With the NRL heading into the final five rounds of the regular season and the top eight battle heating up, we thought we would take a look at the top 5 players who have made a resurgence this season following an injury-riddled or just plain average previous season.
For those of you who are wondering why Josh Hodgson features on this list, hear me out. While Hodgson had a respectable back half of 2018, the England international only played 11 games after sustaining an ACL injury at the 2017 World Cup.
Having returned early from his injury in 2018, Hodgson put up great numbers, registering nine try assists and one try over the last 11 games of the season. While the Englishmen supercharged the Raiders attack over the back half of the season, Canberra fell short finishing the regular season in 10th.
However, off the back of a far more agile forward pack and a refreshed backline, the Raiders have returned to the 2016 form that saw them finish second. This has coincided with Hodgson changing his style of play and taking a more responsible role as a game manager as opposed to the attacking weapon he has been utilised as in previous seasons.
While he still has respectable attacking numbers, registering one try and eight assists over his 16 appearances, this season Hodgson has shouldered a lot more of the game managing burden with natural ball-runner Jack Wighton shifting to the halves. With the former Hull KR man taking an average of ten more touches per game than in 2018 with a career-best 102, as well as his kicking metres per game going up by almost 50% and forced dropouts having already doubled his previous best.
With Hodgson celebrating his 100th NRL game in round 20 with a try and an assist in a 12-46 drubbing of the Warriors, it's no coincidence that the Raiders resurgence has coincided with Hodgson's return to full fitness.
Following a disastrous 2018 in which the Eels finished dead last, winning six of the 24 games they played, many tipped Mitchel Moses to be out the door at the end of the season, with rumours circulating that the Eels were attempting to offload both Moses and fellow halves partner Corey Norman.
Luckily for the Parramatta junior Moses, the Eels managed to offload Corey Norman to the St George Illawarra Dragons. Meaning they would keep Moses to partner the in-experienced Dylan Brown in the halves for the 2019 season, and boy has that move paid off.
At the time of writing the Eels are sitting 6th on the ladder with a finals appearance looking more likely by the day. While the Eels forward pack deciding to show up this year has no doubt helped, Moses has been having the season of his life. With the Lebanese international currently topping the competition with 20 try assists, as well as sitting top for total kick metres and total kicks.
While he has scored half the tries in only three less games, Moses' game management skills have gone through the roof this season. With the former Tiger directing his team around the park admirably, taking the most touches per game of his career and allowing his younger and more inexperienced halves partner Dylan Brown to play a free-roaming role.
With the Eels set to return to the top eight only a year after adding another wooden spoon to their dusty trophy cabinet, you can chalk that return to form largely down to the man in the number 7 jumper.
After showing great promise in his early career, scoring 23 tries across 48 appearances with the Roosters, Panthers, and Raiders, in late 2013 Sandor Earl was handed a four-year ban from the NRL by ASADA for the use and trafficking of drugs.
After the conclusion of that four-year suspension, in which Earl kept himself in remarkably good shape, the Melbourne Storm threw him a lifeline in the form of a one-year contract for the 2017 season. Unfortunately, and typically for the luckless Earl, less than a month after signing on the dotted line it was revealed that he had torn his ACL during pre-season training and would miss the entirety of the 2017 season.
However, in a sign of good faith from the Storm, they immediately offered him a two-year extension due to how the Roosters junior conducted himself upon his return to the NRL after his four-year hiatus.
Having started the year impressively in reserve grade, Earl was given his opportunity in round 5 against the Cowboys, 2056 days after his last NRL appearance and nearly ten years since his NRL debut with the Roosters.
Earl has gone onto feature sporadically for the Storm registering one try in his four appearances, performing admirably whenever one of the Storms star wingers Josh Addo-Carr or Suliasi Vunivalu are unavailable.
While his past is no doubt chequered, Earl's dedication and aspiration to once again play NRL is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Having cemented himself as a player of promise during his five-year 109 game stint at the North Queensland Cowboys, Ethan Lowe had a stunning fall from grace over the back half of the 2018 season and ensuing off-season.
Previously one of the first names on Paul Green's team list when fit, Lowe was relegated to the Queensland Cup after a slow start to the year in 2018. The former Junior Kangaroos representative would go onto feature 15 times for the Cowboys, the least amount of appearances since his breakthrough season in 2014.f
Clearly out of favour in Townsville, a messy exit ensued. With one-year remaining on his contract, the Cowboys would release Lowe to the Rabbitohs, with former coach Paul Green suggesting that a player revolt had been fuelled by an ex-player now in Sydney, with Lowe the only man fitting that description.
Signed to a bargain-basement one-year deal, Lowe's resurrection has been remarkable. Having impressed over the first few rounds of the season in his short cameos off the Rabbitohs bench, Lowe was handed his State of Origin debut for Queensland in Origin III.
The former Cowboy would go onto perform admirably, making 52 tackles, running for 91 metres as well as nailing all four of his kicks off the tee.
Following his impressive performance in the Origin arena as well as proving to be a valuable utility for the Rabbitohs, Lowe was rewarded with a two-year contract extension in Redfern. Completing his transformation from Cowboys outcast to Origin player and Souths mainstay within two months.
After a disastrous end to his six-year stint at the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, in which Des Hasler’s now-notorious back-ended deals almost brought the club to its knees, it was widely expected that no-one would be hiring the old fashioned Hasler anytime soon.
However, following a messy break up with ex-head coach Trent Barrett, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles were in desperate need of a steady hand, and as a result, plucked Hasler from the wilderness to guide the silver tails into the future.
Largely discounted as wooden spoon contenders at the beginning of the year, with what was on paper an extremely shaky and inexperienced backline, Des is back working his magic with the Sea Eagles currently sitting 5th with five rounds remaining. With his ragtag group of players now considered all but certain to make the finals.
Handed a squad that he largely can't experiment with due to a lack of funds, Hasler has somehow managed to grab 12 wins from 19 games, all of this with arguably his best player Tom Trbojevic only making eight appearances in the season so far.
While Dessie seemingly became obsessed with sports science and statistics during the back end of his time at the Bulldogs, returning home to Manly on a shoestring budget has forced him to go away from his mad methods and back to what he does best, coaching players how to win football games.