Zero Tackle: Team of the Year

STAFF WRITER | September 5, 2017 - 9:34am

The Dally M awards might not go ahead this year but that hasn't stopped us from naming our Team of the Year!

We've polled the fans, crunched the numbers and then ignored it all to name the best players in each position for the 2017 season.

Who makes the side and who wins the Dally M Medal in 2017?

Lock

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 27: Jason Taumalolo of the Cowboys smiles after scoring a try during the round 16 NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Manly Sea Eagles at 1300SMILES Stadium on June 27, 2016 in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Winner: Jason Taumalolo

Although the second rower of the year poll was THE shock, this one isn't too far off it. If all contracts were reset tomorrow, Taumalolo is the player I chase harder than anyone else in the competition. Over 200 metres a game in an under strength forward pack is ridiculous. These were not easy metres either, these were barn storming, tackle busting metres made against the game's elite middle defenders. His season 'worst' stat was 'only' 116 metres, a number the majority of the game's forwards would consider a pretty damn good day at the office. The Kiwi wrecking ball has another Dally M in his future.

Jake Trbojevic pipped his brother for the Sea Eagles Players’ Player award, and if they both stay injury free, it very well could become a two horse race every season for the next decade. An absolute weapon in every sense of the word, this kid, and at 23 he is still learning the game and hasn't even reached his prime yet, is something special. Although well down on Taumalolo's metres per game, he still managed over 130 metres a game, as well as almost 40 tackles per game. Eight tries and seven line breaks show his attacking prowess.