Yeo was in just 0.5 percent of teams before Round 1, however he has been one of the star Fantasy performers in the opening two rounds – producing an average of 68.5 points.

This incredible output places him comfortably among the top 5 assets available in the game – a ranking that would certainly have surprised the majority of Fantasy coaches.

In Round 1, Yeo busted 7 tackles and ran for 170 metres on the way to his 78-point haul – he then backed this up brilliantly with a 59 point performance after making 42 tackles against the Dragons.

Last season, Yeo played in a range of positions including Second Row, Lock and CTR, and he also featured from the interchange on a couple of occasions.

When starting in the back row, Yeo averaged 31 points in 63 minutes over the season.

The key difference in the opening 2 Rounds of 2020 for the St Johns Dubbo junior is his time spent on the field, with just 4 minutes of rest across both games.

The rotation between the second row and Lock position clearly has an immediate positive impact on his output – and a low break even of 14 ahead of Round 3 means his price is likely to continue to soar over the next couple of weeks – after already having improved his price some $109k which is second only to teammate, Koroisau.

Fantasy coaches will have to consider the fact that new recruit, Kurt Capewell is yet to make his Panthers debut and should be at full fitness come round 3 – however, a continuation of Fischer Harris pushing into the front row could continue to offer up big minutes for Yeo.

Therefore, the question is; can he continue to demand big minutes when the entire pack are fit and firing?

As far as value-buys go, Yeo certainly looks to be one of the better options – but his low break even means Fantasy coaches will need to make the move now.

Next, we cast our eye to Lebanon international and Blues prospect, Alex Twal.
Twal has landed himself on our list after back-to-back 60+ performances – purely from base stats.

With 95 tackles and only 2 missed – Twal boasts a tackling efficiency of 93.4% for 2020 – which can’t be bettered by the likes of established workhorses such as Trbojevic, Arrow or Haas.

Twal also started strong last season with an average of 55 points in his opening 5 games, however his Fantasy form slowly dropped away throughout the season as he found himself on bench for the last 7 games.

Despite this, the Parramatta City junior is just 23 years old – and we expect his ability to sustain his form to improve year-on-year as he gets more gruelling pre-seasons and experience under his belt.

Another major factor adding to Twal’s appeal comes via his ownership – with just 2.2% of coaches currently convinced that he’s ready to take the step to the premium tier.

Potential danger signs for prospective Twal owners include the fact that his minutes were potentially inflated due to injuries in both games, however he has shown how effective he is with extended minutes – so there’s every chance he retains them.

It’s also important to note that Madge often runs a four-forward bench and this isn’t typically what we look for as Fantasy coaches when relying on big minutes for one of our forward assets.

If Twal is able to maintain big minutes over the next couple of Rounds – or better still – we see Billy Walters occupy one of the interchange slots – he looks like a solid addition for any Fantasy coach.

Moving into the outside backs, we’ve taken a look at Nick Cotric from the Canberra Raiders.

Whilst it doesn’t seem too long ago that Cotric was an NRL Fantasy relevant option as a cash cow, he’s now caught our attention once again with a 60-point average across the opening 2 Rounds – including a 78 point haul against the Warriors – purely from base stats!

It was during this performance that Cotric broke 17 tackles as he proved more than a handful for a comfortably beaten Warriors side.

Incredibly, Cotric sits 10 tackle busts clear on top of the competition with 25 to his name – leaving Jordan Pereira and Payne Haas behind with 15 each.

Cotric burst onto the NRL Fantasy scene in 2017, and he went on to secure a respectable 38 point average for two consecutive seasons.

However, a disappointing sub-30 average the following year meant the 21 year-old entered 2020 with an awkward price-point – and not a lot of consideration for Fantasy coaches.

Whilst no outside back is immune to some level of volatility in their Fantasy scoring, Cotric is still yet to string together a keeper-level average across an entire season – something that sceptics will have in the back of their mind when assessing his prospects.

However, Fantasy coaches certainly know the value of a player that can break a tackle – and Cotric has proven he’s got all the tools to keep racking them up at 3-points a pop.

For coaches looking to shore up their backline, you’d better move this week as a -2 break even looks set to see his price soar over the coming weeks.

We’ll wrap this watchlist analysis up with Phillip Sami from the Gold Coast Titans.

Whilst the first choice Fullback at the club, AJ Brimson was always set to miss the majority of the pre-season, the Titans medical staff were confident of having him ready to step back onto the playing field ahead of Round 1.

However, due to more than one compilation – this wasn’t the case – and Phillip Sami was the man called upon to cover at the back over the opening Rounds.
It’s worth noting that the Goodnah Eagle junior produced a solid 39 points per game when playing the full 80-minutes on the wing in 2019 – but it is this position switch that has caught the interest of coaches.

In Round 1, Sami took full advantage of his opportunity with two try assists, 10 tackle busts and over 230 run metres combining for 71 points – proving when given the opportunity – Sami has the attacking prowess to turn opportunities into serious NRL Fantasy numbers.
The concern for coaches comes via his score in the very next week – where the livewire Fullback failed to crack the 20-point barrier.

However, it’s important to note that his side were dominated by the Eels – and the highest score in Titans backline was 22.

It’s clear that Sami makes his points in his run metres and tackle busts – like all great Fantasy Fullbacks – but Brian Kelly topped the run metres in this game for his side with 101.

Based on this, it’s fair to say that they were starved of possession and Sami never really got a chance to get going.
When comparing Sami to Cotric, whilst Sami has the preferred position – the Titans are a bottom 4 side – and you can bank on fluctuations like this occurring.

With a break even of 37, you can afford to wait a week – but if Sami is able to nail down an extended run at Fullback – we’ll be watching closely to see if he can reproduce the form shown in the season opener.