JT - The Stats Lab

The data-backed GDS squad to beat for Round 2. Built on 2025 GDS averages, h2h history, opposition concession, and ownership.

Round 1 kicks off at Allegiant Stadium with two games on March 1: Knights vs Cowboys and Bulldogs vs Dragons. The remaining six games follow the next weekend, but team lists for those matches haven't dropped yet. That matters. You can't make informed calls on players you don't know are starting. So this piece focuses entirely on the four confirmed squads and which cards are worth locking in early.

The 2025 Leaderboard Tells One Story. The Trend Data Tells Another. Payne Haas  topped the Rugby League GDS averages in 2025 at 72.8 points per game. He was consistent, durable, and dominant. On paper, he’s the obvious pick to repeat. But one player’s second-half trajectory is so extreme that it forces us to look beyond the full-season number. We pulled two seasons of GDS scoring data, first-half vs second-half splits, year-over-year trajectories, and late-season form to make this call. The...