The most testing part of the NRL Fantasy season is almost here, with the major bye rounds over the Origin period seeing seven teams sit out Round 13, 16 and 19.
Fielding a full team – which under a rule introduced last year is only 13 players during the three major bye rounds, rather than the usual 17 – is paramount, but at the same time coaches can't afford to burn too many trades for the sake of covering bye rounds alone.
How you approach this part of the season will depend greatly on whether you are playing the game for overall points, in a head-to-head league which has games during the major bye rounds or are in a head-to-head league which has bye rounds turned off, meaning your league doesn't have games over these rounds.
Advice for overall/H2H leagues with bye rounds on
If you’re playing for overall points then the action doesn’t pause through this period, nor does it for those in head-to-head leagues with bye rounds turned on, which means you play matches through the three big bye rounds.
The Broncos, Cowboys, Panthers, Storm and Warriors sit out two of the three major bye rounds, so Fantasy coaches should limit their exposure by making sure they don't have too many players from any of those teams.
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How many players you carry from those clubs through the that period will depend totally on your ability to field 13 players without them, and whether or not you intend to keep them for the run home.
All of those sides bar the Warriors are likely to have a large contingent of players involved in Origin too, which means there is a fair chance they opt to rest players in one of the rounds which follow Origin matches (14, 17 and 20).
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If you're debating which club's players you need to offload most ahead of this period, the answer probably sits with Brisbane and North Queensland given they'll both have their third and final bye after Origin as well, with the Broncos sitting out Round 24 and the Cowboys Round 25.
On the other side of the coin players from the Dolphins are a godsend here, with Wayne Bennett’s men being the only side in the competition who don’t have a bye at all through the three major bye rounds.
They also sit out just one of the rounds where players will be backing up from Origin (Round 14).
Herbie is a handful
Advice for H2H leagues with bye rounds off
If you’re in this category then you don't need to worry about fielding a team through the major bye rounds at all, with your league not having competition games in Round 13, 16 and 19.
It means much of the earlier advice doesn't apply to you and having players from the Panthers, Storm and Warriors is actually a good tactic, because all three of those sides will have had all their byes by the time Origin concludes.
You really don't want to have too many Dolphins players because they still have all three of their byes to come and none of them fall on weeks when you don't have games.
While not having games over the major bye rounds will allow you to preserve trades in those weeks, you'll need to use some of them to ensure you field a full 17 of green dots in the rounds following Origin games (14, 17 and 20).
The Panthers, Storm, Broncos, Bulldogs, Knights, Cowboys, Warriors and Wests Tigers are the teams who play in all three of the rounds directly after Origin matches.
Picking up high-performing players from these clubs who won't play for New South Wales for Queensland – and thus won't be at risk of being rested in those rounds – should be a priority to get you through this period.
Good Fantasy scorers from these clubs who can replace likely-Origin players in your squad include:
- Jahrome Hughes (HLF, $760k)
- Addin Fonua-Blake (MID, $800k)
- Scott Drinkwater (WFB, $706k)
- Reed Mahoney (HOK, $713k)
POD time: Scott Drinkwater
The Dolphins, Raiders, Roosters, Rabbitohs, Sea Eagles, Titans, Dragons, Eels and Sharks all have a bye in that Round 14, 17 and 19 period, so limit exposure by not having too many players from any of those sides if you can.