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Season 5- Fantasy Corner Premier!
32 Plays3 years ago
It is the debut of the 2nd season of the Fantasy Corner for TFRY. On the first FC of the season, we unfortunately have to start with the sad news of one of our most loved platforms calling time. Ed we love you and all the work you did, you will not be forgotten by the likes of us.
Also on this episode, we go through a brief explanation on how Keeper leagues work, and yes we have spots in a Premiership FRD Keeper league as of this recording. Of course, we dissect the newest rankings for the first FRD Premiership season in a couple of years.
Finally it's time to pick the order of the CYL Prem FRD draft kicking off this Sunday and we'll be recording that live as well! Oh what fun it's going to be, have a listen and have a laugh on us!
Get the TFRY Patreon https://www.patreon.com/TheFantasyRugbyYanks , subscribe and start getting a leg up on your friends in your fantasy rugby leagues.
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Tone
00:00:02
Speaker
It is. The Fantasy Robias. My name is Jared Dyke. I wanted to say it's stupid and let's move on, but then you kept going. I'm Ben Glauser. I don't like any way anybody gambled that. Collusion. Collusion.
Fantasy Rugby Yanks Introduction
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome back. It is the Fancy Rugby Yanks. It's the Fancy Corner. How is everybody doing? My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. It's great to be back. I know you're right. You're excited for this one. I am excited for this one. Although it's sad too. Sad too.
00:00:45
Speaker
So yeah, let's let's let's let's start. Let's start off with the sad news because it is the most prominent news, I think, of all. And that is that it's it's actually damaging to the whole.
Rugby Magazine Fantasy Game Shutting Down
00:00:54
Speaker
It's it's not good for the prem. No, no, you're right. And it isn't. And I'm cracking another one on behalf of one. And the rugby magazine fantasy game, which has
00:01:06
Speaker
hung up the boots and called time. Right. And it's been the best. I mean, I mean, that that that FRD is is bad. They've actually gotten quite good. Right. It's gotten a lot better.
00:01:18
Speaker
But the site still isn't, you know, just the access, the site, the attention to detail that Ed put into that, into TRM, just outstanding, good, great representation. Like, it's shocked me when I learned that they were not the official game of the prem. It seemed like, and that's the level that it would be like, why hasn't the prem just bought it from them? Like, please, fuckers.
00:01:45
Speaker
Buy it and run it. It's not it's you know, you put two guys on it instead of just one and you pay him just to do that and Yeah, they'll do fine. You'll make that money like Yeah It's sad. It's sad to lose it because it was really a well-run game and just it's
00:02:08
Speaker
It's bad for rugby in general, you know, it's because it wasn't just the prem. I mean, you know, they did this, you know, situations which a lot of people participate
Community Experiences and Traditions
00:02:17
Speaker
in. And it's only a short. That's a short comp, too. So it's right. Ooh. Weren't there like prem players that participated in that in the premiership for a while? Yeah. The prem one. Yeah. There were a few of them. That was fun. Some of the some of the broadcasters did as well. Right. Like this is it's a it's not just a way to
00:02:36
Speaker
you know, promote the the game. It's like the people around it. It was really like, you know, that's how that's how we met George, of course. Yeah. So it's like, yeah, it's just kind of it's sad that that's where we are. All you quince fans heads up. Just just so you know, George is going to be coming with us to one of the matches and I'll give you a guess at which one it is. It's not the obvious one either. No, it's not.
00:03:06
Speaker
So it'll be a wolf. That's all right. We're returning. We're returning the favor by by knowing as friends of the twins on Sunday. So we're wearing a free jack stuff to that one, right? Oh, that. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. So that was my plan, at least. I like that. That's a good. That's a good idea. Yeah, that's a very good idea. Yeah. Whether it's depending on the weather, like either the kit or the T-shirt, depending on the weather. Right. I'm playing. I'm playing on kit, but
00:03:34
Speaker
Yeah. Or the, uh, if it's, if it's too chilly, we could always bring the, um, the flannel. How big of a suitcase are you bringing? I can't fit that thing in my suitcase. Wear it on the plane. Yeah. So sat very sad day.
Impact of Rugby Magazine Game on Community
00:03:57
Speaker
Um, it, it brought,
00:04:00
Speaker
a lot of good to the fantasy rugby community and, um, the rugby community in general, but definitely for the likes of Ben, myself, George, um, the whole of our, of our championks league and, and beyond. And, you know, and that was certainly, and, uh, and what's up, I was just getting really good at it. You finally got there. Yeah. Um,
00:04:25
Speaker
And yeah, and, you know, it brought about some other, you know, new contacts and new touches for us, like our new friends, the the fancy rugby duo from overseas there. So it's just so sad. So, Ed, you are a true legend, you're a prince in our eyes and you can never do it. And hopefully we get to buy him a beer.
00:04:50
Speaker
Yes, that is the plan. I would love to buy him. Actually, however many beers he wants, I can't wait to buy him. Ed, we're buying you all the beers. Yeah. If the Mrs. gets mad at us, we're just Americans, so we didn't know any better. So you blame it on us. It really, you did such a good job, you brought this on yourself. Undoubtedly. Oh, shit. Okay.
00:05:16
Speaker
Speaking of the aforementioned Champions League, Division 2 still has a couple spots open.
Champions League Division 2 Spots and Excitement
00:05:22
Speaker
So if you want to get in on the madness, that is that. We are going with promotion and relegation this year, so that should be fun to just watch somebody wither away and somebody get really pumped up. So that's half the fun, honestly. Who's going to get promoted? Who's going to get relegated? Come on. It got tight this past year, didn't it? Or was it at the bottom? Yeah.
