Champions are made not born. That’s why NOVA Entertainment has joined forces with two of the biggest fantasy football fanatics, to bring you the latest Nova original podcast “The Fantasy Lab” launching on Tuesday 21 February.
Hosted by former NRL star Tim Moltzen and Fantasy guru Josh Halling, “The Fantasy Lab” is your bible for the NRL Fantasy and Supercoach Leagues, giving you all the insight and stats, you need to become the champion.
With the first two episodes dropping on Tuesday 21 and Thursday 23 February, listeners will have access to an abundance of pre-season prep in the lead up to season kick off. During this time fantasy football fanatics start refining their strategy, finalising their salary cap and making final decisions on which players to draft, trade and captain each round.
To keep or trade your players? Each week Tim Moltzen and Josh Halling will give you the fresh stats and data you need to secure the edge over your competitors and gain bragging rights over your mates for the rest of your life (or at least until next season!). Plus, they’ll bring you the most important news of the week to consider for upcoming rounds, from injuries to top five scorers.
If you want to win your NRL Fantasy or SuperCoach League, the “Fantasy Lab” is required listening.
Moltzen, said: “It’s exciting to dip my toe back into the footy world. And I’m stoked to be sitting in air-conditioned studio as opposed to on the field… much less running and much less chance of getting injured, but with my luck who knows!”
Moltzen is a former professional rugby league player who played for the West Tigers. Making his first grade debut in 2008, he was named the club’s rookie of the year soon after. Tim was eventually forced to retire in May 2016 due to a chronic knee injury. Nowadays the father of one is a property buyers agent for Cohen Handler in Sydney, but still considers himself a league fanatic.
Halling said, “There are reportedly 1.5 million Aussies who play fantasy sports. The other 25.2 million don’t know what they’re missing. This podcast is for both. We’re going to save the average fantasy competitor one hour per week by listening to a 20 minute podcast. “The Fantasy Lab” will dive into the 2023 NRL Season, and provide the stats and data you need to craft a winning fantasy league team. We’ll be incredibly serious about it too… no laughs or your money back.”
Born in rugby league heartland in western Sydney, Halling attended his first Penrith Panthers game in 1989 and has been hooked ever since. He was on High Street Penrith in 1991 when the Panthers took home their first title and experienced his first real taste of rejection when he tried to get into the Leagues Club to celebrate with the boys, only to be turned away because he was 12.
After studying Actuarial Studies at Macquarie University Josh realised stats weren’t for him unless they were related to sports so he left the course and channelled his love of numbers into NRL fantasy sports in 2003.
After two decades of pretending to do work, while he’s actually been checking his fantasy stats, Halling thought it was time to channel that energy into a podcast.
“The Fantasy Lab” is an original Nova Podcast launching on Tuesday 21 and Thursday 23 February, with new episodes dropping every Thursday. The podcast is available on the Nova Player or wherever you access your podcasts.
