This week, it was the five eighths and fullbacks that stole the show, with stellar showings from the spine runners across the board.
Tom Trbojevic returned with a classic performance, Scott Drinkwater dominated up in Townsville and Will Kennedy again impressed at the back for the Sharks.
The latest NRL Team of the Week features eight different clubs!
Tom Dearden was arguably even better than Drinkwater, Ethan Strange continued his rise and, on return to the top grade, Lachlan Galvin impressed.
Fun as it is talking about the blokes that didn’t make it – that’s not why you’re here. Let’s get to the ones that did.
1. James Tedesco (Roosters)
The old warhorse at the back was playing his seventh Anzac Day game. He’ll have had few better, leading the metres, scoring tries, setting them up and breaking tackles everywhere.
200m with the ball is great, but these were 200 of the best. They included three line breaks and 55m post-contact, most gained in the inimitable Teddy style of pinballing through the middle of the park. It’s sapping stuff for the opposition to deal with.
That’s the quantifiable stuff, but beyond that, there’s all the other Tedesco bits. This is a young Roosters team with, in particular, two inexperienced halves, but the veteran in the 1 jumper was able to take the leadership slack and ensure that the occasion didn’t get to them.
2. Savelio Tamale (Raiders)
Canberra’s rookie winger was highly-rated coming out of the Dragons system last year, and with a few months of footy in the bank, it’s easy to see why.
Like many at the Raiders, he’s nuggety and tough, with a running style that seems designed never to end in an easy tackle for an opponent.
Tamale got himself a fourth try in the NRL, largely a result of his own exceptional offload, which was matched by Seb Kris, and the winger’s ability to stay live on a play that many would have given up.
Let’s just hope that his nickname is ‘hot’ – if it’s not, the Raiders need a long look at themselves.
3. Starford To’a (Tigers)
The Tigers have been stacked with unloved characters over the years, and realistically, if you’d have asked them in 2022, most fans would have said that very little at the club would have changed if Starford To’a was still getting a game in 2025.
On arrival at the Tigers, To’a shared a backline with David Nofoaluma – last spotted at Glebe Dirty Reds – and Oliver Gildart, Ken Maumolo and Asu Kepoaoa.
Suffice to say, none are bothering the NRL anymore – but To’a is, and moreover, playing better than ever.
The centre flicked a superb pass to Sunia Turuva for a Tigers try and has made himself a vital cog of an increasingly offensive backline.
4. Reuben Garrick (Manly)
It’s hard to imagine being cursed by scoring too many points, but that was Reuben Garrick’s lot. He was known, much like Alex Johnston, as a good finisher and strong goalkicker, but little else.
That would have been plenty for most, and likely a solid career on the wing in the top grade. Garrick, however, thought he had more and insisted that he get a run in the centres.
Last year was a harsh learning curve. The passing required of a centre wasn’t always there and, in defence, things were worse.
There was a chaotic game on the Gold Coast where Garrick and Brian Kelly had a bad read competition, with upwards of 50 points scored down their side of the field.
This year, things have improved massively. Garrick has cleaned up his defence, improved his service and moved himself into the upper echelons of centres, pushing for inclusion in Laurie Daley’s Origin squad.
Oh, and he still scores a load of tries and kicks a load of goals.
5. Robert Derby (Cowboys)
Wingers these days are judged both as try scorers and metre eaters – so, as the kids say, get yourself a guy who can do both.
Robert Derby has taken an atypical route to the NRL, via PNG and Vietnam as a kid before doing the hard yards in the Cowboys pathway after a release from Melbourne’s system. After a long wait, he’s blossomed into a proper player.
At 6 ‘4 and just shy of 100kgs, Derby has size on his side, but can fairly shift too. As far as physicality goes, he’s perfect for the modern game – and had his best game in first grade this weekend, scoring a hat trick against the Titans and cracking 10m per run for 200m in total, 50 of which were post-contact.
6. Sandon Smith (Roosters)
It’s impressive to win man of the match in a game in which you were also sin-binned, but the young five eighth managed it with a match-winning performance to seal the deal in the Anzac Day game.
Strangely for a half, it was his speed around the ruck that made the most difference, twice splitting the Dragons down the middle in spectacular style.
One resulted in one of the funniest tries of the year as Clint Gutherson fell for a dummy that didn’t exist, allowing Smith to waltz under the posts untouched.
