When the Premier Lacrosse League began in 2019, Pro Lacrosse Talk ran a fantasy lacrosse challenge during the PLL playoffs. Now, for the first time in the four-year history of the PLL, we have an official fantasy lacrosse game! PLL Player Royale debuted alongside the league’s new mobile app and gives us the best way to play fantasy sports in lacrosse.
The game allows you to select one player at five different positions: attack, midfield, faceoff, defense and goalie. Players are split into three tiers and you need two gold, two silver and one bronze player each week.
The scoring system is as follows:
- 5 points for goals and assists; 10 points for a two-point goal
- -2 points for turnovers
- 1 point for ground balls, 5 points for caused turnovers
- 0.8 points for faceoff wins, -1 for faceoff losses
- 2 points for saves, -1 points for goals allowed and -2 points for two-point goals allowed (goalies only)
With this scoring system, do-it-all players should be heavily favored, making Waterdogs midfielder Zach Currier a potential fantasy lacrosse gold mine. High volume goalies should also be valuable as well, with increased value of saves compared to goals allowed.
Given how new this fantasy game is, we’ll see what type of trends start to manifest after a week or two. That being said, here are matchups to watch as you set your lineups for the first ever round of PLL Player Royale.
Chaos vs. Whipsnakes Faceoff
The Chaos are missing so many faces due to the Buffalo Bandit’s title chase in the NLL, but one of the quieter holes in their lineup is at the faceoff stripe. Max Adler came into his own at the end of last season and asserted himself as a difference making faceoff man, but he joined his Chaos teammates in Banditland this offseason.
Chaos brought back Tommy Kelly from the player pool and added veteran Jerry Ragonese, but neither are promising options, especially against one of the league’s best faceoff athletes in the league, Joe Nardella.
Kelly went just 27% in limited action last season and struggled in the 2020 bubble with Chaos, while Rangonese went 30% his lone PLL game in 2019. Nardella, who has yet to go under 55% in a PLL season, could dominate at the stripe in this game.
He’s also a good value play as a silver FOGO who’s also capable of putting up points in transition.
Michael Sowers vs. Cannons Defense
Last season, Waterdogs attackman Michael Sowers went down with a serious injury in the opener against Cannons, but after a year with limited action, the Princeton all-time great is ready to tear it up at the professional level.
Sowers is currently just a bronze attackman in the game after a limited rookie season, but he could put up massive numbers this year. Cannons also had one of the worst defenses in the league last season and will be without veteran Brodie Merrill.
The likes of Jack Kielty, Jake Pulver and Scott Hooper are solid poles, but Cannons don’t have a true shutdown defender capable of handling a matchup nightmare like Sowers. If he’s clicking in the Waterdogs offense like he was in the playoffs — one goal, two assists against Whipsnakes — he could be a value pick for the foreseeable future.
Archers Offense vs. Chrome Defense
Chrome are one of the most interesting stories of the 2022 season, with so many new faces after injuries and retirements last season. Through three PLL seasons, the Beauties were one of the worst defensive units, and now captains Joel White and John Galloway are gone.
This Chrome defense could be a great one, led by young stars JT Giles-Harris and Ryan Terefenko, but they have a lot of new faces to piece together in not a lot of time. Facing off against a comically loaded Archers attack is definitely a baptism by fire.
Archers came out swinging last season with an 18-6 domination of a growing Atlas team in week one. The likes of Tom Schreiber, Marcus Holman and Will Manny could all have huge games, especially with star attackman Grant Ament out of the lineup. This unit has been together for multiple seasons and can dominate like almost no other. If Chrome isn’t up to the task, it could be a points fest for the Archers.
Those are our thoughts on PLL week one from a fantasy lacrosse perspective. Let us know your thoughts and share your week one lineups with us in the comments or on social media by tagging @FantasyLacrosse on Twitter.