00:05:43
Speaker
Yeah, so good thing that wasn't that wasn't on. Yeah. So, but now it is. So keep your heads up, kids. Yes, we're and we still have plenty of points to go around without at services. So right. Well, we will have plenty of fun. We'll have plenty of fun. Should be a good time.
00:06:04
Speaker
I do want to welcome our newest member of division one, Cobus has come to division one filling a spot for us and he was chomping at the bit. That dude was not going to let. I was like, all right, I'm in. I don't blame him. It's a fun, like we said with Ed and the rugby mag, it's a good community of guys.
00:06:28
Speaker
I mean, you know, Anton had to retire or, you know, takes a sabbatical for the year and he asked to remain in the group chat. It's like that. I mean, what does that tell you? First off, that's an easy yes, Anton. Absolutely. Yeah, it's a good it's been fun. You know, Cobus has already made himself more than welcome and enjoying the guys. So yeah, stuff.
00:06:56
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I'm having fun. Right. I've been looking forward to having him in the league too. Yep. Should be good time. He's fucking quality at this. Yeah, he's not going to be a pushover. Right. That's going to be problematic for a lot of us today. This was not a downward move for the league. No. No. By no means whatsoever.
00:07:19
Speaker
Oh boy. Um, all right. Yeah. Godspeed to the rest of
Introducing 'Keepers' Concept
00:07:23
Speaker
us. Um, so there's one new concept that Ben and I have presented out there, um, as of today, actually. And it's, and it's not a new concept per se, but I think it's more new for, um, FRD, um, users and that is keepers. So if you've done NFL keepers, actually Ben and I are in a league that we do, uh, fancy wank ball keepers. Um,
00:07:47
Speaker
What it is, is you get to carry one player over from one season to the next. Now, the downside is you lose a draft, you lose whatever draft pick you use that person for. Now, hopefully you picked whatever your keeper is in a good round, you know.
00:08:01
Speaker
For example, for me, I picked Jonathan Taylor in the NFL last year in the third or the second. It doesn't matter, honestly. It's not the first. He's first overall this year in on ESPN. So, duh, I'm keeping him for less than a first. Yeah, that's like, hell yeah. So that's the type of stuff you're looking for when you have a keeper. So now here's the downside to it is it jumps forward each year. You keep that player. So I think what we'll do is we'll do you keep them. You keep the player for whatever round you did.
00:08:31
Speaker
Well, it's going to jump two rounds every year. You keep them. So if you kept them for fifth, you give it up a third, the two years later. So just keep that in mind. Right. And now if you get somebody for fifth and you're still keeping them, they're probably worth that third at that point anyway. So you picked a winner. So just, but yeah, that's the, that's the type of concept that we're going with. Um, it's a 10 team league. So, so there'll be, um, a lot of bodies off the, off the wave of wire. It'll be slim pickings. And that's what I'm hoping for, honestly. That's what I, that's why I wanted to do a bigger league.
00:09:00
Speaker
Yeah. I want it to be, you know, dynasty-ish type of thing where you're really trying to hang on to make plays as you can. Yep. Yep. That's kind of what I was going for. So. Yeah. Justin Zack Mercer in the eighth round. Oh, shit. He's not in the scene. He's not in there yet. Pleasure could be a good pick, though, for next year.
00:09:25
Speaker
That's one. Um, so yeah, that's the concept that we have there. Um, speaking of draft, let's, let's, let's jump into rankings, previews and all that
Draft Strategies and Ranking Previews
00:09:34
Speaker
stuff. So first of all, the kind, the kind man Anton has actually put out some good questions to kind of give us over that. Let us rattle through our brain. Um,
00:09:45
Speaker
So we're, we're, we're thinking, uh, the thinking is that international players are only going to feature for about 11 games and FRDs this year, which is not much, even if they're around 15, that's still nine rounds you're missing. Right. So consider that with that. Um, so how do you, yeah. So how do you balance the balance is always, um, international quality, consistent starter, where.
00:10:15
Speaker
And where do you draw the line? Like, obviously, tiers of players come into that. Right. And yeah, are you looking for, you know, do you pick a guy that's going to win you 11 matchups, but he's also going to miss the other 13? Right. And for this, I think it's I don't think it's that
00:10:37
Speaker
big a problem, mostly because Eddie's picks are so shit. But at the same time, there's going to be plenty of players who are going to be available, like Max Malins is the number one overall. That's what they're pushing, the number one overall pick. I can't argue with it, because he's probably not going anywhere. He's going to be, he'll be available.
00:11:01
Speaker
And he doesn't really seem to like him. So, you know, I'll take him. There's, you know, Ollie Hassell Collins, international quality, but he's not going anywhere. So good. Lap him up. Like, there's not too many places where you have to make this kind of call. And, you know, front rows, like, that's a Bristol front row. Like, that's problematic. Like, Mauro Itoji, you're kind of stashed.
00:11:27
Speaker
Yep. And just not, maybe you don't run with a lock when he's not around. Right. Um, yep. But you're, because when he's in, he's going to get you like 30 points. So it's ridiculous. Um, so yeah, there's like, uh, there's, there's not that much of a problem with it. You know, it is kind of for maybe for your like Dan Bickers might be a problem, but then you can, you can work around that. There's handcuffs and yeah, it's, it's not, I wouldn't worry about it so much in FRD.
00:11:57
Speaker
Oddly enough, as long as you manage it correctly later, but I would balance it more towards the starters than, you know, I'd have, I wouldn't have a team full of fucking internationals. That would be silly. Yes. Yes. I think.
