With the off-season comes the usual troupes.
Talk of expansion, the divisions talk, player movements and of course post-season rankings.
Today we're here to focus on the rankings. More specifically, the NRL five-eighth rankings from 2023.
Please keep in mind that these rankings are based only on 2023. Both NRL and Origin performances will be taken into account. Not specifically who is the best five-eighth outright.
Before we start, I'm going to take a moment to answer some of the usual questions to appear in the comments to any sort of rankings.
Do I even watch football? Yes, every game.
Are my eyes painted on? No. That would be funny though.
Who am I? Just a fan.
This was by far the more difficult to rank, thus far. It's also the list I'm expecting to cop more grief for in the comments. That's ultimately what it's about though, right?
With that said, below are the top 10 NRL five-eighths based purely and totally on 2023:
Honourable mentions: Jack Wighton
9. Tom Dearden
The Cowboys number six largely played second fiddle to Scott Drinkwater in 2023 but that's not to say he wasn't also very good.
Seven tries, 10 try assists, five forced drop outs, almost 100 run metres and just under 85% tackling won't win any individual awards but he was more than solid.
For the record, I don't think Dearden was the issue in the halves for the Cowboys this year.
Dearden is about to become one of the most in demand players in the market, and for good reason. I think he'd be looking for a better out put in 2024 though.
I wondered where you would put Dylan Brown and Luke Keary.
Personally, I would have moved Keary a bit higher and had Brown somewhere near the bottom of the list. As you said with Kieran Foran, it’s not just the stats – it’s also what the eyes tell you and my eyes didn’t tell me the Parra 5/8 was one of the top 50% of players in that position.