Fantasy Super Rugby: Round Five Preview

Aaron Smith is one of many widely-owned superstars that Dr Stats is calling time on this week. Photo / Getty Images

We're now four rounds into the Dream Team Fantasy Super Rugby season and it's time for coaches to face the facts on some failing superstars.

By now we have a fair idea of player and team form, teams' selection policies and just how this game works.

Hopefully you've been following my advice to try to use these opening rounds to gain some easy dollars to spend on solidifying your squad.

As you add more solid, every-week starters to your squad of 22 players you have less room to move and tougher decisions to make on who to trade from your squad. It's at this stage of the season that you need to identify which name-players are a poor investment and move them on to the trash heap.

Below are the key players that are owned by far too many coaches and are simply losing money for your fantasy squad.

Bismarck du Plessis, Sharks
He's the third most-owned front rower in our game yet is averaging four points per appearance. Similarly priced players who can lift your team include Owen Franks and Hika Elliot.

Brodie Retallick, Chiefs
An All Black superstar struggling with injury. He's out of action for another 3-5 weeks and even then will likely be in cotton wool as we build toward a World Cup campaign. Pieter-Steph du Toit is your ready-made replacement for Retallick.

Ardie Savea, Hurricanes
There must be a lot of Hurricanes fans playing this game as Savea is widely-owned despite averaging a third of the score of Michael Hooper. There is some real life potential there but look to options like Ryan Kankowski and Jean Cook as similar, cheap options in fantasyland.

Aaron Smith, Highlanders
It's a big call, but Smith is just not piling up any fantasy points after playing three games and is being blown away by similarly priced players such as Sarel Pretorius.

Dan Carter, Crusaders
Similar story to Retallick, he's just not worth the uncertainty. Spend your cash on Christan Lealiifano instead.

Hosea Gear, Chiefs
Am not sure what people have seen in Gear's performances so far in 2015 to justify his ownership apart from being in the Chiefs. Drop him now.

Damien McKenzie, Chiefs
McKenzie is a classic example of how to exploit the game to make some easy cash. He started Round 1 and scored 60 points before benched and doing nothing over the next two weeks. Despite that, he gained $17,000 in value after Round 3. At that point you should have traded him in, using that extra cash to upgrade your bench fullback. However, there are a lot of people who failed to do so and just lost money with another brief appearance in Round 4.

Get the latest fantasy advice from Dr Stats Thursdays at 6.25pm on Radio Sport with D'Arcy Waldegrave.

On the bench:
Oupa Mohoje, Cheetahs (rested)
Jerome Kaino, Blues (out 1-2 weeks)
Jimmy Cowan, Blues (50/50 to play)
Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Blues (benched)
Israel Dagg, Crusaders (out 1-2 weeks)
Matt Todd, Crusaders (rested)
Nepo Laulala, Crusaders (benched)
Scott Barrett. Crusaders (benched)
Mitchell Drummond, Crusaders (benched)
Kieron Fonotia, Crusaders (benched)
James Marshall, Hurricanes (benched)
Cory Jane, Hurricanes (rested)
Chris Smiley, Hurricanes (benched)
Blade Thomson, Hurricanes (benched)
Reynold Lee-Lo, Hurricanes (benched)
Ma'afu Fia, Highlanders (out indefinitely)
Mark Reddish, Highlanders (benched)
Gareth Evans, Highlanders (dropped)
Johan Bardoul, Chiefs (dropped)
Augustine Pulu, Chiefs (benched)
Charlie Ngatai, Chiefs (dropped)
Hosea Gear, Chiefs (dropped)
Tom Marshall, Chiefs (benched)
Demetri Catrakilis, Stormers (benched)
Johnny Kotze, Stormers (out 1-2 weeks)
Nic Groom, Stormers (benched)
Eben Etzebeth, Stormers (rested)
Willem Alberts, Sharks (out 1-2 weeks)
Lubabalo Mtyanda, Sharks (benched)
Matt Stevens, Sharks (dropped)
Thomas du Toit, Sharks (benched)
Luke Morahan, Force (out 1-2 weeks)
Colby Fainga'a, Rebels (benched)
Lachie Turner, Reds (out 1 week)
James O'Connor, Reds (out 1-2 weeks)=

Pick of the Week:
Bernard Foley, Waratahs

Cheap pickups:
Ryan Kankowski, Sharks
Sarel Pretorious, Cheetahs
TJ Perenara, Hurricanes
Melani Nanai, Blues
Owen Franks, Crusaders