NRL's top 50 player countdown: Part 2 (40-31)

Our NRL top 50 player countdown series continues today on The Roar as we unveil players 40-31 in part two of the series. Continuing from yesterday’s part one, this series of players is dominated by some elder statesmen of the game, and mainly consists of forwards.

However, there are no doubt some exciting youngsters on the list and it provides a good mix of players as we continue the countdown.

40: Michael Morgan (North Queensland Cowboys)
Morgan has been brilliant for the North Queensland Cowboys this season. After playing fullback in 2014, he made the transition to join Johnathan Thurston in the halves this season with Lachlan Coote back at fullback and hasn’t disappointed.

The trio have formed a mini version of the big three in Melbourne and Morgan seems to be the glue that held it all together.

He also managed to get a call up to the Queensland State of Origin squad and didn’t disappoint playing off the bench.

Morgan is second at the Cowboys for tries with 13, and he has also filled the stats sheet up in terms of line breaks and line break assists, tackle busts and offloads.

39: Matt Moylan (Penrith Panthers)
Before getting injured just past the halfway mark this season there was genuine talk around rugby league circles that Moylan could have slotted into a New South Wales Blues jersey this season. His level head under pressure, excellent creative play and solidness in defence at the back was what led to this and there is no question that the Panthers really missed him following the injury that curtailed his season.

Despite only playing 11 games, Moylan proved his goal kicking and field goal ability as well as making 10 try assists and 11 line break assists in those games. He also made an offload a game and these sort of stats show just how much of a loss Moylan was to the Panthers.

38: George Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
The South Sydney Rabbitohs really required George Burgess to stand up this season with the absence of Sam Burgess and Ben Te’o, however he has failed to really deliver. It could well be argued that he is playing worse than he was throughout the 2014 season when he was a key part of the Rabbitohs premiership win.

Certainly some of his runs have been lacking and Rabbitohs fans have been left scratching their heads, wondering where that 2014 form has gone.

In saying that he still has impressive metre stats, averaging out at 128 per game along with 55 tackle busts and nine offloads for the season. He has also made 27 tackles per game with a 92 per cent efficiency. Clearly the numbers are down on where they could be, but he is still doing a lot for the Rabbitohs forward pack.

37: Sam Thaiday (Brisbane Broncos)
Slammin’ Sam Thaiday has had yet another excellent season, however it hasn’t been without some drama. Certainly, he was moved back to the bench earlier in the season by coach Wayne Bennett. However, he has bounced back as only Thaiday can to regain his origin squad and put in some commanding performances. Strong performances for the Queensland Maroons have also added to his season.

One of the genuine entertainers of the NRL, Thaiday has been down on tries this year but has made up for that with making every run look threatening and setting things up for team mates by always picking the right option with the ball playing outside of the middle. On defence he has made 27 tackles per game with a 94 per cent efficiency.

36: Frank Pritchard (Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs)
Pritchard, in his final season in the NRL, has just been flat out dangerous with the ball. Running angles off his creative players such as Trent Hodkinson, Brett Moris, Moses Mbye and Josh Reynolds he has at times been close to unstoppable and was a huge part of the Bulldogs charge into the finals series.

In fact I would almost attribute some of the Bulldogs victories squarely on his shoulders, particularly in the back half of the season.

Eight tries throughout the season for Pritchard, along with 103 metres per game, a total of 12 line breaks and 31 tackle busts shows just how much of a threat he has been on attack.

35: Gareth Widdop (St George Illawarra Dragons)
While the Dragons have floundered at times this year in attack, Gareth Widdop is a huge part of the reason they managed to get into the top eight. The biggest part of his game has been the control in his kicks throughout the season.

Widdop’s goal kicking has also improved out of sight this year, leaving him as the fifth highest point scorer in the NRL. 20 try assists and 15 line break assists for the season have left Widdop near the top of the leaderboard for both of those stats and indicate just why he was such an important part of the puzzle for the Dragons.

34: Elijah Taylor (Penrith Panthers)
Taylor has been one of the only bright spots for the Panthers this season and particularly in defence has been one of the most prolific tacklers in the competition this season. In fact he broke the record in a single game earlier this season for most tackles. While Penrith have floundered, Taylor has looked dangerous when he has the ball and has never stopped putting in the hard yards.

In just 70 minutes a game, Taylor has averaged over 40 tackles, has only conceded 10 penalties and made eight errors throughout what has been a solid season. Any attacker will look for a way not to run at him and for that reason, things could have been a lot worse for the Panthers this season.

33: Andrew McCullogh (Brisbane Broncos)
McCullogh has been brilliant this year for the Broncos and in many respects the glue that has held the Broncos together. He has also been rock solid in defence and played big minutes throughout the season. His combinations with Anthony Milford and Ben Hunt have been electric out of hooker.

Defence is maybe the area he is most capable in, averaging 42.6 tackles per game with an efficiency of 94.7 per cent which is just incredible. Basically if you run anywhere near him, you are getting tackled as an attacking player.

Four try assists sit to McCullogh’s name however he has played a major hand in so many more throughout the season as well.

32: Corey Parker (Brisbane Broncos)
It doesn’t seem to matter how old Parker gets he just keeps plugging away for the Broncos. Offloading is the biggest skill he seems to possess and this showed in the Origin arena for the Queensland Maroons. At times this year he has been virtually unstoppable and his goal kicking is still as solid as ever.

He constantly fills out the stat sheet making an average of 127 metres per game with 41 offloads from just 21 appearances for the Broncos. He has also made 46 tackle busts and an average of nearly 30 tackles per game.

31: Aaron Woods (Wests Tigers)
To sum up the season for Woods, you would describe it as the working man’s season. He run’s hard every time he gets the ball and tackles hard every time comes into his vicinity. He showed this on a higher level at the State of Origin arena and some people have made the case that he could be considered the best on ground from Origin.

Overall, he leads the Tigers in run metres with 148 per game and has made 22 offloads from just 20 appearances showing he is never prepared to just die with the ball. He has also averaged almost 25 tackles per game in just 51 minutes with a 93 per cent efficiency.

So, that wraps up part two of The Roar’s top 50 NRL player countdown. Be sure to tune in tomorrow as we countdown players 30-21 on the list.

Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde