The top 50 NRL players of 2018: 20-11

I take your point but the players I mentioned aren’t Townsend and Sezer, they’re also extremely talented, key players who didn’t play well in their last games that saw their teams eliminated. You can probably add Inglis and Cook too. None cop the same criticism and calls of inconsistency as Johnson.

It’s not about getting your team past another,but about the most skillful ball playing,elusive running game changer in the entire league to,at the very least,participate.. Shaun Johnson has more ability with the football in his hands than every single name you mentioned,and those of us who believe that have matching expectations in the games that really matter... Oh,he gave the last pass to Fusitu’a,if Chad Townsend did that or Aidan Sezer,fair enough great work cause that’s where their bar is set,but Johnson,that’s it ? Happened at about the 8th minute,thereafter followed a 72 minute journey thru the black forest.. Sure this is about the entire season,but I can’t help but be disappointed by the way that side went out and how Shaun Johnson did nothing to eradicate the perception that he doesn’t shift gears befitting his God given abilities when under greater duress.

Maybe...except this list and the whole discussion is about ranking players on the entire season not just their last game. Johnson handled twice in the movement for Fusitu’a’s try and created space both times and drew the winger to give the last pass. I’m not trying to say he had a good game but don’t try and say he didn’t play a role in that try. Anyway, did Holmes season mean jack because he couldn’t get the Sharks past Melbourne? Moylan? Smith? Walker? Reynolds? Munster? Maloney? Cleary? Burgess? They’re all their teams key players who couldn’t do enough to get their teams home and didn’t play particularly well in their last game. Or just Johnson...?

Rest of season means jack if your game winner is under a rock when you need him to lead and put the doubt to bed.. Laid on Fuss’s try ?..I saw him relaying the ball on to his winger,happened in the 14 th minute..how did he assist that try otherwise ? Roger went off at the 27 th,effectively so did Shaun...53 minutes of the invisible man. Not one team mate went to water as much as he did..one quiet season-ending game..

Haha...definitely a joke. Although you haven’t named Dufty, Nightingale, Lafai, Hunt, Aitken, Frizell, Ah Mau so there’s a chance they could show up in the top 10

Dufty...?

That sort of sums up what I’m talking about. One quiet game (and Johnson handled twice and laid on Fusitu’a’s try) when his whole team goes to water after a strong start and Johnson’s got nothin’. Forget the rest of the season.

Anyway I’m not rubbishing RTS - I like him as a player. But I absolutely think his win is an anomaly of the voting system and I think there were three fullbacks better but have no doubt Tedesco was better through the season Tries Tedesco 9 RTS 3 Try Assists Tedesco 21 RTS 10 Try Contributions Tedesco 5 RTS 1 Total try involvements Tedesco 35 RTS 14 Possessions RTS 667 Tedesco 647 Runs Tedesco 402 RTS 355 Metres Tedesco 4520 RTS 3842 Line Breaks Tedesco 19 RTS 13 LB Assists Tedesco 20 RTS 10 Tackle breaks Tedesco 133 RTS 92 Offloads RTS 28 Tedesco 25 Forced dropouts Tedesco 1 RTS 0 Metres per run Tedesco 11.2 RTS 10.8 Runs > 8 metres Tedesco 272 RTS 235 Passes in general play Tedesco 207 RTS 203 Tackle effectiveness Tedesco 84% RTS 65% 1 on 1 tackles Tedesco 22 RTS 17 Try causes Tedesco 8 RTS 13 Errors RTS 16 Tedesco 28 Penalties conceded RTS 3 Tedesco 8 Now, I know you’re going to come up with the old “there’s more to the game than stats” and I agree. But if RTS had a far better year than Tedesco surely that shows up somewhere along the line in his season stats..but there’s no area of the game that RTS outperforms Tedesco. You can actually do the same thing with Holmes, Turbo and Ponga as well. Statistically speaking RTS was closer to Hopoate in 2018 than Tedesco. But there’s more to the game than statistics.

