As a lifelong Rabbitohs fan, I know a thing or two about letting bias cloud your judgment. Many a perfect round in high school tipping comps were ruined by me picking my beloved South Sydney out of loyalty, only to see them lose by 40 points or more. Between 2002 and 2004, this margin of defeat was frighteningly common.
But Ultimate League is an arena where it doesn't hurt to stack your team with a lot of players from any particular side, as long as they're productive. I passed over George Burgess in the early rounds of our draft due to taking Greg Inglis in the first round, and plans to take John Sutton soon after.
The reason that it's not necessarily a bad thing to stack your team with real-life teammates, is that unlike in other fantasy sports, a team can turn in an awful showing in real life but players, particularly forwards, will usually still deliver their solid production. Jacob Lillyman for example, had a very good fantasy game this week despite the Warriors' capitulation. It's something to remember for trades later on this season and future drafts - if you like a player, draft him! Don't concern yourself with having too many players from any one team.
The big three
Sam Burgess: Big Sam crashed over the line in a huge red-and-green victory, and a try on top of his usual excellent work rate saw yet another stellar score. I was playing against Michael Carayannis this week, who had him as his captain.
Shaun Fensom: 60 tackles. 60! That's absurd. To go with well over 100 metres running, Fensom was excellent this week in a tough Canberra loss to the Panthers.
Nathan Stapleton: Is four tries a more remarkable feat than 60 tackles? It's pretty close - but unfortunately for Ultimate League players, the Sharks flyer was started in just 1 per cent of leagues, and is only owned in 2 per cent. I'd expect that number to shoot up this week.
Thanks for nothing
Brett Morris: The most notable thing Morris did on Saturday was get put on report for a very, very dubious shoulder charge call. Hopefully he gets cleared to play during the week. This is just a blip on the radar for one of the best outside backs in the competition. He'll be back.
Pleasant surprises
Will Chambers: A bit of everything in Melbourne's shock loss to Gold Coast on Sunday, grabbed a try with a line break, an offload, a few tackle busts and more than 100m running.
David Nofoaluma: The big winger led the Tigers' charge over Manly on Sunday with a pair of tries, 120m and six tackle breaks.
