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Today, we move into the top 20 players in the NRL as our top 50 countdown reaches the pointy end.
This is the list with the fewest new additions from the start of the season, with only one of the ten being included from outside of the original top 50.
Further to that, while there are some positional swaps, four of the ten came from this part of the list pre-season.
» Part 1 (50-41)
» Part 2 (40-31)
» Part 3 (30-21)
20. Boyd Cordner (Sydney Roosters)
Rank at start of season: 10
The New South Wales captain was strong again during 2018. His defence was the key part of his game, averaging almost 30 tackles a contest, and while he quietly went about his work, there is no question the Roosters don’t win the premiership without his efforts.
19. Tom Trbojevic (Manly Sea Eagles)
Rank at start of season: 13
In a season without success for Manly, the fullback was always going to fall away slightly. Trbojevic was still strong alongside brother Jake as they tried to pull the Sea Eagles out of a hole, finishing the season with 19 try assists, 21 line breaks and 100 tackle busts.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
18. Shaun Johnson (New Zealand Warriors)
Rank at start of season: 27
This is going to draw criticism. Some will say Johnson is the most overrated talent in the game, but he had a much better than 2018 than anticipated. He finished with almost a try assist per game and while he wasn’t consistent like some of his teammates, he was still better than expected more often than not.
17. Viliame Kikau (Penrith Panthers)
Rank at start of saeason: N/A
Kikau has come of age in 2018, proving himself as a valuable second-rower. He finished with the most metres for Penrith across the season, adding 78 tackle busts and 43 offloads to the effort.
There were times in the second half of the season where he struggled to just put his head down and go to work, but it was an exceptional season for the Fijian.
16. Cody Walker (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Rank at start of season: 25
Walker is another who has had a career-best season. The Rabbitohs half was sensational in a damaging left edge which was impossible to stop, finishing with 29 try involvements (12 tries, 17 assists) and 18 line breaks for the season.
15. Jake Trbojevic (Manly Sea Eagles)
Rank at start of season: 8
I’m struggling to work out where Manly might have finished this season without Jake Trbojevic. You know what you’re going to get out of him every single time he takes to the field, and in a misfiring side, he was sensational. He averaged almost 40 tackles per game, which tells you everything you need to know.
14. James Maloney (Penrith Panthers)
Rank at start of year: 11
If you were only basing this on attack and taking a team past expectations, Maloney would be right at the top of the list.
However, there are more elements to a game of footy than that. He made 35 errors across the season and missed more than 130 tackles – 30 more than any other player. Don’t let that take anything away from what he has achieved at the foot of the mountains this year, though.
13. Gareth Widdop (St George Illawarra Dragons)
Rank at start of year: 16
The injury to Widdop which ruled him out of the semi-final against the Rabbitohs really hurt the Dragons. They may well have won that match if he had been able to play.
Widdop’s kicking game, creativity, ability to run the ball and spark things down the left-hand side for the Dragons was outstanding to watch for most of the season, and while, like the rest of the team, his form fell away at the end, there is no question he deserves a high placing.
12. Cooper Cronk (Sydney Roosters)
Rank at start of year: 5
Cronk has dropped off a little bit, but that speaks more of the way he struggled to blend into the Roosters outfit at the start of the season. The final six weeks of the season saw him rise to the fore and remind us all of what he could do again.
Playing the grand final with one arm was a courageous effort, but that’s not why he is at 12 – his kicking game is.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
11. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (New Zealand Warriors)
Rank at start of season: 38
The Dally M winner has received a massive push through the rankings, and with good reason. The Warriors fullback finished fifth for total metres and made 92 tackle busts, 28 offloads and ten try assists. When all seemed lost for the Auckland-based club, Tuivasa-Sheck often found a way to make it happen, and while he hasn’t quite cracked the top ten here, it was tough to leave him out.