Nathan had a great season throughout after captaining Darcy Graham in Round 0, but the icing on the cake was his selection of Luke Cowan-Dickie as a Supersub in Round 3, which secured him the top spot for the 2024 season. We spoke to Nathan to gather some insights from his winning season.
Do you play fantasy rugby regularly?
NP: Yeah, it's becoming a pretty regular occurrence but I would say that I'm still relatively new to fantasy. This is my fourth competition having first started with the 2023 RWC and then both the Women’s and Men’s Six Nations, so I still have plenty to learn!
Did you have a strategy in your team selection or was it more a case of going with your gut feeling?
NP: A bit of both really. This time was probably a touch more gut feeling compared to previous competitions, I'm really good at overthinking it and making last-minute changes that don't work out. But there's always a degree of strategy, obviously focusing on the mis-matches for games that have higher chances of getting tries is a good start. I also like to take a look at the benches and (try to) gauge who in the starting team is most likely to play the full 80 minutes (5/3 v 6/2 splits can help decide whether it's worth grabbing the starting forwards/backs).
Did you use stats to help drive your selections?
NP: Absolutely. I like to check which players performed well in previous games to help with future selections. Maybe you note that a centre scored really well in one game against a particular opponent so it could be worth a shout to grab a centre from another team that's playing that same opponent in a later stage of the fantasy game. Both individual player stats but also team stats like how often they kick/go for maul tries/when they typically run their subs out etc, can all be really useful when picking a fantasy team.
With a score like yours you must have had one or two big supersub picks. Did you have any supersub success stories?
NP: For sure, I got pretty lucky with the supersub pick of Luke Cowan-Dickie in the final round, netting a handy 138 points. Conversely, in week 1 when there was a last-minute change in the French team with Damian Penaud dropping out, I decided to use my spare budget to 'upgrade' Paul Boudehent to a more expensive supersub, which resulted in me losing out on 100 odd points - so you're never going to get all the calls right
What was your best moment of the season in the context of the fantasy game?
NP: From a personal standpoint, Luke Cowan-Dickie coming on and scoring as many points as he did in the final game of the series and then waiting for the final points to tally was awesome. Mostly, though, the pinnacle of every fantasy tournament for me is the smaller mini-battles you have with both yourself and other people. You may not always make the right calls and win absolutely everything, but it's a good feeling when you do get something right.
Who was your best performing player of 2024?
NP: I think my highest single score was from Darcy Graham in Week 0. In terms of consistency, I'm pretty sure I had Ben Earl in my team every single week, and Marcus Smith also had a really solid tournament for fantasy.
At what point during the tournament did you begin to believe that you could win the league?
NP: I went into the final round with a solid hope I could finish somewhere in the top 10. I thought #1 was possible but probably a touch out of reach, and it wasn't until the final game that I realised I actually had a decent shot. Chandler Cunningham-South came on from the bench fairly early in that game and I thought that meant somebody else would be topping the chart with him being a popular supersub choice. But fortunately enough, Cowan-Dickie came on and had a stormer for me.
How did it feel going into the final round knowing that you had a chance to win the whole thing?
NP: I was already pretty stoked that I was sitting in the top 10 and honestly quite skeptical but cautiously optimistic about winning the whole thing. It was fairly tight between a lot of people leading into that final round. I really enjoyed jumping in and seeing the teams of other people during that last week.
If there’s one single tip that you’d give to a new manager playing the Autumn Nations Series fantasy game, what would it be?
NP: Just have fun with it really and don't dwell too much on the 50/50 calls/last-minute changes that you will inevitably get wrong. There is a healthy amount of luck involved with fantasy. Friendly competition is always fun too so try to get your mates involved, even if they're not huge rugby fans. There's also a lot of online communities like the Reddit discord run by awesome people if you're ever looking for more leagues to join or people to chat with
Prior to your performance this year, had you done well in previous years of the Six Nations / Autumn Nations Series fantasy game?
NP: I think that I have always done decently well, but this is the first time that I was ever in contention to be at the very top which is pretty cool
With the Guinness Men's Six Nations just a couple of months away, which players will be first on your team sheet next season?
NP: Ben Earl has always been a staple of most of my fantasy teams since the very beginning; he rarely disappoints and consistently performs pretty well. I'm a Kiwi so most of my favourite players don't get to play in the Six Nations. I think that sometimes that works in my favour because I don't have to fight with being loyal and constantly picking the max All Blacks every round, but it also means I don't know many of the new faces in teams because I'm not super familiar with all of the players.
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