Smith dovetailed nicely with rookie half Hugo Savala and, just like Sam Walker last year, was near-perfect from the tee to ensure the game was never close.
7. Adam Reynolds (Broncos)
The rain fell heavily in Brisbane, but one suspects that difficult conditions for kicking are just how Adam Reynolds likes it.
The veteran halfback had it all as the Broncos ran roughshod over the Bulldogs’ unbeaten record, using his pack’s dominance to manipulate the conditions to his will.
Reyno ruled with the boot: two try assists for Deine Mariner, a 40/20 and a superb distance grubber that stopped Connor Tracey in goal were just some of the highlights. Oh, and he grabbed one himself too, which always helps.
The halfback injured a shoulder in the process of scoring that eventually forced him from the field, but only once the game was well over. It was later revealed that Reynolds also had a staph infection before the game that nearly forced him to pull out.
All in all, heroic stuff from the halfback.
8. Payne Haas (Broncos)
Payne Haas is in the Love Rugby League Team of the Week Hall of Fame, up there with Hudson Young, Terrell May and Harry Grant as blokes that we could pick every week.
Out of fairness to others we don’t, but this week, there’s no option but to select the Broncos front rower.
In an unbelievable first half, Haas managed 131m on his own as the Bulldogs were run ragged. They aimed up at him and bounced off, with Josh Curran binned for trying to set the tempo and missing.
It didn’t work – Haas put Adam Reynolds over for a try, dominated the first half and put the cue in the rack for the second, the game won.
9. Wayde Egan (Warriors)
The Warriors 9 is quietly one of the best operators in the business at dummy half, and even if he is rarely mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Api Koroisau and Harry Grant, he fits what the Wahs try to do perfectly.
The Kiwis tend to have an issue with playing side-to-side, but Egan is an expert at straightening the line of attack, especially through his speed off the mark.
He’s also a judicious runner, keeping it as a second option rather than a favourite tactic, which lends an element of surprise when he chooses to go.
Against Newcastle, Egan only went seven times, but got almost 100m for his troubles, including a smart try. The hooker also unlocks the halves, picking the moment to up the tempo and digging into the line to create the space that the two run-first players need.
10. Terrell May (Tigers)
Remember that list of guys we’d pick every week? Yep, Terrell May gets another run after an exceptional showing for the Tigers.
He went 80 straight again, zero breaks, and when the game was on the line, it was the prop forward who charged down the field goal attempt.
To have that desire and effort, after 28 runs and 200m, 30 tackles and no misses in regulation time, is insane. The man is a machine and the decision of the Roosters to let him go gets more and more confusing every week.
11. Haumole Olakau’atu (Manly)
Last week was perhaps Haumole Olakau’atu’s worst game in first grade: Manly kept using their best ball runner as a decoy, and when they finally gave him the footy, he dropped it.
This week, with Tom Trbojevic back and distracted defences behind him, Schmole had one of his best.
There was a bit of everything from the big man. A silky pass for Reuben Garrick to open the scoring and a leap high above Dylan Edwards for a try of his own were the standouts, but in between, there were 99m metres, a ludicrous 55 of which were post-contact.
For reference, the Payne Haas averages about 44% of metres post-contact, but Olakau’atu managed a massive 55%. This was a guy quite literally putting his team on his back and carrying them forward.
12. Jeremiah Nanai (Cowboys)
The Cowboys backrower is much-maligned, and perhaps correctly so. He was dropped to reserve grade earlier in the year after some shocking defensive performances, a real fall from grace for a bloke that burst onto the scene and played for Australia in his first year in the NRL.
Many would have sulked, but Nanai took his medicine and came back stronger. Granted, that defence wasn’t much tested by the Gold Coast – though, for the record, Nanai made 25 tackles at 100% efficiency – and when that happens, the attack will always follow.
Nanai scored twice as part of an edge that terrified the Titans, both when he got the footy and when he ran lines that allowed somebody else to get through.
13. Trent Loiero (Melbourne)
It’s pretty easy to name the good guys at the Storm, and rarely will that include Trent Loiero.
The understated loose forward is an archetype of Craig Bellamy’s ability to get the best out of the other blokes, who then create the platform for the likes of Cameron Munster and Ryan Papenhuyzen to shine.
This weekend, Loiero went from underground to over, locking in a sterling performance through the middle with 132m – almost half post-contact – and 38 tackles without a miss. It was the sort of workmanlike excellence on which generations of Bellamy sides have been based.