Home Run: Players, teams to target for finals

It’s getting towards the real crunch time folks and that
means two things. 



For head-to-head players it’s nearing finals time and the
chance to both knock off your lippy mates and take away their hard earned coin
if it’s a money league! 



For overall players there are limited weeks left to climb
the leaderboard and for those up the top to make a last ditch play at winning
it all. How bloody good!



In order to do this, you of course need to build a strong
balanced squad and lock the must own guys into your team. 



But after that there is an opportunity to sprinkle in a few PODs who are not as highly owned but could make the difference. 



Generally at the back end of the year these players will come from in form teams who are charging towards NRL finals. 



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I tend to target halves or outside backs with a soft run
home where the team they play in could rack up some big scores. Forwards with
try-scoring potential can also work. 



The question of exactly who will become easier to determine
once we get closer to finals, but for now it’s worth keeping an eye on some
players who you can perhaps bring in earlier to set up your side or guys you
may already own that you should hold onto. 



Don’t forget trades are starting to run low, so check out
how many you have left and compare to the amount of weeks left. 



For me I will run out with two weeks to go if I continue to
trade two per week, so I’m going to see what weeks I can save trades if
possible to set myself up for the last fortnight. 



As a side note, this isn’t absolutely vital but it can be
very useful. Many have gone into the last few weeks with no trades and just
rely on your 19-20 guys. See how you go and how many injuries you encounter.



So who are some of these targets looking ahead?



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Penrith



Josh Mansour 



Penrith have an absolute dream run home and Mansour is quite
cheap compared to his season average. 



The question mark around him is that Stephen Crichton on his
inside does not like to pass and this could continue to dry up Mansour’s try-scoring.




But with his huge base and some potential blowouts coming
Penrith’s way he could be due. 



If I buy I would be hoping teams start to put more of a
target on Crichton to free up space for The Sauce. 



At the very least he has an outstanding base and has made one
linebreak in all but one match this year. 



Surely at some stage he gets two or three. Another huge
bonus is that if Penrith ever decide to rest him, all of their matches are
early in the week so you will be able to sub in a backup. This would be the
case if Penrith plays Sunday games, but they don’t.



Stephen Crichton 



For $100k more you can buy Crichton. Currently on a stretch
of eight straight matches with tries, he is on fire the young kid. Can he keep
it up? Probably. 



Some minor concern is that even with tries in the last three
weeks he has only averaged 60 so he does rely on attacking stats, but the
upside is there. A huge option for the run home.



Dylan Edwards 



Watch this space when he returns from injury. 0% ownership
and averaging 73 points in five games this season. 



He comes with injury risk, but there’s huge upside playing
FB for the ladder leaders if you want to gamble. 



It’s tough to not own Ponga-Teddy however, so this likely
rules him out, but if Teddy is rested in the last two weeks at all perhaps you
may look to slide him in (pending Tommy Turbo below).



Viliame Kikau 



The big fella was back to his best last week against
Canberra. He has run a lot of decoys this season but was used a lot more and if
this could continue his scores could erupt. 



There’s risk of a low score, but at a cheap price he could be an option. I would wait to see how he looks and maybe target for the last couple of weeks if you fancy him.



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Melbourne 



Ryan Papenhuyzen



Another team with a great run home is Melbourne. Again, it’s
tough to go against a Teddy-Ponga (Turbo) combo but if anything changes my man
Papi could be an option late in the season. 



Keep a close eye on how he scores when Munster is back and
assess as you go.



Jahrome Hughes 



This would be bold because we know he can go semi low
(20s-30s), but can also nudge a ton. 



See how things play out with regards to the halves late in
the year. If Melbourne are in form Hughes could be a sneaky POD, but it would
take some guts.



Josh Addo-Carr and Suliasi Vunivalu



The same goes for this pair on the wings. If Melbourne are sizzling coming into finals it may be worth throwing one in for a grand final or similar if you need to take a risk.



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Parramatta



Outside of Penrith in week two of finals, the Eels draw is decent.
This could change depending how NZ, Brisbane and the Tigers finish the season,
but if they are falling apart by then the draw gets even better.



Dylan Brown 



You could do far worse. The problem here I see is that there
are so many hands to feed at Parramatta. 



With Brown’s base though you know he should go okay for you even
in quieter weeks and he has the ability to go large on any given day. Boy he
can play!



Shaun Lane 



The man is playing good footy on a very dangerous edge
outside Brown. He is a good play on most weeks and could be ultra dangerous
against weaker teams later in the year. 



Averaging 64PPG this year so not quite elite, but he could
finish strong in the last few weeks.



Maika Sivo 



The dagger in my side the last two weeks when I brought him
in for 7 points and then 32 points. 



He owes me big and with Parra’s run home I’m holding and
seeing what he can do with games at Bankwest coming up. You owe me Maika! 



For those that don’t own, he is incredibly cheap and is a
great target. Try to avoid playing him against Penrith and Melbourne though
unless he looks back in top form.



Mitch Moses and Clint Gutherson 



Keep an eye on their price and ownership coming into the backend of the comp. Both could be large plays if Parra show top form heading into games against teams who potentially will have an eye on Mad Monday.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Others </h2>



THE BIG ONE 



Tom Trbojevic 



If the kid can return healthy and with Manly’s run home he
becomes a huuuuge play. 



With head-to-head finals games against the Tigers, Dogs,
Titans and Warriors anything could happen. He may score four straight tons. Who
do you drop from FB for him? To be honest, don’t worry about that yet, just
save a trade in case.



Roosters outside backs 



For the last two weeks the Chooks will no doubt be peaking
for finals time and with games against the Sharks and Souths who can both be
frail points could be on. 



I’d be very happy to own any of the Chooks wingers in these
weeks, whoever is playing there at the time. 



Risky PODs would include Joey Manu and Josh Morris or even
Kyle Flanagan (if he is back) and Luke Keary could come into contention.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Additional advice </h2>



On the flipside to the above, I encourage you to check your
team and see which of your backs may have tough runs home. 



Even those scoring well may become sells if they play
against a majority of top 6 sides over the last month of footy. 



It is definitely a case-by-case decision though and depends
on how they accumulate their points and if you think they can keep this up.



I’m happy to discuss any of the above guys plus other
options. Further, we will be sure to discuss on the podcast each week any new
options and in form players.



Good luck!



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">HEAD-TO-HEAD FINALS FIXTURES</h2>



Panthers: Broncos, Eels, Cowboys, Bulldogs 



Storm: Rabbits, Cowboys, Tigers, Dragons 



Eels: Warriors, Panthers, Broncos, Tigers 



Roosters: Raiders, Knights, Sharks, Rabbitohs 



Raiders: Roosters, Dragons, Warriors, Sharks 



Sharks: Knights, Warriors, Roosters, Raiders 



Knights: Sharks, Roosters, Dragons, Titans 



Rabbitohs: Storm, Tigers, Bulldogs, Roosters 



Sea Eagles: Tigers, Bulldogs, Titans, Warriors 



Tigers: Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Storm, Eels 



Dragons: Cowboys, Raiders, Knights, Storm 



Warriors: Eels, Sharks, Raiders, Sea Eagles 



Cowboys: Dragons, Storm, Panthers, Broncos 



Titans: Bulldogs, Broncos, Manly, Knights 



Broncos: Panthers, Titans, Eels, Cowboys 



Bulldogs: Titans, Sea Eagles, Rabbits, Panthers

Home Run: Players, teams to target for finals

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