Trade Talk: Keep or Sweep?
Before we get into this week’s recommended trades let’s recap on what the Trade Doctor prescribed last time around…
Players to Sweep
| Player | Avg pts
2014 |
Avg pts
Rd 1-7 |
Avg pts
Rd 8-11 |
Was I
right? |
Comment |
| Matt Ballin | 4 | 4 | 3 | ✖ | Ballin’s points dropped marginally, but Manly have since decided he is an 80 minute player again. Look for Ballin to continue scoring 4 points through 50 tackles with bugger all runs for the rest of time. |
| Luke Lewis | 2 | 3.3 | 5.7 | ✖ | Anyone who dropped Lewis when I said to has a right to be bloody pissed off! The Gallen injury combined with some vintage try-scoring form has seen Lewis become a fantasy stud for the past month. I still say you should trade him while his value is high, and surely it can’t get higher than now? |
| Anthony Watmough | 4 | 3 | 3 | ✔ | Watmough is still a useless old bastard. Three straight low scoring matches for the Eels have seen him manage an average of 40 involvements over the past month, but that isn’t good enough for someone with his workhorse reputation. I traded him and it was cleansing for the soul to see him gone. |
Players to Keep
| Player | Avg pts
2014 |
Avg pts
Rd 1-7 |
Avg pts
Rd 8-11 |
Was I
right? |
Comment |
| Dane Gagai | 2 | 4 | 1 | ✖ | Gagai was moved to fullback and has become a dud. Even when Mullen returns and Coach Stone decides another reshuffle is in order, there is no guarantee Gagai moves back to the centres. If he can convince Stone that him moving to fullback has resulted in four straight losses and centre is where he needs to be, his value should rebuild. |
| Tom Burgess | 1 | 2 | 2 | ? | Tom Burgess hasn’t lived up to what I expected involvements wise, but has earnt a promotion to the starting lineup over brother George this week. He has looked good in games, and I am still holding on to him for now. |
| Dylan Napa | 1 | 3 | 0 | ✖ | To round out a truly shitty week for my predictions, Napa has gone from great to absolute fantasy dud since I mentioned him as a good pick-up candidate. He might have been close to an Origin call up, but he hasn’t been close to an NRLCEO point in a month. I don’t know what to say but ‘I’m sorry’ if you followed this one. |
Now on to this week…
Players to Sweep
Dane Gagai
Gagai has been slotted into fullback at the Knights, and could be there for the foreseeable future. He has been a non-factor since moving there and has only 4 points in the last 4 weeks. I was high on Gagai, and will be again if he is moved back to centre. But for now; no thanks.
Ben Spina
Spina will see his value plummet over coming rounds. The return of Taumololo means that Spina will struggle for minutes when the Origin boys aren’t in camp. Couple that with bye weeks coming and Bolton returning in a month and I see Spina struggling to score more than a couple more workhorses this year.
Jordan Rapana
I loved Rapana mere weeks ago, but I never want to hear the word ‘indefinite’ when describing an injury. I have out and out dropped him and moved on. Keep your ear to the ground for a return date, but I couldn’t afford to carry his dead weight through the bye rounds when I’m scraping for every starter I can find.
Players to Keep
Dene Halatau
Halatau is a fringe player at best, but with the injury to Farah may see a solid month of football for the Tigers. He is a tackle-pig who should be good for a workhorse most weeks with Farah out.
Brad Takairangi
I had figured Takairangi’s early season was an outlier and he would regress to the mean eventually in a poor performing team. For now though he is still averaging four points a game. Maybe all a centre needs is to pass to Radradra and live off try assists?
Tepai Moeroa
Moeroa has come back to first grade with a vengeance posting 47 and 53 involvements respectively. It’s hard to say what his long term future will be with Beau Scott linking with Watmough and Ma’u in the Eels backrow for next year, but for now Moeroa is a solid pickup.
Ryan
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