The NRL is home to the world’s best rugby league players.
But narrowing the list down to determine the best of the best is no easy task. So to mark the start of the 2025 NRL season, experts from The Sydney Morning Herald and Nine’s Wide World of Sports have come together to give their views – and a collective verdict – on who are the best 50 players in the game right now.
A panel of judges was put together: Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, Darren Lockyer, Allana Ferguson, Roy Masters, Robert Dillon, Billie Eder, Dan Walsh, Adrian Proszenko, Michael Chammas, Christian Nicolussi and Marlee Silva. Together, they have many decades’ experience of playing, coaching, covering and analysing rugby league at the highest level. The players chosen as the top 50 current NRL players can be sure that they’ve earned their selection.
Each judge was asked to compile a list of their own top 30 current NRL players. They were to order the list from 1-30, with the player they considered their No.1 allocated 30 points, their No.2 allocated 29 points, and so on, with the 30th player allocated one point.
We then added up all the points awarded to each player and listed them from most to least. Where there was a tie, we sorted it by alphabetical order. The player with the most points was crowned our pick for the NRL’s No.1-ranked player.
That player will be unveiled on Friday, when the Herald and Wide World of Sports publishes the final article in our 50-1 series. Today we rank the players from 20-11.
20. Addin Fonua-Blake (Cronulla, 135 points)
Can one man transform the Sharks into genuine title contenders? That is apparently Cronulla’s hope after investing heavily to bring Addin Fonua-Blake back across the Tasman. Fonua-Blake has proven himself as one of the NRL’s premier metre-eaters, bulldozing his way through the centre of the park to put his team on the front foot. Nicho Hynes, Braydon Trindall and company should relish the go-forward he provides. The heavyweight prop also brings an intimidation factor. Nobody kicks sand in his face. The theory that the Sharks are “too soft” to win a premiership could soon be consigned to the wastepaper basket.
19. Cameron Murray (South Sydney, 137 points)
In an era when the NRL is rich in talented locks, it says all you need to know about Murray that whenever he’s available for rep duties he’s on the team sheet for both NSW and Australia. However, that will be little comfort to Wayne Bennett who is dealing with the shock of a fresh training injury that could be season-shaping for the Rabbitohs after Murray injured his Achilles – a suspected rupture – weeks before season 2025 was due to kick off. Murray is superb on both sides of the ball, and was hugely influential again for the Rabbitohs in 2024 despite battling injuries that kept him off the park for a third of the season. His huge work rate is clear in his tackle numbers, averaging almost 39 per game in 2024 to make him the fourth most prolific tackler in the game, but he’s perhaps even more effective in attack, with his leg speed, ability to produce a quick play-the-ball and his link-up play at the heart of many of the Rabbitohs’ best try-scoring opportunities. Those traits will be hugely missed for as long as he’s off the park in 2025.
18. Latrell Mitchell (South Sydney, 141 points)
The enigmatic Rabbitoh’s quest for redemption will undoubtedly be a recurring narrative across the season. Nobody has ever questioned Latrell’s talent. He is box office. His attitude, however, has regularly attracted scrutiny, not least after the infamous “white substance” scandal last season that led to him being suspended by the NRL, as well as several controversial on-field incidents. All the indications are that Latrell was raring to go – until a hamstring injury this week derailed his pre-season. Still, there is no coach better equipped to keep him focused than Wayne Bennett. If Latrell plays to his potential, Souths will be right back in amongst it … and the game’s greatest enigma could well be on top of this list next season.
17. Liam Martin (Penrith, 159 points)
There’s something old-school mad about the Temora tearaway. Just ask J’maine Hopgood after the Martin tackle that almost snapped him in half during Origin I last year. Not the biggest back-rower in the NRL, there is a semblance of Trevor Gillmeister and Steve Folkes in the way Martin launches at himself at opposition ball-carriers like a guided missile. But he’s not just a defensive weapon, he’s a dangerous hole-runner, as evidenced by his try in last year’s grand final triumph against Melbourne. There’s no reason to suggest the reigning Clive Churchill Medallist will be any less formidable in 2025.
16. James Tedesco (Sydney Roosters, 164 points)
The hits keep coming for the superstar fullback after he was twice dumped by NSW last year then lost his place in the Kangaroos side, with new Blues coach Laurie Daley leaving him out of a pre-season camp in the most recent blow. But even if his representative career is over, the Roosters are still getting superb output from the 32-year-old, who was among the competition’s best No.1s in 2024, leading the NRL in line-break assists and tackle busts. He was also fourth for try assists, laying on 30 across the 2024 season, underlining his importance to an attack that will need every ounce of his creativity in 2025 with Sam Walker on the sidelines.
Still a wearpon: James Tedesco.Credit: Getty Images
15. Reece Walsh (Brisbane, 174 points)
They say the game is a great leveller, and Reece Walsh was “levelled” in more ways than one last season. Firstly by the brutal Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii high shot in the Origin-series opener, and overall by generally failing to reach the same dizzying heights to which he ascended en route to the 2024 grand final. But Walsh is still only 22 and presumably his best football is still in front of him. Last year might be just part of his learning curve. This shapes as a season of redemption for the electrifying fullback. If he gets back to firing on all cylinders, the Broncos can transform from also-rans to genuine contenders within the space of 12 months.
14. James Fisher-Harris (NZ Warriors, 196 points)
Remember the days when props were big, fat blokes who waddled from one scrum to the next? Fisher-Harris exemplifies the evolution of the modern-day front-rower, now commonly known as “middle forwards”. Ripped and athletic, he plays the game with a frightening intensity, and his powerful charges and bruising defence underpinned the Panthers’ four premierships. Now he faces a new challenge with the Warriors. The New Zealand Test skipper shapes as a perfect like-for-like replacement after the departure of Addin Fonua-Blake, and he won’t be satisfied unless he can bring some Penrith-style success across the ditch.
James Fisher-Harris with the Maori All Stars.Credit: Steven Siewert
13. Angus Crichton (Sydney Roosters, 197 points)
What a comeback. This time last year Angus Crichton was running around in reserve grade for the Roosters, amid rumours he was about to jump ship to rugby union. Come season’s end, he had helped his club reach a preliminary final, won an Origin series and worn the green and gold during the Pacific Championships. All of which was enough to not only resurrect his reputation but clinch a lucrative contract renewal. The big back-rower’s experience will be invaluable as the Roosters rebuild after an exodus of long-serving stars. He’s got plenty more good years in him.
12. Cameron Munster (Melbourne, 201 points)
The highest compliment that can be paid to the Melbourne maverick is that, on his day, he can perform a passable impersonation of the “King” himself, Wally Lewis. Like the aristocratic Lewis, Munster is just a natural footballer who has proven himself time and again at the highest level – in grand finals, Origin and Test matches. The Storm held up their gloves last year while he was sidelined with a groin injury, which he managed to nurse through the finals. Melbourne need him back to full capacity if they are to improve on last year’s runner-up finish.
11. Jarome Luai (Wests Tigers, 208 points)
How good is Jarome Luai? We’re about to find out. It’s one matter riding shotgun outside the world’s best player in a four-time premiership team, another matter altogether trying to lift Wests Tigers out of the cellar, after three consecutive wooden spoons. “Romey” will no longer be playing second fiddle. He’ll be the main man for the Tigers, with the No.7 on his back, and what an inspired signing he could be, especially with a talented apprentice to mentor in Lachlan Galvin. If Luai’s trademark swagger can inspire his new teammates, the Tigers shape as the feelgood story of the season.
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