Arguably the NRL's biggest surprise packets in 2016, the Titans are set to be a popular team for NRL Fantasy coaches with the game's most prolific try-scoring front-rower and a cut-price superstar.
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Fantasy guns
Ryan James (FRF, $573,000): One of just three players to average more than 60 points a game in NRL Fantasy last season, James maintained his usual high workload in attack and defence, cut out the frequent errors and penalties, and had a record-breaking year as a try-scoring prop. It's hard to see him matching that output in 2017 – particularly his monstrous 119-point effort against the Rabbitohs in Round 13 – but James is all but certain to remain one of Fantasy's elite scorers this season.
Kevin Proctor (2RF, $477,000): New signing Proctor replaces Greg Bird in the Titans forward pack and is the only player in the squad apart from James to boast a Fantasy average above 50 in 2016. The second-rower can play the full 80 minutes, scored half a dozen tries last year and could see his weekly tackle count rise at the Titans, having made 35 tackles a game for the minor premiers last season.
Wildcards
Konrad Hurrell (CTR, $311,000): The kind of tackle-breaking try-scorer who can thrive in Fantasy when at his best, Hurrell played very limited minutes in his three games for the Warriors at the start of last season then 55 minutes in his Titans debut. In those games he averaged a meagre 11.5 points a game.
In games when he played the full 80 minutes in the centres Hurrell averaged 43 – well above his season average of 33. That makes him underpriced at the start of 2017 assuming he can keep scoring above 40 points a game, and he's a potential keeper at centre as well.
Cash cow
Jarryd Hayne (WFB, $200,000): There was a lot of fanfare about his arrival at the Titans but Hayne didn't play many games last season after joining the club and his scores were below par as well. The former Parramatta star averaged 25 across five games for the Titans in 2016. In his previous NRL season with the Eels in 2014 he averaged a whopping 62.8 on the way to a Dally M medal. The marquee man should be a big mover next season if he can hit regular scores in the 40s.
2017 NRL Fantasy prices
Ryan James (FRF, $573,000)
Kevin Proctor (2RF, $477,000)
Nathan Peats (HOK, $424,000)
Tyrone Roberts (HLF, $371,000)
Zeb Taia (2RF, $370,000)
Ashley Taylor (HLF, $363,000)
Chris McQueen (2RF, $345,000)
Konrad Hurrell (CTR, $311,000)
Agnatius Paasi (FRF, 2RF, $308,000)
Jarrod Wallace (FRF, $291,000)
David Shillington (FRF, $271,000)
Dan Sarginson (WFB, CTR, $244,000)
William Zillman (WFB, $243,000)
Leivaha Pulu (2RF, $231,000)
Nathaniel Peteru (FRF, $230,000)
Jarryd Hayne (WFB, $200,000)
Kane Elgey (HLF, $197,000)
Nathan Davis (CTR, $185,000)
Anthony Don (WFB, $178,000)
Edward Pettybourne (2RF, $171,000)
Lachlan Burr (2RF, $152,000)
Karl Lawton (CTR, $143,000)
John Olive (CTR, $143,000)
Ryan Simpkins (2RF, $143,000)
Jeff Lynch (FRF, $138,000)
This article first appeared on NRL.com
