, with his 66.2 point per game average being 6.1 higher than the next best rake, Harry Grant.

Cook combines good base stats - almost always registering high run metres and tackle counts - with a fair chunk of dynamic plays, which last year included 138 points from tackle busts alone. 

The 31-year-old has averaged at least 60 points per games in each of his last five seasons, and with the Rabbitohs having retained almost all of their key players from last year, there is no reason to think Cook won't be among the top scorers in Fantasy once again. 

Harry Grant: HOK, $857,000

As the Storm enter life without a bunch of their most experienced forwards who departed at the end of last year, Grant's role in the side will become even more crucial in 2023. 

Last year he averaged 75.5 minutes per game, which is highly unlikely to go down considering Brandon Smith is no longer on the roster, while Grant runs more from dummy-half than any other player in the competition (averaging 8.6 dummy-half runs per game). That number translates to plenty of run metres and line-break opportunities. 

He should go toe-to-toe with Damien Cook this year as the top Fantasy hooker and comes $88k cheaper than his South Sydney counterpart.  

Isaiah Papali'i: EDG, $886,000

Given he is moving to the 2022 wooden spooners, from a side which made the Grand Final last year, it is fair to assume Papali'i's Fantasy average of 62 points per game may drop off a little this season. Still, he remains a very good option. 

Unlike others on this list, he didn't have a 'bad' Fantasy game at all last year, with his lowest score being a respectable 40, thanks in large part to the work he got through on both sides of the footy. 

He will suffer from not having Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown feeding him the ball in 2023, but Papali'i is a good enough player to rise to the challenge at the Wests Tigers and still be a Fantasy gun. 

James Tedesco: WFB, $777,000

The Roosters star ranked first in terms of WFB options last year with a season average of 54.3 per game, and with Ryan Papenhuyzen's return to the field uncertain and question marks still hanging over Tom Trbojevic's hamstring, he looks a good pick as your flagship player in the back three. 

Despite it still being enough to be top of his positional group, Tedesco's 2022 Fantasy season was actually the worst he's had since 2018, and in a Roosters side which will benefit from the dynamic play of Brandon Smith at dummy-half this year, there should be a jump in his scoring. 

He shapes as a more consistent player than Latrell Mitchell in 2023, albeit probably with a lower ceiling. 

Nathan Cleary: HLF, $957,000

The most consistently excellent Fantasy prospect over the last couple of seasons - last year averaging 62.7 points per game - the Penrith No.7 will likely again be among the most selected and captained players in the game again in 2023. 

His right boot alone delivers plenty, with Cleary nailing 85.4 percent of the conversions he attempted last year and racking up what amounted to 271 Fantasy points from general play kicking. 

While his owners will be relying on him avoiding a five-game suspension like that which cost him the back end of the 2022 season, Cleary will feature in Origin and is likely to miss the odd NRL game throughout the year.  

Nicho Hynes: HLF, $984,000

The Dally M Medal winner last year as the best player in the game, and the top-scoring player in Fantasy with a whopping 69.1 points per game on average. 

When he carried the ball he was lethal, averaging 177 run metres per game, while in the playmaking department he finished the 2022 season with a competition-high 29 line-break assists, along with 21 try assists. 

The other big positive when it comes to Hynes is that he is likely to just miss out on Origin selection, meaning he should be available more than other top HLF options such as Nathan Cleary and Daly Cherry-Evans. 

Payne Haas: MID, $809,000

In a season in which injuries heavily impacted him, Haas still managed to average 56.6 points per game in 2022, and with improved health he should take a decent jump in the upcoming campaign.  

While there is no shortage of quality MID talent in Fantasy, Haas has a unique ability to rack up points in quick succession thanks to his habit of breaking tackles and achieving post-contact metres. 

At $809k he is almost $100k cheaper than the elite middle option, Cameron Murray. 

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