Welcome back to the Such Is Fantasy Round 2 review with your host, Stephen De Freeze. Full slate of games this weekend, so we're ripping straight in — SuperCoach points first, Fantasy points second, and the big draft / waiver wire work lands in Team List Tuesday. Here's every game, every top score, and every buy/sell/hold that matters.
Thursday: Broncos vs Eels
What an affair — 72 points scored and the Eels got the upset win over the Broncos, who now start 0 and 2. The Broncos started on fire and looked like they might run away with it, but the Eels fought back and Brisbane faded. A bit of work for Madge, but the firepower is still there — Broncos fans, they'll be fine. Eels fans, complete turnaround from that horrific Round 1 — credit to them.
Hold Reece Walsh — if you sold him you were absolutely crazy, go look at yourself in the mirror. He looked electric and that 99 could have been 150 on any other night. You're keeping Walsh in your side no matter who they're playing. Patty Carrigan at second row is very nice particularly with Angus Creighton and Tino not producing the goods. Shibasaki — I have to announce every week he went 20th in my draft league. He'll come good but hasn't looked great defensively.
Over at the Eels, Mitch Moses owners in draft would be fairly happy. On Josh Addo-Carr — he looked pretty cooked, never been classic or fantasy relevant, and from a draft perspective you can probably let him go. Shout out to Ben who brought in Dom Young off the waiver wire after I spruiked him all week, then didn't play him. Wild.
Top Fantasy scores: Haas 77, To'a Lungi 73, Reynolds 70, Iongi 69, Walsh 67.
Friday: Warriors vs Raiders
How good do the Warriors look. I had my preseason Warriors analysis fairly wrong — I thought they'd struggle without their first-choice halfback but Tanah Boyd has stepped up and got the job done, which creates headaches when Metcalf returns.
Buy Halasima — Capewell came off injured, Halasima came on and played big minutes. He's a freak of nature and will now lock in an 80-minute edge role, which makes him as must-own in draft as you can get. At $502k in SuperCoach, have a hard look if you've got Creighton and Tino in your side.
Watch Tanah Boyd at $574k — with a massive break even, might be worth a punt in a red-hot Warriors side going into Newcastle minus Ponga and Dylan Brown. My preferred pick was Ethan Sanders, but accountability — Boyd's the one who's scoring.
Sell Laban in classic, not draft relevant. Wade Egan at 33 was very disappointing for draft owners. Shout out Jackson Ford — go check your waiver wires before Tuesday night and get ahead of the game.
Raiders were very disappointing — got a great win last week but didn't back it up, blown off the park. Joseph Tapine scoring 57 in the minutes he does get is below what you'd expect from his output. Tommy Starling not scoring as well as earlier last season — keep an eye on that, especially with Harry Grant going so well.
Top Fantasy scores: Tanah Boyd 78, Jackson Ford 74, Halasima 69, Sasagi 65, Noah Martin 60, Erin Clark 53, Ethan Strange 52.
Saturday: Roosters vs Rabbitohs (The AJ Memorial)
The chooks and the bunnies always tend to deliver. I've been a quasi snarky hater of Alex Johnston, but he's one of the best blokes in the game — and when LaTrell unleashed him down that touchline, I got off my couch and whipped him home. Such a great moment for rugby league. The roosters got the job done and looked night and day from Round 1 — if they're on fraud watch, let's do it consistently because you should be in the top four at the end of the season.
Watch Sam Walker — huge concern as an owner in classic that it's a job share with DCE. DCE is not sitting back, and Sam Walker isn't running the show. That's not what you want from a scoring perspective. Big watch.
Sell Tino — probably going. Hold Angus Creighton — similar score to last week, I'm probably going to hold because I'm getting rid of Tino, but you've got a decision to make for sure.
Trell Mitchell just looks so good — his efficiency, touches for output have to be the best strike rate in the history of the game. Doesn't have to touch the ball much and creates opportunities. Fifita looked enormous again and is going to explode for a big score soon. Cody Walker pushing people, giving away penalties — if you get that rubbish out of his game, he's sweeping left and right putting Trell, Fifita and his outside men into space. Until then, 34 is a comedown.
