Dream Team Watch: Round 11

May 23, 2013 - 11:00 AM HOLDEN NRL DREAM TEAM: Bargains in the halves, Benji's value plummets, and who to snap up ? and avoid ? for the bye rounds...

Half bargains

Isaac John looks like he's already made the Penrith five-eighth spot his own, having helped his team to a win over Melbourne before scoring a hat-trick in a flogging over his old club the Warriors. He'll make big cash this week, but unless his scoring spree continues he's unlikely to average 50 points a week for much longer.

Robert Lui's another half on the rise, scoring a very solid 52 for the Cowboys on the weekend. With Johnathan Thurston to leave on Origin duty ahead of round 12, Lui could be a very handy cash cow for the next couple of months.

Other halves set to make money this week are Raiders super sub Anthony Milford, who scored a blistering 78 last week, and Api Pewhairangi, who has held his spot in the centres for Parramatta and is a dual-position player in Dream Team.

Origin planning

Got your eye on the big prize? You'll need to get a competitive team together for each of the big bye rounds, which means avoiding likely Origin stars and focusing on players with a favourable bye draw. That means players who will play in rounds 12, 15 and 18.

The Bulldogs have the best bye schedule for DT coaches chasing overall points, making the likes of James Graham, Trent Hodkinson, Michael Ennis and Ben Barba (assuming he doesn't play Origin) very attractive options. The Rabbitohs, Titans, Cowboys, Broncos, Eels and Storm all play in two of the three big bye rounds. That means their non-Origin players will become great Dream Team byes, but their Origin stars (Greg Inglis, Johnathan Thurston, Jarryd Hayne, etc) will all miss at least four weeks between round 12 and round 19.

Back to their best

Corey Parker has returned to his Dream Team form of old, playing close to 80 minutes every week and taking back the goalkicking duties in the absence of the injured Scott Prince. He should continue to play big minutes following David Stagg's knee injury. Expect to see fellow Bronco Josh McGuire start to score well in the next few months with Ben Hannant sidelined through injury, and then Origin duty.

Josh Dugan announced his return to the NRL in stunning fashion on the weekend, scoring twice on his St George Illawarra debut, but his price is still likely to drop unless he can post another 60+ score this week.

And Benji Marshall is back in the Tigers starting side after scoring a meagre 5 Dream Team points off the bench last week, and although the Kiwi superstar is very cheap at $191,200 now he should get even cheaper in the next couple of weeks. For a player who averaged better than 50 points a game in 2011 and 2012, that should be a steal ? if Marshall is able to regain his old touch.

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