Pick your 2018 NRL Fantasy team today

Author: Lone Scout NRL Fantasy guru
Timestamp: Tue 30 Jan 2018, 01:01 PM

2018 NRL Fantasy is now open

NRL Fantasy, presented by Youi, is open for 2018 – so it's time to sign up, pick your team and get some mates together in a league.

It's the NRL's official Fantasy game, it's free to play, there are prizes up for grabs and it's the most addictive online footy game there is.

If you've played before, just register a new NRL Account for free with your existing NRL Fantasy details and the game will link your account to your old profile. The NRL Account will also give you access to NRL Tipping and other exclusive content like extended match highlights.

If you're new to Fantasy, the concept is simple: pick a squad of real NRL players, staying under the $9.4 million salary cap, and score points each round of the NRL season based on how your players perform in real life. One of your wingers scores a try? That's eight points. A forward makes 30 tackles? That's 30 points. (Check out the full scoring system here.)Take on your friends in a league – with head-to-head match-ups each week – and the highest-scoring team wins, with a league grand final awaiting at the end of the year.

There's a big change to the game in 2018, with squads shrinking to 21 players plus the arrival of the eight-man ranked bench. This year you have the flexibility of picking players from any position for your reserves bench, and how you rank them will determine what happens if one of your 13 starters is a late withdrawal on the weekend. If your starting hooker is ruled out, for example, the highest-ranked hooker in your reserves will automatically move into your starting squad. What else is new in 2018

The new bench will make life easier if you're new to Fantasy and don't plan on keeping a close eye on every NRL game every week, while also adding a brand new strategic element for experienced Fantasy coaches.

There are club champion prizes supplied by all 16 NRL clubs and two money-can't-buy VIP experiences up for grabs. If you start a league and fill it with 16 or more teams before the start of the season you'll go in the running for a VIP trip to the 2018 NRL Grand Final, and the overall winner will receive a VIP trip for two to Perth for the next year's State of Origin II.

By signing up you'll get an automatic free trial of Coach, with invaluable insights into player stats heading into the new season, so register now to make the most of your trial period.

Go pick your team now. If you get stuck try out the Auto Fill option and adjust your squad from there (you can make unlimited changes up to the start of the season).

If you need some help finding value buys for your starting squad, check out our club guides for all 16 NRL teams, profiles of some of 2018's most in-demand players and the how-to guides below.