With the 2018 season only 64 days away it’s time to start preparing for another year of NRL Fantasy. And this year, the game has changed!
Yep, you read that right, there’s only 64 days to go, so put on your coach’s hat because now’s the time to start preparing the banter and eyeing off who you’ll target to go head-to-head with your buddies for ultimate bragging rights.
The basics of the game will remain the same, pick your squad, stay under the salary cap and hope that the players you’ve picked put in on the field. So what’s new?
Here’s what we know so far:
- The new NRL Fantasy & Draft games will launch late January
- The salary cap will increase to $9.4M
- The squad size will be reduced to 21 (from 25)
- There will be a new scoring category (forced drop-outs)
- The NRL Fantasy app is getting some upgrades
What is NRL Fantasy?
The idea behind NRL Fantasy is pretty simple. All you have to do is pick a squad of current NRL players, and the way they perform on the field determines how good, or bad, your team goes in Fantasy.
Players receive points for the stats they produce during a game, and if your team scores more than your opponents, you win the round! (A full break down of scoring can be found at the bottom of this article).
Just remember, not all good NRL players are good Fantasy players. And therein lay the fun!
Stay tuned, I’ll be running through our Sharks players in the coming days, giving you all the insights into who I think will be the best guns and rookies to have in 2018.
How do I get started?
If you’ve never played NRL Fantasy before, get ready to become addicted!
The best way to warm up is by creating an NRL Account, then when things kick off later this month you’ll be all set to jump straight in and assemble your squad.
You get the choice to choose your favourite team when creating your NRL Account, and for those who choose the Sharks, you’ll be in the running for some amazing prizes! Stay tuned to find out exactly what you could win in the coming weeks.
If you want to get a jump on your buddies right now, you can take a peep at the player prices for every club here.
For all the latest Fantasy news make sure you keep an eye glued to the Sharks website, Facebook & Twitter pages.
I'll also be answering any questions and giving you a run down of the latest team list news, injury reports and opinions throughout the season (albeit slightly more Sharks focused) on Twitter.
NRL Fantasy scoring system
Try: 8 points
Try assist: 5 points
Line break: 4 points
Line-break assist: 2 points
Tackle break: 3 points
Forced drop-out: 2 points
Goal: 2 points
Offload: 2 points
Tackle: 1 point
Kick defused: 1 point
Run metres: 1 point for every 10 metres
Kick metres: 1 point for every 20 metres
Field goal: 5 points
Try save: 5 points
40/20 kick: 4 points
Missed tackle: -2 points
Error: -2 points
Penalty conceded: -2 points
Sin bin: -5 points
Send-off: -10 points
