The Roar's top 50 NRL players: 10-1

By Tim Gore / Expert

So here it is: The Roar’s top ten NRL players for 2019.

The top four were clear between all five judges.

In only three cases did a player in the final top four not appear in a judge’s top four. The lowest any player in our final top ten was ranked by an individual judge was 22nd. Further, in only two cases were players in the top ten ranked outside the top twenty by any judge.

There are five returning players from the Roar’s 2018 top ten, the other five – Tom Trbojevic, Michael Morgan, Boyd Cordner, as well as retirees Billy Slater and Johnathan Thurston – making way.

10. Cameron Munster (Melbourne Storm)
The 24-year-old Rockhampton native shares a birthday with Shane Warne (13 September). While we always knew he had real talent, Munster has really cemented himself as one of the games top players in the past two seasons with his stellar performances for Queensland and for the Storm.

While we know ‘Munny’ has a bit of a temper on him – as evidenced by his kick to Joseph Manu’s melon in the 2018 decider – he’s generally a pretty cool and focused customer on the field.

Not only is he rapier quick and brilliant at spotting and creating attacking opportunities, Munster’s defence is first rate. Anybody who targets him in the defence line is very optimistic or a bit dim – or both. Following the retirement of Billy Slater, Munster is now the key to the Storm’s chances in 2019.

9. Gareth Widdop (St George Illawarra Dragons)
The second thoroughbred from the Craig Bellamy stables. The 29 year old from Halifax, Yorkshire, is a nine-year veteran of the NRL. With 187 games under his belt, as well as 28 games for England, Widdop is a dominant playmaker capable of controlling games.

He has risen six spots in our rankings since last season on the back of his strong performances.

In 2018 ‘Gaz’ laid on 17 tries and 14 line breaks, showing his vital importance to the Dragons attack. He missed four games for the Red V last season and they never looked anywhere near as good as when he was leading them around.

While his playmaking is top shelf, his bleached hair has drawn a fair bit of negative comment. Although it went over better with Dragons fans than Widdop’s announcement that 2019 would be his last with them. Expect him to go out with a bang.

8. Sam Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Burgess retains his eighth place from our 2018 rankings. However, in 2018 the big Yorkshireman got back to some of his best form in the wake of his unfortunate flirtation with rugby union.

Once called Great Britain’s Sonny Bill Williams when playing for Drewsbury, the 6’5″ and 116 kilo Yorkshireman averaged 153 metres a game from an average 19 runs, while also making 37 tackles in 2018. That form was a fair bit better than his 2017 season too, so he’s building to something even bigger.

It’s fair to say he’s got a fair bit of presence on the field. While carrying a smashed cheekbone through all 80 minutes of the 2014 NRL grand final will probably be what he is remembered for – making 199 metres from 22 runs and 35 tackles in that state is pretty impressive – his best may still be yet to come.

Under coach Wayne Bennett – also his England coach – we may see Burgess become even more dominant in 2019.

(AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)

7. Damien Cook (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
The Rabbitohs and NSW hooker was nowhere to be seen in our 2018 rankings. His stellar form last season sees him catapult into the top ten.

It took Shire born Cook four attempts to find a regular first grade starting spot. Having previously been with the Panthers, Dragons and Bulldogs, it wasn’t until he landed at Redfern that he was able to really spread roots and flourish.

And boy how he has flourished.

He averaged 42 tackles and 100 metres a game, while breaking the line at will and setting up plenty of tries. Along with these stats his speed off the mark is prodigious. It forced his way into Freddie Fittler’s Blues side where he starred.

Cook also picked up a fair few awards for his 2018 form, including:

• NSWRL People’s Choice Award
• RLPA Hooker of the Year
• Dally M Provan-Summons People’s Choice Award
• Dally M Hooker of the Year
• George Piggins Medal (South Sydney First Grade Player of the Year)

I see Cook getting even better. A very scary thought for oppositions.

6. Kalyn Ponga (Newcastle Knights)
Also nowhere to be seen in our 2018 rankings, this kid is magic.

The Knights took a big punt in giving the untested Kiwi/Aussie such a huge contract to lure him away from the Cowboys but it really paid off. Ponga is a natural sportsman.

Although born in Port Hedland Western Australia, and spending lots of his youth in Mount Isa and Mackay, the time he spent in Palmerston North, NZ (his parents are Kiwis), saw him playing rugby league, touch football, hockey, rugby union, golf and soccer and excelling at all of them. In 2010, he won New Zealand’s under-13 national golf championship.

