Is it too early to be thinking about the State Of Origin period? What are the prospects for a Bulldogs young gun? Should be worried about a gun hooker? These are some of the questions that will be answered in the round 8 preview of buy, sell and hold. It’s essential to keep in mind that GameDay Squad is a dynasty fantasy football platform and that will be heavily taken into consideration in this article. Let us know your thoughts on who we have included below on all of our socials - twitter, facebook, instagram, discord.
BUY!
Ryan Matterson
Parramatta Eels - Middle-Forward (MID)
With Ryan Matterson returning to the Eels pack and unlikely to play origin, he is a player you’ll want to target with origin fast approaching. With the likes of Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Junior Paulo highly likely to be included in the New South Wales Blues squad, Matto will demand the big minutes and you will highly likely see him play a hybrid middle-forward/edge-forward role, if not a big minute middle-forward role. He not only earns his GDS points through base but is also a huge points getter through OL’s and does this at will and being a big body will earn you plenty of tackle breaks and run metres. Matto is someone you’ll definitely want to source through the TM or gained through a purchased pack as he will be valuable to your middle during the origin period.
Tohu Harris
New Zealand Warriors - Middle-Forward (MID)
Very similar to Ryan Matterson above, Tohu Harris is another big minute middle-forward at the Warriors and someone you’ll really want come origin and byes as he plays the first 2 bye rounds and will not play origin. Tohu, as does Matterson, demands minutes that coach Webster allows and generates huge base stats through the amount of defensive work he gets through. Week after week he makes 40-45 tackles plus! Not only that, he has a very nice OL and being a great ball player can create try scoring opportunities as we saw when he put Addin Fonua-Blake over vs the Cowboys. I’d highly recommend obtaining big Tohu prior to Round 12 if you are able.
SELL
Keaon Koloamatangi
South Sydney Rabbitohs - Edge-Forward (EDG)
After recommending coaches to buy big Keaon a few weeks back he now finds himself on the sidelines with a high ankle sprain. Current reports are suggesting the in-form edge will need surgery and will be missing for the next 6 – 8 weeks. Slide him back to your reserves until he returns.
Jakob Kiraz
Canterbury Bulldogs - Winger/Fullback (WFB)
The bustling Bulldogs superstar flank suffered an MCL injury during round seven and has been ruled out for approximately 3 weeks. He will be back prior to origin so if you were brave enough to have him your back 3 put him back to your reserves and give him a round or 2 before deciding to utilise him again. Bare in mind he could be handy over the origin and bye periods with the Dogs having a very favourable bye schedule.
HOLD...
Harry Grant
Melbourne Storm - Hooker (HOK)
The dynamic Storm rake has been slightly underwhelming the past few weeks with 4 scores below 50. With the Storm not playing their best footy I think it would still be very brave to put Harry back to your bench. The only exception for him could be Damien Cook who is averaging 2.6pts more than his opposite over the course of 2023 and the rarity of cards you have between the two. Obviously I’d be playing a diamond Grant over a platinum Cookie.
Joseph Tapine
Canberra Raiders - Middle-Forward (MID)
Another player who is really struggling to hit the heights of 2022. Whilst the Raiders are winning the big kiwi is still struggling to register decent GameDay Squad points. With the origin middles like Payne Haas, Cameron Murray and Isaah Yeo are still playing club footy I think you continue to play them and leave Tapine on your bench until we see some more consistency with scoring and minutes as he needs 60+ min for the decent GDS points. Tapine will be handy during the origin period though, so use him during those periods and hopefully he can return to the heights of 2022 and start pumping out some big scores.