Moses Mbye, James Tedesco and Martin Taupau went big, but a concussion to Fantasy favourite Shaun Fensom cost 8,000 teams a point (or two) in another mixed round for NRL Fantasy coaches.
Fantasy winners
Moses Mbye and James Tedesco were the players of the round, both scoring a huge 94 thanks to brilliant attacking performances. Mbye came up with 11 tackle breaks, a couple of tries, three line breaks and a try assist, while Tedesco scored a hat-trick and produced a try assist and eight tackle breaks.
The next best from Round 2 was Manly forward Martin Taupau (92), who fired up against his former club on Monday night with three line breaks, 11 tackle busts, a try and 32 tackles in an 80-minute performance.
Bryson Goodwin wasn't far behind with 86 (two tries, six goals, three line-break assists, two try assists) from Souths' demolition of Newcastle, while Aaron Gray (78), Josh Papalii (73) and Will Chambers (70) all hit what will probably be season-high scores for them.
Meanwhile Cameron Smith (76) proved once again why he's the safest captaincy option in the business with yet another big score against the Titans, while star English forwards Sam Burgess and James Graham both scored 61 and already look like guaranteed keepers.
The big cash gains came from fill-in Bulldogs hooker Craig Garvey (65), Rabbitohs half CodyWalker (60) and Roosters young gun Latrell Mitchell (43). Garvey did his Fantasy owners proud but might be out of the Bulldogs side in a few weeks, while Walker looks a safer bet at this stage even if he won't always get the same kind of attacking opportunities he did against the Knights.
Mitchell benefited from a late switch from the wing to fullback an hour before kickoff, and cashed in with an early try and a quality score. If you missed the news he was playing at fullback, make sure to get my pre-game updates via twitter or Facebook.
Fantasy losers
Shaun Fensom is loved by NRL Fantasy coaches but his concussion one minute into the Raiders-Roosters game brought disaster for a lot of teams – especially those unfortunate souls who had him as their captain. With one tackle and one missed tackle Fensom finished with a score of -1, which was doubled to -2 if he was your skipper this week. Fantasy can be a cruel, cruel game at times.
Billy Slater's late withdrawal from the Storm side and the news his shoulder injury is back was a double blow for his Fantasy owners, and he's a probable sell depending on what news comes out of Melbourne this week.
Nathan Peats continued the horror run of injuries to popular Fantasy hookers with a dislocated elbow on Saturday night, but the good news is he didn't suffer a broken arm as first feared. Stay tuned for more news on his prognosis.
The Dragons forward pack that seemed stacked with Fantasy potential is struggling for points all round, with only Tyson Frizell managing 40 points a game (and only Russell Packerimproving in value), while Agnatius Paasi's shift from the starting side to the bench before kickoff on Sunday hit his Fantasy score hard.
The really troubling news is in the outside backs though, where several popular buys are struggling to produce decent scores. Jaelen Feeney (4), Dale Copley (9), Clinton Gutherson(16), Josh Dugan (18), Kurt Mann (18) and Kirisome Auva'a (18) were all very underwhelming.
And if you're one of the 24,157 Fantasy coaches with Brisbane's Kodi Nikorima in your team, make the switch to Walker, Garvey or one of the other cash cows available at half and hooker.
Don't panic
Now's the time when Fantasy coaches are seriously considering who they should trade out in order to bring in the early season cash cows they've missed, but it's worth keeping the faith with several players who have shown promise despite failing to score big.
Ben Barba is averaging less than 30 points a game but scored a nice try on the weekend and is still making cash, so is worth holding. The same goes for fellow cheapies Gutherson,Copley and Ashley Taylor.
I'd also be keeping the faith with Bryce Cartwright, who is holding his value and is yet to produce what he's capable of in attack; Elliott Whitehead, who's in a similar boat but is also playing 80 minutes; and established keepers like Johnathan Thurston, Semi Radradra andRoger Tuivasa-Sheck.
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