However, at the start of last year he declared his allegiance to Queensland and Australia. He made his debut for Queensland in Game 2 of the 2018 series and while his side lost, Ponga’s 50+ minutes were outstanding. He is likely to be a fixture in Maroon going forward.

For the Knights in 2018 he averaged 145 metres a game and he broke 140 tackles during the year, while breaking the line 12 times, scoring six tries and setting 11 up.
And he’s only 20… How much better will he get?

The next Darren Lockyer and maybe even better.

(AAP Image/Brendon Thorne)

5. Latrell Mitchell (Sydney Roosters)
While the 21-year-old from Taree in Biripi country did not feature in the Roar’s 2018 top 50 players, it wasn’t because of this judge.

I saw this bloke’s freakish talent in back in 2016 when he started with the Roosters first grade side, having heard whispers about him from my Tri-colour supporting mates. Big, strong and fast, the only handicap was his tendency for brain explosions.

However, under the tutelage of Brad Fittler in 2018 with the NSW Blues the ability for opponents to bait or goad him into error drastically diminished and what was left was pure rugby league beauty.

In 2018 Mitchell made 18 line breaks, scored 17 tries, set up eight tries and averaged five tackle breaks a game. At just 21 years of age ‘Trell’ knows how to get the job done.

He is unlikely to be out of the NRL’s top ten players for the foreseeable future. I am a massive fan and so should you be. Make sure you see him play live so you can tell your grandkids about it.

4. Cameron Smith (Melbourne Storm)
With the retirement of Johnathan Thurston I ranked Smith the best player in the game. My colleagues have dragged this legend down to fourth place.

Let me tell you why they are wrong. Firstly, Smith is the most capped player for Australia and for Queensland with 56 and 42 respectively. Secondly, his 384 NRL games are the most any player has ever managed and he’s done it with an unbelievable 71 per cent win rate. He’ll break 400 games this year.

Thirdly, he has all of those games under his belt because he is incredibly good. A hooker with the brain of a Peter Sterling and the guts of Ray Price, he controls a game like no one else I’ve ever seen.

He guides teams around the pitch like a maestro, while also getting right into the hard stuff in the middle for 80 minutes a game, every game.

No one can convince a ref of his own righteousness better than the Referee Whisperer either. While he can be underhanded, the guy would be the most influential player of the NRL era and, turning 36 this June, he still is (in my opinion anyway).

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

3. Cooper Cronk (Sydney Roosters)
We ranked Cronk fourth in 2018 and he has rightly risen one spot. Back at the end of 2017 I said that Cronk was risking his legacy by going to the Roosters. I wasn’t sure that he could flourish outside of Bellamy Ball and that by going to the Roosters he risked demonstrating that he was less than a three dimensional player.

Wrong.

Who plays a Grand Final with a badly busted shoulder and is still that influential? Tough as well as talented, Cronk is one serious and focused dude. He brought a control and focus to the Roosters that really helped them prevail when the whips were cracking in 2018.

At 35 years of age, 2019 is likely to be the crooked-nosed Queenslander’s last season. However, he’ll click over 350 games in round one. And with the Roosters list looking really good, he may well finish the year and his career with yet another premiership.

2. Jason Taumololo (North Queensland Cowboys)
This is what I said of Taumololo in 2018:

“He’s like a bull running on its hind legs. But a bull with incredible speed, step and a capacity for massive collisions that Mal Meninga circa 1989 would admire. He is a behemoth… Every side knows that to beat the Cowboys you need to control Taumololo but no side really has been able to do it.”

Rinse and repeat.

However, with the retirement of Thurston there is far more pressure on Taumololo to lead the Cowboys to victory.

He’ll be 26 in May and is now in the peak of his career. He once more won the Dally M Lock of the year in 2018 and it is no surprise when he averaged 178.5 metres a game (with 76 of those being post contact metres) along with 27.6 tackles and 4.3 tackle breaks.

Now playing his representative football for Tonga, he has been denied the chance to play for Queensland although he moved to Townsville at the age of 13 and went on to represent the Queensland under-18s and Australian Schoolboys at the age of 16. I guess the bit where he played for New Zealand is a bit of an issue.

While I’d love to see Taumololo in Maroon, you can be assured that the New South Welshmen are very pleased this tackle busting bull won’t be opposing them.

