The 2018 season is one the Eels would rather forget, with the club handed the wooden spoon the year after a fourth-placed finish.
Fortunately for Eels fans (and Fantasy coaches hunting for a bargain) there is plenty of room for improvement in this squad, with hard-working forwards Nathan Brown and Daniel Alvaro their only real Fantasy keepers last year.
Here are three prospects who could rise in the Fantasy rankings in 2019.
Clint Gutherson
After a couple of breakout seasons with the Eels – in 2016 he was a cut-price Fantasy bargain with a 35-point average, and in 2017 he hit a mid-40s average – Gutherson's decline matched that of his team's last season. The new skipper missing the first five weeks of the season before averaging 33 points per game.
After shining in the halves the previous year he played at fullback, then five-eighth, then back to fullback and finally in the centres in 2018.
Locking down a permanent position is a start, but the Eels will probably need to improve as a team if Gutherson is to again be a Fantasy force once again.
Reed Mahoney
The Eels have struggled to replace Nathan Peats since his exit to the Titans in 2016 and the emergence of Mahoney at the end of 2018 was a positive sign for the club – and a potential glimpse of a 2019 cash cow.
He's priced as a low-30s scorer but scored 42.5 points a game in his four games as a starter, including two 80-minute efforts.
Ideally, he becomes a regular 80-minute hooker, in which case he can push that average up towards 50.
Shaun Lane
After stints at the Bulldogs, Warriors and Sea Eagles, Lane arrives at Parramatta and could slot straight into a starting spot in the second row. He came off the bench for the first eight rounds of 2018 at Manly before establishing himself as a starter from then on.
Lane averaged 36 minutes a game as a bench player and 62 minutes as a starter, including a couple of 80-minute games.
That balances out to an average of 53 minutes per game, and if that lifts to 65+ at the Eels he's capable of pushing his Fantasy scoring up from about 43 points a game to close to 50.
Eels player prices & positions
Nathan Brown $800,000, 2RF
Daniel Alvaro $749,000, FRF
Manu Ma'u $691,000, 2RF
Peni Terepo $650,000, FRF, 2RF
Blake Ferguson $647,000, WFB
Shaun Lane $599,000, 2RF
Tepai Moeroa $551,000, 2RF
Mitchell Moses $545,000, HLF
Tim Mannah $521,000, FRF
David Gower $505,000, FRF
Reed Mahoney $492,000, HOK
Clinton Gutherson $477,000, WFB, HLF
Marata Niukore $470,000, 2RF
Junior Paulo $461,000, FRF
George Jennings $443,000, WFB
Brad Takairangi $438,000, CTR, 2RF
Kaysa Pritchard $428,000, HOK
Michael Jennings $427,000, CTR
Will Smith $425,000, HLF, WFB
Josh Hoffman $377,000, WFB, CTR
Kane Evans $354,000, FRF
Oregon Kaufusi $354,000, FRF
Bevan French $244,000, WFB
Ray Stone $228,000, 2RF
Jaeman Salmon $223,000, HLF
Andrew Davey $212,000, 2RF
Greg Leleisiuao $212,000, WFB
Maika Sivo $212,000, WFB
Dylan Brown $212,000 HLF
Five key matchups of the Eels' 2019 draw
