Although no kid grows up dreaming of being a bench player, the impact that they can have on the game is just as significant.
Case and point the NSW Origin team for 2018, although Jack De Belin started at lock for the Blues, Jake Trbojevic is a far superior player in terms of his tackling and running output.
However, Brad Fittler thought that Trbojevic had greater potential to change the game off the bench than De Belin, so he made the selection accordingly.
So take a look below at who we think are the best bench players in the NRL.
3. Cameron Murray
The cat is well and truly out of the bag with Cameron Murray, with every opposition club now well aware of the damage this young tyro can do.
Admittedly, I might be cheating a bit here as Murray is set to break into the Rabbitohs starting pack in 2019, but I can only go off what we've seen so far, which has been mainly from the bench.
In 2018 Murray averaged 30.5 tackles per game along with 95.5 running metres. Extremely solid numbers for a 21-year-old in his first full season of NRL.
Also, a lot of the things Murray provides for his team can't be measured quantitatively. He regularly lifts the tempo coming off the bench for Souths, noticeably leading the defensive line from front and centre. Not to mention that according to Phil Gould (a decent judge of rugby league talent) Murray possesses the fastest play the ball in the NRL.
Another quality rarely noted about Murray is that he often pops up in the big moments. Such as when he one-on-one stripped Leeson Ah Mau of the Dragons in last yearโs finals series, allowing the Bunnies to march up the field and grab a match-winning field goal. As well as scoring a number of match-defining late tries, such as his 76th-minute match-winning try against the Bulldogs in round 4, and a 70th minute try that gave Souths the lead against Melbourne in the first week of the finals.
After a superb first full season in the top grade, the Mascot Jets junior looks set to push Sam Burgess to the edge and cement himself as Souths' starting lock for years to come.
I thought when Sims came off the bench for NSW at Origin time he was like letting a Pitty off its leash. Masterstroke. Same with Hunt (at hooker) and Ponga coming off the bench for QLD. Back in the days the best guy off the bench was Ifeka Paleasena (probably spelled wrong). Just came on for 10-20 mins and turned it up for the Warriors.
Mitchell Aubusson would have to be there surely?