Sports opinion delivered daily 

   

1. James Tedesco (Sydney Roosters)
Why is James Tedesco our number one player? Because his 2018 statistics are unbelievable. 199 metres a game (up from 165 in 2017), 15 line breaks, 15 try assists, less than one missed tackle a game and 158 tackle breaks at 6.3 a game was a huge reason why the Roosters raised the 2018 Premiership Cup.

We knew this bloke was amazing when he was at the struggling Wests Tigers. Now at the star-studded Tri-Colours he has so much more ability to shine and shine he has. A fixture in the NSW Blues side, he has also debuted for Australia in 2018.

It is hard to see the Roosters not making the top four again in 2019 with ‘Teddy’ at the back. He is so very quick and so skilled at getting through the line.

This guy is a total joy to watch and rightly our top-ranked NRL player in 2019.

(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

The Roar’s top 50 NRL players
50. Elliott Whitehead
49. Dane Gagai
48. David Fusitu’a
47. Adam Reynolds
46. Blake Ferguson
45. Tyson Frizell
44. Tariq Sims
43. Cody Walker
42. James Roberts
41. Josh McGuire
40. Ryan James
39. James Graham
38. Andrew McCullough
37. Reagan Campbell-Gillard
36. Josh Jackson
35. Luke Brooks
34. Matt Moylan
33. Wade Graham
32. Josh Addo-Carr
31. Viliame Kikau
30. Ben Hunt
29. David Klemmer
28. Luke Keary
27. Anthony Milford
26. Mitchell Pearce
25. Martin Taupau
24. Michael Morgan
23. Jesse Bromwich
22. Daly Cherry-Evans
21. Angus Crichton
20. Greg Inglis
19. Shaun Johnson
18. Tom Trbojevic
17. Josh Hodgson
16. James Maloney
15. Boyd Cordner
14. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
13. Nathan Cleary
12. Jake Trbojevic
11. Andrew Fifita
10. Cameron Munster
9. Gareth Widdop
8. Sam Burgess
7. Damien Cook
6. Kalyn Ponga
5. Latrell Mitchell
4. Cameron Smith
3. Cooper Cronk
2. Jason Taumalolo
1. James Tedesco

The Crowd Says:

2019-02-24T08:12:19+00:00

Jake

Guest


Hey Dutski, Thanks mate. I’ve been meaning to write one up but just lacked the time lately. I might start working on it though.

2019-02-24T07:55:19+00:00

Gray-Hand

Roar Rookie


Your memory is playing you false. The non renewal of his contract had nothing to do with his playing form. It was a personality clash with Bennett. He even continued to play for Queensland and Australia after leaving the Broncos.

2019-02-24T01:42:03+00:00

Nat

Roar Guru


Solid reply champ. Blame the ref and abuse the supporters to . Well that is all you have, I guess you've come unarmed to this battle of wits.

2019-02-24T00:47:47+00:00

Papi Smurf

Roar Rookie


Bad decisions can easily be forgotten when your team wins the game. So was that a try or a penalty to NSW for Cronk holding back Frizell? It cost NSW the game and the series. Same question and result for the Inglis “triple knock on try” in front of Ref Bill Harrigan and the JT/Inglis two man strip on Hayne that resulted in another series winning try. “you will experience the passion you won’t see in Sydney” Just reverse the QLD run of dominance and tell me, would the passion be the same in the coffin shaped Suncorp stadium where everyone is dead from the neck up? LOL

2019-02-24T00:34:22+00:00

Nat

Roar Guru


Yes I remember that one game three years ago. A decade of dominance can easily be put down to 1 of those decisions in every game that everyone in NSW could see. It was the refs who missed the tackles, damn touchies and their selection policies. How did they get away with it every series for 10yrs? Your last sentence is an interesting one. At what point ever in (post) '80 Origin have Qlders been the least parochial? That's been a widely acknowledged fact for decades and we have an absolute Qld bias. You'll have to come to Lang Park for an Origin game mate, The game is the pinnacle but the days leading up too the streets are dotted with Qld jumpers being worn to work. The day off it's a sea of maroon through the city whether they are going to the game or not. The NSW players will get a bit of lip if seen in the streets (well, from me at least). Game night, walk down Caxton st in your Blues jumper, you'll get a verbal barrage but all in good fun. At the stadium, 52k punters and 50k in Maroon roaring at every call. While you'll be disappointed with the result, you will experience the passion you won't see in Sydney and I've been to both a few times to make the comparison.

