Welcome to Super Saturday, which I’m glad to say we have gorgeous weather this week, in complete contrast to last week’s water polo matches. Today featuring the unbeaten Raiders hosting the 1-1 Warriors in Canberra, then the battling Broncos welcoming the equally bad Bulldogs to Brisbane, before finally the 2-0 Eels turn the heat up on the 1-1 Sharks in their fortress of Bankwest Stadium.

 

The main slate on Draftstars today is again $5,000 with a top prize of $679. The single game slates are also available with some nice prizes, especially the $8,000 pool for the late game.

 

 

Team News

 

The Raiders welcome back captain Jarrod Croker, which won’t change things a great deal as his replacement Sebastian Kris was playing rather well. For the Warriors there are two changes, with young gun Chanel Haris-Tavita out for half the season with a foot injury and Jamayne Taunoa-Brown suspended. Sean O’Sullivan is a similar player to CHT, although pretty much a poor-mans version, while the Warriors impressive forward depth means that they shouldn’t miss JTB a great deal, with Jack Murchie joining the bench and Bunty Afoa getting a chance to start.

The Broncos have incredibly made no changes, although there are players in their reserves who could come in, especially Tom Dearden. Keep an eye on that news. The Bulldogs lose Ray Faitala-Mariner to a foot injury and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to suspension. Corey Waddell moves into the second-row, and Tuipulotu Katoa gets a start not he wing. Finally, the Eels have lost Ryan Matterson to his concussion issues, with Isaiah Papali’i starting in the second-row in his place. The only change for the Sharks is Connor Tracey replacing Mawene Hiroti at centre, with Teig Wilton coming in to play Tracey’s utility role on the bench.

 

Odds

 

Raiders $1.22 v Warriors $4.25

Broncos $1.70 v Bulldogs $2.15

Eels $1.37 v Sharks 3.10

 

Overview

 

I think the odds are a fair reflection of today’s games, although I do give the Warriors a little better chance than that. The Broncos/Bulldogs match could be a battle for the wooden spoon, with the Bulldogs representing Brisbane’s most recent win, not far off one year ago. Still, that means two bad defences, so I certainly won’t be avoiding players in that game. The Eels should be far too strong for the Sharks, with Papali’i in the form of his life he should be able to fill Matterson’s role on the edge nicely. It does mean that the Eels lost some spark off the bench, but I don’t see it being an issue in this game.

 

Love It - Ryan James $9,340

 

The veteran is in some fantastic form after 2 years out of the game, and I think he’ll be one of the value plays of the slate. His scores so far have been boosted by some attacking stats, but even without those he might be a 45-point player which is enough at this price.

 

Love It - Corey Waddell $9,770

 

There are a number of good upside plays in this game (Milford, Averillo, even Napa?), but probably the safest play is Waddell. He’s had to deal with Faitala-Mariner impacting his minutes in the first two games, but now that RFM is gone for a few months, Waddell should get a shot at bigger minutes. The Broncos aren’t exactly defensive powerhouses, so he’s as a good a chance as any forward to get over the line.

 

Love It - Chad Townsend $11,660

 

Chad has started the season on fire, racking up some massive kick metres and involved in everything for the Sharks. Despite his huge involvement with Shaun Johnson out for a while, this one comes with a warning. Part of my love for Townsend early this year is to do with him kicking goals for the Sharks. Firstly, they may not score much this week. Secondly, after he effectively lost the game last week with poor misses, John Morris might hand the kicking tee to someone else for this week. Nevertheless, Townsend is scoring nicely for now with his extra responsibilities.

 

Hate It - Jake Turpin $15,380

 

I was excited about Turpin coming into the year, even sticking him in my fantasy team. That excitement has disappeared quickly after watching him run around at about 60% effort to try and get through the 60 minutes, along with some abysmal efforts from the rest of his team. He is now seen a pretty big price increase, and there is talk that Tom Dearden could come onto the bench late as a utility option. Less minutes could be better if it means he goes at close to 100%, but I won’t be taking the risk this week.

 

Hate It - Hudson Young $15,040

 

Young is one of the many Raiders forwards off to flying starts to the season, so it’s a bit harsh to single him out here. The main reason is that he did some damage to his knee last week and if he does play, he surely be limited. Apart from that he has seen a big price rise from his historical output, and while he certainly seems to be a gun in the making, I’ll happily bet on a bit of regression to the mean against a decent forward pack.

 

Who Knows - Brodie Croft $10,430 & Anthony Milford $9,660

 

This might apply to all of the Broncos backs, but I’m singling out the halves as high upside players who looked okay in week 1, and then like rotting garbage last week. I’m not sure if the Broncos will have it in them to rebound with an 80-minute effort this week, but they do get what I consider the only team worse than them in the NRL to do it against. In short, if the Broncos come out in a good mood, they should feature a number of excellent DFS plays today.

 

Draftstars Suggested Team

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