“Going purely by the stats you’re talking about” I haven’t mentioned any stats. You keep bringing up stats Here are the Warriors top 5 that you’ve mentioned compared to other teams. There is nothing unique about the distribution of points for the Warriors players. There was no more competition for points than at many other clubs. You are talking out of your backside. Warriors RTS 29 Luke 18 Harris 11 Johnson 11 Fusitu’a 5 Titans Taylor 17 Brimson 16 Arrow 15 Storm Munster 19 Smith 16 Solomona 12 Slater 11 Croft 3 Finucane 3 Manly DCE 13 Jurbo 13 Turbo 11 Taupau 11 AFB 4 Ferguson 17 Tedesco 15 Keary 14 SST 7 Cronk 6 Panthers Maloney 17 JFH 11 Peachey 8 Cleary 7 Kikau 7 Knights Pearce 27 Ponga 22 Dragons Widdop 17 Frizell 13 Sims 12 Dufty 11 JDB 10 Broncos Milford 14 TPJ 12 Oates 12 Lodge 10 McGuire 8

Fair enough Scott, that's an impressive statistic. I just feel he drifts in and out of games and sometimes doesn't turn up at all. The bunnies in September lost 2 of 3 and let's not forget the one they did win was down to the brilliance of his other half who you have ranked lower. Walker was pretty much absent for all of the finals games, not good enough from a half and in my view not good enough from a top 20 player.

Cool. Just so you know, I'm a Roosters fan - so once again, you're wrong. You do seem rather butt-hurt at me calling out a bad take though. So that's nice. He also was, what, 2nd? in the metre count, and was above average for starting FBs in almost every category but tries scored. Going purely by the stats you're talking about, Tom Trbojevic was the run away winner at FB. Nobody even put him on the shortlist. That's my point - there's more to this than a few stats. Watch a few Warriors games and you'll see the importance to the team - it's not even just the metres, it's the type of metres, where on the field and particularly when he gets them that is so crucial. "Johnson only played 18 games, Harris 16 and wingers typically don’t accrue many Dally M points. So yeah, fierce competition." Go look at the points they finished on in the count (since you clearly haven't), then come back to me. Jesus. "And only two teams had as many good players fighting for Dally M points as the 8th placed Warriors?" Only two teams had a group of players at the top consistently taking that volume of points (not 'potentially' taking - they actually did get those points), yeah. It's a public list buddy.... Right-o yourself. @BA Sports, yep he did, though there's pretty much nothing beyond that - next highest points for the Knights was Saifiti on 4, then Guerra/Levi on 2 (Pearce was 22) - compared to the group of Luke/Johnson/Harris (18/11/11). Actually, the Storm were up there with Smith/NAS/Slater - and Souths the spread was even thinner than I remembered.. rather than 3-4 guys it was loads and loads of guys around the 5-9 mark, so many that the points accumulated and ended up having one or two guys hurt Cook's total consistently.

Not saying he didn't deserve to be ranked where he was. He played well especially considering he was a rookie as a starter. Not sure his body and style is suited to 80 minutes at his age, but with more training and a greater appreciation for what his body is capable of he could be anything. Which is why I say he could become T-Rex (couple of really good seasons before wimpering out) or SBW - capable of anything.

And Pearce and Ponga who both finished in the Top 5 from memory...

Thanks for the answer to your question. I'm curious, How many 'try saves' did RTS have and how many did the number 2 have?

Nice going Scott, I think there's only 3 or 4 players in your top 40 people have an issue with and that's more about where they should place in your top 50. I'm still trying to working out how you can fit 13 Dragons into the remaining 10 spots! You might have to perform some editorial magic.

Johnson could have shut us up in the qualifier against Penrith when Roger went off after 30 mins...a game with the season on the line and his team crying out for him to get the ball in his hands....nothin’..