Here’s a short wrap-up of the weekend’s NRL Fantasy action for you.

Think of it as like Sterlo’s Wrap on Channel 9, but from Wish, and Fantasy focused.

Let’s kick it off with the ‘studs’ of the week.

Jason Taumalolo

I was lucky enough to jump on the Lolo train last week, and he delivered when it mattered most with 68 points in 58 minutes.

He was back to his barnstorming best with the ball in hand, with 7 tackle breaks, 190 run metres and a line break.

For anyone shopping around for a premium mid, Taumalolo, along with Haas, is looking like a great pick-up for the run home.

Josh Jackson

As a Dogs fan, I love Jacko — but he wasn’t someone I was overly excited about for my team due to his ceiling.

We’re not going to see too many tries, tackle busts, assists or offloads from Jackson this year, but if he finds himself in a grinding game in the wet like we saw on Saturday night, he’s capable of getting it done through base.

Jackson secured 66 NRL Fantasy points off the back of 56 tackles, and it come at the perfect time for new owners.

Dylan Walker

Next up, we’ve got Dylan Walker who has been impressing across a couple of key roles for Manly in recent weeks.

We’ve seen him be effective playing through the middle, most notably against the Bulldogs last week. In this game he managed 27 tackles and just shy of 100 run metres — coming away with 48 NRL Fantasy points.

In this role, he’s a little bit like Tyrone Peachey — only far more inexpensive.

And while he lined up at Halfback in a losing effort against the Raiders, a try and 150 run metres helped him to 65 NRL Fantasy points — a number that his 513 new owners would’ve been very happy with.

It’ll be interesting to see where he fits in with Jurbo set to return from Round 18, but he’s certainly scoring well and truly above his mid $300s price tag at the minute.

Josh Hodgson

Josh Hodgson is next on the list, with his third 60+ score in his last five starts.

It was a very typical output for Hodgson picking up stats across tackles, run metres and a few kick metres.

However, probably more noteworthy here was the performance of the other Hooker in the squad, Tom Starling.

Starling saw 55 minutes of game time with Hodgson shifting to the middle, and he made an immediate impact with a try and some very tidy work out of dummy half.

There was an injury to Lui in this game, but if we do start to see 55-60 minutes out of Starling again — he’ll no doubt tempt coaches looking for a cashout / 19th man.

Victor Radley

Radley is one we spoke about on the podcast last week as a potential 18th man option.

We mentioned that we can’t see him taking the leap to keeper level scores worth of a weekly top 17 spot, but it was certainly encouraging to see him get through 73 minutes for 47 tackles — the most he’s made this season.

More importantly, Radley didn’t concede any penalties. While he was hitting very hard, he looks to have adjusted his technique which is great for the Roosters and prospective owners.

This performance is enough for me to feel comfortable in picking him up as a cover option with a price tag still under $450k.

It will be interesting to see if he can add to the attack in the coming weeks and positively impact some of his teammates — most notably, James Tedesco.

Special mentions:

Special mentions have to also go out to Bunnies pair Reynolds and Milne who both come away with scores above 60 points, and Olakau’atu who also broke the 60 point barrier with a try.

Aaron Schoupp also managed 39 points, purley in base — against tough opposition, and looks a handy cash out providing dual cover for CTR and WFB.

OK, that’s what went well.

Let’s now take a look at what didn’t go so well, with the Round 17 ‘Stinkers’:

Jake Averillo

We’ll start with premium Centre, Jake Averillo.

Unfortunately, it’s all about the kicking with Jake — and as soon as I heard Trent in the pre-game presser mention that Lachy Lewis had been brought into the team for his big left boot — I knew we were in trouble.

Through his NRL Fantasy purple patch, Jake was securing between 23 and 32 points in kick metres alone.

With Lewis taking the reins with the long-kicking, this dropped away just 11 points — in what is a worrying sign for owners like me that jumped back in at his peak.

Lewis had a two try effort against the Roosters, and has likely secured his place in the team for now — leaving coaches with a decision to make with their soon to be high-$600k priced Centre.

Will Kennedy

Will Kennedy is next on the list after a nice run of form over the past month or so, only to turn in a disappointing 19 points in a crucial bye week.

While he’s shown he is capable of posting high-level scores, that’s now 5 sub-30 scores over the year — including a (-3) in 80 minutes against the Panthers in Round 9.

I think he’s a long way from being in the top three WFB options this year, and if you did jump on, I’d be looking to loop him — otherwise, trying to get in a position where he’s a depth piece, and not relied upon on a weekly basis

Campbell Graham

Moving on now to someone I considered as a cheaper alternative to Ramien this week, Campbell Graham.

Despite the Bunnies putting 46-points on the Cowboys, Graham only managed 21 NRL Fantasy points.

He simply had no attacking opportunities in this one with run metres and tackle breaks both well down on his season average.

I wouldn’t be panicking here as the Bunnies have the 16th placed Bulldogs in Round 18, and he gets the perfect opportunity to bounce back for Fantasy coaches.

Sam Verrills

Up next, we have one the most popular cash out and 18/19th man options for the week in Roosters Hooker, Sam Verrills.

From previous years, we know that even in extended minutes, Verrills isn’t a top tier Fantasy scorer.

However, with 63 minutes of game time and 40 tackles for the game — 26 NRL Fantasy points leaves a lot to be desired.

It’s worth noting that this game was played in very testing conditions, and Verrills had 3 errors. Add in 3 missed tackles, and all of a sudden we’re looking at minus 12 in demerits.

Look for Verrills to tidy up this area from next week and put his hand up again for that 18th or 19th man spot in your squad.

Jesse Ramien

We’ll wrap up this list now with a tackle breaking machine in Jesse Ramien.

While 38 points is a pass at Centre, Ramien came into Round 17 with an injury-adjusted average in the low 50s.

And therefore, for his lofty standards this year; sub-40 is a little off the pace.

However, as with Campbell Graham and Sam Verrills, we expect Ramien to bounce back to those elite 50+ scores with a little more early ball from the boys inside him.