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 second rower 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 second rower outright.
Anyone looking for Tohu Harris or Cam Murray, they are ineligible here and will be discussed when the top ten lock forwards are released.
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.
This was extremely difficult. The original shortlist was 18. So if your favourite missed out, I am indeed the worst person ever.
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.
With that said, below are the top 10 NRL second-rowers based purely and totally on 2023:
Honourable mentions:Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Hudson Young, Eliesa Katoa, Connelly Lemuelu
2. Haumole Olakau'atu
Call it recency bias, but the back end of the season for Olakau'atu was too dominant to ignore. That is probably the reason why I have him over Nikora here.
In a dire season for his club, the Tongan wrecking ball stared in every sense of the word!
Across 24 games he scored 10 tries, made 11 line breaks, had nine line break assists, 13 offloads, ran for over 125 metres per game and tackled at just under 91%.
There may be only one more fearsome second rower in the competition, at most! He and DCE carried Manly in 2023.
