After a down week last time out, nearly everyone responded with a high-scoring round (except umm, yours truly… cough). Faith in the Reds was a big part of it and the key players didn’t disappoint. ManBearPigs retains the league lead and climbed into the top ten to sit 7th overall in FoxSports land. And 3 players in the top 30 is no mean feat.
The high scorer for the round was none other than that rascal Newb Hunter with his team of “Rednecks”. His 597 points was good for 5th highest of the week in the whole she-bang. A quick survey of the top 10 shows that most went with the uber in-form Quade Cooper as captain, and I suspect that was a common theme. He may not have the week to week consistency of other players (a stretch of weeks under 30), but he is by far the most explosive fantasy play in the this year’s comp.
Blinders
- Quade Cooper, Reds: A dominating match from QC. He was in everything again with the running, playmaking, and kicking all on point. He even threw in 19 points related to defense. Not sure if that’s a record for him, but it sounds close. Of course the Lions weren’t much competition. The Bulls will pose a much more difficult adversary.
- Michael Killian, Lions: Provided much of the spark the Lions could muster. Showed elusive running skills and recorded two tries in the process. Would I touch him with a 10 foot pole? Probably not.
- Ben Alexander, Brumbies: Who says props shouldn’t score tries? Big Ben put two down in the Ponies’ rampage over the Cheetahs. That brings his tally to four in the season to go along with five linebreaks. Down right spritely. Just ignore the two lost tightheads against zero wins so far….
Flops
- Callum Retallick, Chiefs: Had been showing some improvement up until this week. Didn’t do much besides pick up several penalties and errors. Negative 12 is pretty deep in the hole.
- Matt Hodgson, Force: That Matt Hodgson? Yup, the same. May have had a pretty good game in the winning effort (massive win in Middle Earth) but the fantasy numbers didn’t show it. In fact, last year is shaping up to be a much better fantasy season than this year for Hodgo. Look it up. That being said, a Wallabies jersey probably deserved.
- Digby Ioane, Reds: Maybe he didn’t see enough ball? For all the success seen by some other Reds this week, Diggers was decidedly not amongst it. Only 3 points is not up to his usual quality.
Bargain Bin
- Chris King, ‘Landers: They look pretty sad as a team, but I’ve liked this guy since last year when he saw some time. Just seems to put up the numbers when he actually sees some time on the pitch.
- Sarel Pretorius, Cheetahs: Another talent stuck on the bench too long. Has a reputation for being dangerous and he showed that against the Brumbies. Could put some form together in the final stretch of the season.
- Rod Davies, Reds: Showed his quality this past round and is looking like he’s fully recovered from his injury a few weeks ago. Anyone in the Queensland backline can be a big scorer when they function.
Highlanders and Tahs on the bye. Keep up the good work!
