Welcome to the second year of GameDay Squad Rugby League Fantasy. With the NRL season opener between the Eels vs Storm only hours away, it’s time to rip into some strategy for the Classic competition.
Some of the things I’ll be covering in this blog will be knowing which positions score the best and how to decide which card multiplier to play in which position. Also, how to distribute your salary cap across your squad.
One of the most important things to know in the Classic Competition is the price of each player card rarity. There are 21 spots in your squad, and they will all need to be filled within the 12 million cap. Here are the prices for each card rarity, Bronze = 500k, Silver = 550k, Gold = 650k, Platinum = 750k, Diamond = 850k and Legend = 1 million.
Let’s start by looking at the averages of the top five players in each position that played ten or more games in 2022. The team mentioned beside each player are the teams that the player played for in 2022.
Winger/Fullback (WFB)
Latrell Mitchell (Rabbitohs) – 59.41
James Tedesco (Roosters) – 58.29
Ryan Papenhuyzen (Storm) – 57.75
Scott Drinkwater (Cowboys) – 49.14
Reuben Garrick (Sea Eagles) – 48.71
Average across these five players is 54.66 points.
Centre (CTR)
Joseph Manu (Roosters) – 48.74
Valentine Holmes (Cowboys) – 45.96
Siosifa Talakai (Sharks) – 42.38
Moses Suli (Dragons) – 38.29
Zac Lomax (Dragons) – 37.63
Average across these five players is 42.60 points.
Halves (HLF)
Nicholas Hynes (Sharks) – 70.04
Cameron Munster (Storm) – 61.00
Nathan Cleary (Panthers) – 60.06
Daly Cherry-Evans (Sea Eagles) – 58.32
Adam Reynolds (Broncos) – 53.20
Average across these five players is 60.52 points.
Edge (EDG)
Isaiah Papali'i (Eels) – 55.11
Haumole Olakau'atu (Sea Eagles) – 49.71
David Fifita (Titans) – 48.39
Angus Crichton (Roosters) – 47.36
Hudson Young (Raiders) – 46.63
Average across these five players is 49.44 points.
Middle (MID)
Cameron Murray (Rabbitohs) – 55.30
Payne Haas (Broncos) 54.50
Joseph Tapine (Raiders) - 52.64
David Klemmer (Knights) – 51.06
Isaah Yeo (Panthers) – 51.04
Average across these five players is 52.91 points.
Hooker (HOK)
Damian Cook (Rabbitohs) – 60.30
Harry Grant (Storm) – 54.24
Reece Robson (Cowboys) – 49.04
Blayke Brailey (Sharks) – 45.54
Jeremy Marshall-King (Bulldogs) – 42.13
Average across these five players is 50.25 points.
Percentage of points scored per position:
Winger/Fullback 17.7%
Centre 13.8%
Halves 19.6%
Edge 16%
Middle 16.8%
Hooker 16.2%
As we can see, HLF is the highest points scoring position, followed by WFB. This indicates that if you have cards in these positions with a greater multiplier, it might pay to use them in your team above other positions. It honestly really depends on what cards you have in your collection. There are also other factors to consider like who that player is playing against that round or is the player carrying any niggling injuries and might be ruled out just before kickoff.
Also note that there might be certain players that boost a position's average. Look at MID for example, they averaged between 51-55 points when WFB averaged from 48-59 points. The MID position scores points largely from base stats like run metres and tackles compared to WFB who score a lot of their points in attack. This makes the MID position a safer position to use a greater multiplier card on. As I mentioned above, it really depends on what cards you have in your squad.
Here is an example of how a squad may look based on the player averages from 2022.
To finish up, here are a few last-minute tips that might help you along the way this season.
Try and have as much depth in each position as possible. This will be key for injuries, bye rounds and State of Origin.
Take notice of your player's matchups. Certain positions can be affected against certain teams.
Have multiple card types for the same player. Why you might ask! Here is a good example! Let’s say you have a gold Munster and Tedesco as well as a silver Munster and Tedesco. One week you may decide to run with a gold Munster and a silver Tedesco. The following week you may decide to change it up and run with a silver Munster and gold Tedesco. The key here is that your salary cap won’t change with making this sort of change to your side. This way you can make the most of having players that may have favorable matchups.
It may be wise to have only bronze players on your bench. The main reason for this is that these are non- scoring players, unless they are to be moved into starting thirteen to cover any late injuries etc. Please note, these changes to your side don’t happen automatically and will need to be done manually. With having only bronze players on your bench you can distribute the maximum cap possible across your starting thirteen.
Get out there, build a team, make some trades and have some fun!