Fantasy favourites to leave alone…
The players I have nominated as ‘Passes’ in 2015 may turn out to be great NRLCEO players, but I feel they are either on the decline or overhyped and will likely be drafted way too early in most leagues. Sure these guys are all players I’d love to have somewhere in my squad, however you will not see me making early moves on any of them.
Ben Hunt
Ben Hunt had an amazing 2014 and finished the year as the 4th highest scoring player in NRLCEO. He was thought of so poorly coming into the season that he actually went undrafted in our league. What a turnaround and congratulations to him on a stellar year.
Despite him coming off a stellar season, you won’t see me making any moves to take Hunt in the first few rounds. I am dubious his try-scoring holds up, doubt Uncle Wayne will continue to allow him such freedom in attack and think new signing Anthony Milford will take a lot of ball off Hunt.
Greg Inglis
I am not at all a fan of Inglis as a first round NRLCEO pick. Inglis is wildly inconsistent and goes missing for weeks at a time. Three times in 2014 he had three week stretched which amount to totals of 6, 4 and 2 points (and those two points across three weeks were the last 3 rounds of the NRLCEO finals!).
Inglis is a great talent who can single handedly win NRLCEO matchups for coaches, but at the end of the day he finished 29th in scoring in 2014. Inglis has the name and hype and is unlikely to be on the board past round 2 in most leagues. If you can get him from Round 3 onwards he is definitely worth a look, but any earlier and it’s almost like you aren’t even trying to take this seriously.
Ben Barba
This almost goes without saying, but Ben Barba is not a top NRLCEO talent. He was amazing in 2012 and carried many teams (including my own) almost single handedly to a title, but you need to forget about this. Obstruction rules have been tightened to prevent exactly the type of plays that made Barba dangerous and he has shifted clubs (PLURAL!) and position.
Barba the five eighth scored only 7 tries last year and had even fewer try-assists. If you have completed every other position in your starting lineup and are starting to look for a lower-ranked five eighth to round out your squad: look elsewhere. If you have looked elsewhere and can’t find anyone, set your expectations low.
Semi Radradra
Semi Radradra blew onto the NRL scene with a blistering start to 2014. He scored 10 tries in his opening 7 games and finished the year as the leading Winger in NRLCEO. I’m here to tell you to let Semi be someone elses problem.
Semi may have started flash, but after his blistering start his next 17 games contained only 9 tries. The other (and perhaps more pertinent) problem for Semi is Jarryd Hayne now sets up witches hats at NFL training, not big Fijian wingers in the corner. The Eels attack averaged a measly 11 points per game when Hayne was out last year and they haven’t recruited anyone to make me feel this year should be any different.
There have to be at least 10 other wingers I’d take before Radradra in NRLCEO this year and I wouldn’t want him to be more than a backup in my squad. Thanks to his efforts last year and high-showing in points tables I am certain Radradra will be off the board at least 5-10 rounds before I’d even consider taking him. Pass.
Ryan
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