The top 50 players from the 2023 NRL season: Part 5, 10-1

Who were the top ten players from 2023?

Published by

Scott Pryde

And so we arrive at the top ten players in the NRL from the 2023 season.

If you thought 2023 was something a bit different to your usual fare of the same teams rolling over the top of the rest all campaign, then you'd be correct.

The top ten only goes to prove that.

Three New Zealand Warriors, a Newcastle Knight and even a player whose team couldn't find its way into the top eight.

Here is Part 5 of this series as we crown the game's best player from the season gone.

» Part 4 (20-11)
» Part 3 (30-21)
» Part 2 (40-31)
» Part 1 (50-41)

10. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (New Zealand Warriors)
This one might raise a few eyebrows, but Nicoll-Klokstad was equally as important to the Warriors' push into the preliminary finals as either of their 'big two'.

His run metres from the back set him apart from almost every other fullback in the competition, and it got to the point where skipper Tohu Harris admitted he needed to remind Nicoll-Klokstad he wasn't a one-man team during the semi-finals.

Creatively, he had most fullbacks covered, and was defensively sound as well.

9. David Fifita (Gold Coast Titans)
The barnstorming second-rower needed a big year to turn things around from what was a fairly dismal 2022 campaign, but what he produced was beyond the wildest expectations.

A tackle breaking, line breaking machine, Fifita's running game terrorised opposition defensive outfits, and his recall to the Queensland State of Origin side was well deserved.

8. Addin Fonua-Blake (New Zealand Warriors)
If you're looking for a prop who raised the bar in 2023, then Fonua-Blake is close to the top of the list. Always a strong performer, the Warriors' prop went to another level this year.

Among the game's biggest metre-eaters, Fonua-Blake also had footwork and offloads that were tough to shut down at the best of times for opposition defences.

7. Dylan Edwards (Penrith Panthers)
Jokes may continue to rain down about Andrew Abdo's slip of the tongue suggesting Dylan Edwards had almost 200 try assists for the season, but it's that number in running metres which sets Edwards apart from his competition.

So often the quiet achiever of the Penrith side, he has been in the top ten for run metres across the competition in each of the last three seasons and with his Australian debut on the weekend is now getting the credit he deserves. There is a reason Penrith's entire back three crack the top ten for run metres, and then why other teams haven't been able to stop them.

6. Nicho Hynes (Cronulla Sharks)
Hynes was the undisputed number one on this list last year. He wasn't quite at the same level in 2023, but still justifies a place well inside the top ten.

He is as good as a one-man team at the Sharks who once again made the top eight. That says all you need to know about how good he has been in the Shire.

5. Reece Walsh (Brisbane Broncos)
Walsh had an electric season for the Broncos, and was also phenomenal for Queensland at State of Origin level.

An eye-watering number of try involvements, both statistically recorded and not, to go with an ever-improving defensive effort both on his own game and that of his communication saw Brisbane fly up the table.

He is nearing the complete package and yet, you feel, still has a lot of improvement left in him.

4. Payne Haas (Brisbane Broncos)
How Haas wasn't in the top five when the Dally M count was finalised is beyond me. He was simply phenomenal in 2023 and took out Zero Tackle's MVP by the length of the straight.

A simply fantastic year for Haas who played big minutes, ran big metres and held his own defensively despite the enormous pressure he was under at times.

3. Shaun Johnson (New Zealand Warriors)
This might go down as the best season of Johnson's career to date. Sure, he had more flash and style in his earlier days, but what he did in 2023 will go down in the Warriors' history books.

A controlled kicking game, high rugby league IQ and a genuine enjoyment of putting on the Warriors' jersey drove his season. An unlucky Dally M Medal second-place, but if you ask the majority, it's an award he should have won.

That said, pre-season, anyone tipping this would have been called insane. What a year it was for Johnson.

2. Kalyn Ponga (Newcastle Knights)
This will be controversial to some, but your impact on a team provides a large part of the guide to compiling a list like this.

Based on that explanation, it's impossible to ignore the influence Ponga had on the Knights. In nine weeks, he turned them from a side that looked like a bottom-four certainty into a top eight finish with a home final.

That level of influence is simply put, unbelievable.

1. Nathan Cleary (Penrith Panthers)

No one else could have taken the best player in the game mantle for 2023. He was outstanding for much of the year, and then played potentially the three best games - or part game in one instance - of his career during the finals.

Against the Warriors, he set the bar, then raised it against the Storm, and then, for 20 glorious minutes on grand final day, single-handedly took the Panthers to their third premiership.

It arguably wasn't Cleary's best year of his career, and yet, there is little to no doubt this is where he belongs on this list.

The full countdown

Published by

Scott Pryde

1 year ago