NRL Fantasy by the numbers: Round 21

A mammoth effort from Nathan Cleary immediately put anyone who captained him on track to hit a score in the thousands, during a round in which plenty of the other big guns also rose to the occasion. 

Here's our look over the numbers which stood out from the week that was in NRL Fantasy. 

NRL Fantasy by the numbers: Round 21

The Prince of Penrith strikes again

With just under 30 percent of all coaches putting their faith in him as captain in Round 21, Nathan Cleary delivered one of his finest Fantasy outings to register his latest entry into the triple digit score club.

The superstar HLF scored three tries and ran for 242 metres on Sunday as he hit 112 points and immediately changed the weekend for anyone who had him as skipper. It was a disaster for anyone without Cleary as skipper, but particular thoughts go out to the 2.48 percent who deemed him good enough to be vice captain against the Dragons but missed out on his double points. 

It reinforces the thinking that he's a must-have from here – and as it is he's currently the second-most owned player in the game with selection in just over 89,000 teams – with his price tag still a pretty reasonable $874k ahead of him taking on the 11th-placed Knights this week.

Will is able

Storm wing Will Warbrick was the big Fantasy surprise to emerge from Round 21, with his 70-point effort against the Eels crushing his projected score of 30.

To get there he more than doubled his prior season average for metres gained, finishing up with 304 (30 points), made four line breaks (16 points) and broke five tackles (10 points) to go with a try.

Given his previous best score this season was 44, Warbrick hardly shapes as a trade target, although it'll be interesting to see if his scores continue to improve now the Storm have Cameron Munster back in the halves and opponents will need to pay more defensive attention to both sides of the field.

HOKs go MIA

The nagging headache that has been finding a consistently elite HOK continued over the weekend.

Of the top 10 most owned HOKs in Fantasy, Harry Grant (53 points) and Api Koroisau (67 points) were the only ones to register scores of 50 or above and with Koroisau the only player from that positional group to command a place in the top 30 scorers for the round.

Tom Starling ($500k) remains the big HOK riser after hitting 55 against the Rabbitohs to give himself a L3 average of 56.

Round 21 Fantasy Team of the Week

1. Connor Tracey (WFB) – 88 points
2. Will Warbrick (WFB) – 70 points
3. Jacob Kiraz (WFB, CTR) – 72 points
4. Jack Wighton (HLF, CTR) – 61 points
5. Ryan Papenhuyzen (WFB) / Jayden Campbell (WFB, HLF) – 63 points
6. Daly Cherry-Evans (HLF) – 78 points
7. Nathan Cleary (HLF) – 112 points
8. Moeaki Fotuaika (MID) – 80 points
9. Api Koroisau (HOK) – 67 points
10. Payne Haas (MID) – 70 points
11. Hudson Young (EDG) – 83 points
12. Keaon Koloamatangi (EDG, MID) – 74 points
13. Isaah Yeo (MID) – 70 points
14. Jamal Fogarty (HLF) – 74 points
15. Bryce Cartwright (EDG) – 70 points 
16. Addin Fonua-Blake (MID) – 67 points
17. David Fifita (EDG) – 66 points