Fantasy by the numbers: Round 22

Big gun HOKs Damien Cook and Harry Grant were among the stars in Round 22, as Fantasy's third most popular player broke down with an injury which has left a third of all coaches reeling this week. 

The remarkable late-season surge from Nathan Cleary continued, while clever coaches cashed in on a couple of lowly-owned WFBs. 

Fantasy by the numbers: Round 22

WFB PODs to the fore 

A couple of scarcely owned WFBs absolutely crushed it in Round 22, with Jojo Fifita (1.28 percent ownership) and Jahream Bula (2.98 percent) running in scores of 90 and 83 to sit inside the week's top five. 

It didn't stop with them either, with Clinton Gutherson (79 points), Jye Gray (77 points), Keano Kini (71 points) all sitting in under 10 percent of teams as well. 

While plenty of coaches opt for the increased security you get from top tier options like James Tedesco or Tom Trbojevic at this time of the year, this week's points rankings also show the value in picking favourable match-ups and taking a punt on point of difference players at WFB, where a couple of tries can easily transform an average performance into an elite one. 

Untimely Payne

The loss of Payne Haas to a potentially season-ending foot injury just 10 minutes into Brisbane's defeat to the Titans came as a huge blow to the 33 percent of Fantasy coaches who own him. 

With the Broncos confirming their star prop suffered a Lisfranc injury, Haas is an immediate sell at a time when trades are at a premium and his owners would have been eyeing up other uses for whatever they have left. 

The hurt was doubled for the 7.73 percent of teams who had him captained in Round 22 and ended up with a disastrous 34 points from their skipper. 

Cleary a trade magnet

A flurry of movement for Nathan Cleary last week has seen him now assume the rare position of being both Fantasy's most traded out and traded in player. 

Just over 81,200 trades have been spent on bringing Cleary into teams since the Round 1 lockout, with 90,300 coaches having used a trade on getting rid of him at some stage as he battled hamstring issues for much of the first part of the season. 

Cleary is now back to being the second most selected player in the game, with his representation in 102,277 teams putting him just behind Sharks CTR Kayal Iro, who sits in 105,398 teams.

Given his insane form right now, which has him sitting on a L3 average of 89, it's likely Cleary will overtake Iro in the next few days. The Penrith HLF has made himself almost a must-have player for the final few rounds. 

Round 22 Fantasy Team of the Week

1. Jahream Bula (WFB) – 83 points
2. Clinton Gutherson (WFB) – 79 points
3. Jojo Fifita (CTR, WFB) – 90 points
4. Beau Fermor (EDG, CTR) – 71 points
5. Keano Kini (WFB) – 71 points
6. Jye Gray (HLF, WFB) – 77 points
7. Nathan Cleary (HLF) – 79 points
8. Joseph Tapine (MID) 76 points
9. Damien Cook (HOK) – 95 points
10. Patrick Carrigan (MID) – 66 points
11. Marata Niukore (MID, EDG) – 68 points
12. Jaydn Su'A (EDG) – 64 points
13. Mitchell Barnett (MID, EDG) – 66 points
14. Harry Grant (HOK) – 81 points
15. Scott Drinkwater (WFB) – 69 points
16. Valentine Holmes (CTR) – 68 points
17. Sam Walker (HLF) – 65 points