00:12:10
Speaker
Putting on your bench, more consistent starters, but then having that guy to pull off when he's healthy, like Tommy Freeman, that could light up the world for Alex Dombrand, assuming he gets picked at some point, so on and so forth. Marcus Smith, you're going to have on your team anyway, because you're just going to carry him. Yes. Yeah, nobody's dropping him. Nobody's dropping him.
00:12:35
Speaker
Um, but you're just going to have to find a better, find a decent backup or either way, nobody's going to take Edwards. He's not going to be on anybody's roster. So you have a couple, you have a couple options. You'll have options, either him or Tommaso. Right.
00:12:50
Speaker
those are there. And then the other thing that we haven't experienced with Prem, although we have experienced it in FRD before because of super rugby, and that's buys, and making sure that you have good backups for when buys and paying and it's it, you see it with the NFL fans, you pay very close attention to certain spots that have buys if you have, you know, three guys that are, you know, if you have
00:13:15
Speaker
two OBs and a midfielder that are on, you know, are on Quinn's. And they're on the same by. It's like, oh, shit. You really got to diversify. You got to diversify a little bit. So that's not unlike anything else you would have to do anyway. But that is more emphasized here because you're going to have to face that problem down the road, especially if it's guys you don't want to get rid of, like, right? Caiden Murley and Esther Hazen and so on and so forth. Like if you have Murley, Esther Hazen and Green,
00:13:43
Speaker
how you get them, number one, I don't know. But number two, if you happen to, or a quality, quality players at that level on the same team, or even if it's if you have an Esther Hazen, and then a Marchant later, right? Like that? Well, not Esther Hazen so much. Well, yeah, it's raising because he'll have buys, but then Marchant will have times when he's gone. So you got to make sure that you're not mixing, you know, when you have the internationals.
00:14:07
Speaker
You got to watch their teammates too when the buys come around. There's a lot more to manage. Yes. So just be very wary of that. Make sure that you have quality backups when you can and kind of plan out what's going forward. You know, three, four weeks in advance, start looking for your answers to those problems because they'll be there. They're not going anywhere. Yeah. Right. Activity on the waiver wire is key. Like drafting. Yeah. You're going to draft the players you draft and there's going to be
00:14:38
Speaker
you know, some lucky turnover. There almost always is. Right. It's, it's really then how well you do a late in the season is how well you've managed your team off that waiver wire. Yeah, totally. So that it's always, that's, it's always key. Like if you're, if you're the top waiver guy for a couple of weeks in a row, you're fucking up somewhere. Like if you have first overall first dibs, you should be feasted. You messed up somewhere, bro. Right. Um,
00:15:08
Speaker
Yeah, you should really get to that. You should just, you know, never get under like five or six if you can avoid it. So the one thing, the one team that obviously we need to monitor in this whole thing is what happens with Worcester now.
Player Rankings and Critiques
00:15:22
Speaker
Fortunately, unfortunately, there's probably only one or two players that you're going to draft early that you need to be concerned with. And that's the likes of like Duhan, maybe Ollie Lawrence, maybe Gareth Simpson.
00:15:34
Speaker
And then after that, you're probably not going to lean on such players for more than backup. So Finn Smith is a, this kind of a break glass. Yeah. I mean, he's like, he's like, yeah, if, right. If, if all the best tens are gone, fuck, well, I gotta have somebody. So yeah, go handle that. So keep that in mind as well. But you should be, it should work out. Okay.
00:15:59
Speaker
Right. So not not a huge deal either way. Let's kind of go through this, the rankings by position in terms of where people land position wise, we'll start with fly half. Probably, that's probably the most prominent position because there's only one of them. And it can make or break your week if it's a good one or if it's a shit one. Yeah.
00:16:22
Speaker
So the top 10 right now, same out and then we'll obviously discuss because I think there's some guys very misplaced here. Given certain news, Marcus Smith, George Ford, shipbag, Hastings, Simmons, AJ McGinty, Farrell, Biggs, Pollard, Jacob Bumaga. Now, the glaring one in that whole thing
00:16:47
Speaker
apart from Voldemort is George Ford's way too high because he's not, he shouldn't be back until the new year. Unless I'm crazy. And somehow Achilles miraculously healed itself in three months, which doesn't happen. Yeah, I can. Yeah. I don't know how, um, yeah, I don't know when George Ford will play. I can't imagine it'll be anytime soon. And not only that, but it,
00:17:11
Speaker
The sooner he comes back, the less likely he is to be the George Ford of old. Like this is not an injury where you just come back and it's like, yeah, I'm back. No, no big deal. Um, this comes back too soon. I would not bank on seeing the good George Ford for very long. Right. By any means whatsoever. So, so you're going to have to sit on that for awhile. Yeah. That's, that's not a, I don't, I don't agree with that being.
00:17:35
Speaker
Still high. That's number three overall pick now. Yeah. Somebody that it's not so much what's in front. It's not so much the guys in front of him. It's more. Where he's located. Callum Sheedy is very far down that list, and you know he's in our league. He'll be a. He'll be a six round pick, give or take. I can't math that well, so something like that. Number 50 overall. He's 14th overall fly half, which.
00:18:03
Speaker
He's behind the likes of Umaga Bailey and Finn Smith. A little bit dicey on that one as well. Just going to say that out there. So my, here's my thing. Um, in the movie fallen, there's a point where they talk about a moment and there's in this moment, there's only, you know, your life is going to be split into before this and after this.
00:18:31
Speaker
I feel like Callum Sheedy's career, that point happens when Kyle Sinclair yelled, Sheedy, find Sheedy.
00:18:39
Speaker
Um, and it ended up, I think with an England try. Cause they, they kicked it to sheetie and bottled it. And no, um, he's had moments since then, but it's just, he's, it's been shit. It's been really bad. Um, and AJ McGinty coming in and everybody's basically like, Hey, AJ is going to be saving grace. I think of the whole thing, but I still don't think he's below Vince Smith or Freddie burns.
00:19:06
Speaker
I just question how much he plays. Yeah. But like, yeah, I that's the that's really the question mark with with Bristol. They could go with either one. It's not like McGinty's unimpeachable. He's good. I mean, you know, I do call him the best time in the prem, but
00:19:22
Speaker
I don't know if, if Sheedy returns to form, he could become better than AJ. So that's, that's the question. It's like, this all depends on whether or not Callum Sheedy pulls his head out of his ass or, or if they're, you know, they're, this really is them looking to when he gets called back from your toe to Wales, which would entail that he pulled his head out of his ass. So yeah.
Front Row Teams Analysis
00:19:46
Speaker
Let's move on to front row. So the top three front rows are Wasp, Bristol and Saracens in that order. I would probably flip-flop Bristol and Wasp only because of their starting front row. Could win you. They're going to they're going to get. Yeah, they're going to get shit on for a couple of weeks while sinking Gensher away. So I still have Thacker, though.
00:20:12
Speaker
You still have that. I know. And he makes up for it. Yeah, he can make up for it real fast if he's on his game. That's true. Yeah. And once I get like Tom Cruise and Dan Frost, neither of which are going anywhere, right? Come international break time. So that's where that comes in.
00:20:29
Speaker
Vincent Koch, obviously, reinforcement is a nice thing for the loss. It is. Oh, that's dead. Yeah, they're going to be. Yes. Yeah. So they'll be formidable, no doubt. Lester obviously lost a little something when they lost Genji.
00:20:44
Speaker
I don't know that you just don't replace Gens like a like no, I mean, that's he was he he was such a runner in the loose. So special. So it's different. Yeah, he's still I mean, they're still going to be good because they're still going to have like they're going to run three deep still at Hooker and they're still going to score their mall tries with Hayes and and Colsey. And so, yes. Yeah. So we'll see the front row is still score. That won't be that shouldn't be too much of a problem. North Hampton at the bottom. I don't know about that one.
00:21:15
Speaker
Yeah, I'm puzzled there. Below Wooster? Below Quinn's? Below Newcastle? Don't agree. I love McGuigan. But Sam Adivasi is a special human. Among other things that's going on with that front row. And Yogan is going to be, he came on late in the year. Yes, he did. It wasn't
00:21:36
Speaker
So the casual observer, it might not have gone notice. I don't know because we don't really get to hear what people are saying over there, you know, who watch this every day. But like from our perspective, shit, he I thought he was because he was a runner towards the end of the year. And he's going to be good. It's going to be good this year. So that's one to watch. Yeah, no argument out of me.
Halfback Rankings Evaluation
00:22:03
Speaker
OK, halfbacks.
00:22:05
Speaker
half backs, the good ones make it great. The bad ones are, you know, once you just want to toss to the scrap, you don't don't don't have a Saracens. No, no, I don't have either one of those pass pass on that one. Raffy Quirk all the way down. Jeez, he is the 14th ranked halfback.
00:22:28
Speaker
That's not right. Under Tom James, under who guard who we don't know what the under Joe Mattivacy, maybe he, no, I don't know how he gets in front. Should be right around where Porter and Simpson are. Porter Robson Simpson should be somewhere around where Graphy Cork hangs. I would take Graphy before them.
00:22:52
Speaker
I think he's more of the, like, he's closer to Harry Randall's stage. Cause again, now it's, he's the guy. Yeah. Joe Simpson's there, but he should be a filler, not a, not somebody that, you know, you lean on, if he is, then they're totally fucked.
00:23:09
Speaker
Yeah, it's a little low. Although Ben Meehan will play his share. Yeah, that's a problem with Gloucester. Like, you know, the running back by committee, it's like the nine by committee. It's there. So one that I think we can watch and I think we'll turn over well.
00:23:31
Speaker
is, um, because he started to play really well towards the end of the year as he got more, more luck was, um, Cam Nordly Calametti from Newcastle. Um, really liked the way he played, uh,
00:23:46
Speaker
It's fine. His ranking's okay right now because he's still a very unproven asset. Yeah. Sam Stewart's going to give him a push, I think, which will be great. Mickey Young needs to be faded and baited very quickly. I'm still calling to Mickey. I'm sorry, Michael. You haven't earned my respect yet, buddy. Yeah, and your fucking Mickey Mouse.
00:24:03
Speaker
And then everybody obviously has known the term of Callum Braley to the prem. He's at Northampton, but he's obviously got a guy named Alex Mitchell that's in front of him that's a prop for that. So he's only going to see spot time and when Alex Mitchell's away and or hurt. So we still have to have the question. The question must be asked with the Harry Randall or Andy Uran and you know, which one would you take and
00:24:34
Speaker
to me, the greater question is, is a guy like Andy Uren super valuable because he'll be the man while Randall is away. And even when Randall is here, he'll still get, you know, what, 30, 40 minutes or so a gum hatch and tear it up where he could do better than, you know, other starters. Like, would you have, I'd take 30 minutes of Andy Uren over,
00:25:00
Speaker
you know, uh, an 80 minute Mickey young match. Right. Right. No, I agree. I agree with that. Yeah. It's, it's a matter of what do you value more and what's going to get it done for you? You know, I think there's no doubt that Harry Randall is the guy at Bristol. Um, could potentially be the guy for England at some point and he'll at least be on the squad. Right.
