It’s no secret some teams are just better than others. With such a divergence between the top 4 teams and the rest of the comp, it’s clear that some teams have a greater ability to run up the points, and better yet some teams should just be avoided altogether. It’s easy to suggest targeting star players in the top 4 teams will lead to a great fantasy season, but it’s a lot harder to fill your team with 13 Tommy Turbos. Don’t get me wrong, I believe you need a star to win your fantasy championship but what teams provide the safest base scores to build around your star? The worst thing you can do is have a Nathan Cleary that has a career game just to be let down that week by a few other high variance players. Great players are good in all Fantasy formats, but as you build out your roster, it is nice to have a few guys on your bench who have high floors that you can plug in to cover bye weeks, injuries, and bad matchups and maybe even add some value through the transfer market as their opportunities become realised throughout the season.
Teams to Target - Parramatta, Manly, Canberra and Penrith
Based on the average score by team collected by GameDay Squad we can see that teams like Parramatta, Manly, Canberra and Penrith lead the comp in average score of their players. Assuming you can afford one star (or none at all), filling your team with high floor and potential higher ceiling players from these teams will ensure that you are a consistently competitive team all season. As our friend from Moneyball Brad Pitt (aka Billy Beane) would say, “he gets on base”.
I’m buying as many of these players from these teams because they are always competitive and will have opportunities to score. Additionally, if these teams continue to provide opportunities for solid fantasy performances then the value of these cards on the market might just prove to be beneficial for growing your team.
Teams to avoid (or potential buy-low candidates) – Cronulla, Cowboys, Gold Coast and Bulldogs.
I think it’s clear, the mentioned teams are struggling and just didn’t get the job done last year. That might be a different story this year with teams like Bulldogs looking a lot stronger through transfers, but the unclear future of their production makes it difficult for me to commit to their group of players with who you want to solidify your line-up.
Takeaways
This fantasy season is different, we are playing GameDay Squad and we are taking some tips from Billy Beane to money-ball our friends in the inaugural season of GameDay Squad. Happy hunting friends.
GameDay Squad is an NFT fantasy sports platform that is being released for the 2022 AFL and NRL season. Subscribe below to keep up to date with all things GameDay Squad and NFTs in sport.