daily fantasy sports articles

We continue round 3 of the NRL season on Saturday night with three cracking contests, kicking off at 3:00pm with the Penrith Panthers playing host to the Newcastle Knights at Carrington Park, Bathurst. This game will pit 1^st vs 2^nd on the ladder, and with a few key injuries to the Panthers, looks to be quite an even contest. This should give a very good indication of exactly where the Knights are as we push towards a month into the 2022 season.

Next up at 5:30pm, in what could be the game of the round, the Parramatta Eels head south to take on the Melbourne Storm. The Storm are 2-0 but have looked vulnerable in patches in both their matches to date. The Eels (1-1) have also looked vulnerable at times, particularly in defence, however, have also shown blistering attack sporadically. Both teams will be looking for some consistency moving forward.

We top off these two cracking contests with the night cap, where the Gold Coast Titans visit the Nation’s Capital to take on the Canberra Raiders. These two teams are very even, with an indication of who may squeeze into the 8 when it’s all said and done a possibility here.

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Markets

Panthers $1.31 vs Knights $3.50

Storm $1.55 vs Eels $2.50

Raiders $1.73 vs Titans $2.10

Team News

The Panthers have been short on injury luck to start the season, and once again have had to name a vastly different squad from the previous round. Brian To’o suffered a torn MCL and will miss 6-8 weeks, with youngster Taylan May getting the nod to start on the wing. May has a similar game to To’o and could be a DraftStars weapon. James Fisher-Harris also misses out, with Spencer Leniu coming in to start. Liam Martin was injured at training and will miss this game, with Chris Smith named to replace him on the edge. J’maine Hopgood is added to the bench. The Knights were hoping to welcome back Kalyn Ponga; however, he will again miss out, with Tex Hoy starting at fullback again. Daniel Saifiti also returns from injury, meaning Mitch Barnett will revert to the backrow in place of Lachlan Fitzgibbon, who suffered a nasty knee injury last week and will be sidelined for a few months.

The Storm have also had their fair share of bad luck, with this week being no different. Harry Grant and backup hooker Tyran Wishart are both out due to COVID. It also sounds like Brandon Smith is another week away, so expect Jayden Nikora to start at hooker. The Eels look almost unchanged, with Nathan Brown named to start at lock and Oregon Kaufusi reverting to the bench. Jake Arthur drops from the bench and will be out for 3 weeks after having an appendectomy. Wiremu Greig will take his spot on the bench.

Nick Cotric was named to return on the wing for the Raiders but has since been ruled out. Seb Kris is expected to grab the vacant wing spot. Jordan Rapana returns from suspension, with James Schiller missing out. Brad Schneider returns from a COVID layoff, with Matt Frawley benched and Adrian Trevilyan dropped to reserves. For the Titans, no changes are expected from last week and they look to be stable with their best 17.

Overview

With the losses of To’o, Fisher-Harris and Martin, to go along with the continued absence of Cleary, the Panthers are in a vulnerable spot this week. The Knights defence has been stout, having conceded only 10 points so far this season. The Panthers looked good in week 1 against the Sea Eagles, however, were put to the test by the Dragons last week, and I expect the Knights to give the Premiers a real shake in this one. With both teams’ defence being rock solid, points may be at a premium and a field position battle could be on the cards. Look for forwards who make plenty of runs and tackles, and the dominant kicking halves to score big with plenty of metres from kicks.

In the second game, the Storm will have to pull out all the stops if they are to get over the top of the Eels in this one. Harry Grant proved last week just how important the hooker is currently in Rugby League, and without an established 9 taking care of the ruck, the Storm may struggle. The Eels will have been disappointed to lose last week to a good Sharks side and will look to continue a good run of form against the Storm, having beaten them twice last season. Look for the Eels to keep this close, but the Storm are just so good in Melbourne I think they will manage to get home on the back of some Munster or Papenhuyzen brilliance.

The Raiders are already at a bit of a crossroads this season. After overcoming a strong Sharks team in round 1, they were flogged by the Cowboys in round 2 in a very worrying display for Ricky Stuart and Raiders fans alike. The Titans, as expected have lacked consistency in the first couple of rounds. Their spine is young and exciting; however, they are just as good at losing games as winning them. This should be an interesting game between two similarly capable teams, with the home field advantage probably getting the Raiders home in the end.

Love It – Isaah Yeo $19,540

Yeo is expensive, but he’s expensive for a reason. The amount of work he gets through is immense in the middle of the field. He will get you 35+ tackles and 18+ runs a game without breaking a sweat. He has played 80 minutes both weeks and that looks like it will continue with the injuries to the Panthers middle forwards. He’s also a great chance at attacking stats, with his ball playing skills among the best at his position in the league. Set and forget, then enjoy the 70 points.

Love It – Jake Clifford $15,010

As outlined above, I can see this being a real game of field position. Clifford has kicked for 350 metres per game, which is right on par with Sean O’Sullivan. What Clifford has in his favour is his goal kicking, and his attacking upside, scoring a try in each of the first two games. Not quite in the Mitch Moses / Jahrome Hughes stratosphere, but if you need to save a few thousand dollars, or you are looking for an upside play at FLEX, Clifford could be your man.

Love It – Phillip Sami $11,000

The Raiders right side defence was horrific last week, and with more changes being made to that side of the field I expect the Titans to go left often. I think you almost must have one of the Sami, Brian Kelly, or David Fifita in your squad. I am predicting a double for Sami, to try and keep pace with Greg Marzhew, who scored a double on the right-hand side for the Titans last week. Speaking of Marzhew, he’s not a bad guy to have in your team either, what a tank!

Hate It – Reed Mahoney $18,340

Still on my hate list from a week ago, Mahoney had a better outing in round 2, managing to score a try in the Eels loss to the Sharks. But he still only managed 47.2 points and just is not getting involved enough in the Eels attack to pay such a huge chunk of your cap for. No doubt he looked far better in round 2, but until I see more involvement, particularly in attack, he will stay on the hate list.

Hate It – Junior Paulo $15,380

Not sure what is going on with the big fella since taking over the captaincy at the Eels. In Round 1, he put his patented offload away, scoring only 31 points in a disappointing first outing. Then last week, he managed 4 offloads, but his minutes and run metres were both down. I think he will get there, as his role as a conduit should end now with Nathan Brown back in the team, so keep an eye out in the next few rounds if he continues to drop in price, he could be ripe for the picking.

Who Knows – David Fifita $19,410

What is going on with this man mountain? Everyone knows what he’s capable of on his day, but with a price tag of close to $20k, you would be expecting that day to be a little more regular. Averaging only 21 tackles and 8 runs per game, Fifita simply must get more involved for this Titans team. You would imagine that once this new look spine is gelling, he will see more ball, but until then, who knows? Is just as likely to score 100 as he is to score 30.