00:25:28
Speaker
So, but, and when he's in, when Harry Randall's in there and inform, he'll win your games, right? No doubt. He'll win your games. So Andy year and year and Ken too, assuming he's starting. So even if he's not even off the bench, I'd say again, I think I just start Andy year and over a lot of players off the bench. It's not wrong about that by any means, but I'm just saying like, yeah, you could have a poop week, but Harry Randall holds you up. You know, that's true too. You know, that's just my thoughts on that. Yeah.
00:25:57
Speaker
So yeah, a lot, lots of good to pick from. Just stay away from the guys that clearly don't do anything like Richard Wigglesworth. Like, yeah, no, no, no, no, no. Um, loose forward, probably one of the more sought after picks besides, um, fly half an OB. Um, Earl Simmons, Dom Brant.
Loose Forwards and Their Fantasy Impact
00:26:20
Speaker
And honestly, I wouldn't sniff at any of those. I would not turn my nose at any of those. I'd be like, yeah. Okay. Yes. Okay. Yes. Yes. And they are kind of in that order too. Like I would rather have been Earl because he's, he's not on it and he's roster. Cause apparently, you know, being just as good as Sam Curry defensively, but.
00:26:41
Speaker
actually being able to attack is not something that Eddie wants. So good for Saracens. They've got maybe one of the best players in the, well, maybe the best player in the prem, but certainly one of the best players in the prem all week, every week. He was up there for player of the year, wasn't he? Yeah, he was. Wait, did he win? I thought so.
00:27:03
Speaker
Might be making that up in my head, though. I'm pretty sure he won player of the year. He won something of the year. They're not. Tom Curry and he are not the same seven, by any means. Right. Different animals, by all means. Ben Earl's really good. Yeah, I love Ben Earl. He's in the camp of the really good. Curry's in the... Yeah, you're all right. Yeah.
00:27:23
Speaker
Interesting. So yeah, I want to scroll down to that area, actually, just because it's an interesting conversation to have with about six players that are right there. The two curries, one ahead of the other, probably only because one's going to see more time not being with England.
00:27:37
Speaker
And then Fitzharding, Alfie, Barbary laws and McFarland all right in that order. Now we've talked about laws, his value as a fancy asset. It's not there. Right. It isn't. It's not. And I'm sorry if the OMA far McFarland's running, I don't care where he's playing on the pitch. Yeah, I don't care either. He's going to, he's going to light up way ahead of freaking Courtney laws. So just that's my opinion with his equally going under the knife and being unavailable for a few weeks. I don't know exactly how many, um,
00:28:09
Speaker
You know, that, that McFarland's value just goes that much higher. Yeah. It'll be between him and Tiz. Right. No doubt. Well, but, but that means that. Means he's probably playing one way or the other. Right. But that means, yeah, that means probably Theo's playing six, you know, cause he fills in there too. So he's done quite adequate there. He's done amazing there. I mean, fuck him and, and Earl and.
00:28:34
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Nevermind. I got a William. Yeah. Sorry. Keep it in your pants. Working on it. Keep it in your pants. I want to look down at this list. Here's two names to throw at you.
00:28:56
Speaker
probably haven't been measured in FRD terms and we'll see what they do with their teams. One new to the prem, one new to FRD. Tom Pearson from London Irish and Magnus Bradbury for the Bristol Bears, new boy for them. Pearson is one I've been looking for on this list. He's very far down. He's too far down. So he'll be a steal. Poletary as well assuming he plays Will Evans same way. Right. Bradbury,
00:29:25
Speaker
Look, they, Bristol do know how to, how to use the eight. Um, yes. Bradbury. That's Harding is evidence of that. Yeah. I mean, he could, he could be good. I just don't, I don't know what's going to happen with, with him there because, you know, we saw it took, um, what's his name? Had to go to bath. Um, he always had to go to bath to, to the games form again. And now he came back and was, was awesome as well. But.
00:29:54
Speaker
Uh, I know, I know Bradbury is not exactly that kind of player. So no, he's a little younger and slightly more dynamic, not to not Nathan Hughes. I love Nathan Hughes. Right. Um, but Bradbury isn't so he's not the power runner type. I mean, he's strong. He's a strong runner, but he's not the.
00:30:11
Speaker
Fucking bowling ball. I'm going to look forward to seeing how he develops as a player anyway under Pat Lamb as well. So me too. In general. So he'll be one I keep my eye on. That's actually that's a good point because I I don't like I didn't really think to ask that question. Is he is he there for the right reason? And if he's there to learn how to play some open rugby with Pat Lamb.
00:30:31
Speaker
And it's not just about money then fuck. Yeah, let's do this. Yeah. Yep. I could just assume it was about money because he's good and they were offering it. But if that's what, if that's what, if what's in his heart is to do the right thing and learn how to play some open, open rugby, that could be excellent. Yep. And then guys that didn't necessarily get really ranked because it just kind of went into order of, um, right. Of play are.
00:30:57
Speaker
Guy is one that has been standing out for the rugby championship in the Pumas is one Marti Gonzalez. I, I like the way he's playing. You know, if you have a Pearson and you have him kind of your, all right, whichever one's starting. Right.
