NRL legend Cameron Smith has ranked who he believes is the best hooker remaining in this year's finals series.
The former Queensland and Australian captain was spoiled for choice with a handful of quality number 9s still in the race for the 2022 premiership.
While the Penrith Panthers (Apisai Koroisau) and North Queensland Cowboys (Reece Robson) have already advanced to the preliminary finals, all of the Parramatta Eels (Reed Mahoney), Canberra Raiders (Tom Starling and Zac Woolford), Cronulla Sharks (Blayke Brailey) and South Sydney Rabbitohs (Damien Cook) all still remain in the finals race.
โItโs a difficult one, theyโre all pretty well matched when you put them all together," Smith said onย SEN's The Captain's Run.ย
"I think out of those six though, Iโd probably say Reece Robson.
โI think heโs been outstanding for the Cowboys this year, (heโs) another young man who played a little bit of football before going to the Cowboys, but heโs made such a difference there.
โYou think over the last year he's been playing that tandem role with Jake Granville, where some games heโd start and some games he would come off the bench, he must have had a huge pre-season.
โHe must have put Todd Payten in a position where he said I canโt not pick him at nine, heโs playing that well, on top of his great service from dummy-half and heโs got a great pass on him."
Smith's lauding of Robson is not without warrant, as the 24-year-old has played every game for the Cowboys this season, sitting on 25 appearances where he has taken his game to the next level.
Notching up over 1000 tackles at an efficiency of 95% and racking up near 1900 running meters and 7 tries.
"It's hard to overlook some of these (other) guys," Smith continued, "like Api Koroisau, heโs played 23 games this season and heโs played great."
โBlayke Brailey at the Sharks heโs been integralโฆ Reed Mahoneyโs played strong again, itโs hard to single one out, but if I had to it would be Reece Robson, out of those final six teams.โ
