Cleary, Fifita or Turbo? Who to captain in Round 24

For the past month there's been a pretty simple answer to the question of who to captain in NRL Fantasy.

Provided you owned him, it was Nathan Cleary by a country mile.

But ahead of Round 24 it's a little more complex. The Penrith master HLF is coming up against the ladder leaders who have one of the best defensive records in the competition – although there's reason to think that might not matter anyway – while players like Tom Trbjoevic and Cameron Murray have favourable match-ups.

So what are the pros and cons of the leading contenders this week? Glad you asked...

Nathan Cleary (HLF, $934k)

Form is on the Prince of Penrith's side right now, with his last three game average of 82.7 putting him more than 12 clear of this week's next best, Max Plath.

He's playing a Storm side that have held opponents to 18 points or less in four of their past five games, but they're also a club he averages 75 Fantasy points against in his three most recent meetings with them.

He's projected to just about hit that with a 70, which is the highest forecasted score for Round 24, but if he has a quieter day against the Storm then this is a huge opportunity to create a point of difference over opposing teams by selecting a different skipper. 

Tom Trbojevic (WFB, $698k)

It hasn't been a great fortnight for the Warriors when it comes to defence, after they leaked 30 to an Eels side who were struggling at the time and then gave up 34 to the Dolphins last week.

Needless to say, Tom Trbojevic is probably licking his lips at the prospect of taking on this team and their porous edges on Friday night, and his Fantasy owners should be too. 

As it is 'Turbo' is the form WFB in Fantasy, with an average score of nearly 67 over his past three games, with a 91 and 78 in that time which would have made him a phenomenal captain. 

I'm not sure the Warriors will have a heap of answers for what Manly's No.1 throws at them this time around and I really like him as a POD skipper.

David Fifita (EDG, $779k)

If you'd captained Fifita in every single game he's played this year then you'd have had a skipper who's never failed to get you a triple digit score.

That's right, 17 games, not a single one with a Fantasy score under 52, and a consistency rating of 84 that makes him the second most consistent scorer in the game behind Dylan Edwards.

If you want to avoid following the crowd and going with Nathan Cleary then Fifita is extremely low risk and still comes with the ability to hit a 60+. 

Cameron Murray (MID, $659k)

When it comes to Fantasy, Cameron Murray really likes playing the Wests Tigers and this week he's back at lock and coming off his best score since Round 8.

In his past four games against the joint venture the veteran Rabbitoh has an average score of 64.5 per game, with his lowest total against them over the past three seasons being a 59.

After biding his time out on an edge in recent weeks, with Keon Koloamatangi the preferred No.13, Murray is back in the middle for Saturday's clash and there's every reason to think he's a prime candidate to hit 60+ against Benji's boys. 

James Tedesco (WFB, $776k)

The high risk, high reward option. Tedesco has hit scores above 60 on eight occasions already this year, but he's also got five games on his record in which he's scored 40 or less when playing 80 minutes.

This week he's fresh off a bye and is playing an Eels side that give up 29 points per game on average this year, so he should have no shortage of attacking opportunities. 

When he's on, the Tricolours' skipper is just about the highest ceiling captaincy choice not named Nathan Cleary. But when he's off then he's going to burn you.

I'm picking it'll be the former rather than the latter in Round 24 and am expecting a big game from 'Teddy'.