After thirty gruelling weeks of football, the Sydney Roosters are the 2018 NRL premiers. The 2018 season saw many young guns excel in their first taste of first grade football in a changing of the guard of the NRL’s biggest stars.
Since Round 1 we have assessed every player’s performance to determine the NRL team of the week and now, it is time to take a turn and look at the 17 best players in each position for the 2018 season.
Here is your NRL team of the season for 2018.
Fullback: Valentine Holmes (Cronulla Sharks; six appearances)
Holmes confirmed his status as one of the game’s best fullbacks, sparking the Cronulla attack and setting the competition alight toward the back end of the season. The Australian international scored 22 tries for the season and created nine try assists with a total of 89 tackle breaks and 26 line breaks, proving dangerous in attack.
Wing: Corey Oates (Brisbane Broncos; six appearances)
Oates was one of the Broncos’ best for the 2018 season, starring on the wing and coming in mid-field with some strapping runs. He lead his club in attack with 18 tries, 142 metres per game as well as an impressive 85 tackle busts and 19 line breaks.
Centre: Latrell Mitchell (Sydney Roosters; five appearances)
2018 was the year that Latrell Mitchell announced himself as one of the stars of the future. He made his debut for New South Wales earlier in the year, scoring 17 tries and kicking 90 goals to finish as the second highest point scorer.
Mitchell could not be handled in attack, making 118 tackle busts and 18 line breaks for the season with six try assists as part of a good partnership with Luke Keary on the left edge.
Latrell Mitchell of the Roosters (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Centre: Tyrone Peachey (Penrith Panthers; five appearances)
In an up-and-down season with the Penrith Panthers, Tyrone Peachey was the one factor that proved consistent. Making his State of Origin debut, Peachey was an effective utility plugging in at fullback, centre and five-eighth as the mountain men experienced an injury plague. The enigmatic three-quarter scored eleven tries with eight try assists and 80 tackle busts.
Wing: Blake Ferguson (Sydney Roosters; six appearances)
There is no disputing that Blake Ferguson was one of the standout wingers for the 2018 NRL season, scoring 18 tries and leading the Roosters all the way to premiership glory. Ferguson featured in all 28 games for Sydney and ran for more metres than any other player averaging 196 a game.
Five-Eighth: Cameron Munster (Melbourne Storm; six appearances)
Munster took the reins from Cooper Cronk to steer the Storm all the way to the grand final. Cementing his place as a regular for Queensland Australia, the five-eighth produced 15 try assists for the season and busted 83 tackles. He developed his kicking game, forcing a number of dropouts and proving he is the man to take Melbourne well into the future.
Cameron Munster of the Storm celebrates (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)
Halfback: Adam Reynolds (South Sydney Rabbitohs; four appearances)
Reynolds was cool under pressure as he pushed the Rabbitohs all the way to the preliminary finals. The star halfback displayed a wonderful kicking game, forcing 21 drop-outs for the season and creating twelve try assists. He also kicked five field goals, three of which came in their semi-final victory over the St George Illawarra Dragons.
Prop: Andrew Fifita (Cronulla Sharks; eight appearances)
Fifita missed just one match of the 2018 season busting through an enormous 1,128 post contact metres with a league-high 82 offloads as well as 774 tackles. The Tongan international set the pace for Cronulla, averaging 135 metres a game.
Hooker: Damien Cook (South Sydney Rabbitohs; nine appearances)
Cook was second to none at hooker, blasting out of the ruck and transforming South Sydney’s attack. The State of Origin star scored four tries and set up seven more, racking up 1060 running metres from acting half and changing the ruck speed to gain territory for his forwards and halves to work off.
Damien Cook runs the ball. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)
Prop: Martin Taupau (Manly Sea Eagles; eleven appearances)
In what was an otherwise disastrous season for Manly, Martin Taupau was their standout player burning through a tremendous 71 offloads, 106 tackle busts and 3777 metres. In 24 appearances, he made 671 tackles, earning an unrivalled eleven appearances in the NRL team of the week off the back of his tremendous workrate.
Back row: Angus Crichton (South Sydney Rabbitohs; eight appearances)
Crichton had a career-best season in his last year wearing the cardinal and myrtle, making his State of Origin debut and scoring three tries. He formed the pillar of the Rabbitohs’ right edge with eight line breaks and 852 tackles.
Back row: Tohu Harris (Warriors; eight appearances)
Harris did all the little things right throughout 2018 for the Warriors making 17 appearances and proving to be their best forward. He was slick with the ball in hand down the right edge, averaging 116 metres and making 588 tackles.
Lock forward: Jason Taumalolo (North Queensland Cowboys; eight appearances)
While he didn’t quite reach the heights of previous years, Taumalolo was still indisputably the best player in his position during the 2018 season with 23 appearances. The Tongan international averaged 178 running metres a game, making 634 tackles and busting through 97 tackles.
Interchange: Kalyn Ponga (Newcastle Knights; five appearances)
During his first full season as an NRL player, Ponga offered a glimpse to the future putting his name up in shining lights with six tries and playing a starring role with the Knights. Ponga was versatile at both fullback and five-eighth with eleven try assists, twelve line breaks and 140 tackle busts.
Kalyn Ponga of the Knights runs the ball (AAP Image/Brendon Thorne)
Interchange: Thomas Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs; six appearances)
The England international turned his game around in 2018, starring in the middle alongside his brothers for South Sydney. Thomas Burgess featured in all 27 games, dominating the mid-field with 613 tackles and 115 metres per game while finding the chalk on five occasions.
Interchange: Viliame Kikau (Penrith Panthers; six appearances)
Kikau burst onto the scene in round one and continued to put in the hard yards in 25 games for the chocolate soldiers. The Fijian international made 105 tackle busts, averaging 129 metres and creating offloads 44 times.
Interchange: Jai Arrow (Gold Coast Titans; six appearances)
The best of the Titans in 2018, one of the most dominant middle forwards for most of the season averaging 142 metres a game and completing a total of 635 tackles. He became a State of Origin regular in 2018 and is sniffing out an international cap for Australia.
Best of the rest: 1. James Tedesco (5), 2. Nene Macdonald (4), 3. Euan Aitken (5), 4. Joseph Manu (4), 5. Josh Addo-Carr (5), 6. Anthony Milford (4), 7. Johnathan Thurston (4), 8. Ryan James (5), 9. Cameron Smith (6), 10. David Klemmer (5), 11. Felise Kaufusi (4), 12. Tyson Frizell (4), 13. Sam Burgess (5)
Interchange: 14. Jack de Belin (4), 15. Daniel Alvaro (4), 16. Matthew Lodge (4), 17. Jake Trbojevic (4)
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