Welcome back to the condensed Team List Tuesday show from the Such Is Fantasy NRL SuperCoach & Fantasy Podcast. Modest 1260 last week for Stephen — moved to 33k in SuperCoach, and in Fantasy the Week 2 experiment has climbed 80,000 spots in four weeks, now sitting at 150k. Let's rip straight into every team list for Round 5.
Dolphins vs Seagulls
Not a lot of changes, but plenty of relevance. Buy Finney Fuyaki — must-own. Break-even is about 24-25, so technically you could wait a week and bring him in Round 7 after the bye, but he just looks unbelievable and you don't want to miss another score.
Buy Herbie Farnworth — if you've gone this long without him, what are you waiting for? Scores 80 in base alone. Base plus power — offloading, tackle busting, runs and tackles. He's a freak in real NRL and in SuperCoach/Fantasy. You could wait another two weeks through the bye, but that's another scary watch.
Roosters vs Manly
The Manly bounce-back never really came. They had a bit of fight in the first half against the Roosters but it fell away quickly — short kick-off with 20 minutes to go told you everything about the mindset. Interesting to see if Foes can galvanise them, but they haven't made any changes to the team.
The only relevant player for Manly is Tommy Turbo. Buy — and yes, you can bring him in as early as this week if you own Keanu Kenny. Sell Keanu Kenny — get that garbage out of here. He's not a garbage footballer, he's just producing garbage SuperCoach and Fantasy results.
Rabbitohs vs Bulldogs
Good to see the Bunnies back in action. They've named pretty much a full-strength lineup except at hooker — still no sign of Brandon Smith, so we wait patiently. Some of you will be looking to downgrade from an ill-advised Reed Mahoney selection — he can still make cash at some point.
Hold Latrell Mitchell — very relevant. Buy Keaon Koloamatangi — now that we're off the bye, he's a genuine option. Campbell Graham is back after his one-week injury. Tallis Duncan is in at 12. Cam Murray has a bye. Cody Walker still relevant at five-eighth — hoping for a better performance to knock in a couple of price rises before moving him on.
Watch Jaia Gray — an interesting zig/zag option. You could go from Kenny to Gray instead of a Walsh or a Turbo. Stephen wouldn't do it personally, but he understands the purchase. Looked great against the Tigers.
For the Bulldogs: Hold Jacob Kiraz — Stephen sold him last week to Reece Walsh (no damage done, Walsh actually outscored him). He still doesn't look himself, maybe carrying something. Don't buy, but don't sell right now either. Matt Burton, Jacob Preston and the Bulldogs back-rowers all look quiet — not buying yet. Expecting a bounce-back performance.
Panthers vs Storm — 8pm
Can't wait for this one. When was the last time Melbourne lost three in a row? Panthers have named an unchanged lineup. Big talking point: Isaah Yeo didn't play the last 15-20 minutes (blowout rest), but Isaiah Papali'i played the full 80.
Hold Dylan Edwards — be patient. He didn't have a good week but if you brought him in instead of a Walsh or a Turbo, don't drop him after one game. Watch Casey McLean — more of a draft pick-up, but don't mind you taking a fly on him in classic.
Storm — Injury Carnage
They've been hit hard. Keep Cameron Munster and his family in your thoughts — health is everything, and the reports and testing sound reasonably positive, which is great news. Moses Leota has late concussion symptoms (initially reported as a drop, but it's concussion), so he's not featuring. Nick Meaney returns on the wing or centre. Jack Howarth could be ruled out at any moment — watch closely.
Watch Nelson Asofa-Solomona — not going anywhere for the rest of the season. Originally the plan was to ride price rises and jump to a gun, but he is a gun. Hold Harry Grant — looks unreal, not doing anything with him, and he's a genuine buy. Buy Jahrome Hughes as the zig-zag option instead of the usual Hynes/Cleary/Tanah Boyd/Adam Doueihi halfback picks.
Dragons vs Cowboys
Dragons? Yuck. A couple of changes — King Tonga comes in for the injured half who got knocked into next week via head clash with Kyle Flanagan. David Farley onto the wing (cheapie) — an interesting one, he's coming in for Tyrell Sloan. What does Sloan have to do to keep a spot? He's got pace, scored a try, and he's gone already. Toby Couchman returns at prop — if you held him, keep holding.
Watch Farley as a downgrade option if you need one, but job security is zero on that wing spot. You could buy Valentine Holmes, but honestly you could just avoid the Dragons players altogether.
For the Cowboys: unchanged after their big win. Zac Laybutt has been dropped to the bench and Tom Chester comes in. Their assets are their assets — outside of Scott Drinkwater as a pod (if you started with him, well done), we're not clamouring to bring anyone else in. Hold Heilum Luki — still a couple of price rises left.
Titans vs Broncos
Sell Keanu Kenny — and he's probably got to go to Reece Walsh. This could be anything — the Broncos are in good form and up for a local derby.
Buy Jayden Campbell-adjacent pod? No — actually Buy AJ Brimson... wait, the real call here is Iszac Fa'asuamaleaui/Arama Hau — did a great job for us with a couple of tries last week, so a couple more price rises incoming. Don't mind him as a buy this week to ride the rises and build squad value.
Sell Tino Fa'asuamaleaui — not playing enough minutes and not producing. Do not know what's going on there. Hopefully we get some explanation. Watch Phillip Sami — don't mind him as a flyer, as said many times.
Sharks vs Warriors
Much improved performance from the Sharks, so their assets are big again. Not rushing to bring in Braydon Trindall at the six — horrible position. Let's see how the cheapies we brought in at the start of the year go. Hold Nico Hynes — proven SuperCoach and Fantasy gun. You don't necessarily have to buy him if you've got one of the top-five halfback packs already. Outside of that, zero relevancy for the Sharks. KL Iro (Kayal Iro) busted out a solid score with a try but missed nine tackles — unheard of for him, he'll bounce back.
Warriors — Injury Shakeup
They'll be looking for a bounce-back after thinking they had the Tigers sewn up in the first 10. Leka Halasima has retained his spot on the edge, which is disappointing. Big news Stephen broke on the first pod of the week: Kurt Capewell has broken his thumb and will be out up to six weeks.
Buy Taine Tuaupiki — retained at fullback, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad moves to centre. Green light. Particularly in draft — he's on more than 55% of waiver wires. If you need a fullback, he's your man. He shouldn't be leaving that spot, he's the long-term Warriors fullback. Hold Tanah Boyd — continuing to do a job, but highly priced now. Stephen reckons we've missed the boat, but wouldn't knock a late buy.
Knights vs Raiders — Sunday 4pm, McDonald Jones Stadium
Can't wait to hear how many people tip against the Knights again. Not much has changed. Watch Fletcher Sharp — NRL Physio says with a PCL injury it gets highly irritable, he's going to get it knocking in the scene. Common practice — Reece Walsh dealt with it for 6-7 weeks last season and played through. He's fine, but not a buy right now. Maybe when Dylan Brown returns in a couple of weeks and Sharp shifts to fullback until Ponga's back.
Buy Dom Young — don't mind him as a purchase. Low ownership so it's a pod play. The Knights are going to keep scoring; the question is how many they let in. Watch Jacob Saifiti — sneaky good game on the weekend, one of his best in years, and produced a nice SuperCoach/Fantasy score. Keep an eye on that one. Outside of that, we're waiting for Ponga and Dylan Brown to return.
Raiders will be desperate for a win. Hold Hudson Young — gun in the second row. Hold Noah Martin — still making cash, probably trade him out in one or two weeks.
Eels vs Tigers — Monday afternoon, CommBank Stadium
Great clash, hard to pick. For the Eels: Joash Papali'i coming in — don't jump on him. In a deep draft league, maybe — he's got the position for the next eight weeks — but don't expect huge scores. A punt in draft only, stay away in SuperCoach and Fantasy until he shows us something.
Sell Mitchell Moses — if you started with him, it's time to move on to one of those other five halfbacks already discussed on the podcast.
Tigers — Assets Stacking Up
Hold Adam Doueihi — how good has he been? Two years ago if you told me he'd be starting halfback for the Tigers and one of the form players of the comp, you'd have called me crazy. If you've got him, you're really happy.
Buy Kai Pierce-Paul — is he the next Sonny Bill? I'm joking. But geez, I wish we had this version of him at the Knights. (We're not going to talk about Anthony Milford. How are the Bulldogs doing?)
So it's either Alex Twal or Jackson Ford. If you already brought in Stefano Utoikamanu, you did it for a reason — be patient, don't waste trades. But if you're deciding between Ford, Twal and Utoikamanu fresh, it's Twal or Ford, with a slight lean to Ford. Very close though — if you want Twal, go for it.
Round 5 Buy / Sell / Hold Summary
This Team List Tuesday recap is from the Such Is Fantasy NRL SuperCoach & Fantasy Podcast. Catch every episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and follow Stephen on TikTok.