Top Fantasy scores: DCE 59, Trell 56, Cam Murray 54, Alex Johnston 49, Sua'ali'i Wong 48, Koloamatangi 46. Sua'ali'i Wong way more relevant in Fantasy — I'll be having a look this week.
Saturday Arvo: Tigers vs Cowboys
The Tigers — everyone's second team — turned it on in their first game of the year, demolishing the Cowboys by 44. Pub crawl down to Leichhardt, afternoon rugby league, doesn't get better. And didn't the Tigers deliver.
Buy Adam Doueihi — coming straight into my classic team. Not because he scored 115, that's reactive. It's the base — his base and power was about 50. Any half-back basing 50 plus any attack on top is going to score well. No-brainer. Well done if you picked him in draft or started with him.
Buy Terrell May — 78 all in base. Might be time to look at him sooner than we thought. Buy KPP — I've been talking him up all offseason. As a Knights fan it's bittersweet because he should still be in Knights colours, but the Tigers have unleashed him.
Sell Scott Drinkwater — rip cartilage injury, painful, hard to manage. The Cowboys look horrible. He'll be one of the most sold players this week along with Reed Mahoney. A lot of people tried the cheapie second-row option including myself, 41 and dragged after 50 minutes is not ideal. Has to go this week ASAP.
Harry Grant will be one of the most traded-in this week but I'm going to zig while others zag and bring in Braden Burns — thought he looked outstanding. Hold Helam Luki — 57 is OK but for those that mass-traded him expecting 90 every week, lesson learnt.
Top Fantasy scores: Doueihi 81, Fonua/Chester area 76, Chester 67, Luai 66, Burns 64, Terrell May 62, KPP 62, Luki 58.
Saturday 5:30: Storm vs Dragons
The Dragons put up a solid effort, but the class of Melbourne piled on the points in the end. And I'll joke a few times but — if you don't own Sua Fa'alogo, delete the app. No, it's not too late.
Buy Brailey at hooker — Harry Grant is the number one target, but Brailey is not far behind. When we're talking about making up spots in SuperCoach, I take the option not everyone jumps on. If 70% go Harry Grant, I want to be in the 30%. I believe Brailey might outscore him over the next four weeks, which means I score more than 70% of the competition.
Buy Lazzarini — when we were talking Chan vs Lazzarini last week, it was about base. Chan was only going to score more if he scored a try. Lazzarini, brilliant — coming straight in for me, Tino → Lazzarini, frees up cash for Brailey at hooker, and gets that garbage Reed Mahoney out of here.
Hold Stefano — I could not be more impressed. Playing better than Payne Haas right now. I'd start him ahead of Haas for NSW and bring Haas off the bench. Come at me in the comments. If you're hating on Stefano, you're not watching Melbourne closely enough.
Dragons: Val Holmes is just about must-own — I don't think I can bring him in this week but you'd be a hero to do it. Ryan Couchman 69 off the bench again — I need to look at his minutes because the output shouldn't match up as a back-rower on the bench, but it's getting too hard to ignore. Watch the Dragons run of fixtures is very tasty. Cookie came off with a head knock — won't get 80 minutes, not relevant.
Top Fantasy: Sua Fa'alogo 80, Harry Grant 72, Lazzarini 67, Uda Kamanu 66, Ryan Couchman 59, Will Warbrick 58.
Saturday Night: Panthers vs Sharks
I said last week to scrap that Titans-Sharks result — the Titans didn't show up. In Bathurst on that particular pitch, with the way the Panthers have started, it was obvious they'd strangle the Sharks out of this one. And that's exactly what happened.
Hold Brian To'o — lesson for top owners that traded him out last week (yes I was one of them, for Herbie). Be patient with your centre-wings. Buy Casey McLean — been sprucing him in draft all preseason, well done if you picked him up. Shout out Tommy Jenkins — 76 NSW Cup points for my brother-in-law Aidan, still lost to me by 3,500 in draft.