00:31:14
Speaker
Not bad. Like if that's your second, if that's your second loose forward, one of those two. Yeah. He was on my list anyway. You're in good shape. Even with, even before the rugby championship, he's just cementing it now. Yeah. He's, yeah, he's, he's only helped his case. So very interesting things going on with that. Um, so I'll be, those will be some fun late round picks to go, to go with here. And there's Josh Basham who, um,
00:31:39
Speaker
to take in that in that mix. So yes, a lot of good stuff going on there in the loose forward. So, yeah, there's it's weird to see some of these people who are ranked who are not where they should be. Right. And then there's just plenty of depth. So even if you miss out, like I was I got to the end of the first page and I was like,
00:31:59
Speaker
Callum chick. Really? We're going. I don't know about that. No, Lua two is not much of a guy who I would count on for points, except every so often he goes off, which is for every so often got picked the right one. Right. And yeah, look at them like, no, I was thinking Pearson. I was like, I wanted to see Pearson there and he wasn't so. No, he's he's on my list of guys who I would. Yeah, that'd be it. And like to like, I'd be interested to see how Angus got young does in this. He didn't do well for me.
00:32:28
Speaker
Or for a lot of people in frd super so I don't know how well he's gonna do here But change the scenery change coaches all that stuff. You never know how it's gonna work. So would be very interesting Possible late round steel would not count on him as one of your starters now could be one of those bolters that you're like, holy shit I can't believe I got him then right is and everybody else in the league is like, you know what? I shouldn't I should have
00:32:54
Speaker
Yeah, they're kicking the fuck out of themselves at that point. Right. I'm like, OK, well, good fucking Jared, remember to draft him. Something like that. Right. All right. Locks. So this my policy on locks is like kickers and NFL. I don't draft one until I fucking need to like.
Strategic Analysis for Fantasy Rugby Positions
00:33:12
Speaker
And there's very few of these locks I would want to burn a pick on.
00:33:19
Speaker
Now, the top end of this is probably where it stops. Yeah. After that, I don't want a fucking thing to do with a lock. Right. Because, yeah, you're looking at that top end. Mauro Itoje, Sean Robinson, Nick Aziqua, although now we know he's injured, so probably lower him.
00:33:36
Speaker
Vui, Freddie Clark, John Luke Dupria. Right there. That's probably the list. Probably the list. And if you miss out on all of them, and again, maybe, you know, who knows, maybe Tizard bumps up. Maybe. Potentially. Stefon Luis is one who I might look at later. So keep your eyes peeled on. Everybody else on that list, to say the least, is someone you don't draft, but you keep your eyes on them and see how they do.
00:34:06
Speaker
Right. George Martin's now listed as a law. If you know what that does for him. If David ribbons is your last pick, you're okay. Fine. You know, you're all right. Agreed. Yeah, no big deal. But like, you know, don't overstrain yourself. Don't don't pick a, you know, a Freddie Clark over fucking
00:34:29
Speaker
I don't know. A good OB or a good mid. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Over like a Lazoski. Although they're, they're, I know they're ranked very differently. One to keep your eyes on. Funny that it's this team because we had our, one of our biggest bolters ever at this position. Harlequin's Matus Jervisius. Mm-hmm.
00:34:51
Speaker
as a lock. And he, from what I understand, has played the law of his forward from what I remember now. I could be nuts in that thought. That's a fantastic. So depending on what his playing time is, that's the only thing. What's his playing time going to be? If he's at six.
00:35:11
Speaker
Might be okay. Right. Well, I mean, this, I think means Levis kicks back in from six to lock, which you would lock, right? Which you would help, which would be, you know, tizzard leaving and all that. And yeah, something like that's going to happen. I would imagine, right? Did Simmons retire? Yeah, I think he did. Thank the fucking Lord. Wow. Simmons retired. So it's like you lost, you lost your, you know, two, your three locks. I can't remember who the third one was. Um, doesn't matter. Yeah.
00:35:38
Speaker
Um, not, no one else had kind of a twat. So yeah, not sad to see him go. Um, so yeah, interesting to think about that one. Uh, let's go down to midfield, which.
00:35:52
Speaker
can be one of those positions that and there's so many different kinds of midfielders that are productive. And there's, you know, the semi red radros, which light up the world. And then there's the Alex Lozowski's that don't necessarily lay out the world, but they put boot to the ball and put it through the post, which is also valuable. Right. So Jimmy got with kind of in that same category as well, though we'll see how much time he gets with Lester. Right.
00:36:21
Speaker
So there are many valuable ways to be a good mid in FRD, many, many. I'm not sold on, and maybe this makes me very ill-informed when it comes to URC, like not sold on Burger Oden Dalby and that. No, not yet.
00:36:41
Speaker
Maybe I'll be proven wrong and I'm okay with that. Yeah. Well, I was, yeah, I was looking at he's 29 though. If he was going to be like an Andre Esterhazen.
00:36:53
Speaker
you wouldn't be like, oh, I wonder if he's gonna make an impact. Like Esther Hazen, you're like, okay, what? He was like 21, 22, something ridiculously young, coming up. Okay, I have a problem with something already, and I just picked up on it. Cameron Redpath is below Ian Whitten. That is a crime. That is a crime. That is a crime punishable by incarceration. Thank you for interrupting me for noticing that. Wait, where are they?
00:37:19
Speaker
Uh, Whitten is on the first page, 196 overall. And he is about four spots better. Three, four spots better than Cameron red path. That was a crime down there. Yeah, he is. That's not right. Moroni's like, I'm actually excited about, and I get, we'll get, we'll talk about that in the, uh, in the prem.
00:37:43
Speaker
uh preview but next year yeah moroni uh next week yeah those two another two whichever 365 7 same same all numbers um yeah like i like what new castle's done in their centers which they needed to do and they're gonna rely on moroni a lot so i think he's gonna
00:38:03
Speaker
You might want to, Tom Penny is a midfielder. I like to, that's, that's fun. Yeah. You can, there's a game about playing every once in a while or full back. So he's been excellent at fullback. So I'm fine with that. Yeah. That's a, that's a good, good get. Um, talking about this before the draft. Looking around.