2019-02-23T22:43:05+00:00

Papi Smurf

Roar Rookie


Frizell should have stopped Gagai even after a 20 metre head start and still caught him over 80 metres but he was held back by Cronk and yet no penalty. One more example of the refs helping QLD in SOO. How about for once instead of QLDers crying; “conspiracy theorist loony!” go and look at the video replay first without your maroon monocles! QLDers are quick to call people south of the border one-eyed and paranoid but are not honest enough to realise they are the most parochial and one-eyed group of supporters in the game.

2019-02-23T22:31:09+00:00

William Koim

Guest


I have no doubt n that's bestever

2019-02-23T14:13:51+00:00

Fraser

Roar Rookie


No - I do support the Broncos. Always have, always will. I live overseas now, however, which I think has allowed me to step outside the media bubble and take a more reasoned and measured approach to watching the great game of rugby league. That allows me to appreciate the skills of all the players in our game, regardless of club and state affiliation.

2019-02-23T07:07:05+00:00

Gray-Hand

Roar Rookie


The relative stability of the roster at the Storm, particularly the key personnel, makes it easier to bestow the title of team of the decade on them. The Roosters seem to have a much more fluid roster, so while the ‘club’ might be successful, it’s harder to see it as the continued success of one team.

2019-02-23T06:25:40+00:00

matth

Roar Guru


No, he’s the king of tslking to refs with respect and intelligence, a rare skill in rugby league

2019-02-23T06:13:18+00:00

matth

Roar Guru


My guru status gets me admiration and free drinks wherever I go ... well maybe not.

2019-02-23T05:58:06+00:00

matth

Roar Guru


Cronk is a bit like Jimmy Maloney. He’s a winner. His teams just win. I’d pay to have that at my club.

2019-02-23T05:24:03+00:00

Nat

Roar Guru


I've got thick skin mate. I've heard #oneinarow before! ;)

2019-02-23T01:39:19+00:00

Geoff from Bruce Stadium

Roar Rookie


Good points Baz - he's certainly a cut above Pearce -and he knows what it takes to get success. Those sorts of qualities earn you the big bucks. I guess if you have a very good player in a great team they sort of rub off on each other - bit like the Raiders with Stuart, Meninga, Daley, Clyde etc. But you're also right at how he gets the best out of players such as a Proctor who can look average elsewhere. JT also had the same ability with the Cowboys players. Cronk is a great organiser and wonderful kick - he must have learnt a lot from the AFL players down in Melbourne as he is one the best exponents of the drop punt I've seen in the NRL. I just can't put him up there with JT, Andrew Johns etc in the modern era in terms of creativity. There are geniuses and then there are very good players.

2019-02-23T01:25:08+00:00

The Barry

Roar Guru


If you pick everyone straight up in their positions the best team looks like: 1 Tedesco 2 Ado Carr 3 Mitchell 4 Inglis 5 Ferguson 6 Widdop 7 Cronk 8 Fifita 9 Smith 10 Sam Burgess 11 Cordner 12 Crichton 13 Taumalolo

2019-02-23T01:20:45+00:00

AE47

Roar Rookie


Media release , the palace will be acknowledging Parramattas outstanding achievements and to comemorate are releasing a limited edition spoon set with the coat of arms get in quick, Brad will you autograph a set for me if I buy one , cheers

2019-02-23T01:16:20+00:00

Gray-Hand

Roar Rookie


I completely agree, but you don’t need to spend big money on them. No need to go spending $1million dollars or anything like that.

2019-02-23T01:10:14+00:00

Egbert

Guest


Agree about Big Sam, I think his best days are behind him and would have him down around 30-odd. I also wouldn't have Widdop in the top 10. Can't argue with stats etc but Tedesco just doesn't feel quite right does it?

2019-02-23T00:48:55+00:00

Papi Smurf

Roar Rookie


Update: AE47 just advised me that "BA Sports" is an Eels supporter. Now everything makes sense! I even get the "BA" reference.... "Brad Arthur". Bahahahahahaha Your cover has been blown "Brad Arthur Sports". LOL

2019-02-22T23:47:48+00:00

Papi Smurf

Roar Rookie


Thanks for clearing that up. You don’t support the Broncos or the Roosters. Only 14 teams left to choose from then. That narrows things down a bit. At least I have more of an idea of which team you support than BA “hide in the closet” Sports. LOL

More Comments on The Roar

Read more at The Roar