Round 9 will be remembered as the week of the Chiefs. In a competition where marginal gains usually separate teams, this was anything but marginal. The Chiefs dominated fantasy scoring across the board, and those who leaned into that stack were heavily rewarded.
Leading the charge was Quinn Tupaea, whose 97-point performance set the tone for the round and reinforced his position as the standout fantasy player of the season. He wasn’t alone. Liam Coombes-Fabling (90), Damian McKenzie (88), Kyren Taumoefolau (84), and Tyrone Thompson (77) completed a clean sweep of the top scorers all from the same side.
Across the season, Tupaea has now pushed his total to 461 points, opening up a gap at the top of the leaderboard. Fehi Fineanganofo continues to track closely on 441, while Charlie Cale (417) and Chay Fihaki (400) remain firmly in contention. Caleb Tangitau (381) and Max Jorgensen (375) round out a tightly packed chasing group, but for now, Tupaea has given himself some breathing room.
What made this week particularly impactful is that many of the most selected players delivered on expectation. Tupaea was the most picked player in Round 9, sitting in 64.3% of teams, and he more than justified that faith with the highest score of the week. Charlie Cale (52.8%) and Fineanganofo (47.7%) also maintained strong ownership, while Fletcher Newell (47.3%), Leicester Fainga’anuku (44.6%), and Cam Roigard (42.1%) continued to feature heavily across teams.
This convergence of high ownership and high performance meant there were fewer opportunities to gain ground through obvious picks. Instead, the round was defined by whether you had the right combinations rather than uncovering unique differentials.
Looking ahead, this presents an interesting shift in strategy. With highly owned players consistently delivering, the edge may now come from identifying the right moments to pivot away from the template. But as Round 9 showed, sometimes the simplest approach of backing the form team is the one that pays off most.