00:38:25
Speaker
And then you have, and then you have guys like Tom Robuxless is a midfielder and he plays wing. Forget it. That's a, that's a steal right there. Um, Oh yeah. Remember how good he was for a little while last year. So might not be the end. I'll be all for your midfield, but man, he can, he might win you a few games, which could be a difference. Right. Um, when he, when he plays and yeah. Wow. That's weird that he's a.
00:38:52
Speaker
And we'll talk about like late round strategies and stuff like that in the second year in terms of like picking players somewhere else, but let's look at, let's look at the, what is probably the most valuable position because they had the most potential and that's OBS.
Outside Back Rankings and Critiques
00:39:04
Speaker
Um, so for me, I see a name on here.
00:39:10
Speaker
I see a name and I see a club and none of them are neither one's good. That's Solomonicata. Not great when he played for Moana Pacifica. Right. Not playing for a club that's especially going to support OBs very well. Now, maybe he turns into their Tom O'Flaherty. Maybe. But I don't see it right now. Wouldn't it? Isn't it time for what's his name? How or who's their other? Hodge.
00:39:38
Speaker
Hodge. Yeah, it should be. I figured Josh Hodge is going to slide right in there. I figured as much as well, but maybe they have other plans. And then there's, yeah. So maybe he's taken away and Kata was a nice like depth kind of thing. Yeah. He's a depth guy. He's not a, yeah. That's just a misranking. That's all. Yeah. That's a, he's 41. He's at number 13 OB overall. I don't know. Over Kyle Rowe, Will Muir and
00:40:05
Speaker
Louis Lina. I don't love that at all. Or Tom Collins. Yep. What? What? Right. Over Jack Knoll and Johnny Mime. Oh, wait, that might be accurate. Yeah, no, no, no, no. What do they do in Top 100 anyway? Jesus. Yeah, that's what I said.
00:40:30
Speaker
Yeah, they should not be in front of Duhan, although Duhan will be away. Well, that's the only thing I have with that. There's Arendelle, but down at 138. Wow, really? Yeah, he's that low. Holy shit. He's that low. Okay. Yeah, if he does anything that he did in Australia, then I'm in. Yeah. That's a nice pick for that. Right. Your favorite Argentinian wing there is Santi Caretas right there. Right? My favorite fly-off.
00:40:56
Speaker
Um, one player, a family that we love to poop on around here, but actually this one came good. Luke James, I think is going to be a sneaky, sneaky steal for some people. He performed very well. Questions back to who's at 10.
00:41:12
Speaker
What's up? The question comes back to who's at 10. Right. And right now we know it's going to be RDP for a while. So unless unless Kieran Wilkinson has all of a sudden made leaps and bounds, who's supposed to be the 10 of the future there?
00:41:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's RDP. And for me, personally, on a rugby pure standpoint, I hope that's the case, that it's Kieran Wilkinson eventually. But meh. Mally Slighthomes all the way down 178. Under Perry Humphries. That's just rude. How rude. Yeah, that'll be interesting.
00:41:53
Speaker
Um, and then like, let's say late round ones, a couple of late round bolters that could potentially turn into, you know, big gets Samaki, you and Stevens right next to each other there. Um, did well, but you know, obviously didn't see the prop playing time in the year too. Um, it was the only ones that I can think about the top of my head.
00:42:16
Speaker
I'm hearing things about this George Hendy kid in Northern, uh, in, uh, for saints. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. Um, I know he, he started, I think he started, I think he started at 15 in their last warmup match. Okay. So I'm interested to hear about that for sure. I'm just hearing things. I'm not sure exactly what I'm hearing. I'm hearing things. Yeah. Um, and then when it comes to like late round stuff,
Late-Round Draft Strategies
00:42:48
Speaker
Number one, you throw in darts. Like there comes a point where you're, you reach around and some people, the threshold's different. Um, so, but for us, we have what? 17 rounds, 11 stars and six bench bots. So there comes a point where it's like call out round 10, you're now throwing darts rankings, go out the window, pick what you want at that point, you know, pick what you want. Um, the advice at this point is think about the teams that score the most.
00:43:18
Speaker
And, and, you know, guys that can come off that, that can come off the bench in international windows. And sure, they might not, it might not be pretty, but man, if they run in a 20 meter, try bangs, that's at seven points right there. And that are runners and play for running teams. Yes. Like as Lester were or have been there, their back line is not one to, to really dig yourself into because they kick a lot. So they're not going to be, you know,
00:43:47
Speaker
It's like kind of like if England in the in the internationals, you don't really want their centers because they're not going to get to that many points. So you want teams that are going to and Saracens are our fucking flip a fucking coin. And you never know the forwards. You're going to know where you're going to get. You're going to get your money's worth from the folks. But the backs, you just don't know, you know, Exeter. You know, same same same idea, like the forwards are going to get their points likely. The backs.
00:44:16
Speaker
Who knows, but then you have like saints and it's like everybody's an option pretty much. And so like that's, you know, maybe you take it, um, like I said, you know, a slight home later, like that's why I grade him a lot higher than this game does because yeah, I don't really want, I'm not going to take.
00:44:31
Speaker
Johnny May, who were a slave home, just not. No, no, no. In terms of what the potential score line that's going to the both of them are going to put up. I want what slave homes going to do. The dude's got wheels. Right. And scoring from 50 meters out is way more likely for all his later home than it is for Johnny May. That is anybody that thinks otherwise, I really want to know what the hell your evidence is right now because Johnny May just doesn't have the steps anymore. Simple as that.
00:44:59
Speaker
Can he fall over the line? Yes. I could have scored that try. Yes, me right now. That's the level of tries he's kind of relegated to now.