Sell Isaiah Yeo — I'd be really worried in classic and fantasy, he's not playing 80 minutes and that's what we expected. Better buys out there. Come on Ivan — can't drop Milky the way he's playing.
Sharks: they'll beat up on bottom-eight teams and struggle against top-eight. I don't have them in the top eight. Hold Jesse Colquhoun — nice bounce back, last week I called him vanilla, he's moved to more caramel. Hold Kayal Iro — the epitome of patient. Plenty will move off him to get Herbie. That's perfect for me, do it — I guarantee attack is coming in the next few weeks.
Watch Addin Fonua-Blake — 47 is not what we expect. Amber-orange flag until his minutes and output change. Nicho Hynes — typical 41 performance against big teams is why I'm hesitant to buy, but he'll have big scores against teams on his level.
Top Fantasy: Cleary 92, Nicho 60, Papali'i 58, To'o 54, Colquhoun 53, Yeo 52, Brailey 52, Luke Garner 47.
Sunday: Knights vs Sea Eagles
The Knights absolutely spanking the Seagulls — who I've tipped to get the wooden spoon. Accountability is important. When the Knights get ball in the attacking 30, they're going to score. That's the reality of the firepower in their back line, and with the new ruck interpretation they're going to be scoring 20-plus points every week pretty comfortably.
Buy Dom Young — had him in my top five waiver wire picks, very vocal that he's on the end of a slick back line. Marzhew and Dom Young will see a lot of points this year. Buy Fletcher Hunt — 74 in about 60 minutes, scored a great try off a Dylan Brown break. If Fletcher Sharp isn't named Tuesday, you definitely want Hunt.
Sell Jermaine McEwen — somehow only 41 points. Looked busy, looked like he was getting plenty of runs. Thanks for your services Jermaine, they are no longer required. Sell Ruben Garrick — not relevant moving forward in any form of the game.
Seagulls: Tommy Turbo literally farmer's-carried Phoenix Crossland into the in-goal and put it down. Probably the most emasculating thing that could ever happen to you as a footballer. Prayers up for Phoenix Crossland. Homoly Olakawato (not halloumi — I've been corrected) looks unstoppable but Manly just look horrific.
Watch Luke Brooks — as these losses pile up for Manly, how long do they persist with him when they've got a handy backup in lower grades?
Top Fantasy: Turbo 56, Dylan Lucas 55, Trey Mooney 53, Trbojevic 51, Brooks 51, Fletcher Hunt 51, Fogarty 50.
Sunday: Dolphins vs Titans
First half looked like a shock — Gold Coast up 8-nil at half time, Dolphins playing conservative. The Titans got out to a 14-nil lead which forced the Dolphins to chase. And when they chase they're great to watch.
Buy Herbie Farnworth — shout out Ben Dunley, who'd heard of Herbie for the first time in his life. Tackle breaks, offloads, breaks the first tackle every time, plus the number of runs — literally scores a point a minute with no attack. Jag some attack and you're looking at 110+ every week. I captained him for 79. Not unhappy.
Buy Tom Gilbert — flicked him for Jackson Ford in my draft league, 71. Will be highly touted in top 10 waiver wire pickups this week. Spruiked Fa'asuamaleaui and Lemuelu on the waiver wire and both delivered.
Sell Keanu Kinney — probably sells next week with the fullback options doing well. Although with Manly on the bye and Ponga injured, maybe he waits one more weekend. Sua has to come in, so Kinney's not a priority to get out — assess from there.
Beau Fermor had a much better performance — Titans were locked in and had to be — but they didn't get the job done. Cooper By scored a try — son of Marcus By, his minutes will build, he'll become relevant at some point.
Round 2 Buy / Sell / Hold Summary
That wraps up the Round 2 review. Reminder: Team List Tuesday drops tomorrow night with waiver wire, draft recap, and how I went in classic, fantasy and draft. Hopefully you had a great weekend, guys — it was a great weekend of footy. Ciao.
This Round 2 review is from the Such Is Fantasy NRL SuperCoach & Fantasy Podcast. Catch every episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and follow Stephen on TikTok.