The NRL finals are underway, and with it, Nathan Cleary put on his best performance of the season to become the only player scoring a perfect votes total in Zero Tackle's NRL finals MVP.

As we did during the regular season, our four judges here at Zero Tackle - founder Matt Clements, reporters Dan Nichols and Jack Blyth and myself - will vote on a 5,4,3,2,1 basis to determine who is to be crowned the MVP of the finals series.

And yes, some teams will play more games than the rest, but we figure the winner is still likely to come from one of the sides who make the decider on the first Sunday in October.

The opening week of finals action saw the Penrith Panthers dominate the New Zealand Warriors, the Brisbane Broncos dominate the Melbourne Storm, and two thrillers in the elimination finals as the Sydney Roosters knocked the Cronulla Sharks out, and the Newcastle Knights used extra time to fire past the Canberra Raiders.

The only unanimous MVP the panel could agree on though was Nathan Cleary. In all other games, split decisions were handed out, with Kalyn Ponga claiming 19 votes, Siua Wong 18, Adam Reynolds 17 and James Tedesco 16.

Our regular season run away winner Payne Haas also recorded 14 votes.

Wong will be the most surprising of the names on that list, with the NRL rookie having his best game in the to-grade, while Phoenix Crossland has also cracked equal ninth spot on the back of a 14-vote game for the Knights.

Here are all the votes from Week 1 of the finals.

Brisbane Broncos vs Melbourne Storm

Matt Clements Scott Pryde Dan Nichols Jack Blyth
5 Payne Haas Patrick Carrigan Adam Reynolds Adam Reynolds
4 Adam Reynolds Payne Haas Reece Walsh Patrick Carrigan
3 Patrick Carrigan Adam Reynolds Patrick Carrigan Payne Haas
2 Reece Walsh Reece Walsh Payne Haas Reece Walsh
1 Herbie Farnworth Herbie Farnworth Herbie Farnworth Herbie Farnworth

Penrith Panthers vs New Zealand Warriors

Matt Clements Scott Pryde Dan Nichols Jack Blyth
5 Nathan Cleary Nathan Cleary Nathan Cleary Nathan Cleary
4 Stephen Crichton Isaah Yeo Isaah Yeo Isaah Yeo
3 Isaah Yeo Stephen Crichton Stephen Crichton Stephen Crichton
2 Brian To'o Brian To'o Brian To'o Sunia Turuva
1 Liam Martin Liam Martin Stephen Crichton Brian To'o

Cronulla Sharks vs Sydney Roosters

Matt Clements Scott Pryde Dan Nichols Jack Blyth
5 Siua Wong James Tedesco Siua Wong James Tedesco
4 Nicho Hynes Siua Wong Victor Radley Siua Wong
3 James Tedesco Sam Walker James Tedesco Sam Walker
2 Sam Walker Nicho Hynes Nicho Hynes Cameron McInnes
1 Victor Radley Victor Radley Sam Walker Victor Radley

Newcastle Knights vs Canberra Raiders

Matt Clements Scott Pryde Dan Nichols Jack Blyth
5 Jordan Rapana Kalyn Ponga Kalyn Ponga Kalyn Ponga
4 Kalyn Ponga Phoenix Crossland Jordan Rapana Phoenix Crossland
3 Phoenix Crossland Jordan Rapana Phoenix Crossland Jordan Rapana
2 Dominic Young Elliott Whitehead Elliott Whitehead Dominic Young
1 Elliott Whitehead Dominic Young Dominic Young Elliott Whitehead

Top ten

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