North Queensland Cowboys' fullback Scott Drinkwater has moved to a commanding lead in Zero Tackle's NRL MVP ahead of a number of either State of Origin selected or injured players.
Drinkwater was voted as the best on ground unanimously by our panel of four judges during Sunday's narrow win over the Sydney Roosters.
Having already held the lead by a single vote last weekend, it now means he moves to a 21-vote lead, giving him a tick over a full game of breathing space.
Dylan Edwards, Tom Trbojevic, James Tedesco, Zac Lomax and Patrick Carrigan are all within 37 votes, but all are either injured or selected for Origin, meaning their ability to score votes will be hampered.
Jacob Kiraz, who is 42 votes behind, is the next best player not selected for Origin.
Drinkwater was joined by Jacob Preston as the only other perfect player during the shortened Round 13, while Will Penisini, Mitchell Moses, Raymond Faitala-Mariner, Jesse Marschke, Jordan Rapana and Isaiya Katoa split honours in the other games.
To remind you how this works, each week, our panel - made up of Matt Clements (Zero Tackle founder), Dan Nichols, Ethan Lee Chalk (Zero Tackle writers) and myself as editor will cast votes on each game in a 5-4-3-2-1 scoring system.
The best player on-field receives five votes, the next four, and so on. That means a player could realistically gain 20 votes in a single game.
Here are all the votes from Round 13.
| Matt Clements | Scott Pryde | Dan Nichols | Ethan Lee Chalk | |
| 5 | Will Penisini | Will Penisini | Mitchell Moses | Mitchell Moses |
| 4 | Clinton Gutherson | Clinton Gutherson | Clinton Gutherson | Clinton Gutherson |
| 3 | Mitchell Moses | Will Penisini | Will Penisini | William Kennedy |
| 2 | Dylan Brown | Mitchell Moses | William Kennedy | Dylan Brown |
| 1 | Junior Paulo | Junior Paulo | Junior Paulo | Junior Paulo |
| Matt Clements | Scott Pryde | Dan Nichols | Ethan Lee Chalk | |
| 5 | Jacob Preston | Jacob Preston | Jacob Preston | Jacob Preston |
| 4 | Reed Mahoney | Reed Mahoney | Reed Mahoney | Reed Mahoney |
| 3 | Josh Curran | Josh Curran | Connor Tracey | Josh Addo-Carr |
| 2 | Connor Tracey | Connor Tracey | Lipoi Hopoi | Jacob Kiraz |
| 1 | Bronson Xerri | Jacob Kiraz | Josh Curran | Connor Tracey |
| Matt Clements | Scott Pryde | Dan Nichols | Ethan Lee Chalk | |
| 5 | Jesse Marschke | Raymond Faitala-Mariner | Jesse Marschke | Raymond Faitala-Mariner |
| 4 | Raymond Faitala-Mariner | Mathew Feagai | Mathew Feagai | Jesse Marschke |
| 3 | Mathew Feagai | Jesse Marschke | Raymond Faitala-Mariner | Luciano Leilua |
| 2 | Paul Alamoti | Jack Cole | Paul Alamoti | Jack Cole |
| 1 | Jack de Belin | Luciano Leilua | Jack Cole | Jesse McLean |
| Matt Clements | Scott Pryde | Dan Nichols | Ethan Lee Chalk | |
| 5 | Isaiya Katoa | Jordan Rapana | Jordan Rapana | Jordan Rapana |
| 4 | Jordan Rapana | Isaiya Katoa | Joseph Tapine | Jeremy Marshall-King |
| 3 | Joseph Tapine | Joseph Tapine | Isaiya Katoa | Joseph Tapine |
| 2 | Jeremy Marshall-King | Jeremy Marshall-King | Jeremy Marshall-King | Isaiya Katoa |
| 1 | Kaeo Weekes | Kaeo Weekes | Kaeo Weekes | Herbie Farnworth |
| Matt Clements | Scott Pryde | Dan Nichols | Ethan Lee Chalk | |
| 5 | Scott Drinkwater | Scott Drinkwater | Scott Drinkwater | Scott Drinkwater |
| 4 | Terrell May | Terrell May | Terrell May | Jason Taumalolo |
| 3 | Jason Taumalolo | Jason Taumalolo | Jason Taumalolo | Sam Walker |
| 2 | Joseph Manu | Sam Walker | Sam Walker | Jaxon Purdue |
| 1 | Kulikefu Finefeuiaki | Joseph Manu | Kulikefu Finefeuiaki | Kulikefu Finefeuiaki |
Top ten
| PLAYER | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott Drinkwater |
20 | 128 |
| 2 | Dylan Edwards |
0 | 107 |
| 3 | Tom Trbojevic |
0 | 104 |
| 4 | James Tedesco |
0 | 102 |
| 5 | Zac Lomax |
0 | 91 |
| 5 | Patrick Carrigan |
0 | 91 |
| 7 | Jacob Kiraz |
3 | 86 |
| 8 | Viliame Kikau |
0 | 84 |
| 9 | Jahrome Hughes |
0 | 83 |
| 9 | Isaah Yeo |
0 | 83 |
Click here to view the full leaderboard.
Leaderboard correct as of June 4.
