By Strinesian Saleanian
December 11 2005

Get the thinking caps on and prepare to be ruthless in your search for glory. Time to review your fantasy league teams and make changes to your team selections in preparation for the second half. Remember, the 6 nations are coming up and you can't change your mind because all your players are out...

Last Friday’s HC match at Castres marked the halfway point of the Sale Sharks Fantasy Rugby League. With the ‘transfer window’ now open, stat-minded readers may be interested in a few facts & figs…

Top 10 Players

Player	Teams	Points
Charlie Hodgson	46	173
Daniel Larrachea	14	125
Jason Robinson	47	106
Magnus Lund	36	93
Valentin Courrent	43	93
Dean Schofield	51	86
Elvis Seveali'i	30	76
Mark Cueto	55	73
Sebastien Chabal	55	70
Jason White	42	68

With 67 teams in the competition, these are the top 10 most picked players:

Player	Teams	Points
Ignatio Fernadez Lobbe	56	37
Steve Hanley	56	20
Mark Cueto	55	73
Sebastien Chabal	55	70
Dean Schofield	51	86
Jason Robinson	47	106
Charlie Hodgson	46	173
Mark Taylor	45	62
Valentin Courrent	43	93
Jason White	42	68

Using PSA’s positional selections this season, it would be possible to pick the highest scoring team, so far, as follows…

Position	Player	Points
1	Sheridan	52
2	Titterell	52
3	Turner	37
4	Jones	52
5	Schofield	86
6	White	68
7	Lund	93
8	Chabal	70
9	Courrent	93
10	Hodgson	173
11	Robinson	106
12	Seveali'i	76
13	Taylor	62
14	Cueto	73
15	Larrachea	125
Total		1218

However, due to the selection criteria of the competion, certain of the above players (Jones, Robinson, Larrechea) cannot be picked in the positions listed. Instead the highest possible Fantasy League team, so far, would be…

Position	Player	Points
1	Sheridan	52
2	Titterell	52
3	Turner	37
4	Day	40
5	Schofield	86
6	White	68
7	Lund	93
8	Chabal	70
9	Courrent	93
10	Hodgson	173
11	Hanley	20
12	Seveali'i	76
13	Taylor	62
14	Cueto	73
15	Robinson	106
Total		1101

NOBODY has picked this team (yet). Our current league leaders, The Stantastic Sharks (DoR: Stan Fan), come closest with an incredible 1098 points – the only difference being the selection of Lobbe (37 pts) ahead of Day (40 pts).

So what next? DoR’s have until midnight on Thursday to register up to 5 transfers. Time to drop Faure? Will Hanley ever be fit? With Charlie away maybe Larry will pay?