With the State of Origin decider next Wednesday night, we have our final five-game NRL round for the 2025 season, meaning just the one game on Friday night. It’s a good one though, as the ladder leading Canterbury Bulldogs take on the suddenly hot Brisbane Broncos, in what should be an intriguing game of rugby league.
Draftstars have several contests on offer for Friday night. These include:
NRL $8,000 – Bulldogs vs Broncos
NRL $750 – Bulldogs vs Broncos
Several qualifiers, including a qualifier for the High Roller State of Origin contest
There are plenty of other contests that will tickle your fancy, so get involved and make the greatest game of all even more exciting. And if you're new to the Daily Fantasy scene, simply join Draftstars via this link!
NRL Daily Fantasy Lineup Tips: Round 18 Friday
NRL Friday Bulldogs vs Broncos: Our Value Fantasy Picks
Samuel Hughes ($8,000) is bottom dollar here, and despite concerns over his game fitness, I can’t go past him here given he has been named to start the game. Hughes had a breakout season last year, before unfortunately injuring his ankle during the trials before the 2025 season and has only just returned to action. There has been minimal talk around the extent of the injury but given he has missed over four months of football, it makes this seem far worse than a regular syndesmosis injury. So yes, there are red flags, but if Hughes can start and play 40-45 minutes, you can expect around 35 points in base here for the young Bulldog prop.
Bailey Hayward ($9,980) is your typical workhorse middle in fantasy NRL, and he has shown over the past fortnight starting that he can punch out solid minutes, and therefore solid scores. Whilst his upside isn’t huge, I believe he could play 80 minutes in this game, given the loss of Max King to Origin. Even if he doesn’t, he should play at least 60 minutes, and with no attacking stats has shown he can score you 40-50 as an average score. A nice, cheap, dependable middle in a game I can see being played between the 20’s, seems like a no brainer to me.
NRL Friday Bulldogs vs Broncos: Our Mid Price Fantasy Picks
Selwyn Cobbo ($10,040) has been named to return for the Broncos, after having been dropped a few weeks ago. Cobbo has since signed with the Dolphins for next season, and he gets a chance here to show the Broncos that they made the wrong decision in dropping him and failing to offer him a decent contract. Cobbo has been named at fullback, which pushes up his floor nicely here, and despite the fact he’s taking on a brilliant defensive team, he is nice and cheap, and should get you 40+ as a floor. In fact, Cobbo played fullback back in round 8, when the Broncos hammered the Bulldogs 42-18. Cobbo managed to score 45.7 points, running for 151 metres and setting up a try and line break. One week later he played fullback against the Panthers, where he punched out his biggest score of the season (62.5), showing his ceiling here against the Bulldogs.
Jordan Riki ($13,450) comes into this matchup a little under the radar in my opinion, with a solid enough season average of 45.6, despite only scoring one try all year. Riki showed in 2023 that he can score tries, with 7 in 22 games, and despite his lack of tries since, his line running ability is still in there somewhere. Even without a try, Riki has scored 50+ in six of his 12 games this season, and six of 11 if you take out his round 9 injury affected game against the Panthers. Whilst the ceiling isn’t massive unless he can score a try, he has shown he can score 60+ without attacking stats, which is brilliant for an edge backrower.
NRL Friday Bulldogs vs Broncos: Our Premium Fantasy Picks
Jacob Preston ($18,860) has been one of the best attacking edges in the NRL the past two seasons and is understandably priced high in this game. Preston has only two games all season scoring below 50 and has scored seven tries in 10 games. I see no reason why this level of attacking upside can’t continue, and with a solid base to go with his ability at breaking tackles and offloading, Preston has a great floor of 55 and a tremendous ceiling of 80 and is extremely hard to leave out in this matchup. Whilst Kikau is more than likely the only other option in the forwards with Preston’s upside, I prefer Preston due to his higher floor, and higher chance at scoring a try.
Matt Burton ($16,020) missed out on 18th man duties for game 3 of State of Origin, and whilst it’s bad luck for him, it’s great for us playing Draftstars. Burton will officially take over the goal kicking duties with Stephen Crichton named for the Blues and should be a heavy influence for the Dogs in attack as usual. Burton is averaging 49.7 for the season, and whilst that’s not really good enough to warrant this price tag, he has had two injury effected rounds, and if we take them out his average jumps to 57.5. In his three full games this season kicking goals, Burton has averaged 59.7, and I think we can look at this as a decent model outcome here for the Bulldog five eighth. With only two tries and three try assists all season, there’s also a high upside for Burton here, as he is always a dangerous ball runner. Play with confidence.
Here’s Our Suggested Draftstars Lineup
NRL Betting Markets: Round 18 Friday
Bulldogs ($1.53) vs Broncos ($2.50)
Also, be sure to check out our full NRL Previews and Betting Tips for each match. Our experts break down each individual game and highlight some key bets that you can follow!