00:45:19
Speaker
So, I, yeah, go for guys who are teams that run, and then the players that can run on them. Yep, I agree. I agree. I agree. That's and this this is a very offensive attacking.
00:45:34
Speaker
favored points set up. You don't, you know, the defensive points aren't there. Just simple as that. They really aren't, you know, can you get some for defensive, for defensive, you know, performances? Yes. Yeah. But they need to be, it almost needs to be a near perfect defensive performance too, which is,
00:45:51
Speaker
Think of it like a Ben Earl versus a Tom Curry, like we were going back to. Tom Curry might get you 20 points, but that's like kind of his ceiling. Whereas Ben Earl could get you 20 points and then one week he gets you like 40 or more. And it's because he has that dimension to him that this game favors.
00:46:13
Speaker
Absolutely. So it's not, it's not as balanced like here. And what I thought was a good balance between attack and defense. This is much more attacking, more attack and more attack. There'll be no doubt. No doubt. It's time to pick.
Draft Order Selection Process
00:46:26
Speaker
The draft order for our Champions League, one through eight. That'll be happening this coming Sunday, which we will be doing a live recording of as well. So as you the interested, uh, yeah, those are usually entertaining at the minimum. We will have our, our old friend, George joining us as well. So we can, uh, we can hear him yell about how, uh, much he's been sniped and then bed can yell at George for stepping his as well. So the fuck he does. It is. It is.
00:46:54
Speaker
Sometimes. Does it to you. He almost never does it to me. I don't know what that says. Yeah, I know. All right. So we got a hat filled with numbers, which are obviously numbers, spot you pick from. Number two. Oh, he used number two. Number two. Number two is...
00:47:22
Speaker
Right off the bat with a consequential pick. Okay. Duncan. Duncan. Duncan's going to pick two overall. Coming in hot. I don't want Duncan to have that spot. Number four. Four. Okay.
00:47:41
Speaker
I'm not trying to put my own horn here, but I think I'm the defending champion in FRD prem for champion actually. Oh, nice. I think you're right. I'm four. Oh, there you go. This guy's four. I don't want you to have that pick. Well, you don't want me to have any pick. Let's be real about this. Well, I'm going to say that pretty much about everybody on this. All right. Number six. Finding all the evens. So we're also determining our conference right now at this point right now. Duck and I are in the same. And whoever this person is, is with us. So sucks to be you.
00:48:13
Speaker
George. George and I cannot get away from each other. We're almost always in the same conference. Almost always in the same conference. Number three. Number three. All right. Finally, we have a nod. Finally, we have a nod. All right. Yeah, that's a good. Good job. What do we got?
00:48:35
Speaker
Justin, Justin, number three, Justin. Hasn't he always had like the first overall pick? He had first overall, one of the first years we were in Champions League. Little bastard. I thought he did in one of our drafts this year too. He might've, he might've. Number five. All right. Same. This person's also going to be in the conference with Justin. What do we got here?
00:49:03
Speaker
Ben. Ben. Damn it to hell. Have fun with that. Yeah. I'm not happy about that. God damn it. I get your back. Oh yeah. You're right. Well, you read before me on the back. So eight. All right. So last, but you also get the first turn. So that's good and bad as it has its ups and downs.
00:49:37
Speaker
Here. Carrick. All right. Yeah, I like that. I hate like three through six. I'm I get annoyed with. Like either end of the thing. Let's do it. But that's true. Yeah. All right. First overall, I only got a couple of names left to watch it be Cobus. It might be. Mark Mark. OK. All right. Oh, with that.
00:50:06
Speaker
Just to make sure that we didn't screw up. We have all the numbers and names. Or is it just number seven? Yep. Yeah. Number seven. And should be COVID. Yep. Okay. So with that.
00:50:27
Speaker
Yep, so our draft order this Sunday will be Mark, Duncan, Justin, myself, Ben, George, Cobus, Carrick, and obviously it's a snake draft, so it'll flip-flop back the other way around as well. So that is that. Let the fun begin. Let the games begin. Yeah, so once we get obviously that taken care of on Sunday,
Preview of Upcoming Events
00:50:55
Speaker
Ben and I will be doing another fantasy corner next week, which will obviously entail start sit. We'll also start our pick them again. Let's see if Ben can finally get the better of me and pick them. I don't think you've done it yet. Actually you did one year. That's a lie. You did one year. Okay. Of the four, I've got three. So probably they're just pulling shit from my ass now that I know what I'm talking about from when that's different from when, come on, man. So yeah, we'll do that. We'll do that then.
00:51:25
Speaker
But in the meantime, number one, if you are a fantasy rugby nut, like some of us here, Championx League D2, got spaces and waiting for applicants. And then if you're looking for something a little bit different about your FRD experience,
00:51:44
Speaker
10 team keeper league from fancy rugby Yanks. We got spots there too. Um, that draft time has yet to be determined. It'll be sometime next week though. So just keep your eyes peeled on that. Other than that, um, this is great to be back. I'm, I'm really happy to be here. Be back here and, um, and much the same way, you know,
00:52:04
Speaker
We appreciate Ed, we appreciate Bruce who helps run FRD. And all you out there that are there, yeah, trust me, if we weren't getting any sort of at least engagement in this whole thing, I think Ben and I would stop. So we appreciate everybody out there, even if you try and piss us off, we appreciate you just the same. So with that,
00:52:28
Speaker
We will be back next week with Fancy Corner, Start, Sit, all that stuff. We really look forward to it and we appreciate you all for hanging out with us. So we'll see you then. Have a good one. All right. Let's go. That's it. Cheers.